A multivariable nonlinear MPC control strategy for thermal comfort and indoor-air quality

Comfort conditions inside buildings are a problem that is being widely analyzed, since it has a direct effect on users' productivity, and an indirect effect on energy saving. Hence, in order to maintain thermal comfort and indoor-air quality inside a certain environment, it is required to perform a proper management of its active and passive components, as the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems, and natural ventilation through windows. This paper presents a multivariable nonlinear model predictive control system to simultaneously maintain thermal comfort and indoor-air quality by means of forced and natural ventilation. In order to probe the effectiveness of the proposed control approach, simulation results obtained in a characteristic room of a bioclimatic building are included and widely commented.