Improvement of Control Processes for VAV Ventilation Systems Using MPC Controller

The paper studies the issue of improving control processes for VAV ventilation systems using MPC controller. To conduct the research, the design features of VAV ventilation systems are considered. Note that these systems operate in the mode of variable amount of the air supplied while the changes in the heat load of rooms or zones are compensated by changing the actual amount of supplied and exhaust air at its constant temperature coming from the central supply unit. The principle of adaptive predictive control using MPC controller, controller structure and approach to choosing the optimal values of the control signal are described. The study of control over the VAV ventilation systems using MPC controller was conducted by the example of the supply ventilation system for a classroom in the autumn-spring period, which maintains the given temperature regime in the room by changing the volume of the heated supply air. To simulate the system in the Simulink environment of the MATLAB application package, the block diagram was developed, and Model Predictive Control Toolbox was used to synthesize the MPC controller. The study of transient processes in the VAV ventilation system without a controller, with the PID controller and MPC controller was conducted. The results comparison showed that using the MPC controller makes it possible to improve control processes by means of increasing the speed of response and reducing overshoot. This improves the quality of control over microclimate parameters and performs the operational characteristics of ventilation systems.