Expert Control Strategies for Solar Cooling systems

Between 1990 and 2009, household final energy consumption in EU-27 increased by 8%, caused by rising standards of living, an increase in comfort levels and broader ownership of domestic appliances. In 2009, the total electrical consumption due to residential sector amounted at 36%. Space heating and cooling is the most significant component of household energy demand. The European Directive to promote renewable heating and cooling requires that 25% of EU heating and cooling to be supplied by renewables in 2020. In the building sector, a high energy saving potentials can be realized by energy efficient building design. The energy efficiency of buildings is significantly influenced by architectural design aspects, such as orientation, shape of the building structure, envelope. Building design should look at the site where it is located in order to take into account the climatic conditions, too. Today, some modern architectures neglect these aspects and compensate inefficient building design with enormous effort concerning the energy supply for heating, cooling and lighting. A strong reduction of energy consumption may be achieved minimizing losses (i.e. appropriate insulation, reduction of thermal bridge, airtight façade components), minimizing solar gains in low latitudes or maximizing solar gains in high latitudes. In addition to passive solutions, a reduction of energy consumption may be achieved with active parts of a building, as space heating and cooling and Domestic Hot Water (DHW) production. In this sense, solar thermal technologies offer a great potential for providing a carbon-free response to residential energy demand [2]. In accordance with these matters, the work here presented describes a SHC system installed in a low energy building located in the north Italy where cold winters and warm summers occur. The aim of the work is the reduction of energy consumption, with regard to the level of thermal comfort. The improvement of a system performances requires a reliable model and the individuation of relevant parameters to be optimized. The modelling of the whole system, the calibration of its parts (building model and supply energy plant), the individuation of the most relevant parameters on the energetic performances and quality level and the selection of best configurations have been here investigated.