Development of DMC controllers for temperature control of a room deploying the displacement ventilation HVAC system

In this paper, by developing a new Dynamic Matrix Control (DMC) method, we develop a controller for temperature control of a room cooled by a displacement ventilation HVAC system. The fluid flow and heat transfer inside the room are calculated by solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations including the effects of buoyancy in conjunction with a two-equation realizable k - epsilon turbulence model. Thus the physical environment is represented by a nonlinear system of partial differential equations. The system also has a large time delay because of the slowness of the heat exchange. The goal of the paper is to develop a controller that will maintain the temperature at three points near three different walls in a room within the specified upper and lower bounds. In order to solve this temperature control problem at three different points in the room, we develop a special DMC method. The results show that the newly developed DMC controller is an effective controller to maintain temperature within desired bounds at multiple points in the room and also saves energy when compared to other controllers. This DMC method can also be employed to develop controllers for other HVAC systems such as the overhead VAV (Variable Air Volume) system and the radiant cooling hydronic system.