User-friendly rolling control strategy for a heat pump heating system considering building thermal inertia

A user-friendly rolling control strategy for a heat pump heating system (HPS) considering building thermal inertia is proposed. A model of a typical HPS is established to reflect the thermal dynamic processes in different HPS parts. A model of the building heat load is also developed considering the actual heat transfer processes related to the building. Based on this, a control strategy framework for the HPS is proposed considering building thermal inertia and temperature comfort level. The optimal temperature set-point of the HPS in each control horizon is determined by the strategy through rolling control. A case study of a single-family residential building on a typical winter day in northern China demonstrates the benefit of the proposed strategy in terms of reducing the operating cost without disturbing the temperature comfort level. The impacts of the penalty factor regarding deviation from the user-expected indoor temperature and of the building envelope are further analysed and compared.