Abstract:

Indoor fans are high-authority actuators in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems since they facilitate the transfer of heat between refrigerant and room air. In some variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems, the indoor fan speeds are under the control of the occupants, rather than the HVAC control system. This paper studies the benefits of transferring control of the indoor fans to the HVAC controller. We quantify the system performance using five metrics related to occupant comfort and power consumption. The first metric measures the ability of the HVAC system to accommodate users with different temperature preferences by quantifying the largest difference in requested room temperatures that can be achieved with and without the aid of indoor fans. The second and third metrics measure the ability of the HVAC system to reject extreme heating and cooling loads. The final two metrics measure the reduction in power consumption obtained by manipulating the indoor fan speeds. Each of these metrics is computed via linear programming for varying numbers of indoor units. Simulation results indicate that the maximum steady-state difference in room temperatures is tripled, and the maximum rejected heating and cooling loads are doubled. Furthermore, power consumption is significantly reduced.