A VOLTTRON based implementation of Supervisory Control using Generalized Gossip for Building Energy Systems

Abstract

 Building energy systems comprising of many subsystems with local information and heterogenous preferences demand the need for coordination in order to perform optimally. The performance required by a typical airside HVAC system involving a large number of zones are multifaceted, involves attainment of various objectives (such as optimal supply air temperature) which requires coordination among zones. The use of traditional centralized optimization involving a large number of variables is very difficult to solve in near real time. This paper presents a novel distributed optimization framework to achieve energy efficiency in large-scale buildings. The primary goals are to achieve scalability, robustness, flexibility and low-cost commissioning. The results are presented using the proposed distributed optimization framework based on a physical testbed in the Iowa Energy Center and demonstrate the advantages of the proposed methodology compared to a typical baseline strategy. The paper outlines a real-life implementation of the proposed framework based on the VOLTTRONTM platform, recently developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)