Method and apparatus for improving building energy simulations
First Claim
1. A computer-aided method for calibrating a building simulator with corrective flows, comprising the steps of:
- providing audit inputs to said simulator, said audit inputs derived from a building system to be simulated;
providing at least one driving function input to said simulator, said at least one driving function input impacting said system;
providing at least one corrective flow input to said simulator, said at least one corrective flow input improving an accuracy of said simulator; and
performing a building simulation on said simulator using said audit inputs, said at least one driving function input, and said at least one corrective flow input, said simulation producing at least one output.
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Abstract
Calibration of building energy simulations with performance data is accomplished by introducing corrective heat flows. A building is modeled on a simulator with descriptive inputs derived from a building audit. The performance predicted by the simulator under the measured driving functions is compared with the measured performance (e.g., of indoor temperatures and/or energy use). Corrective heat flows are calculated from calibration parameters and primary heat flows. The corrective heat flows are then incorporated as additional internal gains and applied to the simulator to minimize the differences between predicted and measured performances. Performance of Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning systems is included by introducing and estimating additional parameters. The calibrated simulator can be used, for example, to simulate future performance under given weather conditions and thermostatic constraints by repeating the simulation in an iterative manner, with improved values of the corrective heat flows being computed at each iteration. Additionally, the calibration parameters can also be used as a guide to modify the audit inputs to the simulation to thereby reduce the magnitude of the corrective heat flows. The calibrated simulations can be used for the commissioning, diagnosing, optimal controlling, evaluation, and identification of retrofit opportunities of buildings.
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Citations
56 Claims
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1. A computer-aided method for calibrating a building simulator with corrective flows, comprising the steps of:
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providing audit inputs to said simulator, said audit inputs derived from a building system to be simulated; providing at least one driving function input to said simulator, said at least one driving function input impacting said system; providing at least one corrective flow input to said simulator, said at least one corrective flow input improving an accuracy of said simulator; and performing a building simulation on said simulator using said audit inputs, said at least one driving function input, and said at least one corrective flow input, said simulation producing at least one output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An article of manufacture for improving a building simulation, comprising:
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a computer-accessible storage medium; computer programming stored on said storage medium; wherein said computer programming is configured to be accessible from said computer-accessible storage medium by a processor and thereby cause said processor to operate so as to; receive as input an audit shell description of a building to be simulated; receive as input at least one measured driving function of said building to be simulated; calculate at least one heat flow of said building based, at least in part, on said audit shell description and said at least one measured driving function; calculate at least one corrective flow based, at least in part, on said at least one heat flow, wherein said at least one corrective flow can thereby improve an accuracy of said building simulation; and provide said at least one corrective flow as an input to a building simulator as at least one different value of a driving function. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An article of manufacture for improving a building simulation, comprising:
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a computer-accessible storage medium; computer programming stored on said storage medium; wherein said computer programming is configured to be accessible from said computer-accessible storage medium by a processor and thereby cause said processor to operate so as to; receive as input an audit shell description of a building to be simulated; receive as input at least one measured driving function of said building to be simulated; calculate at least one heat flow of said building based, at least in part, on said audit shell description and said at least one measured driving function; calculate at least one shell calibration parameter, said at least one shell calibration parameter associated with said at least one heat flow of said building; execute a building simulator to produce at least one simulated result based, at least in part, on at least one input to said building simulator, said at least one input responsive to said at least one heat flow and the at least one associated shell calibration parameter; and after producing said at least one simulated result and responsive at least partly thereto, calculate at least one Heating/Ventilating/Air Conditioning calibration parameter.
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30. A computer-aided method for calibrating a building simulator with corrective flows, comprising the steps of:
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inputting, into the building simulator, data representative of attributes of a building to be simulated; inputting, into the building simulator, data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated; performing a simulation of the building to be simulated using the building simulator with the data representative of attributes of the building to be simulated and the data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated to produce at least one output; performing an analysis to estimate at least one calibration parameter based, at least in part, on the at least one output; and introducing a variable to the building simulator as a driving force, the variable being responsive to the at least one calibration parameter. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A data processing apparatus for calibrating a building simulator with corrective flows, comprising:
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means for inputting, into the building simulator, data representative of attributes of a building to be simulated; means for inputting, into the building simulator, data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated; means for performing a simulation of the building to be simulated using the building simulator with the data representative of attributes of the building to be simulated and the data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated, said means for performing a simulation producing at least one output; means for performing an analysis to estimate at least one calibration parameter based, at least in part, on the at least one output; and means for introducing a variable to the building simulator as a driving force, the variable being responsive to the at least one calibration parameter.
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47. A computer-aided method for calibrating a building simulator with corrective flows, comprising the steps of:
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performing a simulation of a building to produce at least one first output; estimating at least one calibration parameter and determining at least one first heat flow based, at least in part, on the at least one first output; re-performing the simulation of the building using a product comprised of the at least one calibration parameter and the at least one first heat flow to produce at least one second output; determining at least one second heat flow based, at least in part, on the at least one second output; and re-performing the simulation of the building using another product comprised of the at least one calibration parameter and the at least one second heat flow to produce at least one third output. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49)
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50. A computer-aided method for calibrating a building simulator with corrective flows, comprising the steps of:
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inputting, into the building simulator, data representative of attributes of a building to be simulated; inputting, into the building simulator, data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated; performing a simulation of the building to be simulated using the building simulator with the data representative of attributes of the building to be simulated and the data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated to produce at least one output; performing an analysis to estimate at least one calibration parameter based, at least in part, on the at least one output; performing a different analysis to determine at least one heat flow based, at least in part, on the at least one output; introducing a variable to the building simulator as a driving force, the variable being responsive to the at least one calibration parameter and the at least one heat flow; re-performing the simulation of the building to be simulated using the building simulator with the data representative of attributes of the building to be simulated and the data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated along with the variable to produce at least one intermediate output; re-performing the different analysis to re-determine the at least one heat flow based, at least in part, on the at least one intermediate output; and iteratively repeating said steps of re-performing the simulation and re-performing the different analysis until a selected convergence is attained to produce at least one calibrated output.
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51. An article of manufacture for improving a building simulation, comprising:
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a computer-accessible storage medium; computer programming stored on said storage medium; wherein said computer programming is configured to be accessible from said computer-accessible storage medium by a processor and thereby cause said processor to operate so as to; receive as input audit values of a building to be simulated, said audit values comprising at least shell audit values and Heating/Ventilating/Air Conditioning system audit values; receive as input driving functions, said driving functions impacting the building to be simulated; perform said building simulation using said audit values and said driving functions to produce a plurality of outputs; determine a plurality of primary heat flows based, at least in part, on said plurality of outputs; estimate a plurality of shell calibration parameters based, at least in part, on said plurality of outputs and said plurality of primary heat flows by a executing a best fit analysis; calculate a plurality of corrective heat flows responsive to said plurality of primary heat flows and said plurality of shell calibration parameters; introduce said plurality of corrective heat flows into at least one input of said building simulation; and re-perform said building simulation using said audit values and said driving functions, along with said plurality of corrective heat flows, to produce a different plurality of outputs.
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52. A computer-aided method for calibrating a building simulator with shell calibration parameters, comprising the steps of:
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inputting, into the building simulator, data representative of attributes of a building to be simulated; inputting, into the building simulator, data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated; performing a simulation of the building to be simulated using the building simulator with the data representative of attributes of the building to be simulated and the data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated to produce at least one first output; performing a first best fit analysis to estimate at least one first shell calibration parameter based, at least in part, on the at least one first output and an expected value thereof; modifying at least a portion of the data representative of attributes of the building to be simulated responsive to the at least one first shell calibration parameter to produce once-modified data representative of attributes of the building to be simulated; and re-performing the simulation of the building to be simulated using the building simulator with the once-modified data representative of attributes of the building to be simulated and the data representative of measured driving forces that are capable of impacting the building to be simulated to produce at least one second output. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56)
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Specification