Intelligent control for comfort indexes and indoor air quality based on variable-frequency air conditioners

Taking the predicted mean vote(PMV) indicating human thermal comfort and the CO₂ concentration indicating indoor air quality(IAQ) as control input parameters, develops corresponding control strategies, and it can be simultaneously achieved that PMV is within the range from 0 to 0.5 and volume fraction of CO2 is less than 1 000×10-6 by controlling variable-frequency air conditioner compressor, evaporator fan, fresh air damper(or fan) and desk fan respectively. Develops a system model of air conditioners and simulates the thermal comfort and IAQ in a typical air conditioned office room. The results show that thermal comfort index(CI) control can provide superior performance over conventional set-point control in terms of human comfort and energy consumption, and demand-controlled ventilation systems are energy saving compared with average fresh air per person-based ventilation systems.