The control of year-around climate-controlled office buildings with thermally activated building components is a challenge in terms of control engineering. The buildings’ large time constants make it necessary to apply a predictive control strategy that incorporates weather forecasts and thus reacts early to a sudden cold weather drop, for example. The energy management system developed by BEST GmbH as part of the UserGRIDs project has been tested and evaluated in an office building at the Innovation District Inffeld in Graz since November 2022. Together with EAM Systems GmbH and the Institute for Software Technology at Graz University of Technology, the necessary IT infrastructure was installed and new sensor technology was implemented. In the further course of the project, the energy management system will be extended by a unique feature of the project: The "users" will be actively involved via a feedback app. Employees of the building can use it to evaluate comfort and thus actively influence the energy management system. (Grafik: BEST, Valentin Kaisermayer)

2022-12-15