Energy efficient fuzzy based combined variable refrigerant volume and variable air volume air conditioning system for buildings

Energy conservative building design has triggered greater interests in developing flexible and sophisticated air conditioning systems capable of achieving enhanced energy-savings potential without sacrificing the desired thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ). This research work greatly aimed at achieving enhanced energy conservation, good thermal comfort and better IAQ for space conditioning with the application of combined variable refrigerant volume (VRV) and variable air volume (VAV) air conditioning (A/C) systems. Experimental investigation on the proposed combined air conditioning system with the application of intelligent fuzzy logic controller was performed for summer and winter climatic conditions to substantiate the energy-savings capability. The proposed system experimentally analyzed under fixed ventilation, demand controlled ventilation (DCV) and combined DCV and economizer cycle (EC) ventilation techniques effectively conserved 44% and 63% of per day average energy-savings in summer and winter design conditions respectively, while compared to the conventional constant air volume (CAV) A/C system. The results of the present investigation have proved that the proposed combined air conditioning system operated under the different ventilation strategies and controlled by the intelligent fuzzy logic controller (FLC) can be considered as an efficient technology to achieve good thermal comfort, IAQ and energy conservation in the modern heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) applications. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.