Enabling Better Thermal Management of Indoor Spaces through Adaptive Zonal Heat Transfer

In multi-zone indoor spaces with thermal depen- dencies between zones and limited heating/cooling sources, choosing optimal zonal thermostat or heat input settings is often not enough to attain desired zonal temperatures. In such scenarios, simple changes that affect the thermal transfer between different zones, or between the individual zones and the ambient – actuated through opening/closing of doors and windows, for example – can significantly improve the the zonal temperatures or reduce energy costs. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining how the thermal flow in-between the different zones of the indoor space, or between the zones and the ambient, should be adapted towards improving the overall thermal environment in the multi-zone space. Despite the complex structure of the problem, we show how such the question of optimal zonal heat transfer adaptation – which involves determining the optimal zonal heat input settings as well – can be formulated and solved efficiently. We also determine conditions under which the problem has a convex structure. Finally, we evaluate the benefits of zonal heat transfer adaptation through simulations on a dynamic thermal model of a 6-zone indoor space. Our results show that zonal heat transfer adaptation can result in significant improvement of zonal temperatures and/or energy costs, particularly when not all zones are equipped with heat sources.