Adaptive control for universal integrated thermal hydronic system

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Sun energy is one of the most abundant and cost-effective clean renewable sources of energy which can be used either for electrical power generation or directly for heating and cooling. It has been a subject of research and development efforts around the world, including in Canada. Despite significant advances in efficiency of solar technologies in the past years however, all of them suffer from the same disadvantage - sun energy is only available during the day and is also affected by weather conditions. The subject research is intended to overcome these limitations. The primary objective of the project is to develop a methodology for optimal control of an integrated energy module (IEM). An IEM consists of three main components: energy generator, energy storage, and energy booster. The control approach and chosen methodology for this project could be applied to a variety of systems, but this research is focused more narrowly on thermal hydronic applications. For the purpose of this research an IEM consists of the following components: a solar thermal collector (STC) as an energy generator, thermal energy storage; and an air-to-water heat pump as a thermal energy booster. We call this system an Integrated Thermal Hydronic Module (ITHM). We investigate iterative and other methods for optimal control. Successful optimal control will result in significantly smaller and more compact physical implementation of the system which means it would require less materials and labor to produce but also will open up a much wider range of applications that could not have been possible otherwise. To the best of our knowledge, such an optimal control system has not been developed neither in Canada nor internationally; existing control systems are complex, expensive and for the most part are made for large commercial applications. Therefore, the project will generate new knowledge significantly benefiting both research and engineering community in Canada and elsewhere.