Analysis and optimization of thermal comfort in residential buildings by means of a weather-controlled air-to-water heat pump

In the described research an investigation was performed into how thermal comfort in residential buildings could be improved by means of the smart control and optimization of weather-controlled air-to-water heat pumps, taking into account the new-generation heat pumps which can be adapted to different environmental conditions. A novel approach to the off-line optimization of weather-dependent heating curves is proposed. Outdoor temperature controlled heating is extended into the field of linearly parametrized generalized heating curves, considering additional influencing factors such as solar radiation, temperature gradients, and other near-future effects. Off-line optimization is performed in order to maximize indoor thermal comfort for each different parametrization case. The study is based on a TRNSYS simulation of a residential building which included a heat pump model, and a predicted mean vote (PMV) thermal comfort model. A simulation framework for the global optimization of generalized heating curves is developed. The results of the study showed that a considerable improvement in thermal comfort can be achieved by including (in addition to the outdoor temperature) some other factors which can affect the operation of the heat pump, solar radiation being the factor with the strongest effect.