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Blind systems have been introduced to provide visual and thermal comfort, as well as to reduce energy use in buildings. A wide variety of such systems exist in terms of thermal and optical properties, location and physical configuration. The current problem with blinds is that their operation is not based on the dynamics of the room but on the static or manual control operated by occupants, although many studies have recognized that dynamic control can far outperform static control. One reason for the lack of dynamic control is that it is not easy to combine the room dynamics with any possible optimization algorithm. Hence, in this study, a whole building simulation tool, EnergyPlus, was integrated with the MATLAB optimization toolbox to solve for optimal control of blind systems. This paper addresses the difference between static versus optimal control of interior and exterior blind systems in office buildings.

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This paper addresses an application of the Kalman filter for estimating a time-varying process disturbance in a building space. The process disturbance means a synthetic composite of heat gains and losses caused by internal heat sources e.g., people, lights, equipment), and airflows. It is difficult to measure and quantify the internal heat sources and airflows due to their dynamic nature and time-lag impact on indoor environment. To address this issue, a Kalman filter estimation method was used in this study. The Kalman filtering is well suited for situations when state variables of interest cannot be measured. Based on virtual and real experiments conducted in this study, it was found that the Kalman filter can be used to estimate the time-varying process disturbance in a building space.