This letter introduces a new switched adaptive control mechanism that can cope with parametric uncertainty while using discrete and saturated actuators. Control of air handling units (AHUs), where air and water supply have discrete and saturated characteristics, is the motivational drive behind this letter. We show that the cheap actuation and low computational requirements of building automation installations can be met after recasting the AHU thermal dynamics as a switched linear system with discrete working modes. Adaptive laws with antiwindup compensation and a switching law based on dwell time are introduced to cope with the uncertainties and input constraints of the switched linear system. Tracking performance is shown analytically and demonstrated via a numerical test case. Index Terms-Air handling units, switched adaptive control, input saturation, discrete input, dwell time. I. INTRODUCTION A T THE core of heating, ventilating and airconditioning (HVAC) systems in modern buildings are air handling units (AHUs), whose task is to provide air at desired temperature and humidity [1]-[3]. Considerable efforts have been made to provide efficient control for AHUs, where at least two intrinsic features of AHUs stand out [4]: first, the interaction between the air circuit and the water circuit in the heating/cooling coil gives rise to nonlinear dynamics; second, custom installation settings and variable operating conditions induce substantial uncertainty and several undetermined operating parameters. As a way to address nonlinearities and uncertainties, intelligent control techniques,
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.