- Author
-
Kelly, G. E.
|
May, W. B., Jr.
- Title
- Concept of an Emulator/Tester for Building Energy Management System Performance Evaluation.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
-
ASHRAE Transactions,
Vol. 96,
No. 1,
1117-1126,
1990
- Report
-
AT-90-14-2,
- Keywords
-
emulator tester
|
building energy management
|
systems performance evaluation
|
building automation system hardware
|
BEMS software
|
algorithms
|
tests
- Abstract
- The performance of a building energy management system (BEMS) can be evaluated by an emulator/testor consisting of a computer-based simulation of a building and its mechanical system connected to the BEMS in place of its sensors and actuator. The BEMS, through its software, then controls the simulated building/HVAC system as if it were an actual building, while the emulator/tester evaluates the BEMS' performance in terms of the energy consumed, the degree of comfort maintained in the simulated space, system response time, accuracy of control, etc. The BEMS may be tested with any type of building/HVAC system for which a simulation model is available, and tests can be repeated on different BEMS under identical conditions. In order to understand the requirements associated with the design of an emulator/tester, an overview is presented of the different kinds of BEMS software that an emulator/tester could be used to evaluate. This is followed by a discussion of the expected behavior of typical BEMS supervisory software for controlling air-handling units, a description of possible performance rating criteria and test conditions, and a brief summary of possible test results.