Building Controls Virtual Test Bed

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The Building Controls Virtual Test Bed (BCVTB) is a software environment that allows expert users to couple different simulation programs for distributed simulation. For example, the BCVTB allows to simulate a building and HVAC system in EnergyPlus and the control logic in MATLAB/Simulink, while exchanging data between the software as they simulate. The BCVTB is based on the Ptolemy II software environment. The BCVTB is still under development and aimed at expert users of simulation. Due to the different programs that may be involved in distributed simulation, familiarity with compiling and configuring programs is essential.

Programs that are linked to the BCVTB are

The BCVTB can also exchange data with BACnet compliant Building Automation System (BAS).

In addition to using programs that are coupled to Ptolemy II, Ptolemy II's graphical modeling environment can also be used to define models for control systems, for physical devices, for communication systems or for post-processing and real-time visualization.

Typical applications of the BCVTB include:

The coupling of Modelica allows using EnergyPlus for modeling the building heat flow and daylight availability and using Modelica to model innovative building energy and control systems based on the library that is currently in development at http://simulationresearch.lbl.gov/modelica. This allows advanced users to

Contact

Michael Wetter and Philip Haves
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Building Technologies Department
{MWetter,PHaves}@lbl.gov

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Building Technologies of the U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

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