An Innovation-Based Methodology for HVAC System Fault Detection

Abstract

Although Energy Management and Control Systems (EMCS) have since the early 1970’s contributed significantly to the reduction (20-40 percent) of energy use in buildings without sacrificing occupants’ comfort, their full capabilities have not been completely realized. This is in part due to their inability to quickly detect and compensate for failures in the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. In fact, no matter how good the control scheme for the HVAC system might be, the presence of undetected faults can completely offset any expected savings. This paper presents a methodology for detecting faults in an HVAC system using a nonlinear mathematical model and an extended Kalman filter. The technique was implemented in a computer program and successfully used to detect “planted” faults in simulations of the air handler unit of an HVAC system. Test results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology.

Smart building creation in large scale HVAC environments through automated fault detection and diagnosis

“…HVAC systems have evolved enormously and significant development has been made in terms of data mining techniques for fault detection and diagnosis (FDD). HVAC research studies began in 1980's [3,4], but from the beginning, practical limitations like scalability and complexity have made FDD extremely challenging. Based on this survey, the FDD techniques have been categorised into three major parts: model based, rule based and data-driven based approaches.…”

Methods for Automated and Continuous Commissioning of Building Systems

“…To overcome these shortcomings, sensor data must be validated to assess the integrity of the information. Although the effects of faulty sensors on energy consumption (Kao and Pierce 1983), monitoring and control optimization (Usoro et al 1985), and FDD applications (Katipamula, Pratt, and Braun 2000) are well known in the HVAC industry, the quality of sensors in HVAC systems is not comparable to that of sensors in critical applications such as aeronautics, nuclear power, and chemical processing. A primary concern of building owners and operators is first cost.…”

PCA-FDA-Based Fault Diagnosis for Sensors in VAV Systems

“…Studies of fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) in heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems started in the 1980s (Usoro et al 1985;Anderson et al 1989) and have received more attention recently. ANNEX 25 (Hyvarnen 1995), ANNEX 34 (Dester and Pakanen 2001), and many other studies (Piette et al 2001;Comstock and Braun 1999;Peitsman and Bakker 1996;Rossi and Braun 1997;Yoshida et al 1996;Lee et al 1996;Ngo and Dexter 1999;House et al 2001) concern various kinds of faults in HVAC systems.…”