Thermal Modeling of Indoor Spaces using Illumination Measurement as a Surrogate for Solar Heat Gain

摘要

Solar heat gain (SHG) strongly affects temperature distribution in indoor spaces with significant glass window-area and facades. In this study, we propose and validate a thermal dynamics model that includes the effect of SHG. Since SHG cannot be easily measured directly, we use reflected illumination measurements obtained from cheap ceiling-mounted ambient lighting sensors as a surrogate for SHG in the thermal dynamics model. We demonstrate experimentally that this model improves the prediction accuracy over typical R-C (Resistance-Capacitance) Models that do not include SHG. Specifically, we show that in our test bed, cross-validation error is reduced from $2.2^{circ}C$ for an R-C Model to $1.0^{circ}C$ for the RC Model with SHG. We further demonstrate the robustness of the identified model by validating it under varying ambient weather conditions.