Developing virtual laboratories for the design and test of ventilation control strategies

The control industry integrates more and more recent innovations, especially on the sector of communication networks (bus), control (fuzzy logic, neural networks...) and informatics (hard-and software) for the development of Building Automation and Control Systems of HVAC plants. These complex control strategies are now being implemented on ventilation systems (hybrid systems, mechanical systems, etc) to satisfy energy and environmental issues. The necessity of innovation on this field imposes on the manufacturers to develop faster and faster new products while managing perfectly the quality of the products. To date, many field tests are carried out in order to make sure of the correct function of the product under different conditions. An adapted approach is to use a virtual laboratory since it reduces the necessary time for expensive and time-consuming field tests. SIMBAD (SIMulator of Buildings And Devices) Building and HVAC Toolbox is a library of models of HVAC components developed in the Matlab/Simulink graphical environment. It is used in the field of control of HVAC system and also used for the development of virtual laboratories for the design and test of control systems in buildings. This paper presents the structure and uses of virtual laboratories and the evolution of SIMBAD to provide the necessary models to build virtual laboratories for design and test of ventilation control strategies.