Analysis of control strategies for thermally activated building systems under demand side management mechanisms

Thermally activated buildings systems (TABS) are systems that integrate heating/cooling devices in the building structure, so that the building elements act as thermal storage and have an active role in the energy supply and demand management. Although TABS are well known systems, there are still open questions in their realization, mainly concerning appropriate control strategies which are influenced by the large thermal inertia. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of demand side management control strategies on the performance of a thermally activated building system applied in a commercial building. The goal is to estimate the potential of TABS for load shifting requested by the electricity grid. The analysis is performed by means of a sample case: first the existing TABS control strategy and then the possible implementation of DSM mechanisms are analyzed. In particular three different demand side management mechanisms are evaluated: (i) a peak shaving strategy, (ii) a random request of switching on/off the system and (iii) a night load shifting strategy. The simulation results show high potential of TABS within the DSM framework, since TABS allow load control while scarcely affect thermal comfort.