UAS Biberach

The Institute for Building and Energy Systems at the University of applied science in Biberach investigates the interaction between thermal and electrical generators and its consumers, both by conducting experiments and simulation studies. We particularly concentrate on refrigeration systems with thermal storages applied in commercial and industrial sectors. The investigations consider the available data (static and dynamic data) of the case study Bosch – Schwieberdingen as real industrial site with about 45 buildings and a centralised heating and cooling supply. The aim of the studies is to derive algorithms and functions for the decentralised energy management and control of the refrigeration systems, especially considering high level inputs (load data, load forecasts, weather data, weather forecasts, dynamic pricing, etc.) from external data resources and a central energy management entity. As the result of the first analysis, one of the advanced process control methodologies (e.g., model predictive control, fuzzy control, adaptive control, etc.) shall be applied. Additionally, the smart grid and the refrigeration laboratory of the institute are used to examine the communication between buildings, energy systems and the electrical grid management considering industrial standards such as IEC 61850. The expected outcome of this research is a simulation environment which demonstrates the implementation of local building energy management systems into a high level energy management entity, e.g. the energy management of whole cities or building districts. This will be demonstrated for refrigeration systems. Furthermore, necessary requirements on decentralised energy management systems considering communication to high level energy management systems as well as aspects like balancing between supply and demand in terms of electrical grid stability shall be defined.