A review of current research on occupant-centric control for improving comfort and energy efficiency

Abstract

Occupant-centric control (OCC) is intelligent control of building systems based on the real comfort needs of occupants. This paper provides a comprehensive review of how real-world data on energy-related occupant behavior (OB) can be integrated and applied in OCC systems. The aim is to accurately portray the real occupant needs and improve energy efficiency without sacrificing occupant comfort. This paper first introduces two types of OB: detailed occupancy states and energy-interaction behaviors, including methods to monitor, establish, and predict these OB. Then, OCC is divided into real-time control and model-based predictive control, and each of these four scenarios is discussed. It extensively reviews OCC methods for different equipment in four cases, covering control strategies, control scales, comfort enhancement scenarios, and energy-saving potential for each category. It is summarized that despite extensive research on OB, there are still significant challenges in integrating this research into OCC. A major issue is the lack of a bridge connecting monitoring acquired information and controls. In addition, the article reviews the current state of OCC platform development. The future direction should be combined with advanced Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, WiFi, and other communication technologies to obtain information about people’s behavior and real needs in order to create truly energy efficient and comfortable smart environments. The article also discusses how enhancing the real-time feedback capability of the OCC system can help improve the overall control system capability and the importance of testing through experimentation.