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Awards and Results

Smart Optimal Control of Central Cooling and Air Conditioning System

International Commerce Centre

International Commerce Centre (ICC) partners with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) to develop a Smart Optimal Control of Central Cooling and Air Conditioning System to reduce the building energy cost. ICC, being the tallest building in Hong Kong, has a large central cooling and air-conditioning system. To reduce the energy consumption and cost, since 2011, ICC partners with PolyU to introduce a series of smart optimal control solutions to reduce the cooling energy use and cost of the building. The origins of the solutions come from academic research based on complex building equipment modelling and advanced optimization algorithms. While some people deem the original forms of the solutions to be too complex to be used in actual cooling systems, the team tunes these solutions and combines them into the existing cooling control system of the ICC. These energy-saving solutions include optimized cooling tower control, optimal chiller sequencing control, optimal temperature reset control strategy, peak demand limiting strategy, etc. The team successfully retrofits the control system of the operating cooling system to use them in the building without a complete system replacement. Each of the solutions optimizes the energy efficiency of the system components separately, resulting in an optimal operation for the entire system and reducing its energy consumption.

Besides the reduction of the energy consumption of the building, the project also provides the team a platform to verify and validate their research. The platform enables the team to deliver their effective and practical energy saving practices to the research and industrial community continuously, encouraging the application of advanced technologies in the industry.

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