Building power management systems

A method for managing building power, comprising:

• determining values for power usage of a heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC) system in one or more zones of a building, the values including a cost of power value, a comfort value, and a weighting function between the cost of power value and the comfort value, wherein the cost of power value is determined based on a total power allocation and random variables, and the comfort value is determined based on the total power allocation, the random variables, a thermal state, and a time period, random variables include weather and building occupancy factors, and the thermal state indicates a vector describing thermal storage at a time period in each zone;
• determining a power level for a plurality of states based on the determined values, the plurality of states corresponding to different levels of power to operate the HVAC system in the one or more zones;
• and
• generating, based on the power level, a control sequence to be executed by the HVAC system,
• wherein the control sequence includes:
• setting a zone in the building at a first power state setting selected from the different pre-set power state settings as an initial default power state setting for the zone based on an expected initial need of a temperature control in the zone;
• initiating a transition of the zone from the first power state setting to a second, different power state setting when an event is detected to trigger a need to set the zone to the second power state setting;
• and
• after completion of the transition of the zone to the second power state setting, maintaining the zone at the second power state setting until a subsequent event is detected to cause a change in the zone, and
• wherein the control sequence is determined through stochastic dynamic programming using a radial basis function as response surfaces, and the radial basis function is built using the cost of power value, a comfort value, and a weighting function between the cost of power value and the comfort value.

A building power management system, comprising:

• a heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC) system in one or more zones of a building capable of operating in a plurality of states, wherein the plurality of states use different levels of power to operate the HVAC system;
• and
• a module that determines a power level for the plurality of states of the HVAC system, wherein the module determines the power level based on a cost of power value, a comfort value, a weighting function between the cost of power value and the comfort value, or a thermal storage value,
• a module that generates a control sequence to be executed by the HVAC system,
• wherein the control sequence includes:
• setting a zone in the building at a first power state setting selected from the different pre-set power state settings as an initial default power state setting for the zone based on an expected initial need of a temperature control in the zone;
• initiating a transition of the zone from the first power state setting to a second, different power state setting when an event is detected to trigger a need to set the zone to the second power state setting;
• and
• after completion of the transition of the zone to the second power state setting, maintaining the zone at the second power state setting until a subsequent event is detected to cause a change in the zone, and
• wherein the control sequence is determined through stochastic dynamic programming using a radial basis function as response surfaces, and the radial basis function is built using the cost of power value, the comfort value, and the weighting function between the cost of power value and the comfort value.

A computer program product comprising a nonvolatile computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

• code for storing a definition of a plurality of states in a heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC) system in one or more zones of a building, the states corresponding to different levels of power to operate the HVAC system;
• code for determining values for power usage, the values including a cost of power value, a comfort value, and a weighting function between the cost of power value and the comfort value, wherein the cost of power value is determined based on a total power allocation and random variables, and the comfort value is determined based on the total power allocation, the random variable, a thermal state, and a time period, and wherein the random variables include weather and building occupancy factors, and the thermal state indicates a vector describing thermal storage at a time period in each zone;
• code for determining a power level for the states based on the determined values for power usage;
• and
• code for generating, based on the power level, control sequences to be executed by the HVAC system,
• wherein the control sequence includes:
• setting a zone in the building at a first power state setting selected from the different pre-set power state settings as an initial default power state setting for the zone based on an expected initial need of a temperature control in the zone;
• initiating a transition of the zone from the first power state setting to a second, different power state setting when an event is detected to trigger a need to set the zone to the second power state setting;
• and
• after completion of the transition of the zone to the second power state setting, maintaining the zone at the second power state setting until a subsequent event is detected to cause a change in the zone, and
• wherein the control sequences are determined through stochastic dynamic programming using a radial basis function as response surfaces, and the radial basis function is built using the cost of power value, the comfort value, and the weighting function between the cost of power value and the comfort value.