Building management system with saturation detection and removal for system identification

A method for managing building equipment, comprising:

• operating building equipment at an operating capacity to drive a variable state or condition of a building zone toward a setpoint, the operating capacity and the varying over time;
• measuring, by a sensor in the building zone, a zone measurement;
• receiving, by a building management system, data that includes the operating capacity, the setpoint, and the zone measurement for a plurality of time steps in a time period;
• determining whether an error for the building zone exists for the time period;
• in response to a determination that the error for the building zone exists for the time period, determining whether the operating capacity is in a non-transient region for a threshold amount of the time period;
• in response to a determination that the operating capacity is in the non-transient region for at least the threshold amount of the time period, indicating the time period as a saturation period;
• and
• using the saturation period to modify a set of system data before execution of a subsequent processing step.

A method for saturation detection in an HVAC system, comprising:

• operating HVAC equipment at a measurable operating capacity to heat or cool a building zone to approach a setpoint temperature;
• measuring air temperature in the building zone;
• changing the setpoint temperature a plurality of times over a time span;
• for a plurality of time steps in the time span, aggregating data that includes an operating capacity, the setpoint temperature, and the air temperature;
• defining a transient region of operating capacities corresponding to a non-saturated status and a non-transient region as outside of the transient region;
• and
• for a time period of a plurality of time periods bound by sequential changes in setpoint temperatures:
• calculating an error term for the time period based on the air temperatures and the setpoint temperature for the time period;
• calculating an error threshold based on the setpoint temperature for the time period and a preceding setpoint temperature;
• determining whether the error term is greater than the error threshold;
• in response to a determination that the error term is greater than the error threshold, determining whether the operating capacity is in the non-transient region for a threshold amount of the time period;
• and
• in response to a determination that the operating capacity is in the non-transient region for the threshold amount of the time period, indicating the time period as a saturation period;
• and
• removing, modifying, or excluding data for the saturation period from a set of system data before execution of a subsequent processing step.