AccScience Publishing / IJAMD / Volume 2 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.36922/ijamd.8161
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Machine learning-based model predictive control for multizone building automation: A case study

Pradeep Shakya1 ,  Shiva Sreenivasan2 ,  Baskaran Krishnamoorthy1 ,  Shiyu Yang3 ,  Man Pun Wan2*
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1 Sustainable Built Environments, Energy Research Institute @ Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N), 1 Cleantech Loop, Singapore
2 Thermal and Fluids Division, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore
3 Department of Fluid Dynamics, Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC), Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), 1 Fusionopolis Way, Singapore
IJAMD 2025, 2(1), 39–53; https://doi.org/10.36922/ijamd.8161
Submitted: 24 December 2024 | Revised: 7 February 2025 | Accepted: 20 February 2025 | Published: 5 March 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

In Singapore’s hot and humid climate, air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) systems account for over 60% of commercial building energy consumption, driving efforts to enhance energy efficiency through predictive control strategies such as model predictive control (MPC) to overcome the limitations of conventional reactive building automation systems. This paper presents a multizone MPC system designed to optimize energy consumption and thermal comfort in a commercial building’s ACMV system in Singapore. The system was implemented in a multi-use test building with real occupancy and a deployment area of approximately 850 m2, partitioned into six learning zones, two office spaces, and three open spaces. The ACMV system serving the deployment area consisted of two primary air-handling units and 16 fan coil units, where chilled water was supplied to the cooling coils, and conditioned air was distributed through motorized diffusers. To facilitate predictive control, data-driven thermal prediction models were developed for each zone using a non-linear autoregressive exogenous network with exogenous inputs trained on historical data and disturbances. Thermal comfort optimization was guided by the predictive mean vote, which was targeted at 0, representing thermal neutrality (as per ASHRAE 55 standards), and constrained within a range of −0.5 – 0.5. Performance comparisons demonstrated that the MPC system achieved over 42% energy savings compared to the original thermostat-based control while enhancing thermal comfort. Despite its advantageous control performances, challenges for large-scale deployment remain, including implementation costs, scalability, and model accuracy. Future work can address these challenges by developing comfort models that leverage existing building sensors.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Model predictive control
Coordinated multisystem control
Energy saving
Thermal comfort
Visual comfort
High-performance building
Funding
This research is jointly supported by Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) of Singapore (NTU REF 2019-0607) and Smart Nation and Digital Government Office, SNDGO of Singapore (NRF2016IDM-TRANS001-031).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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International Journal of AI for Materials and Design, Electronic ISSN: 3029-2573 Print ISSN: 3041-0746, Published by AccScience Publishing
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