Demonstration of direct load control of air conditioners in high density residential buildings

This paper describes a system that demonstrates direct load control of air conditioning loads in a high density residential building possibly participating in a market-based demand response program. The system consists of a centralized server software that implements the direct control algorithm for the air conditioner, a local area network that enables communication between the server and air conditioning units (ACU), a hardware platform that demonstrates the direct control of an actual ACU through a home area network, and a software that simulates the response of a large number of ACU under direct load control. The direct control program is initiated when load reduction is desired by the building administrator. The server software scans the entire building for ACU that may be controlled, and computes the temperature that should be maintained by each unit. The new temperature values are sent to the ACU through the building data network and home area network, and overrides the temperature requested by the occupant. The direct control of an actual ACU is demonstrated, while the response of the other ACU are simulated. The system was able to demonstrate that load reduction may be achieved through the coordinated response of a large number of ACU.