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Recent research has shown the potential of Model-based Reinforcement Learning (MBRL) to enhance energy efficiency of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. However, existing methods rely on black-box thermal dynamics…
This paper demonstrates that continual relearning of control policies using incremental deep reinforcement learning (RL) can improve policy learning for non-stationary processes. We demonstrate this approach for a data-driven 'smart…
It has been shown that the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems of commercial buildings can offer ancillary services to power systems without loss of comfort. In this paper, we propose a new control framework for…
Flexible loads are a resource for the Balancing Authority (BA) of the future to aid in the balance of power supply and demand. In order to be used as a resource, the BA must know the capacity of the flexible loads to vary their power demand…
The rising demand for electricity and its essential nature in today's world calls for intelligent home energy management (HEM) systems that can reduce energy usage. This involves scheduling of loads from peak hours of the day when energy…
Thermal convection is ubiquitous in nature as well as in many industrial applications. The identification of effective control strategies to, e.g., suppress or enhance the convective heat exchange under fixed external thermal gradients is…
Reinforcement learning (RL) has shown promise in solving various combinatorial optimization problems. However, conventional RL faces challenges when dealing with complex, real-world constraints, especially when action space feasibility is…
As opposed to conventional training methods tailored to minimize a given statistical metric or task-agnostic loss (e.g., mean squared error), Decision-Focused Learning (DFL) trains machine learning models for optimal performance in…
Experimentally comparing the energy usage and comfort characteristics of different controllers in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems is difficult because variations in weather and occupancy conditions preclude the…
Deep reinforcement learning agents often exhibit erratic, high-frequency control behaviors that hinder real-world deployment due to excessive energy consumption and mechanical wear. We systematically investigate action smoothness…
Model-Based Reinforcement Learning (MBRL) has been widely studied for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) control in buildings. One of the critical challenges is the large amount of data required to effectively train neural…
Strategic aggregation of electric vehicle batteries as energy reservoirs can optimize power grid demand, benefiting smart and connected communities, especially large office buildings that offer workplace charging. This involves optimizing…
The electric grid is undergoing a major transition from fossil fuel-based power generation to renewable energy sources, typically interfaced to the grid via power electronics. The future power systems are thus expected to face increased…
With large-scale integration of renewable generation and distributed energy resources, modern power systems are confronted with new operational challenges, such as growing complexity, increasing uncertainty, and aggravating volatility.…
This paper studies the automated control method for regulating air conditioner (AC) loads in incentive-based residential demand response (DR). The critical challenge is that the customer responses to load adjustment are uncertain and…
Chaotic convective flows arise in many real-world systems, such as microfluidic devices and chemical reactors. Stabilizing these flows is highly desirable but remains challenging, particularly in chaotic regimes where conventional control…
Classical methods to control heating systems are often marred by suboptimal performance, inability to adapt to dynamic conditions and unreasonable assumptions e.g. existence of building models. This paper presents a novel deep reinforcement…
In this paper, we consider the problem of controlling power consumption dynamics of residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units so that they follow the grid-side power specifications. In order to do so, we design a…
As Exascale computing becomes a reality, the energy needs of compute nodes in cloud data centers will continue to grow. A common approach to reducing this energy demand is to limit the power consumption of hardware components when workloads…
Energy consumption for hot water production is a major draw in high efficiency buildings. Optimizing this has typically been approached from a thermodynamics perspective, decoupled from occupant influence. Furthermore, optimization usually…