%0 Conference Proceedings
%K controls
%K testing
%K development system
%K hardware-in-the-loop
%A Philip Haves
%A Peng Xu
%B Building Simulation ’07
%C Bejing, China
%D 2007
%G eng
%T The Building Controls Virtual Test Bed – a Simulation Environment for Developing and Testing Control Algorithms, Strategies and Systems
%U http://www.ibpsa.org/proceedings/BS2007/p748_final.pdf
%X <p>The paper describes the design of a Building Controls Virtual Test Bed (BCVTB), a simulation environment for the development of control algorithms and strategies for the major energy systems in buildings, HVAC, lighting, active facades and on-site generation. The BCVTB is based on the whole building energy simulation program EnergyPlus and includes both the pure simulation and the hardware-in-the-loop methods of implementing the controls. For convenience and scalability, the design of the hardware-in-the-loop interface for supervisory controls uses BACnet rather than the analog interface used for local loop control. The paper concludes with a case study of the use of a prototype implementation of the BCVTB to precommission the building control system for the naturally-ventilated San Francisco Federal Building. A number of problems were found with the control program, demonstrating the value of the precommissioning and the effectiveness of the technique.</p>