Digitalizing Building Control Deployment for Retrofits: A Case Study on Demand-Flexible Control Sequences

The traditional approach to designing, specifying, deploying, and testing building HVAC controls in large commercial buildings is labor-intensive and error-prone, leading to high cost and poor operational performance. Recent efforts have enabled a comprehensive, digital workflow for model-based control design, deployment, and verification using open-source technology and software standards. This paper presents a case study that applies this workflow to retrofit a demand-flexible "zone ratcheting" control sequence onto a commercial control platform connected to a virtual building. The study demonstrates that automated semantic binding successfully mapped the control logic to the correct building points, eliminating the need for manual programming. Once deployed, the sequence functioned as intended: it correctly ratcheted the cooling setpoint and transmitted the corresponding signals to the virtual building. Ultimately, this work aims to catalyze transformation in the building industry by enhancing grid flexibility, efficiency, and comfort through improved control sequences using a scalable, digitalized control deployment that allows end-to-end quality control, leading to scalable, reliable and cost-effective adoption of advanced control.