Development of ARX model based off-line FDD technique for energy efficient buildings

Tools available for energy conservation in buildings still lack practical and cost-effective fault detection and diagnosis technique. This paper puts forth model based fault detection technique for off-line analysis based upon Autoregressive Exogenous method. Real time operation data of a Variable Air Volume Air Handling Unit in normal operating condition with artificially induced faults and without faults are obtained to validate the model. It is concluded that off-line analysis of data by this model is likely to detect most of the faults such as problems in damper control. The method seems to be robust until on-line fault detection and diagnosis techniques are developed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.