Evolution Operator-based automata control approach for EMS in active buildings

Active buildings (ABs) are flexible assets that can exploit the advantages of renewables and energy storage to meet their own needs as well as have a positive impact on the grid. In order to control such systems, several Energy Management Strategies (EMS) have been proposed, with automata being a very promising one. Unfortunately, when several ABs are being combined with various operating restrictions imposed on them, these control methods will require high processing power and can become cumbersome to operate particularly in an adaptive mode. In this paper, we propose for the first time to enhance automata with a new method that utilizes evolution operators. In this work, it is proposed that the evolution operators will be used to express the guard conditions of the automata, and hence allow the transition from one operating state to another, to be more flexible, and versatile. This will allow us to control large and complex energy systems and will maximise their efficiency and lifetime. As a case study, and to clearly show the merits of proposed methodology, a simple AB is considered, and we demonstrate with an example of how easily we can adaptively modify the EMS when this is required.