Gülden Gökçen Akkurt

Analysis and Application of Advanced Control Strategies to a Heating Element Nonlinear Model

This paper presents the design of different control strategies applied to a heating element nonlinear model. The description of this heating element was obtained exploiting a data–driven and physically meaningful nonlinear continuous–time model, which represents a test–bed used in passive air conditioning for sustainable housing applications. This model has low complexity while achieving high simulation performance. The physical meaningfulness of the model provides an enhanced insight into the performance and functionality of the system. In return, this information can be used during the system simulation and improved model– based and data–driven control designs for tight temperature regulation. The main purpose of this study is thus to give several examples of viable and practical designs of control schemes with application to this heating element model. Moreover, extensive simulations and Monte– Carlo analysis are the tools for assessing experimentally the main features of the proposed control schemes, in the presence of modelling and measurement errors. These developed control methods are also compared in order to evaluate advantages and drawbacks of the considered solutions. Finally, the exploited simulation tools can serve to highlight the potential application of the proposed control strategies to real air conditioning systems.

Thermodynamic Performance Evaluation of a Geothermal Drying System

Renewable energy sources such as geothermal energy can be used in drying processes as a heat source due to the high energy costs of fossil fuels.

Ventilation Strategies for the Preventive Conservation of Manuscripts in the Necip Paşa Library, İzmir, Turkey

Abstract Libraries are specific spaces in which the indoor microclimate should meet rigorous requirements such as the thermal comfort of humans and the conservation of books, manuscripts, and cultural property. An inadequate indoor microclimate (mainly temperature, relative humidity, and their fluctuations) in libraries may cause chemical, biological, and mechanical degradations in paper-based collections. In this chapter, the indoor microclimate of the Necip Pasa Library, the historic library located in Tire-Izmir, Turkey, is discussed from the perspective of the preventive conservation of manuscripts. The library, which has no active heating, cooling, and ventilation system, was modeled with the help of a building energy simulation tool, DesignBuilder. The indoor temperature and relative humidity were monitored throughout 1 year and the model was calibrated with respect to these measurements. To reduce the risks of the manuscripts degrading, ventilation strategies were proposed including natural and mechanical control. The results showed that risks of chemical degradation can be diminished to some extent.