Energy Efficient Automation Model for Office Buildings based on Ontologies, Agents and IEC 61499 Function Blocks

Execution of business processes is an important factor that distinguishes residential and office buildings based on their energy usage. Unlike residential buildings, in offices workflows determine how and when energy-consuming devices have to be utilized. Thus, energy efficient building automation systems for office buildings should take into account the dynamic and unpredictable nature of business processes. However, the existing systems lack this important feature. In this paper, a model for combining automation and business processes is proposed. The model is implemented using IEC 61499 Function Block architecture, multi-agent systems and ontology. The proposed method has been examined in a meeting room scheduling scenario, in which meeting scheduling and automated control of the meeting room equipment have been combined and the energy usage has been measured to evaluate the improvement in efficient use of energy using the proposed model.