Operation Results and Utility of Dynamic Pricing Response Control-Applied VRF System in Summer Season

Dynamic pricing refers to a system in which a tariff varies, according to a level of charging and applied time depending on time change. The power billing system used in the Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) is based on time of use (TOU) pricing, which is one of the dynamic pricing systems. This paper aimed to determine the operational results of a variable refrigerant flow system, to which a new control algorithm was applied, in order to respond to dynamic pricing, in summer and the utility of the new control. To do this, real measured data was acquired from a VRF system installed in a building for educational purposes, where dynamic pricing was applied for about 100 days during summer time. At the maximum load operation time period in TOU, the new control minimized operation within the indoor comfort range, an increase in refrigerant evaporation temperature in the indoor unit and the number of revolutions in a compressor in the outdoor unit was limited. As a result, power usage was decreased by 11%, and the operational cost by 14.6%. Furthermore, measurement results using the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model, that represented satisfaction of thermal environment, showed that 82.8% to 90.4% of the occupants of the building were satisfied during operation when the new control was applied.