The Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) domain deals with a problem of a zone temperature being regulated by a heat source, and a fan. An outer fan inserts new air into the system in a constant predefined rate. Zone fans are in-charge of pulling air out of the zones, some of that air is ventilated outside, and some is used for circulations. Heaters are in-charge of heating/cooling air to a desired temperature, which in controlled by means of heat transfer. The heaters heat combination of outside and circulated air, for the heaters to heat the combined air to the desired temperature a heat quantity, which is correlated to the needed energy is used. Thus, the controlled variables in the problem are the power or the heat used to heat the air by the heaters, and the fan speeds or Variable Air Volume (VAV) being circulated by the zone fans. The states of the problem are the zones’ temperatures, and the output air temperatures of the heaters.
The goal is to minimize the amount of energy used to operate the system - heating and venting, and to minimize the discomfort levels in the zones, defined as being outside of a parameterized comfort range.