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Evaluate the impact of sensor accuracy on model performance in data-driven building fault detection and diagnostics using Monte Carlo simulation

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Abstract

The performance of data-driven fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) is heavily dependent on sensors. However, sensor inaccuracy and sensor faults are pervasive in building operation: inaccurate and missing sensor readings deteriorate FDD performance; sensor inaccuracy will also affect the selection of sensor for data-driven FDD in the model training process, which is another key factor of data-driven FDD performance. Sensor accuracy and sensor selection individually are well-studied research topics in this field, but the impact of sensor accuracy on sensor selection and its further impact on FDD performance has not been evaluated and quantified. In this paper, we developed a novel analysis methodology that comprehensively evaluates sensor fault on sensor selection and FDD accuracy. Monte Carlo simulation is applied to deal with multiple stochastic sensor inaccuracy and provide probabilistic analysis results of the impact of sensor inaccuracy on sensor selection and FDD accuracy. This methodology focuses on the net impact of fault states across a full sensor set. The developed methodology can be used for the early-stage sensor design and operation-stage sensor maintenance. A case study is conducted to demonstrate the analysis methodology using a commercial building model crated to Flexible Research Platform located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA.

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Acknowledgements

This work was authored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding provided by U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Building Technologies. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.

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Correspondence to Liang Zhang.

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Zhang, L., Leach, M. Evaluate the impact of sensor accuracy on model performance in data-driven building fault detection and diagnostics using Monte Carlo simulation. Build. Simul. 15, 769–778 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-021-0833-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-021-0833-4

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