Interior Volume Thermal Modeling And Control Apparatuses, Methods And Systems

A system for comfort based management of thermal systems, including residential and commercial buildings with active cooling and/or heating, is described. The system can operate without commissioning information, and with minimal occupant interactions, and can learn heat transfer and thermal comfort characteristics of the thermal systems so as to control the temperature thereof while minimizing energy consumption and maintaining comfort. A thermal model represents thermal behavior of a volume in a thermal system, characterizing heat transfer and estimating energy consumption and temperature. A comfort model represents thermal comfort in a volume of a thermal system, estimating an effective temperature at which an occupant is unlikely to object. A comfort agent interacts with thermal models to estimate physically-realizable discrete temperature states with associated transition values, constrained by comfort model estimates, to identify an optimal path and define control temperatures for volumes in a thermal system, facilitating optimal start and temperature control.