Title
Operation Strategy of Smart Thermostats that Self-learn User Preferences
Abstract
Smart thermostats can automatically adjust indoor temperature based on user preferences to save electricity bills without significantly comprising comfort. However, current smart thermostats usually require users to master programming or require a significant amount of user behavior observations to enable automatic control, which is demanding and adverse to their popularization. In this paper, we propose a practical method that enables a smart thermostat to track user preferences and derive the optimal temperature setting schedule. We assume that users are rational and aim to minimize their overall costs. First, we propose a Bayesian-Inference-based method that can quickly learn user preferences with a limited number of user behavior observations. Then, we generate the optimal temperature setting schedule via a Stochastic Expected Value Model (SEVM). Finally, we propose an operation strategy under which a thermostat can work automatically and continuously. The “virtual user” case study indicates that the proposed method can quickly yield a satisfying probabilistic estimate of user preferences based on even only 10 observations. The “real user” case study demonstrates that the method can dynamically track user preferences and continuously generate optimal temperature setting schedules to reduce on average 12% overall costs. Based on the proposed method, Users can conveniently enjoy a customized temperature zone with a lower overall cost.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1109/tsg.2019.2891508
IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid
Keywords
Field
DocType
Thermostats,Temperature distribution,Temperature control,Schedules,Bayes methods,Buildings,Programming
Electricity,Temperature control,Thermostat,Control engineering,Automatic control,Real-time computing,Schedule,Probabilistic logic,Engineering,Virtual user
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
10
5
1949-3053
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Yiyan Li110.69
Zheng Yan251.85
S. Chen3344.52
Xiaoyuan Xu400.34
Chongqing Kang59219.22