Review of uncertainty-based design methods of central air-conditioning systems and future research trends

Proper sizing of central air-conditioning (AC) systems is essential for high energy efficiency and desired levels of thermal comfort. However, due to the lack of accurate information at the design stage to predict the building peak cooling load and AC system performance, uncertainty exists in the sizing process. To directly deal with the uncertainty, uncertainty-based proper sizing has been developed and studied by many researchers in recent years. Unfortunately, there is neither a systematic review of the uncertainty problem nor a review of proper uncertainty-based sizing. Therefore, this study presents a comprehensive review of the uncertainty in the sizing of central AC systems and outlines the uncertainty-based sizing procedures, with the purpose of helping AC researchers and practitioners understand the sizing procedure and relevant techniques developed recently and, thus, promoting the uncertainty-based sizing strategy.