The performance of air conditioning systems deteriorate due to the natural aging and wear caused by operating the devices. This is termed “aging degradation,” and it results from a lack of appropriate maintenance which accelerates the degree of performance degradation. The performance degradation of an air conditioning system can cause problems such as increased energy consumption, deteriorated indoor heating environment, and shortened lifespan of air conditioning equipment. To prevent such problems, it is important to establish a long-term maintenance plan to recover degraded performance, such as predicting an appropriate maintenance time by identifying the real-time performance degradation rate based on a system’s operation data. In this study, the performance degradation rate, according to the operating time, was estimated using long-term operation data for devices constituting a heat source system, and the effect of performance degradation of the heat source system’s operation and energy consumption was reviewed using a simulation. The performance degradation rate of the target device was estimated by analyzing the variation trend of the calibration coefficient, which was calculated when the initial performance prediction model was calibrated through operating data. Using this approach, it was confirmed that the annual performance degradation rate was 1.0–1.4% for the heat source equipment, 0.4–1.2% for the cooling towers, and 0.8–1.3% for the pumps. In addition, a heat source system energy simulation calculated the 15-year performance degradation of the heat source equipment to be 34–52% and 7–19% for both the cooling towers and pumps. Due to the equipment performance deterioration, the number of operating heat source equipment and cooling tower fans, and the pump flow rate gradually increased every year, thus accelerating the performance deterioration even further. As a result, energy consumption in the 15th year increased by approximately 41% compared with the initial energy consumption.

This paper developed an algorithm that controls the supply air temperature in the variable refrigerant flow (VRF), outdoor air processing unit (OAP) system, according to indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, and verified the effects after applying the algorithm to real buildings. The VRF-OAP system refers to a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to complement a ventilation function, which is not provided in the VRF system. It is a system that supplies air indoors by heat treatment of outdoor air through the OAP, as a number of indoor units and OAPs are connected to the outdoor unit in the VRF system simultaneously. This paper conducted experiments with regard to changes in efficiency and the cooling capabilities of each unit and system according to supply air temperature in the OAP using a multicalorimeter. Based on these results, an algorithm that controlled the temperature of the supply air in the OAP was developed considering indoor and outdoor temperatures and humidity. The algorithm was applied in the test building to verify the effects of energy reduction and the effects on indoor temperature and humidity. Loads were changed by adjusting the number of conditioned rooms to verify the effect of the algorithm according to various load conditions. In the field test results, the energy reduction effect was approximately 15–17% at a 100% load, and 4–20% at a 75% load. However, no significant effects were shown at a 50% load. The indoor temperature and humidity reached a comfortable level.

The additional process of load calculation during the retrofit of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment has been generally omitted in Korea, in recent years. Instead, a simple replacement of HVAC equipment, based on existing HVAC capacities, has been used, which is limited when taking the variation of internal heat gain into consideration, due to changes in the consumption power due to light and office automation (OA) equipment in recent years. Thus, this study aimed to identify a change in internal heat gains over 30 years, from 1985 to 2015, study investigated actual measurement-based academic papers and catalogs about OA equipment, lighting, and the number of occupants per unit area. The heat load produced from OA equipment has increased by approximately 49.6% in 2015 compared to that of 1980, and the heat load from lighting equipment has decreased by 47% compared to that of fluorescent-based lighting, and the heat load from human bodies was approximately 10 W/m² on average, which showed a minimal change over the past 30 years. The internal heat gain calculated for 30,000 m² of total floor area has increased constantly for the last 30 years. Note that the internal heat gains were designed excessively, as the values used in literature was approximately 17% to 50% smaller than the value used normally in the case of pre-2000 designs, and the values used after 2000 were approximately 35% to 50% smaller than the design standard value.