Phenomena like thermal inertia are difficult concepts to understand for students, because they are difficult to model or to measure. The control theory, on another hand, is often learned in terms of an abstract theory. We have developed a pedagogic cursus, based on the use of a test bench initially dedicated to the test of solar thermal collectors, in order to allow the students to be in real contact with these concepts.
An experimental setup of a water based central heating system has been used to measure the thermo dynamical behavior of a thermostatic valve in order to identify an adequate mathematical model. The identification of the thermostatic valve is based on nonlinear Grey-Box modelling. Grey-Box modelling is characterized by the fact that, in the modelling procedure, partial known information from physics about a system is combined with information from data. The parameters of the model are estimated by a Maximum Likelihood Method. In the paper an overview of this modelling procedure is given.
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