Generalizing HVAC Control With Domain Randomized Reinforcement Learning

arXiv:2609.05822v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Deploying advanced HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) controllers at scale remains difficult because performance often depends on accurate building models or per-site retuning. We propose NOMAD-RL (Neural Online Meta-Adaptation for Dynamics), a general-purpose Reinforcement Learning (RL) controller designed to transfer across heterogeneous thermal zones through a universal, non-invasive thermostat interface. The controller acts on temperature setpoints from zone measurements and forecasts, while a recurrent policy supports online adaptation under partial observability. Our main contribution is an adaptive domain randomization scheme based on physics-informed normalizing flows, which models correlated and multimodal distributions of thermal-zone parameters while maintaining physical plausibility and controllability. This produces a realistic and progressively adaptive training curriculum that improves transfer across buildings. We evaluate NOMAD-RL against a constant-setpoint PID controller, RL without domain randomization, and MPC in single- and multi-zone settings. NOMAD-RL consistently outperforms the PID and non-randomized RL baselines, and approaches the performance of a well-tuned MPC, especially in the more challenging multi-zone case. These results highlight the potential of adaptive, physics-informed domain randomization for robust and transferable HVAC control.

Abstract:Deploying advanced HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) controllers at scale remains difficult because performance often depends on accurate building models or per-site retuning. We propose NOMAD-RL (Neural Online Meta-Adaptation for Dynamics), a general-purpose Reinforcement Learning (RL) controller designed to transfer across heterogeneous thermal zones through a universal, non-invasive thermostat interface. The controller acts on temperature setpoints from zone measurements and forecasts, while a recurrent policy supports online adaptation under partial observability. Our main contribution is an adaptive domain randomization scheme based on physics-informed normalizing flows, which models correlated and multimodal distributions of thermal-zone parameters while maintaining physical plausibility and controllability. This produces a realistic and progressively adaptive training curriculum that improves transfer across buildings. We evaluate NOMAD-RL against a constant-setpoint PID controller, RL without domain randomization, and MPC in single- and multi-zone settings. NOMAD-RL consistently outperforms the PID and non-randomized RL baselines, and approaches the performance of a well-tuned MPC, especially in the more challenging multi-zone case. These results highlight the potential of adaptive, physics-informed domain randomization for robust and transferable HVAC control.

4 pages, 5 figures. Short paper published in ACM Sustainability Week Companion '26

Machine Learning (cs.LG)

arXiv:2609.05822 [cs.LG]

(or arXiv:2609.05822v1 [cs.LG] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.05822 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Sustainability Week (ACM Sustainability Week Companion '26), pp. 383-386, ACM, 2026

https://doi.org/10.1145/3765611.3815359 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources

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Generalizing HVAC Control With Domain Randomized Reinforcement Learning

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