Central Plant Control Using Graph Theory for Reduced HVAC Computation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for predicting thermodynamic states in complex HVAC systems are inefficient in terms of computational resources, making it exhaustive to determine optimal operating parameters for minimizing power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a processing circuit to identify a reduced subset of thermodynamic states based on HVAC device connections, predicting these states using a non-linear solver, and determining optimal operating parameters to operate HVAC devices efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the full thermodynamic states are computed by a non-linear solver for all HVAC devices, then the prediction accuracy is improved, but the computational resource consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the HVAC system into multiple subplants (e.g., chiller subplant, boiler subplant, cooling tower subplant) and identifies independent thermodynamic states for each subplant. This segmentation allows the system to compute only the necessary thermodynamic states for each subplant separately, rather than computing the full thermodynamic state for all devices simultaneously, thereby reducing computational resource consumption while maintaining prediction accuracy.
2Productivity
If multiple candidate sets of operating parameters are evaluated to determine optimal parameters, then the operational efficiency is improved, but the computational time and resources increase exhaustively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary identification of independent thermodynamic states and establishes the relationships between HVAC devices and thermodynamic states before evaluating multiple candidate sets of operating parameters. This preliminary action reduces the computational scope for each evaluation, allowing the system to efficiently compare multiple candidate sets and determine optimal operating parameters without exhaustive computational time.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for predicting a plurality of thermodynamic states of a plurality of heat, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) devices of an energy plant are disclosed. The system includes a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions when executed causing the processor to: obtain plant netlist data describing the plurality of HVAC devices of the energy plant and connections of the plurality of HVAC devices to corresponding nodes; identify, from the plurality of thermodynamic states of the energy plant at a plurality of nodes, a reduced subset of the plurality of thermodynamic states to be predicted based on the connections of the plurality of HVAC devices; predict the reduced subset of the plurality of thermodynamic states using a non-linear solver; and determine the plurality of thermodynamic states of the energy plant based on the reduced subset of the predicted thermodynamic states.