Energy Management System Using Expert Engine for Cost Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current energy management systems in industrial plants are limited in optimizing energy costs and production, as they rely on simplistic rules and manual processes, failing to determine the most optimal methodology for running equipment to minimize overall energy costs, especially with fluctuating energy prices and demands.
Innovation Solution
An energy management system utilizing an expert engine and numerical solver to analyze various operational scenarios, determining optimal plant configurations that minimize energy costs by considering forecasted energy prices, equipment availability, and operational constraints, and automatically controlling equipment to implement these scenarios.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual load restoration processes are used after load shedding, then operational simplicity is maintained, but productivity is reduced due to slower restoration times and loss of production
Solution Approach 1:
The energy management system automatically performs load restoration decisions and executes breaker reclosing without human intervention. The system monitors plant conditions, determines when loads can be restored, and automatically reconnects them, making the system self-sufficient in the restoration process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of load restoration with an automated computer-based control system. The system uses software algorithms to analyze plant conditions and control electrical breakers, substituting human operators with an automated decision-making and execution system.
2Device complexity
If current simplistic energy management systems are used, then device complexity is minimized, but productivity is reduced due to inability to optimize energy costs and production
Solution Approach 1:
The energy management system performs multiple functions including load shedding, load restoration, energy cost optimization, production scheduling, and equipment control within a single integrated platform. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for separate systems while maximizing productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts operational parameters such as equipment run schedules, load restoration timing, and production rates based on real-time energy prices, plant conditions, and forecasted demands. This allows continuous optimization of energy costs and production efficiency.
3Loss of energy
If loads are shed and restored frequently based on energy price fluctuations, then energy costs are reduced, but reliability decreases due to repeated operational changes
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of plant conditions, equipment status, and energy price forecasts before making load shedding or restoration decisions. This advance planning ensures that operational changes are made only when necessary and under optimal conditions, minimizing disruption.
Solution Approach 2:
The energy management system continuously monitors plant operational status, energy consumption, and cost parameters, using this feedback to adjust load management strategies in real-time. This closed-loop control ensures that reliability constraints are maintained while optimizing energy costs.
Data Source
AI summary
An energy management system uses an expert engine and a numerical solver to determine an optimal manner of using and controlling the various energy consumption, producing and storage equipment in a plant/communities in order to for example reduce energy costs within the plant, and is especially applicable to plants that require or that are capable of using and/or producing different types of energy at different times. The energy management system operates the various energy manufacturing and energy usage components of the plant to minimize the cost of energy over time, or at various different times, while still meeting certain constraints or requirements within the operational system, such as producing a certain amount of heat or cooling, a certain power level, a certain level of production, etc. In some cases, the energy management system may cause the operational equipment of the plant to produce unneeded energy that can be stored until a later time and then used, or that can be sold back to a public utility, for example, so as to reduce the overall cost of energy within the plant.