Systems and methods to automatically link availability of series devices in a plant
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Solution Overview
Problem
Building management systems face inefficiencies in managing and optimizing the operation of HVAC systems due to the complexity of interconnected devices and the need to account for unavailable devices, leading to increased computational resources and reduced performance.
Innovation Solution
A controller utilizing graph theory analysis to identify and exclude schematically dependent devices from the system, allowing for a reduced subset of devices to operate and transfer resources efficiently, thereby reducing computational load and improving system performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the building management system manages all interconnected devices in the HVAC system, then the system can maintain complete control and monitoring capability, but the computational resources increase and performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the set of interconnected devices by identifying and separating unavailable devices from the active device set. This segmentation allows the building management system to process and control only the relevant subset of devices, reducing computational complexity while maintaining control over all devices through the identification mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts unavailable devices from the complete set of interconnected devices using graph theory analysis. By taking out these devices separately, the system reduces the computational burden on the active device management while maintaining the ability to monitor and control all devices through the extraction framework
2Loss of information
If the building management system accounts for unavailable devices in the complete device set, then the system maintains accurate system state information, but the computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by proactively identifying unavailable devices through graph theory analysis before they affect system operations. This preliminary identification allows the system to prepare reduced device sets in advance, reducing real-time computational requirements while maintaining accurate system state information
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a conceptual copy or representation of the device availability state using graph theory matrices. This copying mechanism allows the system to track unavailable devices separately without processing them in the main control loop, preserving system state information while reducing computational energy consumption
Data Source
AI summary
A controller for a plurality of interconnected devices in a system is shown. The controller includes a processing circuit configured to detect that a first device of the plurality of interconnected devices is unavailable and identify a second device of the plurality of interconnected devices schematically dependent upon the first device by conducting a graph theory analysis on schematic relationships indicating connections among the plurality of interconnected devices. The processing circuit is further configured to, in response to identifying the second device schematically dependent upon the first device, generate a reduced subset of the plurality of interconnected devices that excludes the second device. The processing circuit is further configured to operate the reduced subset to transfer one or more resources among the reduced subset via the connections.