Heat Source Control for Capacity-Degraded Machine Prioritization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat source systems with capacity-degraded machines experience frequent repetition of increase/decrease stages due to the influence of these machines on water supply temperature, leading to inefficient operation and temperature divergence from set values.
Innovation Solution
A control device that detects capacity-degraded machines and modifies their operational priority ranking to the lowest position, allowing for preferential shutdown during decrease stages and startup during increase stages, while also adjusting load distribution and output limits to prevent excessive loading on these machines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a forced increase stage is performed on a heat source machine when water supply temperature exceeds a threshold, then the water supply temperature can be prevented from rising, but the capacity-degraded machine continues to be included in operating machines and causes repeated increase/decrease stages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the capacity-degraded machine from the group of operating heat source machines by detecting machines that cannot exhibit rated capacity and excluding them from normal operation. This prevents the degraded machine from causing repeated increase/decrease stages while maintaining temperature control through healthy machines.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by continuously monitoring the water supply temperature and the operational status of heat source machines. When temperature exceeds threshold or a degraded machine is detected, the system adjusts machine operation accordingly, creating a closed-loop control that prevents repeated instability.
2Productivity
If heat source machines operate with normal load distribution, then system capacity is fully utilized, but capacity-degraded machines cause water supply temperature to diverge from set values
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by treating capacity-degraded machines differently from healthy machines. Degraded machines are detected and assigned reduced or zero load based on their actual capacity, while healthy machines receive appropriate load distribution. This ensures temperature control is maintained by quality-based differentiation rather than uniform treatment.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the operational priority ranking of capacity-degraded machines is modified to lowest position, then frequent repetition of increase/decrease stages is avoided, but the degraded machines are operated less frequently
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful effect of capacity-degraded machines into a beneficial control mechanism. By detecting degraded machines and modifying their priority ranking to lowest position, the system uses the presence of degraded machines to trigger intelligent load distribution that prioritizes healthy machines. This transforms the problem of degraded machines into an opportunity for optimized system operation and extended equipment life.
Data Source
AI summary
The purpose of the present invention is to avoid frequent repetition of an increase/decrease stage caused by the inclusion, in a heat source system, of a machine the capacity of which has been degraded. A heat source system of the present invention is provided with a plurality of heat source machines. A higher-level control device (20) controls each of the heat source machines so that a heat medium delivery temperature, which is the temperature of a heat medium being supplied to an external load, will be a set temperature. The higher-level control device (20) is provided with a number-of-machines control unit (22), a degraded machine detection unit (24), and a priority ranking modification unit (25). The number-of-machines control unit (22) controls the number of heat source machines in accordance with operational priority ranking information in which each of the heat source machines and an operational priority ranking are associated together. The degraded machine detection unit (24) detects, as a capacity-degraded machine, a heat source machine that satisfies a predetermined capacity degradation condition, from among operating heat source machines. The priority ranking modification unit (25), if a capacity-degraded machine has been detected, modifies to a lowest position the operational priority ranking of the capacity-degraded machine in the operational priority ranking information.