OPTIMIZATION SYSTEM USING AN ITERATIVELY COUPLED EXPERT ENGINE
First Claim
1. A configuration system for use in configuring the operation of a plant having a set of interconnected plant equipment, wherein the plant equipment includes multiple sets of energy production units that can be run separately or together to produce energy, the configuration system comprising:
- a computer readable memory that stores a plurality of equipment models that model the operation of the plant equipment and an objective function defining optimal operation of the interconnected plant equipment;
a numerical solver that operates on a computer processing device using the objective function, the plurality of equipment models and a set of plant configuration input criteria to determine an optimal operating configuration of the set of interconnected plant equipment by determining an operational configuration of the set of interconnected plant equipment that minimizes or maximizes the objective function; and
an expert engine that operates on a computer processing device to determine one or more operating values for use in running the plant equipment, wherein the expert engine calls the numerical solver a plurality of times to determine the one or more operating values for use in running the plant equipment, and wherein the expert engine provides the numerical solver a different set of plant configuration input criteria during each of the calls.
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Accused Products
Abstract
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.
169 Citations
52 Claims
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1. A configuration system for use in configuring the operation of a plant having a set of interconnected plant equipment, wherein the plant equipment includes multiple sets of energy production units that can be run separately or together to produce energy, the configuration system comprising:
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a computer readable memory that stores a plurality of equipment models that model the operation of the plant equipment and an objective function defining optimal operation of the interconnected plant equipment; a numerical solver that operates on a computer processing device using the objective function, the plurality of equipment models and a set of plant configuration input criteria to determine an optimal operating configuration of the set of interconnected plant equipment by determining an operational configuration of the set of interconnected plant equipment that minimizes or maximizes the objective function; and an expert engine that operates on a computer processing device to determine one or more operating values for use in running the plant equipment, wherein the expert engine calls the numerical solver a plurality of times to determine the one or more operating values for use in running the plant equipment, and wherein the expert engine provides the numerical solver a different set of plant configuration input criteria during each of the calls. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An energy management system for use in operating a plant having a plurality of energy producing units coupled to one or more loads, the energy management system comprising:
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an expert engine that operates on a computer processing device to determine different sets of input plant operating configuration criteria for operating the energy producing units, wherein the expert engine uses the different sets of input plant operating configuration criteria to determined a final optimal operating configuration of the plurality of energy producing units; and a numerical solver coupled to the expert engine, the numerical solver including an objective function and a set of equipment models for the energy producing units, wherein the numerical solver operates on a computer processing device to determine an optimal plant operating configuration by modeling the plant operation at a number of different operating configurations based on a particular set of input plant operating configuration criteria and determining one of the number of different operating configurations that best meets the objective function, wherein the objective function considers costs of energy creation and usage of the plurality of energy producing units; wherein the expert engine calls the numerical solver multiple times, provides the numerical solver with a different set of input plant operating configuration criteria during each call of the numerical solver and determines the final optimal operating configuration of the plurality of energy producing units based on the optimal plant operating configurations determined by the numerical solver during the calls. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method of configuring the operation of a plant having a set of interconnected plant equipment, wherein the plant equipment includes multiple sets of energy production units that can be run separately or together to produce energy, the method comprising:
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storing on a computer device a plurality of equipment models that model the operation of the plant equipment and an objective function defining optimal operation of the interconnected plant equipment; determining one or more operating values for use in running the plant equipment by calling via a computer device a numerical solver a plurality of times to determine one or more operating values for use in running the plant equipment, including providing the numerical solver different plant configuration input criteria during each of the calls; and during each of the calls, using the objective function, the plurality of equipment models and a set of plant configuration input criteria to determine an optimal operating configuration of the set of interconnected plant equipment by determining an operational configuration of the set of interconnected plant equipment that minimizes or maximizes the objective function. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification