SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MONITORING AND CONTROLLING A CENTRAL PLANT

• US 20170212488A1
• Filed: 12/21/2016
• Published: 07/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tyco Fire & Security GmbH (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Tumey, Carol T., Kummer, James P., Strand, Lisa E., Madison, Nicole A., Kinsella, Peter A., Carmody, Joseph P., Flood, Dennis J., Wenzel, Michael J., Asmus, Matthew J.
• Granted Patent: US 11,181,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25011 Domotique, I-O bus, home automation, building automation

Abstract

A system for monitoring and controlling a central plant includes a high level optimizer, a subplant monitor, a user interface, and a dispatch graphical user interface (GUI) generator. The central plant includes a plurality of subplants configured to serve a thermal energy load. The high level optimizer is configured to determine recommended subplant loads for each of the plurality of subplants. The subplant monitor is configured to monitor the central plant and identify actual subplant loads for each of the plurality of subplants. The user interface is configured to receive manual subplant loads specified by a user. The dispatch GUI generator is configured to generate a dispatch GUI and present the dispatch GUI via the user interface. The dispatch GUI includes the recommended subplant loads, the actual subplant loads, and the manual subplant loads.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring and controlling a central plant having a plurality of subplants configured to serve thermal energy loads, the system comprising:

a high level optimizer configured to determine recommended subplant loads for each of the plurality of subplants;

a user interface configured to receive manual subplant loads specified by a user;

a dispatch graphical user interface (GUI) generator configured to generate a dispatch GUI and present the dispatch GUI via the user interface, the dispatch GUI comprising the recommended subplant loads and the manual subplant loads;

a low level optimizer configured to determine recommended equipment setpoints for equipment of the central plant based on at least one of the recommended subplant loads and the manual subplant loads; and

a building automation system configured to provide control signals for the equipment of the central plant based on the recommended equipment setpoints.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to operate in:

an automatic operating mode in which the low level optimizer is configured to determine a first set of recommended equipment setpoints to achieve the recommended subplant loads; and

a manual operating mode in which the low level optimizer is configured to determine a second set of recommended equipment setpoints to achieve the manual subplant loads.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the high level optimizer is configured to determine an amount of overproduction or underproduction resulting from the manual subplant loads by comparing the manual subplant loads to a campus thermal energy load.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the plurality of subplants comprise a thermal energy storage subplant; and

the dispatch GUI comprises an indication of an amount of time until the thermal energy storage subplant is (1) fully depleted based on the amount of underproduction or (2) filled to capacity based on the amount of overproduction.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the dispatch GUI generator is configured to update the dispatch GUI in response to a change in the manual subplant loads, the change resulting in changed manual subplant loads.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein updating the dispatch GUI comprises:

updating the recommended equipment setpoints based on the changed manual subplant loads; and

presenting the updated equipment setpoints via the dispatch GUI.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the dispatch GUI generator is configured to update the dispatch GUI before dispatching the changed manual subplant loads or the updated equipment setpoints to the central plant.

8. A system for monitoring and controlling a central plant having a plurality of subplants configured to serve a thermal energy load, the system comprising:

a high level optimizer configured to determine recommended subplant loads for each of the plurality of subplants;

a subplant monitor configured to monitor the central plant and identify actual subplant loads for each of the plurality of subplants;

a user interface configured to receive manual subplant loads specified by a user; and

a dispatch graphical user interface (GUI) generator configured to generate a dispatch GUI and present the dispatch GUI via the user interface, the dispatch GUI comprising the recommended subplant loads, the actual subplant loads, and the manual subplant loads.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the thermal energy load comprises at least one of a heating load and a cooling load.

10. The system of claim 8, further comprising a subplant utilization database configured to store the recommended subplant loads, the actual subplant loads, and the manual subplant loads for each of a plurality of dispatch intervals.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the plurality of dispatch intervals comprise a past dispatch interval, a present dispatch interval, and a future dispatch interval; and

the dispatch GUI comprises at least one of the recommended subplant loads, the actual subplant loads, and the manual subplant loads for each of the dispatch intervals.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising a low level optimizer configured to determine recommended equipment setpoints for equipment within each of the plurality of subplants based on at least one of the recommended subplant loads and the manual subplant loads.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the low level optimizer is configured to:

provide a first set of recommended equipment setpoints based on the recommended subplant loads; and

provide a second set of recommended equipment setpoints based on the manual subplant loads.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising a building automation system configured to provide control signals for the equipment within each of the plurality of subplants based on the recommended equipment setpoints.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the dispatch GUI comprises an operating mode selector configured to display a plurality of operating modes and to receive a user selection of one of the operating modes;

the plurality of operating modes comprising an automatic operating mode, an advisory operating mode, and a manual operating mode.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the plurality of subplants comprise a thermal energy storage subplant; and

the dispatch GUI comprises an indication of an amount of overproduction or underproduction of the thermal energy load based on the manual subplant loads.

17. The system of claim 8, wherein the dispatch GUI generator is configured to update the dispatch GUI in response to a change in the manual subplant loads.

18. A system for monitoring and controlling a central plant having a plurality of subplants configured to serve thermal energy loads, the system comprising:

a central plant optimizer configured to determine subplant load setpoints for each of the plurality of subplants and equipment setpoints to achieve the subplant load setpoints;

a user interface; and

a dispatch graphical user interface (GUI) generator configured to generate a dispatch GUI and present the dispatch GUI via the user interface, the dispatch GUI comprising at least one of the subplant load setpoints and the equipment setpoints for each of a plurality of dispatch intervals.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the plurality of dispatch intervals comprise a past dispatch interval, a present dispatch interval, and a future dispatch interval.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the dispatch GUI generator is configured to:

populate the past dispatch interval with actual dispatch data received from the central plant;

populate the present dispatch interval with at least one of;

recommended dispatch data based on recommended subplant loads determined by the central plant optimizer, and

manual dispatch data based on manual subplant loads specified by a user via the user interface; and

populate the future dispatch interval with recommended dispatch data based on recommended future subplant loads determined by the central plant optimizer.