Systems and methods for assessing and controlling sustainability of an energy plant

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12393992-B2
Application number	US-202217826635-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2022
Priority date	Oct 18, 2018
Publication date	Aug 19, 2025
Grant date	Aug 19, 2025

Abstract

Systems and methods for controlling building equipment include simulating operation of the building equipment at a plurality of initial points to generate corresponding values of a first control objective and a second control objective that competes with the first control objective, automatically generating a new point at which to run a new simulation based on the plurality of initial points and the corresponding values of the control objectives, running the new simulation at the new point to generate corresponding values of the control objectives, classifying a subset of the plurality of initial points and the new point as Pareto-optimal points based on the corresponding values of the control objectives, and operating the building equipment at a Pareto-optimal point selected from the subset of the plurality of initial points and the new point classified as Pareto-optimal points.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for controlling building equipment comprising:
one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
simulating operation of the building equipment at a plurality of initial points to generate corresponding values of a first control objective and a second control objective that competes with the first control objective, wherein simulating the operation of the building equipment comprises executing a control algorithm subject to one or more constraints, each of the plurality of initial points defining a different simulation configuration comprising different values for the one or more constraints;
automatically generating a new point at which to run a new simulation based on the plurality of initial points and the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective;
running the new simulation at the new point to generate corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective;
classifying a subset of the plurality of initial points and the new point as Pareto-optimal points based on the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective; and
operating the building equipment at a Pareto-optimal point selected from the subset of the plurality of initial points and the new point classified as Pareto-optimal points.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein simulating the operation of the building equipment at the plurality of initial points comprises running an initial simulation for each of the plurality of initial points, each initial simulation generating a corresponding value of the first control objective and a corresponding value of the second control objective.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein automatically generating the new point at which to run the new simulation comprises executing a process configured to suggest one or more Pareto-optimal points based on the plurality of initial points and the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein automatically generating the new point at which to run the new simulation comprises:
constructing an approximation function based on the plurality of initial points and the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective for the plurality of initial points; and
finding a point that optimizes the approximation function.

5. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
generating an updated dataset comprising the plurality of initial points, the new point, and the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective for the plurality of initial points and the new point; and
automatically generating a second new point at which to run a second new simulation based on the updated dataset.

6. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
providing a user interface that indicates the subset of the plurality of initial points and the new point classified as Pareto-optimal points; and
receiving a user selection of the Pareto-optimal point at which to operate the building equipment via the user interface.

7. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising providing a user interface comprising values of a set of performance metrics comprising at least the first control objective and the second control objective, each set of performance metrics predicted to result from operating the building equipment at one of the plurality of initial points.

8. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
adjusting weights assigned to a plurality of performance metrics characterizing the operation of the building equipment at the plurality of initial points; and
assigning a score to each of the plurality of initial points, each score based on (i) values of the plurality of performance metrics predicted to result from operating the building equipment at the plurality of initial points and (ii) the weights assigned to the plurality of performance metrics.

9. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
assigning a score to each of the plurality of initial points based on values of a plurality of performance metrics predicted to result from operating the building equipment at the plurality of initial points; and
providing a user interface that arranges the plurality of initial points according to the score assigned to each of the plurality of initial points.

10. A method for controlling building equipment comprising:
simulating operation of the building equipment at a plurality of initial points to generate corresponding values of a first control objective and a second control objective that competes with the first control objective, wherein simulating the operation of the building equipment comprises executing a control algorithm subject to one or more constraints, each of the plurality of initial points defining different values for the one or more constraints;
automatically generating a new point at which to run a new simulation based on the plurality of initial points and the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective;
running the new simulation at the new point to generate corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective;
classifying a subset of the plurality of initial points and the new point as Pareto-optimal points based on the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective; and
operating the building equipment at a Pareto-optimal point selected from the subset of the plurality of initial points and the new point classified as Pareto-optimal points.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein simulating the operation of the building equipment at the plurality of initial points comprises running an initial simulation for each of the plurality of initial points, each initial simulation generating a corresponding value of the first control objective and a corresponding value of the second control objective.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein automatically generating the new point at which to run the new simulation comprises executing a process configured to suggest one or more Pareto-optimal points based on the plurality of initial points and the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein automatically generating the new point at which to run the new simulation comprises:
constructing an approximation function based on the plurality of initial points and the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective for the plurality of initial points; and
finding a point that optimizes the approximation function.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
generating an updated dataset comprising the plurality of initial points, the new point, and the corresponding values of the first control objective and the second control objective for the plurality of initial points and the new point; and
automatically generating a second new point at which to run a second new simulation based on the updated dataset.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
providing a user interface that indicates the subset of the plurality of initial points and the new point classified as Pareto-optimal points; and
receiving a user selection of the Pareto-optimal point at which to o

Assignees

• Tyco Fire & Security Gmbh

Inventors

• Pancholi Payal
• Gupta Abhishek
• Kummer James P
• Wenzel Michael J
• Risbeck Michael J

Classifications

• G06F30/13

  Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads · CPC title

• G06Q10/0637

  Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals · CPC title

• G06Q10/06315

  Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis · CPC title

• G06F2111/08

  Probabilistic or stochastic CAD · CPC title

• G05B13/04

  involving the use of models or simulators · CPC title