System and method for controlling multi-zone vapor compression system

A method for controlling a multi-zone vapor compression system (MZ-VCS) including a compressor connected to a set of heat exchangers for controlling environments in a set of zones, comprising:

• determining a current configuration of the MZ-VCS defining active or inactive mode of each heat exchanger in the MZ-VCS;
• updating at least some values of control parameters in a cost function by submitting the current configuration to an optimization function parameterized by a configuration of the MZ-VCS, wherein the optimization function modifies values of the control parameters of the cost function according to the current configuration, wherein the control parameters include at least one block diagonal matrix, an index of each block on the diagonal of the matrix matches an index of a corresponding heat exchanger and values of each block on the diagonal of the matrix are determined for the corresponding heat exchanger, wherein the optimization function preserves the values of the block if the corresponding heat exchanger is in the active mode and modifies the values of the block if the corresponding heat exchanger is in the inactive mode;
• and
• controlling a vapor compression cycle of the MZ-VCS using a set of control inputs determined by optimizing the cost function subject to constraints, wherein steps of the method are performed using a processor.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor for performing a method, the method comprising:

• determining a current configuration of an MZ-VCS defining an active or inactive mode of each heat exchanger in the MZ-VCS;
• updating at least some values of control parameters in a cost function by submitting the current configuration to an optimization function parameterized by a configuration of the MZ-VCS, wherein the optimization function modifies values of the control parameters of the cost function according to the current configuration, wherein the configuration is a vector having elements with zero values for the heat exchangers in the inactive mode and having elements with non-zero values for the heat exchangers in the active mode, wherein an index of the element in the configuration vector matches an index of a corresponding heat exchanger, wherein the values of the control parameters are initialized for a full configuration that includes all heat exchangers in the active mode;
• and
• controlling a vapor compression cycle of the MZ-VCS using a set of control inputs determined by optimizing the cost function subject to constraints.