US 10,948,884 B2Granted

Building control based on uneven load distribution

AssigneeJohnson Controls Technology Company

InventorsRyan C. Beaty, Graeme Willmott, Matthew J. Asmus, Shawn A. Schlagenhaft, Jared Fread

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Abstract

Systems and methods for distributing load of an energy plant are disclosed herein. A target load of at least a first device and a second device of the energy plant is obtained. A first power consumption of the first device and the second device predicted to result from operating the first device and the second device according to a first combination of set points to satisfy the target load is predicted. A second power consumption of the first device and the second device predicted to result from operating the first device and the second device according to a second combination of set points to satisfy the target load is predicted. The first power consumption and the second power consumption are compared, and a combination of set points rendering lower power consumption is selected to operate the energy plant.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A controller for an energy plant, the controller comprising:

a processing circuit comprising a processor and memory storing instructions executed by the processor, the processing circuit configured to:
obtain a target load of a branch of the energy plant, the branch including at least a first device and a second device coupled to each other in parallel,
distribute the target load of the branch across at least the first device and the second device according to multiple different sets of load distributions comprising a first set of load distributions and a second set of load distributions;
adjust the second set of load distributions in response to a determination that the second set of load distributions would cause at least one of the first device or the second device to violate a minimum operating load constraint, wherein adjusting the second set of load distributions causes a combined load of the branch resulting from the second set of load distributions to exceed the target load of the branch;
predict a first power consumption of the first device and the second device, the first power consumption predicted to result from operating the first device and the second device according to a first combination of set points to satisfy the first set of load distributions, the first combination of set points including first set points of the first device and second set points of the second device,
predict a second power consumption of the first device and the second device, the second power consumption predicted to result from operating the first device and the second device according to a second combination of set points to satisfy the second set of load distributions, the second combination of set points including third set points of the first device and fourth set points of the second device,
compare the first power consumption and the second power consumption,
select, one of the first combination of set points and the second combination of set points according to which combination of set points is predicted to result in lower power consumption based on the comparing, and
operate the energy plant according to the selected one of the first combination of set points and the second combination of set points.

6 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions to operate an energy plant, the instructions when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

obtain a target load of a branch of the energy plant, the branch including at least a first device and a second device coupled to each other in parallel,
distribute the target load of the branch across at least the first device and the second device according to multiple different sets of load distributions comprising a first set of load distributions and a second set of load distributions,
adjust the second set of load distributions in response to a determination that the second set of load distributions would cause at least one of the first device or the second device to violate a minimum operating load constraint, wherein adjusting the second set of load distributions causes a combined load of the branch resulting from the second set of load distributions to exceed the target load of the branch,
predict a first power consumption of the first device and the second device, the first power consumption predicted to result from operating the first device and the second device according to a first combination of set points to satisfy the first set of load distributions, the first combination of set points including first set points of the first device and second set points of the second device,
predict a second power consumption of the first device and the second device, the second power consumption predicted to result from operating the first device and the second device according to a second combination of set points to satisfy the second set of load distributions, the second combination of set points including third set points of the first device and fourth set points of the second device,
compare the first power consumption and the second power consumption,
select, one of the first combination of set points and the second combination of set points according to which combination of set points is predicted to result in lower power consumption based on the comparing, and
operate the energy plant according to the selected one of the first combination of set points and the second combination of set points.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.