Refrigeration cycle optimization
AssigneeHitachi-Johnson Controls Air Conditioning, Inc.
InventorsLiming Yang, Matthew J. Asmus
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigeration cycle including at least one outdoor unit including a plurality of compressors and indoor units each placed in indoor spaces comprises a plurality of compressors for supplying refrigerant to indoor units; and a controller for controlling cooperatively a plurality of the compressors in the outdoor unit to provide a capacity for air-conditioning in the indoor spaces through the indoor units, wherein the controller controls operation of the compressors so as to minimize a cost including start/stop of each compressor by prediction of an air-conditioning requirement in a next time chunk.
Claims14
A refrigeration cycle comprising:
- one or more indoor units located in indoor spaces;
- one or more outdoor units comprising a plurality of compressors for supplying refrigerant to the indoor units;
- and
- a controller for controlling cooperatively the plurality of compressors in the outdoor units to provide a capacity for air-conditioning in the indoor spaces through the indoor units;
- wherein the controller controls operation of the compressors so as to minimize a cost including start/stop of each compressor by prediction of an air-conditioning requirement in a next time chunk.
A method for controlling a refrigeration cycle including one or more outdoor units including a plurality of compressors and one or more indoor units located in indoor spaces, the method comprising:
- predicting a capacity of the refrigeration cycle generated by the outdoor units and a temperature of an indoor space air-conditioned by the refrigeration cycle based on historical operating data of the refrigeration cycle;
- minimizing a cost using number of the compressors and electric power consumption as independent variables subject to a temperature constraint condition for the indoor space;
- determining a set of the number of compressors to be operated and the electric power consumption for the compressors in a next time chunk;
- and
- operating the compressors in the determined set in the next time chunk.
One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to control an air-conditioning system by performing operations comprising:
- predicting a capacity of a refrigeration cycle generated by an outdoor unit including a plurality of compressors and temperature of an indoor space air-conditioned by the refrigeration cycle based on historical operating data of the refrigeration cycle;
- minimizing a cost using a number of the compressors and electric power consumption as independent variables subject to a temperature constraint condition for the indoor space;
- determining a set of the number of compressors to be operated and the electric power consumption for the compressors in a next time chunk;
- and
- operating the compressors in the determined set in the next time chunk.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.