System and method for hierarchical compressor control

A hierarchical compressor control system comprising:

• at a local network level of the system,
• one or more compressors configured to provide compressed air or gas to one or more consumers;
• and
• a main controller including at least one processor and one or more hardware storage devices that store instructions that are executable to cause the controller to:
• obtain measurements from the one or more compressors for estimating a current state of the one or more compressors;
• transmit the measurements to a remote cloud level of the system;
• transmit the measurements to a short-term scheduling model to create a short-term schedule having a short-term switching sequence for operation of the one or more compressors;
• perform a validation assessment on the short-term schedule for feasibility and safety using a safety check module;
• and
• send the short-term schedule, following validation, to an embedded platform on the main controller of the system, wherein the embedded platform is arranged to refine the short-term switching sequence before implementation on the one or more compressors using switching time optimization;
• the system further comprising:
• at the remote cloud level of the system,
• a scheduling framework;
• and
• a cloud storage that stores the measurements from the one or more compressors and further stores instructions that are executable to cause the scheduling framework to:
• based on stored measurements in the cloud storage, produce a future demand prediction for the one or more compressors using a prediction module;
• transmit the future demand prediction to a long-term scheduling model to create a long-term schedule having a long-term switching sequence for operation of the one or more compressors;
• and
• transmit the long-term schedule, and optionally the future demand prediction, to the local network level of the system;
• wherein the controller is further configured to:
• perform the validation assessment on the long-term schedule for feasibility and safety using the safety check module;
• and
• send the long-term schedule, following validation, to the embedded platform embedded with the controller of the system, wherein the embedded platform is arranged to refine the long-term switching sequence before implementation on the one or more compressors;
• wherein the safety check module is arranged to automatically determine whether to implement the long-term switching sequence or short-term switching sequence for operation of the one or more compressors based on the validation assessment.

A controller configured to operate a compressor system having one or more compressors, the controller comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium that stores instructions that are executable to cause the controller to:
• obtain measurements from the one or more compressors for estimating a current state of the one or more compressors;
• transmit the measurements to a remote cloud level of the compressor system;
• transmit the measurements to a short-term scheduling model to create a short-term schedule having a short-term switching sequence for operation of the one or more compressors;
• perform a validation assessment on the short-term schedule for feasibility and safety using a safety check module;
• send the short-term schedule, following validation, to an embedded platform on the controller, wherein the embedded platform is arranged to refine the short-term switching sequence before implementation on the one or more compressors using switching time optimization;
• receive a long-term schedule originating from the remote cloud level of the compressor system and generated using a prediction module and the long-term scheduling model at remote cloud level of the compressor system;
• perform the validation assessment on the long-term schedule for feasibility and safety using the safety check module;
• and
• send the long-term schedule, following validation, to the embedded platform on the controller, wherein the embedded platform is arranged to refine the long-term switching sequence before implementation on the one or more compressors using switching time optimization;
• wherein the safety check module is arranged to automatically determine whether to implement the long-term switching sequence or short-term switching sequence for operation of the one or more compressors based on the validation assessment.