Energy management system

摘要

An energy management system uses an expert engine and a numerical solver to determine an optimal manner of using and controlling the various energy consumption, producing and storage equipment in a plant/communities in order to for example reduce energy costs within the plant, and is especially applicable to plants that require or that are capable of using and/or producing different types of energy at different times. The energy management system operates the various energy manufacturing and energy usage components of the plant to minimize the cost of energy over time, or at various different times, while still meeting certain constraints or requirements within the operational system, such as producing a certain amount of heat or cooling, a certain power level, a certain level of production, etc. In some cases, the energy management system may cause the operational equipment of the plant to produce unneeded energy that can be stored until a later time and then used, or that can be sold back to a public utility, for example, so as to reduce the overall cost of energy within the plant.

主权项

1. An energy management system for use in operating a plant having one or more types of energy producing units and a plurality of particular energy producing units of the one or more types of energy producing units coupled to one or more loads, the energy management system comprising:
a numerical solver including an objective function, wherein the numerical solver operates on a computer processing device using the objective function to analyze each of a plurality of plant operating configurations associated with different operational configurations of the one or more types of energy producing units to determine an optimal plant operating configuration that best satisfies the objective function, wherein the optimal plant operating configuration includes a schedule indicating the one or more types of energy producing units to turn on or off within a time horizon and wherein the objective function considers costs of energy creation and usage of the of energy producing units associated with the different operational configurations of the one or more types of energy producing units; and an expert engine that stores a set of rules and that implements the set of rules, on a computer processing device, to determine a set of the plurality of particular energy producing units in the plant of the one or more types of energy producing units to satisfy the set of rules and the optimal plant operating configuration and one or more operating values for the set of the plurality of particular energy producing units in the plant associated with operating the energy producing units to satisfy the set of rules and the optimal plant operating configuration according to the schedule, the expert engine outputting signals indicative of load shedding and load establishment to be performed to implement the turning on or off of the set of the plurality of particular energy producing units in the plant according to the schedule included in the optimal plant operating configuration.