MULTI-DIMENSIONAL OPTIMIZATION FOR CONTROLLING ENVIRONMENTAL MAINTENANCE MODULES

摘要

Methods, systems, and apparatuses are provided for controlling an environmental maintenance system that includes a plurality of sensors and a plurality of actuators. The operation levels of the actuators can be determined by optimizing a cost function subject to a constraint, e.g., having no more than a certain number of sensors that are out of range. A predictor model can predict whether certain operation levels of the actuators violate the constraint. The search for acceptable operation levels (i.e., ones that do not violate constraints) can be performed by analyzing points on lines in an N-dimensional space, where N is the number of actuators. The subset of acceptable operation levels along with a cost function (e.g., that incorporates energy consumption information) can be used to change operation levels of the modules to keep the temperatures within a desired range while using minimal energy.

主权项

1. A method of controlling an environmental maintenance system that includes a plurality of actuators and a plurality of sensors, each sensor measuring a value of a physical condition of an environment, the method comprising:
receiving sensor values S corresponding to the sensors, a desired range of sensor values being specified for each sensor; receiving operation levels U of N actuators, N being at least two, and wherein possible values for the operation levels U define an N-dimensional space; receiving a cost function C that has the operation levels U as an input; receiving a predictor model that predicts a change dS in the sensor values for a change dU in the operation levels; determining, with a computer system, an optimal change dU′ in the operation levels U of the N actuators by:
identifying N lines in the N-dimensional space, wherein the N lines span the N-dimensional space;for each of a plurality of points on each line:
using the predictor model to predict the sensor values for the point; anddetermine whether the point violates a constraint of having greater than a specified number of predicted sensor values out of range; anddetermining the values of the cost function C at candidate points that do not result in a violation of the constraint; andusing the values of the cost function C at the candidate points to determine the optimal change dU′; and transmitting the optimal change dU′ to change the operational levels of the N actuators.