An Exact Algorithm for the Optimal Chiller Loading Problem and Its Application to the Optimal Chiller Sequencing Problem

Federica Acerbi, Mirco Rampazzo and Giuseppe De Nicolao
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Federica Acerbi: Department of Industrial and Information Engineering, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Mirco Rampazzo: Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
Giuseppe De Nicolao: Department of Industrial and Information Engineering, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-29

Abstract: The optimal management of multiple chiller systems calls for the solution of the so-called optimal chiller loading (OCL) problem. Due to the interplay of continuous and logical constraints, OCL is an NP-hard problem, so that a variety of heuristic algorithms have been proposed in the literature. Herein, an algorithm for its exact solution, named X-OCL, is developed under the assumption that the chillers’ power consumption curves are quadratic. The proposed method hinges on a decomposition of the solution space so that the overall OCL problem is decomposed to a set of equality constrained quadratic programming problems that can be solved in closed form. By applying the new X-OCL solver to well known case studies, we assess and compare the performances of several literature algorithms, highlighting also some errors in the published results. Moreover, X-OCL is used to design a greedy optimal chiller sequencing (OCS) solver, called X-OCS. The X-OCS is tested on two literature benchmarks and on the model of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system of a semiconductor plant, over a two-year period. The performances of X-OCS are remarkably close to the theoretical optimal performance.

Keywords: optimal chiller loading; optimal chiller sequencing; HVAC; multiple chiller; energy saving; mixed integer quadratic programming; semiconductor manufacturing; HVAC operation; economic dispatch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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