Patent attributes
An extremum-seeking control system for a chilled water plant includes a feedback controller and an extremum-seeking controller. The feedback controller is configured to operate equipment of the chilled water plant to achieve a condenser water temperature setpoint. The equipment include at least one of a chiller compressor, a condenser water pump, and a cooling tower fan. The extremum-seeking controller is configured to provide the condenser water temperature setpoint to the feedback controller. The extremum-seeking controller is configured to determine an optimal value for the setpoint condenser water temperature setpoint by perturbing the condenser water temperature setpoint with a stochastic excitation signal, monitoring a power consumption of the equipment resulting from the perturbed condenser water temperature setpoint, estimating a gradient of the power consumption with respect to the condenser water temperature setpoint, and modulating the condenser water temperature setpoint to drive the estimated gradient to zero.
