A multi-objective operation strategy optimization for ice storage systems based on decentralized control structure

Improving the operational efficiency of chillers and science-based planning the cooling load distribution between the chillers and ice tank are core issues to achieve low-cost and energy-saving operations of ice storage air-conditioning systems. In view of the problems existing in centralized control architecture applied in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, a distributed multi-objective particle swarm optimization improved by differential evolution algorithm based on a decentralized control structure was proposed. The energy consumption, operating cost, and energy loss were taken as the objectives to solve the chiller’s hourly partial load ratio and the cooling ratio of ice tank. A large-scale shopping mall in Xi’an was used as a case study. The results show that the proposed algorithm was efficient and provided significantly higher energy-savings than the traditional control strategy and particle swarm optimization algorithm, which has the advantages of good convergence, high stability, strong robustness, and high accuracy. Practical application: The end equipment of the electromechanical system is the basic component through the building operation. Based on this characteristic, taken electromechanical equipment as the computing unit, this paper proposes a distributed multi-objective optimization control strategy. In order to fully explore the economic and energy-saving effect of ice storage system, the optimization algorithm solves the chillers operation status and the load distribution. The improved optimization algorithm ensures the diversity of particles, gains fast optimization speed and higher accuracy, and also provides a better economic and energy-saving operation strategy for ice storage air-conditioning projects.