Building management system with self-optimizing control, performance monitoring, and fault detection

1. A building management system comprising:

building equipment configured to operate in accordance with an input to alter a variable state or condition of a building;

a feedback controller configured to generate the input as a function of a measured state of the building equipment;

an analytics circuit configured to:

obtain and store a dataset comprising the measured state of the building equipment and the input for a plurality of time steps;

determine, based on at least a portion of the dataset, a self-optimizing control function that defines a self-optimizing control variable as a function of the measured state of the building equipment;

calculate a value of the self-optimizing control variable using the self-optimizing control function and the measured state;

monitor the value of the self-optimizing control variable over time; and

generate an indication of performance of the building equipment relative to optimal performance based on the value of the self-optimizing control variable.

2. The building management system of claim 1 , wherein the feedback controller is configured to modify an operation of the building equipment in response to the indication.

3. The building management system of claim 1 , comprising a display device configured to receive the indication and display a graphical representation of the indication to a user.

4. The building management system of claim 1 , wherein:

the analytics circuit is configured to detect a fault based on a change in the value of the self-optimizing control variable; and

the indication comprises information relating to the fault.

5. The building management system of claim 1 , wherein the analytics circuit is configured to determine that the building equipment are performing optimally in response to the self-optimizing control variable having a value of substantially zero.

6. The building management system of claim 1 , wherein:

operating the building equipment incurs a cost defined by a cost function of the input; and

the analytics circuit is configured to determine the self-optimizing control function such that the self-optimizing control variable represents a derivative of the cost function with respect to the input.

7. The building management system of claim 1 , wherein the self-optimizing control function comprises multiplying the measured state by a matrix and adding an offset vector; and

wherein the analytics circuit is configured to determine values of elements of the matrix and the offset vector using a non-optimal reference.

8. A method of operating building equipment, comprising:

operating building equipment in accordance with an input to alter a variable state or condition of a building;

generating the input as a function of a measured state of the building equipment;

providing the input to the building equipment;

obtaining and storing a dataset comprising the measured state of the building equipment and the input for a plurality of time steps;

determining, based on at least a portion of the dataset, a self-optimizing control function that defines a self-optimizing control variable as a function of the measured state of the building equipment;

calculating a value of the self-optimizing control variable using the self-optimizing control function and the measured state;

monitoring the value of the self-optimizing control variable over time; and

generating an indication of performance of the building equipment relative to optimal performance based on the value of the self-optimizing control variable.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising modifying an operation of the building equipment in response to the indication.

10. The method of claim 8 , comprising displaying a graphical representation of the indication on a display screen.

11. The method of claim 8 , comprising detecting a fault based on a change in the value of the self-optimizing control variable;

wherein the indication comprises information relating to the fault.

12. The method of claim 8 , comprising determining that the building equipment are performing optimally in response to calculating a zero value of the self-optimizing control variable.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein:

operating the building equipment incurs a cost defined by a cost function of the input; and

determining the self-optimizing control function comprises defining the self-optimizing control variable as a derivative of the cost function with respect to the input.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the self-optimizing control function comprises multiplying the measured state by a matrix and adding an offset vector; and

wherein determining the self-optimizing control function comprises determining values of elements of the matrix and the offset vector using a non-optimal reference.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media containing program instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a dataset comprising a measured state of building equipment for a plurality of time steps and an input to the building equipment for the plurality of time steps, the building equipment configured to operate as controlled by the input;

determining, based on at least a portion of the dataset, a self-optimizing control function that defines a self-optimizing control variable as a function of the measured state of the building equipment;

obtaining a current value of the measured state of the building equipment;

calculating a value of the self-optimizing control variable using the function and the current value of the measured state;

generating an indication of performance of the building equipment relative to optimal performance based on the value of the self-optimizing control variable; and

one or more of:

modifying an operation of the building equipment in response to the indication; or

generating a graphical representation of the indication and causing the graphical representation to be displayed by a user device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , the operations further comprising detecting a fault based on a change in the value of the self-optimizing control variable;

wherein the indication comprises information relating to the fault.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein detecting the fault comprises determining that the current value of the self-optimizing control variable has an absolute value exceeding a threshold value.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein:

operating the building equipment incurs a cost defined by a cost function of the input; and

determining the self-optimizing control function comprises defining the self-optimizing control variable to be a derivative of the cost function with respect to the input.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the self-optimizing control function comprises multiplying the measured state by a matrix and adding an offset vector; and

wherein determining the self-optimizing control function comprises determining values of elements of the matrix and the offset vector using a non-optimal reference.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein obtaining the dataset comprises conducting a test by:

generating a modified input for each of the plurality of time steps; and

controlling the building equipment to operate in accordance with the modified input.