Central plant control system with computation reduction based on sensitivity analysis

1. A controller for a plant, the controller comprising:

a processing circuit comprising a processor and memory storing instructions executed by the processor, the processing circuit configured to:

determine, from a plurality of control variables of devices in the plant, a reduced group of control variables of the devices based at least in part on sensitivity of an operating performance of the plant to the plurality of control variables;

determine a set of values of the reduced group of control variables; and

operate the devices of the plant according to the determined set of values of the reduced group of control variables.

2. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of control variables include at least a capacity, temperature, or pressure of one or more HVAC devices.

3. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine the reduced group of control variables by:

determining a range of values of a control variable to which the operating performance of the plant is insensitive; and

excluding the control variable from the plurality of control variables to obtain the reduced group of control variables.

4. The controller of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

operate the plant according to a predetermined value of the excluded control variable.

5. The controller of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

determine a local minimum of the operating performance of the plant,

determine a range of values of the operating performance of the plant, the range of values of the operating performance within a predetermined amount from the local minimum, and

determine the range of values of the control variable corresponding to the range of values of the operating performance.

6. The controller of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

determine the range of values of the control variable rendering a gradient below a threshold.

7. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine the set of values of the reduced group of control variables by:

predicting states of the devices using a non-linear optimizer.

8. The controller of claim 7 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine the set of values of the reduced group of control variables by:

excluding one or more control variables to which the operating performance of the plant is insensitive from predicting the states of the devices using the non-linear optimizer.

9. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

generate gradient data in response to detecting a change in a topology of the devices.

10. A method of operating a plant, the method comprising:

generating gradient data indicating sensitivity of an operating performance of the plant to a plurality of control variables of devices;

determining, from the plurality of control variables, a reduced group of control variables of the devices based on the gradient data;

determining a set of values of the reduced group of control variables; and

operating the devices of the plant according to the determined set of values of the reduced group of control variables.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of control variables include at least a capacity, temperature, or pressure of one or more of the devices.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the reduced group of control variables includes:

determining a range of values of a control variable to which the operating performance of the plant is insensitive; and

excluding the control variable from the plurality of control variables to obtain the reduced group of control variables.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

operating the plant according to a predetermined value of the excluded control variable.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining a local minimum of the operating performance of the plant,

determining a range of values of the operating performance of the plant, the range of values of the operating performance within a predetermined amount from the local minimum, and

determining the range of values of the control variable corresponding to the range of values of the operating performance.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining the range of values of the control variable rendering a gradient below a threshold.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

predicting states of the devices using a non-linear optimizer.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

excluding one or more control variables to which the operating performance of the plant is insensitive from predicting the states of the devices using the non-linear optimizer.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

generating gradient data in response to detecting a change in a topology of the devices.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

determine, from a plurality of control variables of devices in a plant, a reduced group of control variables of the devices based at least in part on sensitivity of an operating performance of the plant to the plurality of control variables;

determine a set of values of the reduced group of control variables; and

operate the devices of the plant according to the determined set of values of the reduced group of control variables.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the instructions when executed by the processor further cause the processor to:

generate gradient data indicating a gradient of the operating performance of the plant with respect to values of the plurality of control variables, in response to detecting a change in a topology of the plurality of devices,

wherein the reduced group of control variables are determined based on the sensitivity as represented by the gradient data.