Particle swarm optimization for optimal operational planning of a cogeneration system

This paper proposes optimal operational planning for cogeneration system (CGS) using particle swarm optimization (PSO). CGS is usually connected to various facilities such as refrigerators, reservoirs, and cooling towers. In order to generate optimal operational planning for CGS, startup/shutdown status and/or input/output values of the facilities for each control interval should be determined. The facilities may have nonlinear input-output characteristics. Therefore, the problem can be formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear optimization problem (MINLP) or a 0-1 integer nonlinear optimization problem (INLP). PSO can be easily expanded to be utilized for MINLP and INLP. This paper proposes optimal operational planning for cogeneration system using particle swarm optimization. The proposed method is applied to typical cogeneration planning problems with promising results.