Energy Management of Refrigeration Systems with Thermal Energy Storage Based on Non-Linear Model Predictive Control

This work addresses the energy management of a combined system consisting refrigeration cycle and thermal storage tank based on phase change materials. The is used as cold-energy buffer, thus decoupling cooling demand production, which leads to cost reduction satisfaction peak that would be infeasible for original cycle. A layered scheduling control strategy proposed, where non-linear predictive scheduler computes references main powers involved (storage charging/discharging direct production), while low-level controller ensures requested are actually achieved. simplified model retaining dominant dynamics proposed prediction scheduler. Economic, efficiency, feasibility criteria considered, seeking operating ensuring satisfaction. performance with compared in simulation without storage, former shown satisfy challenging demands reducing by up 28%. approach also shows suitable robustness when significant uncertainty considered.