Optimal Control of Energy Systems

Catalog description

This course provides an overview of the fundamental principles and methods of optimal control, dynamic programming, and extremum-seeking control, with a focus on the application of these tools to a variety of problems in the energy generation, storage, and management domain. Fundamental topics covered include bond graph modeling of energetic systems, constrained and unconstrained static optimization, the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions, extremum-seeking control, the Bellman principle of optimality, deterministic dynamic programming, Markov chains, stochastic dynamic programming, the Bolza optimal control problem, the Pontryagin maximum principle, the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, linear quadratic regulation, bang-bang control, and pseudo-spectral optimal control. Applications examined include impedance matching in photovoltaics and wind power plants, fuel-minimizing optimal vehicle path planning, optimal Lithium-ion battery charging/discharging, optimal power management in hybrid electric and hybrid hydraulic vehicles, and optimal building energy management. The course serves as a broad overview of fundamental topics covered in more depth in other classes on dynamic programming, adaptive control, and optimal control. Equal emphasis is placed on the tools and methods of optimal control theory and their practical application to optimal energy management problems. The course is intended for graduate students in engineering interested in energy management research, and already possessing a basic familiarity with energy systems and dynamic system modeling.