Technical Field
The present invention relates to system output optimization and, more particularly, to key performance indicator optimization in production systems.
Description of the Related Art
In many production systems (e.g., power plants, chemical plants, etc.), system output is determined by one or more controllable input variables. For example, in thermal power plants, the ingredient configurations of the input fuel (such as, e.g., coal, etc.) can largely affect the output efficiency of the thermal power plants. This output efficiency is usually calculated as the ratio between the electricity generated and the amount of fuel consumed. Therefore, an important goal for such a plant is to determine how to choose an input fuel with desired properties to improve system efficiency.
Besides such static input there are also dynamic control schemes that tune some variables during the production process. For example, in many production systems, operators need to tune parameters (such as, e.g., voltage, current rotation angle or certain components, etc.). How to determine a combination of such control variables to maximize the output quality (such as, e.g., a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) value) is thus of great interest to production management and optimizations.