Optimization of pump scheduling in waterworks considering load balancing using improved genetic algorithm

Abstract

The water transmission and distribution process of the water supply pump station of the water purification plant plays a key role in the entire urban water supply system. When the requirements of water supply quantity and water pressure are satisfied, the reduction of operating energy consumption of the pump set and improvement of its service life are urgent problems. Therefore, to reduce the cost of water supply pump station, a mathematical model is established to minimize the energy consumption of pump group, the number of pump switches and the load balancing in this paper. In order to solve the pump scheduling problem, a two-stage strategy based on genetic algorithm is proposed. In stage one, the frequency conversion ratio and the number of pumps needed to be turned on at the lowest energy consumption are calculated. In stage two, through the improved genetic algorithm and iterative way to reduce the number of pump switches and load balancing. Finally, a case study from a real waterworks in Suzhou, China is used to verify the validity of the proposed model. Numerical results reveal that the improved genetic algorithm outperforms the competing algorithms. In addition, a proper sensitivity analysis allows assessing the effects under different pump operating conditions.