A Multi-Output Regression Model for Energy Consumption Prediction Based on Optimized Multi-Kernel Learning: A Case Study of Tin Smelting Process

Energy consumption forecasting plays an important role in energy management, conservation, and optimization in manufacturing companies. Aiming at the tin smelting process with multiple types of energy consumption and a strong coupling with energy consumption, the traditional prediction model cannot be applied to the multi-output problem. Moreover, the data collection frequency of different processes is inconsistent, resulting in few effective data samples and strong nonlinearity. In this paper, we propose a multi-kernel multi-output support vector regression model optimized based on a differential evolutionary algorithm for the prediction of multiple types of energy consumption in tin smelting. Redundant feature variables are eliminated using the distance correlation coefficient method, multi-kernel learning is introduced to improve the multi-output support vector regression model, and a differential evolutionary algorithm is used to optimize the model hyperparameters. The validity and superiority of the model was verified using the energy consumption data of a non-ferrous metal producer in Southwest China. The experimental results show that the proposed model outperformed multi-output Gaussian process regression (MGPR) and a multi-layer perceptron neural network (MLPNN) in terms of measurement capability. Finally, this paper uses a grey correlation analysis model to discuss the influencing factors on the integrated energy consumption of the tin smelting process and gives corresponding energy-saving suggestions.