Investigation of Energy-Saving Strategy for Parallel Variable Frequency Pump System Based on Improved Differential Evolution Algorithm

This paper presents an energy-saving strategy that was applied to a parallel variable frequency pump system of a water circulation pumping station. Firstly, the mathematical model of shaft power consumption for the parallel pump system was established using quadratic polynomial fitting, with some constraints configured according to the system’s water supply demands. Then, the algorithm program was designed with the goal of minimizing the energy consumption through the application of an improved differential evolution algorithm. Additionally, the energy consumption model and constraints were integrated and simplified in order to adapt to the algorithm calculation. In the end, the algorithm was implemented according to the pump design parameters and supply targets of the pumping station. Meanwhile, a comparison was done between the differential evolution (DE) algorithm and the genetic algorithm (GA). Furthermore, an experimental test was conducted in an aluminum company in order to verify the applicability of the energy-saving algorithm in practice. The results demonstrated the feasibility of using the improved differential evolution algorithm in order to achieve a minimum energy consumption operation strategy; the results consequently manifested the superiority of the differential evolution algorithm in both computing time and optimal solution aspects.