Joint Operation of Pressure-Reducing Valves and Pumps for Improving the Efficiency of Water Distribution Systems

Abstract

New environmental paradigms imposed by climate change and urbanization processes are leading cities to rethink urban management services. Propelled by technological development and the internet of things, an increasingly smart management of cities has favored the emergence of a new research field, namely, the smart city. Within this new way of considering cities, smart water systems are emerging for the planning, operation, and management of water distribution networks (WDNs) with maximum efficiency derived from the application of data analysis and other information technology tools. Considering the possibility of improving WDN operation using available demand data, this work proposes a hybrid and near-real-time optimization algorithm to jointly manage pumps working with variable speed drives and pressure-reducing valves for maximum operational efficiency. A near-real-time demand forecasting model is coupled with an optimization algorithm that updates in real time the water demand of the hydraulic model and can be used to define optimal operations. The D-town WDN is used to validate the proposal. The number of control devices in this WDN makes real time control especially complex. Warm solutions are proposed to cope with this feature as they reduce the computational effort needed if suitably tuned. In addition to energy savings of around 5%, the methodology proposed in this paper enables an efficient system pressure management, leading to significant leakage reduction.