[TRNSYS-users] Error with Genopt and PSO algorithm

[George Kyriakarakos]

Dear all,

I had that problem when running genopt with a multiple core cpu. When using
a single core cpu pc everything runs fine. 

My explanation of this is as follows: BUI files are opened by trnsys every
time a simulation is run. I guess TRNSYS locks the bui file when this
happens and no other software can get access to it. Genopt on the other hand
can take advantage of multiple cores in order to parallel process more than
one instances of TRNSYS. The second instance tries to access the BUI file
which is locked by the first and that is why this error message appears. At
least this is what I think is going on, will have to verify it. Also it is
weird that the same thing does not happen with the Hooke-Jeeves algorithm -
I have not used any other algorithm than PSO since I also need to optimize
continuous and discrete variables at the same time.

 

There is a switch in genopt that can specify how many instances to run in
parallel. It is described in page 90 of the manual for 3.1.0 version of
genopt (same applies for version 3.0.3 which I think is the last compatible
version to be used with TRNOPT).

 

The developers could look into it to add maybe a switch in TRNOPT as a
temporary workaround or find a workaround for running multiple instances of
trnsys files which include building simulations with PSO algorithm.
Multi-core CPUs are the norm nowadays and parallel processing of 4 or 8
instances of TRNSYS for optimization purposes can really speed things up.

 

If I am wrong, please correct me.

 

Regards,

 

George

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Dr. George Kyriakarakos, Agricultural Engineer

PhD, MSc Energy Systems & Renewable Energy Sources

Agricultural University of Athens,

Dept. of Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering

Iera odos street, 75, Athens 11855, Greece

Tel. +30.210.5294046 (direct), Fax: +30.210.5294023

Mobile +30.6942.046895

e-mail: <gk at aua.gr>

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From: trnsys-users-bounces at cae.wisc.edu
[mailto:trnsys-users-bounces at cae.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Wen Xue
Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2013 1:30 PM
To: trnsys-users at cae.wisc.edu
Subject: [TRNSYS-users] Error with Genopt and PSO algorithm

 

Hi all,

 

I am using Genopt in TRNSYS 17 to optimise building HVAC. When I use
Hooke-Jeeves alggorithm, it works perfectly fine without error and able to
get optimised value. But the problem is I need to use Particle Swarm
algorithm as my varaibles are discrete. When I use PSO, I get an error
"Cannot open Bui file". This is bit strange as genopt is not suppose to open
the BUI files. Did any one get similar errors. Pl help.

 

Kind regards,

Wen

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