Paragon Robotics has partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE), Cleveland State University (CSU), Cleveland Thermal, and BRITE Energy Innovators to optimize the efficiency and resilience of Cleveland’s district energy network.
Cleveland Thermal’s centralized district energy system eliminates the need for businesses to install complex HVAC equipment by providing steam and chilled water from a central plant. Working with its partners, Paragon Robotics will enhance the monitoring and control system for the plant to reduce energy waste and lower overall consumption. Resilience upgrades will also be installed at select sites to demonstrate novel methods for expanding system capability.
The new system will employ Paragon’s novel Micro‑Auctioning™ technology, an artificial‑intelligence platform that optimizes complex energy‑distribution networks. By running millions of unique scenarios, Micro‑Auctioning identifies the most efficient energy sources and minimizes costs. The technology is featured in many Paragon projects and has received high‑level security clearance for government use, including the Department of Defense and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Powering Micro‑Auctioning™ is Paragon’s proprietary software suite, developed in‑house for seamless integration with additional products and devices. These tools provide robust data‑charting, custom dashboarding, resilience monitoring, and more to help experts maintain peak system performance. The flagship feature for the district‑energy project is the SystemSimulator application.
SystemSimulator is a Paragon Robotics‑developed app that lets users model energy usage and estimate costs for a single building or multiple buildings, accounting for regional weather, energy tariffs, and solar‑panel impact. The tool will be essential for estimating the energy demand of Cleveland Thermal customers, ensuring production meets city‑wide needs while conserving power for an eco‑friendly approach.
The project is in its early stages and will span roughly 15 miles of piping throughout downtown Cleveland, including landmarks such as Cleveland City Hall and the Huntington Convention Center. The district‑energy system, which delivers an estimated 246,600 kWh of power annually, is being mapped by Paragon engineers to quantify loss and overall efficiency, enabling the design of a greener, more efficient network.
Paragon Robotics offers a complete hardware‑and‑software solution that includes logging, monitoring, and cloud‑access options. The data‑logging suite provides measurement dashboards, charting, automated and custom period reports, alarm history, and annotation capabilities. For multi‑user environments, the Enterprise upgrade adds compliance reporting, user auditing, and administrative controls that meet stringent government regulations and cGMP quality standards.
For more information about Paragon, including case studies and applications, visit https://paragonrobotics.com or contact the sales team at 800‑893‑9639.
