, Duration: 22:40*Enlace a Spanish version
This video presents the decisions to make to optimize the setpoint in an air-conditioning system (HVAC). In fact, the problem statement is simplistic, idealized because, on one hand, nobody would use multicriteria optimization software to decide the temperature to input in the air-conditioning remote; on the other hand, comfort depends on multiple factors apart from temperature (moisture, dressing, radiation, …) so an exhaustive study of the optimal operation point in, say, an office or manufacturing plant with dozens of workers would require specialized knowledge I am not an expert of.
However, this simplified air-conditioning thought experiment allows us to intuitively understand, without any formulae, the concepts of:
Multicriteria optimization (trade-off between conflicting requirements),
Dominated solutions,
Cost indices, equal-preference curves,
The meaning of convexity of the cost function in this particular case, so convexity is advisable,
Final optimal operating point as a trade-off between comfort and power consumption once the physics of the actual process is plugged in.
*Link to my [ whole collection] of videos in English. Link to larger [ Colección completa] in Spanish.