Patent ID: 8567204

Claim:
A cooling system comprising: a mechanical cooling system comprising a mechanical cooling element and a mechanical cooling system controller, the mechanical cooling system controller outputting a control signal for adjusting the amount of cooling provided by the mechanical cooling element; an economizer that provides mixed air past the mechanical cooling element to cool the mixed air prior to supplying the air to a building space via a supply air duct; wherein the economizer includes a damper that controls the amount of outdoor air being mixed with return air in the economizer; and an extremum seeking controller that uses the control signal output from the mechanical cooling system controller as an input, uses the input to search for an economizer damper position that minimizes the amount of cooling provided by the mechanical cooling element, and outputs a damper signal for adjusting the damper to the damper position, wherein the extremum seeking controller operates by regularly perturbing the damper position away from a previously determined optimum and sets a new damper position in response to observing the effects of the perturbations, and wherein neither a temperature setpoint nor a temperature sensor feedback are used to cause the regular perturbations.