Patent ID: 7905103

Claim:
A refrigeration system comprising a closed-loop system for circulation of a refrigerant between a compressing unit comprising a variable capacity element to provide a variable volumetric compressing capacity for compressing the refrigerant, and at least one evaporator for evaporating the compressed refrigerant and thus for providing a cooling capacity to meet a cooling demand to refrigerate a secondary fluid of a refrigerated space, a control system adapted: to establish an estimate of a future cooling demand, and to control the cooling capacity to adapt to the estimate, wherein the control system is adapted to determine a cost value representing costs of operating the system by identifying a set of compressor capacities that minimizes a cost function by use of: a model of the system, said cooling demand predictions, and actual system measurements, and wherein the cost function includes at least a first term representing the cost of operating the compressing unit and at least a second term representing the cost of switching between compressor capacities of the set of compressor capacities.