Comparison and Optimization of Machine Learning Methods for Fault Detection in District Heating and Cooling Systems

Abstract

In this study, the methods used for the detection of sub-station pollution failures in district heating and cooling (DHC) systems are analyzed. In the study, high, medium, and low-level pollution situations are considered and machine learning methods are applied for the detection of these failures. Random forest, decision tree, logistic regression, and CatBoost regression algorithms are compared within the scope of the analysis. The models are trained to perform fault detection at different pollution levels. To improve the model performance, hyperparameter optimization was performed with random search optimization, and the most appropriate values were selected. The results show that the CatBoost regression algorithm provides the highest accuracy and overall performance compared to other methods. The CatBoost model stood out with an accuracy of 0.9832 and a superior performance. These findings reveal that CatBoost-based approaches provide an effective solution in situations requiring high accuracy, such as contamination detection in DHC systems. The study makes an important contribution as a reliable fault detection solution in industrial applications. © 2025 The Author(s).