Central control apparatus for controlling facilities, facility control system comprising the same, and facility control method

• US 10,156,834 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2015
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Lyu, Junghwan, Kim, Heekyung, Park, Wookjin, Ko, Soyeon
• Primary Examiner(s): TECKLU, ISAAC TUKU
• Application Number:
  US14/875,135
• Publication Number:
  US 20160103432A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,170 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/048 using a predictor
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25011 Domotique, I-O bus, home automation, building automation
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2639 Energy management, use maximum of cheap power, keep peak load low
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 End-user application control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving

Abstract

A central control apparatus includes: a controller that performs control over facilities or equipment; and a display unit that displays information processed by the controller on the screen, wherein the central control apparatus further includes a communication unit that communicates with a meteorological office server, and the controller includes: a data collection module that collects predicted environmental data about a target control area through the communication unit; a system setting module that sets information about at least one facility within the target control area; and an energy usage simulation module that models the facility based on based on the facility information and simulates the power consumption of the facility model according to a control scenario, the energy usage simulation module including an energy reduction calculation module for calculating the energy reduction of the facility or target control area based on a simulation result of the power consumption of the facility model according to a combination of at least one control scenario.

Claims

1. A control apparatus comprising:

a controller to control facilities or equipment; and

a display device to display information on a screen,

wherein the controller includes a processor to;

obtain predicted environmental data including weather information regarding a target control area,

set facility information relating to at least one facility within the target control area, and

model the facility based on the facility information and to simulate a power consumption of the facility according to a control scenario,

wherein the processor to determine an energy reduction rate of the facility or the target control area based on a simulation result relating to the power consumption of the facility model according to a combination of at least one control scenario,

wherein the processor to determine a combination of at least one control scenario based on the energy reduction rate input at an input device,

wherein the control scenario is at least one set of control commands having a sequence.

2. The control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the input device to receive user input for setting the energy reduction rate.

3. The control apparatus of claim 2,

wherein the input device to receive input for setting the energy reduction rate based on user input to move a scroll bar.

4. The control apparatus of claim 2,

wherein the input device to receive input for setting the energy reduction rate based on user input to move at least a portion of a graph of a simulation result of the power consumption of the facility model.

5. The control apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the controller to control the facility according to the combination of the at least one control scenario.

6. The control apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the display device to display, on the screen, the determined combination of the at least one control scenario.

7. The control apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the display device to display, on the screen, a graphical object to represent a simulation result of the power consumption of the facility model over time, the predicted environmental data, or the energy reduction rate.

8. The control apparatus of claim 7,

wherein the display device to display actual power consumption of the facility in a time domain before a present time and the power consumption of the facility model in the time domain after the present time, or the display device to display obtained status information at control points in the time domain before the present time and the predicted environmental data in the time domain after the present time.

9. The control apparatus of claim 8,

wherein when a difference between the actual power consumption of the facility and the power consumption of the facility model is outside a preset range, the display device displays alarm information on the screen.

10. The control apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the controller controls the display device to display, on the screen, a graphical object to represent a simulation result of the power consumption of the facility model over time, the predicted environmental data, or the energy reduction rate, for at least one target control area selected from a plurality of target control areas by input at the input device.

11. The control apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a communication device to communicate with a meteorological server,

wherein the predicted environmental data, including weather information regarding the target control area, is obtained from the meteorological server by using the communication device.

12. A facility control system comprising the control apparatus according to claim 1.

13. A facility control method comprising:

obtaining, from a meteorological server, predicted environmental data regarding a target control area;

setting information regarding at least one facility within the target control area;

modeling the facility based on the information regarding the facility and simulating the power consumption of the facility model to operate according to a control scenario;

determining an energy reduction rate at the facility or the target control area based on a simulation result relating to the power consumption of the facility model according to a combination of at least one control scenario, wherein the control scenario is at least one set of control commands having a sequence; and

determining a combination of at least one control scenario based on an energy reduction rate input at an input device.

14. The facility control method of claim 13, further comprising receiving user input for setting the energy reduction rate,

wherein the input is received based on user input to move a scroll bar.

15. The facility control method of claim 13, further comprising receiving user input for setting the energy reduction rate,

wherein the input is received based on user input to move a graph of a simulation result of the power consumption of the facility model.

16. The facility control method of claim 13,

wherein after determining the energy reduction rate, the method further comprises:

determining the combination of at least one control scenario based on the energy reduction rate input by a user; and

controlling the facility according to the combination of the at least one control scenario.

17. The facility control method of claim 16, further comprising displaying, on the screen on a display device, the combination of the at least one control scenario determined by the determining of the combination.

18. The facility control method of claim 13, further comprising displaying, on the screen, a graphical object to represent a simulation result of the power consumption of the facility model over time, the predicted environmental data, or the energy reduction rate,

wherein the displaying of the simulation result includes:

displaying the actual power consumption of the facility in a time domain before a present time and the power consumption of the facility model in the time domain after the present time, or

displaying status information, obtained through control points, in the time domain before the present time and the predicted environmental data in the time domain after the present time.

19. The facility control method of claim 18,

wherein displaying the simulation result includes displaying alarm information on the screen when a difference between the actual power consumption of the facility and the power consumption of the facility model is outside of a preset range.