Energy grid data platform

• US 10,163,242 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2017
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gordon Todd Jr. Jagerson
• Original Assignee: Gordon Todd Jr. Jagerson
• Inventors: Jagerson, Jr., Gordon Todd
• Primary Examiner(s): Amini, Javid A
• Application Number:
  US15/465,413
• Publication Number:
  US 20180218525A1
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: 345633
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/17 taken from planes or by drones
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/176 Urban or other man-made structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2203/20 Simulating, e g planning, reliability check, modelling or computer assisted design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for an energy grid data platform through which information associated with an electrical grid can be accessed by one or more entities. In some embodiments, an energy grid data platform includes one or more modeling engines configured to receive data associated with an electrical grid and generate data models describing various aspects of the electrical grid. For example an electrical grid model describing the state of the electrical grid at one or more points of connection may be based at least in part on data received from sensors at the edge of the electrical grid. As another example, a physical grid model describing the physical arrangement and logical relationships between physical objects associated with the electrical grid can be generated based at least in part on received imagery data. In some embodiments, aspects of an electrical grid model and physical grid model can be combined into an operational grid model that associates real-time operating information with the certain identified physical objects associated with the electrical grid. Information based on the one or more generated models of the electrical grid can be accessed via the energy grid platform as a cloud-based service, for example, via a web interface or an augmented reality display device.

Claims

1. An augmented reality (AR) system for presenting information associated with an electrical grid, the AR system comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory unit communicatively coupled to the processing unit, the memory unit having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit cause the AR system to;

determine that an AR display device is within a line of sight and/or a threshold proximity with a physical object located in a physical environment, the physical object associated with the electrical grid;

access an operational model of the electrical grid for information corresponding to the physical object, the operational model of the electrical grid generated by;

processing imaging data associated with the physical environment to identify physical objects associated with the electrical grid in the physical environment; and

processing data regarding a state of the electrical grid with data regarding the identified physical objects, the data regarding the state of the electrical grid received from sensors at a plurality of devices connected to the edge of the electrical grid that are not owned, operated, managed, or controlled by an energy utility associated with the electrical grid;

the operational model associating real-time operating information based on the data regarding the state of the electrical grid with the identified physical objects associated with the electrical grid in the physical environment; and

cause display, via the AR display device, of a graphical object including a representation of at least some of the accessed information corresponding to the physical object, the graphical object displayed via the AR display device so as to partially overlay a view of the physical environment.

2. The AR system of claim 1, wherein the AR display device includes any of a smart phone device, a tablet device, a head mounted display device, a virtual retinal display device, or a heads up display (HUD) device mounted in a vehicle.

3. The AR system of claim 1, wherein the physical object is any of a device connected to the edge of the electrical grid or infrastructure associated with the electrical grid.

4. The AR system of claim 1, wherein the graphical object includes a representation of operational information corresponding to the physical object, the operation information including information regarding the consumption and/or generation of electricity by a device associated with the physical object.

5. The AR system of claim 1, wherein the graphical object includes an alert regarding a state of at least a portion of the electrical grid.

6. The AR system of claim 1, wherein the graphical object includes an interactive element through which to receive a user input.

7. The AR system of claim 6, wherein the memory unit has further instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit cause the AR system to further:

receive a user input, the user input based on a detected interaction with the interactive element of the graphical object, the user input including additional information corresponding with the physical object; and

update the model of the electrical grid based on the received additional information corresponding with the physical object.

8. The AR system of claim 6, wherein the memory unit has further instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit cause the AR system to further:

receive a user input, the user input based on a detected interaction with the interactive element of the graphical object, the user input including an image capture of the physical object; and

update the model of the electrical grid based on the received image capture of the physical object.

9. The AR system of claim 6, wherein the memory unit has further instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit cause the AR system to further:

receive a user input, the user input based on a detected interaction with the interactive element of the graphical object, the user input including a defined location in the physical environment; and

cause display, via the AR display device, of information corresponding to electrical grid infrastructure accessible to the defined location.

10. The AR system of claim 6, wherein the memory unit has further instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit cause the AR system to further:

receive a user input, the user input based on a detected interaction with the interactive element of the graphical object, the user input including a defined location in the physical environment; and

cause display, via the AR display device, of a design recommendation for a distributed energy resource (DER) system to be installed, modified, or repaired at the defined location in the physical environment.

11. The AR system of claim 6, wherein the memory unit has further instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit cause the AR system to further:

receive a user input, the user input based on a detected interaction with the interactive element of the graphical object, the user input including a request to share at least some of the information corresponding with the physical object with another user; and

cause the transmission of the at least some of the information for delivery to the other user.

12. The AR system of claim 1, wherein the graphical object includes a promotion corresponding to the physical object.

13. The AR system of claim 1, wherein the memory unit has further instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit cause the AR system to further:

automatically enable access to an existing energy web page in response to determining that the physical object is associated with the existing energy web page.

14. The AR system of claim 1, wherein the memory unit has further instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processing unit cause the AR system to further:

cause display, via the AR display device, of a prompt to create a new energy web page in response to determining that the physical object is not associated with an existing energy web page.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, via a computer network, data regarding a state of an electrical grid from a plurality of devices connected to the edge of the electrical grid, the data gathered in part using sensors at the plurality of devices connected to the edge of the electrical grid;

processing the data to generate a first model of the electrical grid;

enabling access, via the computer network, to information associated with the generated first model of the electrical grid as a cloud-based service;

receiving, via the computer network, imaging data associated with a physical environment;

processing the imaging data to;

identify physical objects associated with the electrical grid in the physical environment;

determine relationships between the identified physical objects based in part on relative locations of the identified physical objects; and

generate a second model of the electrical grid based on the locations and determined relationships between the identified physical objects; and

enabling access, via the computer network, to information associated with the generated second model of the electrical grid as a cloud-based service.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein one or more of the plurality of devices connected to the edge of the electrical grid include devices associated with one or more distributed energy resources.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more distributed energy resources include any of a photovoltaic system, a wind turbine system, a fuel cell, a combined heat power system, a battery, or an electrical load that can be controlled for the purposes of energy efficiency or grid or microgrid management.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein one or more of the plurality of devices connected to the edge of the electrical grid are not owned by, or not managed by, or not directly controlled by an energy utility or by an electrical co-op or other grid owner or operator.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein one or more of the plurality of devices connected to the edge of the grid include inverters configured to sense the state of the current and/or voltage and/or other electrical characteristics at a point of connection to the electrical grid.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein one or more of the sensors are configured to sense the electrical state at a point of connection to the electrical grid and/or environmental conditions of the physical environment surrounding the point of connection to the electrical grid.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the imaging data is in keyhole markup language (KML) format.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein one or more of the identified physical objects include devices connected to an edge of the electrical grid.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein one or more of the identified physical objects include infrastructure associated with the electrical grid.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein the imaging data is received from one or more of:

a map database;

an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with imaging capability;

a satellite with imaging capability;

or

a user device with imaging capability.

25. The method of claim 15, wherein determining relationships between the identified physical objects is based at least in part on determined types of the identified physical objects.

26. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

processing the generated first model with the generated second model to generate a third model of the electrical grid, the third model associating real-time operating information based on the first model with identified physical objects associated with the electrical grid in the physical environment based on the second model; and

enabling access, via the computer network, to information associated with the generated third model of the electrical grid as a cloud-based service.

27. The method of claim 15, wherein enabling access to information associated with the third model includes:

determining that an augmented reality (AR) display device is within a line of sight and/or a threshold proximity with a particular physical object of the identified physical objects associated with the electrical grid in the physical environment;

accessing the third model of the electrical grid for information corresponding to the particular physical object; and

causing display, via the AR display device, of a graphical object including a representation of at least some of the accessed information corresponding to the particular physical object, the graphical object displayed via the AR display device so as to partially overlay a view of the physical environment.

28. The method of embodiment 27, wherein the AR display device includes any of a smart phone device, a tablet device, a head mounted display device, a virtual retinal display device, or a heads up display (HUD) device mounted in a vehicle.

29. A method performed by one or more server computers operating as part of an energy grid data platform, the method comprising:

receiving, via a computer network, data regarding a state of an electrical grid from a plurality of devices connected to the edge of the electrical grid that are not owned, operated, managed, or controlled by an energy utility associated with the electrical grid, the data gathered in part using sensors at the plurality of devices connected to the edge of the electrical grid;

receiving, via the computer network, imaging data associated with a physical environment in which the electrical grid resides;

processing the imaging data to identify physical objects associated with the electrical grid in the physical environment; and

processing the received data regarding the state of the electrical grid with the identified physical objects associated with the electrical grid to generate an operational model of the electrical grid, the operational model associating real-time operating information based on the received data regarding the state of the electrical grid with the identified physical objects associated with the electrical grid in the physical environment; and

enabling access, via the computer network, to information associated with the generated operational model of the electrical grid as a cloud-based service.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein enabling access to information associated with the operational model includes:

determining that an augmented reality (AR) display device is within a line of sight and/or a threshold proximity with a particular physical object of the identified physical objects associated with the electrical grid in the physical environment;

accessing the operational model of the electrical grid for information corresponding to the particular physical object; and

causing display, via the AR display device, of a graphical object including a representation of at least some of the accessed information corresponding to the particular physical object, the graphical object displayed via the AR display device so as to partially overlay a view of the physical environment.