Energy management system configured to manage operation states of load apparatuses installed in facility

• US 10,175,747 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2013
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kazuno, Hiroki, Murakami, Yoshifumi, Sugiyama, Takeshi, Sogo, Tomoya, Nakao, Toshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nitin C
• Application Number:
  US14/432,063
• Publication Number:
  US 20160004297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,943 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2639 Energy management, use maximum of cheap power, keep peak load low
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00004 characterised by the power network being locally controlled
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00028 involving the use of Internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/34 Parallel operation in networks using both storage and other dc sources, e.g. providing buffering H02J7/14 takes precedence
• 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: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/10 Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid

Abstract

An energy management system configured to manage operation states of load apparatuses installed in facility includes an instruction unit (14), a target evaluation unit (16), a presentation control unit (17) and a user device (60). According to a target power-saving ratio in a facility where load apparatuses (30) are installed, the instruction unit (14) controls operations of the load apparatuses (30). The user device (60) has a function for displaying information. The target evaluation unit (16) evaluates consumption of utility energy by the load apparatuses (30) with respect to a predetermined target value. The presentation control unit (17) controls so that the user device (60) displays an icon of which form varies according to an evaluation result by the target evaluation unit (16).

Claims

1. An energy management system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor;

wherein the processor is configured to;

control operations of load apparatuses in accordance with a power-saving ratio as a target in a facility where the load apparatuses are installed;

evaluate consumption of utility energy by the load apparatuses with respect to a predetermined target value, based on the power-saving ratio, to produce an evaluation result;

control so that a user device displays an icon of which form varies according to the evaluation result,

set, to a recommendation value, minimum consumption of utility energy by which management of the facility is not influenced;

store in the at least one memory capacity basic units obtained by dividing consumption of utility energy of load apparatuses obtained from each of facilities by a floor area of a corresponding facility;

calculate the recommendation value of the facility by energy simulation; and

generate first information required for calculating the recommendation value of the facility, wherein

the later controlling includes controlling, when the target value is set to be lower than the recommendation value, to control so that the user device displays a message representing that the target value is unattainable,

the calculating includes multiplying the floor area of the facility of the recommendation value to be calculated by the capacity basic unit stored in the at least one memory and thereby to calculate the consumption of utility energy by the load apparatuses in the facility of the recommendation value to be calculated, and

the generating includes generating, from second information that includes a first number of parameters, the first information that includes a second number of parameters required for the calculation of the recommendation value of the facility, wherein the second number is larger than the first number.

2. The energy management system of claim 1, wherein

the evaluating includes setting, based on the target value that is set at an end point of a prescribed judgement period, regions for determination of a transition in the consumption during the judgement period, and

the later controlling includes varying the form of the icon according to a region to which the consumption belongs.

3. The energy management system of claim 1, wherein

the evaluating includes determining a ratio of the consumption to the target value, and

the later controlling includes controlling, if the ratio of the consumption to the target value exceeds a specified threshold, so that the user device displays a message for causing part of the load apparatuses to be stopped.

4. The energy management system of claim 1, wherein

the storing includes storing information on weather information including an outdoor temperature and a region in which the facility exists, which are related to each other,

the calculating includes

setting, as predictor variables, a daily maximum temperature of an outdoor temperature extracted from the storing step according to a region of the facility of the recommendation value to be calculated and the capacity basic unit extracted from the storing step with respect to the load apparatuses in the facility, and

calculating a maximum value as the recommendation value by using a regression equation for calculating a daily maximum value of consumption of utility energy.

5. The energy management system of claim 2, wherein

the evaluating includes determining a ratio of the consumption to the target value, and

the later controlling includes controlling, if the ratio of the consumption to the target value exceeds a specified threshold, so that the user device displays a message for causing part of the load apparatuses to be stopped.

6. The energy management system of claim 1, wherein

the later controlling includes controlling so that the user device displays a current power saving ratio and a lower limit of the power saving ratio.