Energy management system

• US 10,320,576 B1
• Filed: 03/30/2015
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Butler, David George, Mincher, Richard William, Thiagarajan, Arvind
• Primary Examiner(s): Roswell, Michael
• Application Number:
  US14/673,649
• Time in Patent Office: 1,534 Days
• Field of Search: 713300, 713340, 700286, 718102
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00

Abstract

Described are systems to manage energy distribution and operation of computing devices (“devices”). The devices may connect to a shared data and power distribution system, such as receiving electrical energy in conjunction with data signals using Power over Ethernet (POE). During activation of the facility, such as after an energy outage, the demand for energy from many devices attempting to startup may exceed the energy capacity available. Described are devices and techniques for distributing energy to devices, coordinating operating mode of the devices, and so forth, to mitigate demand spikes for electrical energy that exceed the capacity of the energy distribution system.

Claims

1. A first device comprising:

a clock to generate time data;

a first communication interface to couple to a first network to receive data and electrical energy from the first network;

a second communication interface to couple to a second network;

a distribution control device to control flow of the electrical energy between the first communication interface and the second communication interface;

at least one memory, storing computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

access timeslot designation data indicative of a periodically recurring interval of time;

determining a time window based on the periodically recurring interval of time;

at a first time, determine that a current time indicated by the time data from the clock is within the time window; and

initiate a first change in an operating mode of the first device from a first operating mode to a second operating mode, wherein the first operating mode consumes a different amount of energy than the second operating mode.

2. The first device of claim 1, further comprising an application hardware processor and further comprising one or more computer-executable instructions to, during the second operating mode:

transition the application hardware processor to operate at a higher clock speed that consumes more energy than a prior clock speed.

3. The first device of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

access a timeslot reference table associating a particular digit with a particular periodically recurring interval of time;

generate a random value using one or more of a random number generator or a pseudo-random number generator;

determine a first digit of the random value;

lookup, using the timeslot reference table, the particular periodically recurring interval of time associated with the first digit; and

store the particular periodically recurring interval of time associated with the first digit as the timeslot designation data.

4. The first device of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

generate the timeslot designation data based at least in part on one or more of;

a network address associated with the first communication interface,

a media access control value associated with the first communication interface,

a serial number associated with the at least one processor, or

a value generated by one or more of a random number generator or a pseudo-random number generator.

5. The first device of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

at a second time later than the first time, determine that the current time is longer within the time window; and

initiate a second change in the operating mode of the first device from the second operating mode to the first operating mode.

6. The first device of claim 1, further comprising:

an energy storage device to store the electrical energy received from the first network and provide the electrical energy that is stored to the first device; and

wherein the first operating mode comprises one or more of an off or standby mode of one or more of the at least one processor; and

further wherein the second operating mode comprises a charging mode to charge the energy storage device.

7. The first device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor comprises:

an energy management processor with the clock integrated therein; and

an application hardware processor; and

further comprising one or more computer-executable instructions to, during the second operating mode;

execute a boot loader using the application hardware processor; and

execute an operating system using the application hardware processor.

8. The first device of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

access energy delivery authorization data indicative of a maximum energy draw to be obtained from the first network;

limit energy draw from the first network to the maximum energy draw specified in the energy delivery authorization data; and

draw power, as limited, from the first network to provide energy to one or more of;

an application hardware processor,

one or more sensors, or

an energy storage device.

9. The first device of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

send energy delivery authorization data to a second device on the second network using the second communication interface, wherein the energy delivery authorization data authorizes the second computing device to draw energy using second timeslot designation data indicative of a different interval of time for the second device;

at a second time, determine that the current time is no longer within the time window; and

direct the distribution control device to pass at least a portion of the energy from the first network to the second network during the second time.

10. A first computing device comprising:

a real-time clock to generate current time data;

a first communication interface to couple to a first network;

a power supply to receive electrical energy from the first network and provide the electrical energy to the first computing device;

a second communication interface to couple to a second network;

a distribution control device to control flow of the electrical energy between the first communication interface and the second communication interface;

at least one memory, storing computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

access timeslot designation data indicative of a scheduled periodically recurring interval of time;

determine the current time data is within the scheduled periodically recurring interval of time specified by the timeslot designation data;

during the scheduled periodically recurring interval of time, initiate a change in mode of the first computing device from a first mode to a second mode; and

during the scheduled periodically recurring interval of time, direct the distribution control device to pass at least a portion of the electrical energy from the first network to the second network using the second communication interface.

11. The first computing device of claim 10, the power supply further comprising one or more of a battery or capacitor to store at least a portion of the electrical energy received from the first network;

and

wherein the first mode of the first computing device comprises an off or standby mode that does not charge the one or more of the battery or capacitor; and

further wherein the second mode of the first computing device comprises a charging mode that charges the one or more of the battery or capacitor to a predetermined level of stored electrical energy, using the electrical energy received from the first network.

12. The first computing device of claim 11, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

send energy delivery authorization data to a second computing device on the second network using the second communication interface, wherein the energy delivery authorization data authorizes the second computing device to draw energy during the scheduled periodically recurring interval of time.

13. The first computing device of claim 11, further comprising current limiting circuitry with second computer-executable instructions to:

receive the timeslot designation data;

receive energy delivery authorization data indicative of a maximum energy draw the first computing device is authorized to obtain from the first network; and

limit energy draw during the charging mode to the maximum energy draw specified in the energy delivery authorization data.

14. A method comprising:

accessing first timeslot designation data indicative of a periodically recurring interval of time for a first device configured to receive electrical energy from a first network;

determining a time window based on the periodically recurring interval of time;

determining that a current time indicated by time data of a clock of the first device is within the time window;

initiating a change in mode of the first device from a first mode to a second mode; and

directing a distribution control device to pass at least a portion of the electrical energy from the first network to a second network during the periodically recurring interval of time or at a different interval of time.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the first mode of the first device comprises the first device operating at a first clock speed; and

the second mode of the first device comprises the first device operating at a second clock speed that is higher than the first clock speed.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

accessing energy delivery authorization data indicative of a maximum energy draw to be obtained from the first network;

limiting energy draw of the first network to the maximum energy draw specified in the energy delivery authorization data; and

drawing power, as limited, from the first network to provide energy to one or more of;

an application hardware processor,

one or more sensors, or

an energy storage device.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

sending energy delivery authorization data to a second device on the second network, wherein the energy delivery authorization data authorizes the second device to draw energy using second timeslot designation data indicative of the different interval of time for the second device;

determining that the current time is no longer within the time window; and

wherein the directing the distribution control device to pass the at least a portion of the electrical energy from the first network to the second network occurs at the different interval of time.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein:

wherein the first mode of the first device comprises an off or standby mode that does not charge an energy storage device; and

wherein the second mode of the first device comprises a charging mode that charges the energy storage device using the electrical energy received from the first network.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

sending energy delivery authorization data to a second device on the second network, wherein the energy delivery authorization data authorizes the second device to draw energy during the periodically recurring interval of time; and

wherein the directing the distribution control device to pass the at least a portion of the electrical energy from the first network to the second network occurs during the periodically recurring interval of time.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving the first timeslot designation data;

receiving energy delivery authorization data indicative of a maximum energy draw the first device is authorized to obtain from the first network; and

limiting energy draw during the second mode to the maximum energy draw specified in the energy delivery authorization data using current limiting circuitry.