Apparatus and method for occupancy based demand response dispatch prioritization

• US 10,324,435 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2016
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Enel X North America, Inc. (ENEL SPA)
• Original Assignee: Enel X North America, Inc. (ENEL SPA)
• Inventors: Al-Mohssen, Husain, Main, Elizabeth J., Bassa, Angela S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wathen, Brian W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dang, Hung H
• Application Number:
  US15/145,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20170322530A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,141 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2639 Energy management, use maximum of cheap power, keep peak load low
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0145 for active traffic flow control

Abstract

An apparatus for prioritizing a demand response program event based on occupancy for one or more buildings of one or more building types participating in a demand response program is provided. The apparatus has an occupancy estimator and a dispatch controller. The occupancy estimator is configured to receive energy consumption and outside temperature streams corresponding to a portion of the one or more buildings, and is configured to employ occupancy components for each of the one or more buildings within the portion to process the streams, and is configured to generate occupancy levels corresponding to the one or more buildings within the portion, where the occupancy components and the occupancy levels are generated by exclusively processing the streams, and is configured to assign the occupancy levels to remaining ones of the one or more buildings not in the first portion. The a dispatch controller is configured to employ the occupancy components to maintain a global energy use model for the one or more buildings, and is configured to transmit dispatch messages to selected ones of the one or more buildings to reduce energy consumption by a prescribed amount for a prescribed period of time, to achieve objectives of the demand response program event.

Claims

1. An apparatus for prioritizing a demand response program event based on occupancy for one or more buildings of one or more building types participating in a demand response program, the apparatus comprising:

a network operations center, comprising a central processing unit, transitory memory, and non-transitory read-only memory having computer code disposed therein, said computer code comprising;

a first application program, executable to perform functions of an occupancy estimator, configured to receive energy consumption and outside temperature streams E_i(h,T) corresponding to a portion of the one or more buildings, and configured to employ occupancy components for each of the one or more buildings within said portion to process said streams, and configured to generate occupancy levels corresponding to the one or more buildings within said portion, wherein said occupancy components and said occupancy levels are generated by exclusively processing said streams, and configured to assign said occupancy levels to remaining ones of the one or more buildings not in said portion, said occupancy components comprising;

a lower bound of energy consumption, ζ

(T), as a function of outside temperature, T, when a corresponding one of said one or more buildings is at minimum occupancy;

a normalized occupancy profile component, ƒ

(h) as a function of a prescribed time increment, h;

a marginal energy consumption component, D(T) as a function of T; and

a daily occupancy level component, γ

_i for each of a first plurality of days, i;

wherein γ

_i is determined according to the following equation;

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said NOC is configured to generate said occupancy components by processing training data sets comprising energy consumption and outside temperature data for each of the one or more buildings in said portion, and wherein said energy consumption and outside temperature data taken at said prescribed time increment over said plurality of days.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein said NOC progressively revises said occupancy components by additionally processing said streams.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein said prescribed time increment ranges from 5 minutes to 2 hours.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, where said plurality of days ranges from 30 days to 365 days.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said dispatch controller selects said selected ones of the one or more buildings when each of their respective energy use profiles varies more than 20 percent from an average of their energy use profiles.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said occupancy estimator assigns said occupancy levels to remaining ones of the one or more buildings not in said first portion based on building type.

8. An energy management apparatus comprising:

a network operations center, comprising a central processing unit, transitory memory, and non-transitory read-only memory having application programs disposed therein, said application programs comprising;

computer readable program code executable to prioritize a demand response program event based on occupancy for one or more buildings of one or more building types participating in a demand response program event, said computer readable code comprising;

first program code for providing an occupancy estimator, configured to receive energy consumption and outside temperature streams E_i(h,T) corresponding to a portion of the one or more buildings, and configured to employ occupancy components for each of the one or more buildings within said portion to process said streams, and configured to generate occupancy levels corresponding to the one or more buildings within said portion, wherein said occupancy components and said occupancy levels are generated by exclusively processing said streams, and configured to assign said occupancy levels to remaining ones of the one or more buildings not in said portion according to building type, said occupancy components comprising;

a lower bound of energy consumption, ζ

(T), as a function of outside temperature, T, when a corresponding one of said one or more buildings is at minimum occupancy;

a normalized occupancy profile component, ƒ

(h) as a function of a prescribed time increment, h;

a marginal energy consumption component, D(T) as a function of T; and

a daily occupancy level component, γ

_i for each of a first plurality of days, i;

wherein γ

_i is determined according to the following equation;

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said NOC is configured to generate said occupancy components by processing training data sets comprising energy consumption and outside temperature data for each of the one or more buildings in said portion, and wherein said energy consumption and outside temperature data taken at a prescribed time increment over said plurality of days.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein said NOC progressively revises said occupancy components by additionally processing said streams.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein said prescribed time increment ranges from 5 minutes to 2 hours.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, where said plurality of days ranges from 30 days to 365 days.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said dispatch controller selects said selected ones of the one or more buildings when each of their respective energy use profiles varies more than 20 percent from an average of their energy use profiles.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein said occupancy estimator assigns said occupancy levels to remaining ones of the one or more buildings not in said first portion based on building type.

15. A method for prioritizing a demand response program event based on occupancy for one or more buildings of one or more building types participating in a demand response program, the method comprising:

via a first application disposed in non-transitory memory that is executable by a central processing unit disposed in a network operations center, receiving energy consumption and outside temperature streams E_i(h,T) corresponding to a portion of the one or more buildings, and employing occupancy components for each of the one or more buildings within the portion to process the streams, and generating occupancy levels corresponding to the one or more buildings within the portion, wherein the occupancy components and the occupancy levels are generated by exclusively processing the streams, and assigning the occupancy levels to remaining ones of the one or more buildings not in the portion, the occupancy components comprising;

a lower bound of energy consumption, ζ

(T), as a function of outside temperature, T, when a corresponding one of said one or more buildings is at minimum occupancy;

a normalized occupancy profile component, ƒ

(h) as a function of a prescribed time increment, h;

a marginal energy consumption component, D(T) as a function of T; and

a daily occupancy level component, γ

_i for each of a first plurality of days, i;

wherein γ

_i is determined according to the following equation;

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the NOC is configured to generate the occupancy components by processing training data sets comprising energy consumption and outside temperature data for each of the one or more buildings in the portion, the energy consumption and outside temperature data taken at the prescribed time increment over the plurality of days.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the NOC progressively revises the occupancy components by additionally processing the streams.

18. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the prescribed time increment ranges from 5 minutes to 2 hours.

19. The method as recited in claim 16, where the plurality of days ranges from 30 days to 365 days.

20. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the dispatch controller selects the selected ones of the one or more buildings when each of their respective energy use profiles varies more than 20 percent from an average of their energy use profiles.

21. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the occupancy estimator assigns the occupancy levels to remaining ones of the one or more buildings not in the first portion based on building type.