System and method for controlling delivering of a commodity
First Claim
1. A method for providing at least one program to a utility of a commodity, the program aimed at managing demand for the commodity, the utility delivering the commodity to at least one customer site, the customer site having a plurality of devices which use the commodity, including the steps of:
- defining a program having a subset of the plurality of devices for which usage of the commodity may be managed by activating the program;
delivering the commodity to the subset of devices;
measuring the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the subset of the devices;
sending the instantaneous rate for each device within the subset to the utility; and
, determining, in real time, a capacity associated with the delivery of the commodity which may be available for management by activating the program.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method manage delivery of energy from a distribution network to one or more sites. Each site has at least one device couple to the distribution network. The at least one device controllably consumes energy. The system includes a node and a control system. The node is coupled to the at least one device for sensing and controlling energy delivered to the device. A control system is coupled to the node and distribution network for delivering to the node at least one characteristic of the distribution network. The node for controls the supply of energy to the device as a function of the at least one characteristic.
325 Citations
71 Claims
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1. A method for providing at least one program to a utility of a commodity, the program aimed at managing demand for the commodity, the utility delivering the commodity to at least one customer site, the customer site having a plurality of devices which use the commodity, including the steps of:
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defining a program having a subset of the plurality of devices for which usage of the commodity may be managed by activating the program;
delivering the commodity to the subset of devices;
measuring the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the subset of the devices;
sending the instantaneous rate for each device within the subset to the utility; and
,determining, in real time, a capacity associated with the delivery of the commodity which may be available for management by activating the program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method for providing at least one program to a utility of a commodity, the program aimed at managing demand for the commodity, the utility delivering the commodity to at least one customer site, the customer site having a plurality of devices which use the commodity, including the steps of:
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defining a program having a subset of the plurality of devices for which usage of the commodity may be managed by activating the program;
delivering the commodity to the subset of devices;
measuring the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the subset of the devices;
sending the instantaneous rate for each device within the subset to the utility;
determining, in real time, a capacity associated with the delivery of the commodity which may be managed by activating the program;
activating the program;
determining an actual rate of consumption of the commodity and a rate of change of consumption induced by activation of the program; and
,providing at least one of an alternative rate and a billing adjustment to at least one customer as a function of the actual capacity managed at the related customer site by the program.
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38. A method for providing at least one program to a utility of a commodity, the program aimed at managing demand for the commodity, the utility delivering the commodity to at least one customer site, the customer site having a plurality of devices which use the commodity, including the steps of:
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defining a program having a subset of the plurality of devices for which usage of the commodity may be managed by activating the program;
delivering the commodity to the subset of devices;
measuring the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the subset of the devices;
sending the instantaneous rate for each device within the subset to the utility;
determining, in real time, a capacity associated with the delivery of the commodity which may be managed by activating the program;
activating the program; and
,verifying management of the devices within the subset of the devices.
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39. A method for providing at least one program to a utility of electrical power, the program aimed at managing demand for the electrical power, the utility delivering the electrical power to a plurality of customer sites through a distribution network, each customer site having a plurality of devices which use the electrical power, the distribution network including at least one transmission substation, at least one distribution substation associated with each transmission substation, and at least one circuit associated with each transmission substation, including the steps of:
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defining a program having a subset of the plurality of devices for which usage of the electrical power may be managed by activating the program;
delivering the electrical power to the subset of devices;
measuring the instantaneous rate at which the electrical power is being delivered to the subset of the devices;
sending the instantaneous rate for each device within the subset to the utility; and
,determining, in real time, a capacity available on at least one of the at least one transmission substation, the at least one distribution, and the at least one circuit network associated with the delivery of the commodity which may be managed by activating the program. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41)
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42. A system for providing at least one program to a utility of a commodity, the program aimed at managing demand for the commodity, the utility delivering the commodity to at least one customer site, the customer site having a plurality of devices which use the commodity, comprising:
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a utility interface, operable by a user, for defining a program having a subset of the plurality of devices for which usage of the commodity may be limited by activating the program;
a distribution network for delivering the commodity to the subset of devices;
a node, coupled to each device, for measuring the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the subset of the devices; and
,a control system coupled to the utility interface, the distribution network, and each node, for controlling delivery of the commodity and determining, in real time, a capacity associated with the delivery of the commodity which may be available by activating the program as a function of the measured instantaneous rate. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. A system for providing at least one program to a utility of a commodity, the program aimed at managing demand for the commodity, the utility delivering the commodity to at least one customer site, the customer site having a plurality of devices which use the commodity, including the steps of:
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defining a program having a subset of the plurality of devices for which usage of the commodity may be managed by activating the program;
delivering the commodity to the subset of devices;
measuring the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the subset of the devices;
sending the instantaneous rate for each device within the subset to the utility;
determining, in real time, a capacity associated with the delivery of the commodity which may be managed by activating the program;
activating the program;
determining at least one of an actual rate of consumption of the commodity and a charge in a rate of consumption by activating of the program; and
,providing a at least one of an alternative rate and a billing adjustment to at least one customer as a function of the actual capacity modified at the related customer site by the program.
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69. A system for providing at least one program to a utility of electrical power, the program aimed at managing demand for the electrical power, the utility delivering the electrical power to a plurality of customer sites, each customer site having a plurality of devices which use the electrical power, comprising:
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a utility interface, operable by a user, for defining a program having a subset of the plurality of devices for which usage of the commodity may be managed by activating the program;
a distribution network for delivering the commodity to the subset of devices, the distribution network including at least one transmission substation, at least one distribution substation associated with each transmission substation, and at least one circuit associated with each transmission substation;
a node, coupled to each device, for measuring the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the subset of the devices; and
,a control system coupled to the utility interface, the distribution network, and each node, for controlling delivery of the commodity and determining, in real time, a capacity available on at least one of the at least one transmission substation, the at least one distribution, and the at least one circuit network associated with the delivery of the commodity which may be managed by activating the program. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71)
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Specification