Using one-way communications in a market-based resource allocation system

• US 20100106641A1
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Original Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Inventors: Pratt, Robert G., Chassin, David P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,788,415 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/10 Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/12 Billing, invoicing, buying or selling transactions or other related activities, e.g. cost or usage evaluation

Abstract

Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for distributing a resource (such as electricity) using a resource allocation system. In one exemplary embodiment, a plurality of requests for electricity are received from a plurality of end-use consumers. The requests indicate a requested quantity of electricity and a consumer-requested index value indicative of a maximum price a respective end-use consumer will pay for the requested quantity of electricity. A plurality of offers for supplying electricity are received from a plurality of resource suppliers. The offers indicate an offered quantity of electricity and a supplier-requested index value indicative of a minimum price for which a respective supplier will produce the offered quantity of electricity. A dispatched index value is computed at which electricity is to be supplied based at least in part on the consumer-requested index values and the supplier-requested index values.

Claims

1. A method of operating an electrical device in a market-based resource allocation system, comprising:

receiving a user comfort setting selected by a user, the user comfort setting being selected from at least a first user comfort setting and a second user comfort setting, the first user comfort setting indicating the user'"'"'s willingness to pay more to achieve a desired performance level for an electrical device relative to the second user comfort setting;

computing an average dispatched value using multiple dispatched values from a previous time period, the multiple dispatched values representing values at which electricity was dispatched by the market-based resource allocation system during the previous time period; and

using computing hardware, computing a probability value of operating the electrical device based on at least the user comfort setting and the average dispatched value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises computing a standard deviation of the multiple dispatched values from the previous time period, and wherein the probability value is additionally based on the standard deviation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the previous time period is 24 hours or less.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises periodically receiving dispatched values from a central computer in the resource allocation system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a random number;

determining whether to operate the electrical device by comparing the random number to the probability value; and

generating a signal for causing the electrical device to operate based on the comparison.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected comfort setting is associated with a weighting factor k_w.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the probability value is computed according to the following equation:

$\begin{array}{c}r=k_W<br><br>\left[\frac{1}{\sqrt{2<br><br><br><br>\mathrm{\pi <br><br>}}<br><br>\mathrm{\sigma <br><br>}}<br><br>{\int <br><br>}_{-\mathrm{\infty <br><br>}}^{P_{\mathrm{clear}}}<br><br>{\mathrm{<br><br>}}^{-\frac{{\left(\stackrel{\_}{P}-x\right)}^2}{2<br><br><br><br>{\mathrm{\sigma <br><br>}}^2}}<br><br><br><br><br><br>x-\frac{1}{2}\right]\\ =k_W<br><br>\left[N<br><br>\left(P_{\mathrm{clear}},\stackrel{\_}{P},\mathrm{\sigma <br><br>}\right)-0.5\right];<br><br>\end{array}$ $r\ge <br><br>0$ $r=0;<br><br>\mathrm{otherwise}$

where N is the cumulative normal distribution, P_clear is a current dispatched value, P is the average dispatched value over the time period, and σ

is the standard deviation of the dispatched value over the time period.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the electrical device is a hot water heater.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the electrical device is an air-conditioning unit;

heating unit;

heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system;

hot water heater;

refrigerator;

dish washer;

washing machine;

dryer;

oven;

microwave oven;

pump;

home lighting system;

electrical charger, electric vehicle charger;

or home electrical system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing hardware is a computer processor or an integrated circuit.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the computing at fixed time periods.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the fixed time periods are periods of 15 minutes or less.

13. A computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions for causing computer to perform the method of claim 1.

14. An integrated circuit comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

15. An air-conditioning unit comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

16. A heating unit comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

17. A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

18. A hot water heater comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

19. A refrigerator comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

20. A dish washer comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

21. A washing machine comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

22. A dryer comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

23. An oven comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

24. A microwave oven comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

25. A pump comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

26. A home lighting system comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

27. An electric vehicle charger comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

28. A home electrical system comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1.

29. A method for controlling electrical power distribution by using a resource allocation system, the method comprising determining a probability that current flow to a non-thermostatically controlled device will be interrupted based upon preselected settings and cleared market prices.

30. The method of claim 29 further comprising debiting a customer balance in response to the cleared market prices.

31. A method of operating an electrical charger in a market-based resource allocation system, comprising:

receiving a user comfort setting selected by a user, the user comfort setting being selected from at least a first user comfort setting and a second user comfort setting, the first user comfort setting indicating the user'"'"'s willingness to pay more to achieve a desired performance level for an electrical device relative to the second user comfort setting;

computing an average dispatched value using multiple dispatched values from a previous time period, the multiple dispatched values representing values at which electricity was dispatched by the market-based resource allocation system during the previous time period;

using computing hardware, computing a current rate of charge at which the electrical charger is to operate based on at least the user comfort setting and the average dispatched value;

generating a signal for controlling the electrical charger such that it provides a charge at the current rate of charge.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises computing a standard deviation of the multiple dispatched values from the previous time period, and wherein the current rate of charge is additionally based on the standard deviation.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises periodically receiving dispatched values from a central computer in the resource allocation system.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the current rate of charge is computed according to the following:

ROC_set=ROC_des(1−

kP_dev)

where ROC_set is the current rate of charge, ROC_des is a desired rate-of-charge such that

${\mathrm{ROC}}_{\mathrm{des}}=\frac{\left({\mathrm{SOC}}_{\mathrm{final}}-{\mathrm{SOC}}_{\mathrm{obs}}\right)}{n_{\mathrm{hours}}}$

where SOC_final is the final state of charge, SOC_obs is the current state of charge observed, n_hours is the number of hours remaining before the SOC_final is to be achieved, k is the user comfort setting, with 0<

k<

∞

, P_dev is the price deviation such that

$P_{\mathrm{dev}}=\frac{P_{\mathrm{now}}-P_{\mathrm{avg}}}{P_{\mathrm{std}}}$

wherein P_now is a current price, P_avg is the average daily clearing price for energy, and P_std is the daily standard deviation of the price, SOC_final is the final desired state-of-charge of the vehicle, SOC_obs is the current observed state-of-charge of the vehicle, and n_hours is the number of hours remaining before the SOC_final must be achieved.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein the computing hardware is a computer processor or an integrated circuit.

36. The method of claim 31, further comprising repeating the computing at fixed time periods.

37. A computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions for causing computer to perform the method of claim 31.

38. An integrated circuit comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 31.

39. An electrical charger comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 31.