System for Supermarket Energy Management

• US 20110106759A1
• Filed: 10/01/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Automation Solutions, Inc. (Makino Milling Machine Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Automation Solutions, Inc. (Makino Milling Machine Company Limited)
• Inventors: Brown, Frank C. III
• Granted Patent: US 10,055,699 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/622
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2400/22 Refrigeration systems for supermarkets
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 49/005 of safety devices F25B49/02 and F25B49/04 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of supermarket refrigeration & HVAC control. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for concurrent and remote management of multiple supermarket refrigeration systems located at one or more retail sites. Embodiments may include at least one on-site computer, at least one central server, at least one user computer, one or more communication network, and one or more on-site refrigeration control systems. In embodiments, the on-site computer communicates with the on-site refrigeration control system(s), which may be the same or different, and multiple on-site computers and/or different store locations may be used. The on-site computer is capable of translating data received from these various refrigeration control systems into a single system-friendly generic format and the translated data is stored on the on-site computer. This data is intermittently copied and stored on a central server. Meanwhile, data and more particularly data updates are sent from the refrigeration control system to the on-site computer for storage. At a desired interval, for example every five minutes, the central server detects whether the information on the on-site computer is different from the information on the server. When there has been an update, the server downloads the current information in bulk from the on-site computer. The information on the server is then accessed by one or more users to manage the refrigeration control systems, optionally remotely. In contrast with other existing refrigeration control management systems, systems and methods of the present invention can be used with multiple legacy refrigeration control systems, including old and new versions of a system from one particular OEM provider, and/or different models from one particular OEM provider, and/or different versions or models from several different OEM providers. These systems and methods provide for compatibility between different control systems, which does not currently exist. Benefits of the inventive systems and methods include being capable of delivering information to a user, in response to a user query, faster than systems in which the user computer communicates with and obtains data stored on the legacy system itself.

Claims

1. A system of managing supermarket refrigeration information systems comprising:

one or more on-site computers for receiving data and data updates from and operably connected with one or more on-site refrigeration control systems, wherein the on-site computer has a processor and software for translating the data and data updates into a generic data structure and one or more databases for storing the translated data and data updates;

a communication network operably connecting the on-site computers with a central server and for transmitting a copy of each database to a corresponding central server database;

a central server having one or more databases for storing a copy of each on-site computer database, a processor, and software for;

i) repetitively detecting, at a selected timing interval, that the on-site database contains data updates, ii) making a copy of the updated on-site database, iii) replacing the corresponding copy on the central server with the updated copy; and

iv) organizing, drilling, and presenting data to a user from the updated copy of the database on the central server, in response to a query of the user, without retrieving the data individually from the on-site computer;

a second communication network operably connecting the central server with one or more user computers and which is capable of transmitting data therebetween.

2. The system according to claim 1 having multiple on-site computers and multiple on-site refrigeration control systems, wherein each on-site computer is individually operably connected with one on-site refrigeration control system.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein:

the data and data updates from at least one of the on-site refrigeration control systems has a data structure different from the data and data updates from another of the on-site refrigeration control systems; and

the processor for translating the data and data updates is capable of translating the different data structures into the same generic data structure.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the data and data updates represent one or more of static structure information, setpoint information, and run-time information.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the data and data updates in the central server database comprise current and archived static structure information, setpoint information, and run-time information.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the central server software is capable of retrieving run-time data from the on-site computer in bulk and correlating the run-time data with static structure information stored on the central server for presentation to a user.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the central server software allows users to make queries in a form that contains multiple random access questions and answers the queries in the same fashion.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the central server software is operably configured to send an alarm to a user to indicate on-site changes have occurred.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the central server software is operably configured to receive and record alarms from each on-site computer for determining whether service to an on-site refrigeration system is needed.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein the central server software is operably configured to send the alarms in a customer-desired format and send or re-send the alarms in a customer-specified manner.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the customer-desired format is chosen from at least one of Short Message Service (SMS) text message, e-mail, pager, voice mail, facsimile, video, and audio.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the communication networks are the internet or internet in combination with a VPN.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the central server software is operably configured to participate in data interleaving.

14. A method of managing a supermarket refrigeration information system comprising:

a) receiving information from one or more on-site refrigeration control systems;

b) translating the information with one or more on-site computers operably configured to receive and translate the information into a generic data structure;

c) storing the translated information in one or more databases on or associated with the on-site computer;

d) transferring a copy of the database on the on-site computer to one or more databases located on a central server;

e) polling the on-site computer to determine if an information update has been stored on the database of the on-site computer;

f) upon detection of a change, transferring a copy of the on-site database containing data updates to a database on the central server.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the copy of the on-site database containing data updates replaces the copy of the corresponding central server database.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising organizing, drilling, and presenting data to a user from the updated copy of the database on the central server, in response to a query of the user, without retrieving the data individually from the on-site computer.