MANAGING ENERGY DEMAND IN AN INFRASTRUCTURE

• US 20120109391A1
• Filed: 10/27/2010
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Marwah, Manish, Sharma, Ratnesh Kumar, Shah, Amip J., Christian, Thomas W., Bash, Cullen E., Patel, Chandrakant, Arlitt, Martin, Lyon, Geoff M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,565,931 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4893 taking into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

In a method for managing energy demand in an infrastructure, a coefficient of performance (COP) of the infrastructure as a function of time is determined. The COP is a measure of efficiency of the infrastructure. In addition, an energy demand on the infrastructure as a function of time is determined and an energy demand schedule for the infrastructure that temporally reallocates the energy demand based upon the determined COP of the infrastructure is determined.

Claims

1. A method for managing energy demand in an infrastructure, the method comprising:

determining, by a processor, a coefficient of performance (COP) of the infrastructure as a function of time, wherein the COP is a measure of efficiency of the infrastructure;

determining an energy demand on the infrastructure as a function of time; and

determining an energy demand schedule for the infrastructure that temporally reallocates the energy demand based upon the determined COP of the infrastructure.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the energy demand schedule for the infrastructure further comprises determining an energy demand schedule that substantially maximizes energy demand on the infrastructure during time is periods at which the COP the highest and that substantially minimizes energy demand on the infrastructure during time periods at which the COP is the lowest.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the COP further comprises determining the COP with respect to a sustainability metric of the infrastructure.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the sustainability metric comprises a metric selected from the group consisting of:

energy consumption, carbon emission, exergy, and toxicity.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the energy demand schedule further comprises determining the temporal reallocation of the energy demand subject to one or more additional constraints, wherein the one or more additional constraints pertain to factors other than the COP and energy costs.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the energy demand schedule for the infrastructure further comprises determining the energy demand schedule using:

F(D_t)=f(w,D_t,COP_t),

wherein Σ

D_t=D_T, is a total energy demand for the infrastructure, D_t is a demand to be performed as a function of time, ω

is a normalized weight assigned to each demand based on a predetermined relevance, and COP_t is an aggregate COP of the system as a function of time.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information from each of a plurality of infrastructures, wherein the information from each of the plurality of infrastructures includes an energy demand for each of the plurality of infrastructures; and

wherein determining the COP further comprises determining an aggregate COP of the plurality of infrastructures based on the received information from each of the plurality of infrastructures.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the energy demand schedule for the infrastructure further comprises employing a search algorithm to solve for an optimization to determine the energy demand schedule, wherein the search algorithm is selected from a group consisting of simulated annealing, hill climbing algorithm, local beam search, and genetic algorithm.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the energy demand schedule for the infrastructure further comprises determining the energy demand schedule using:

F(D_t)=f(w,D_t,U_t)

wherein Σ

D_t=D_T, is a total energy demand for the infrastructure, D_t is a demand to be performed as a function of time, ω

is a normalized weight assigned to each demand based on a predetermined relevance, and

U_t=f(U<sub>t—

COP</sub>,U<sub>t—

COST</sub>).

wherein U<sub>t—

COP</sub> and U<sub>t—

COST</sub> are utility functions between 0 and 1 and an aggregate COP is mapped into U<sub>t—

COP</sub> and an aggregate energy cost map is mapped into U<sub>t—

COST</sub>.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the energy demand schedule further comprises determining the energy demand schedule to reallocate the energy demand from time periods at which the COP is relatively high to time periods at which the COP is relatively low through use of one or more energy storage devices.

11. An apparatus for managing energy demand in an infrastructure, the apparatus is comprising:

one or more modules to determine a coefficient of performance (COP) of the infrastructure as a function of time, wherein the COP is a measure of efficiency of the infrastructure, to determine an energy demand on the infrastructure as a function of time, and to determine an energy demand schedule for the infrastructure that temporally reallocates the energy demand based upon the determined COP of the infrastructure; and

a processor to implement the one or more modules.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more modules are further to determine an energy demand schedule for the infrastructure that substantially maximizes energy demand on the infrastructure during time periods at which the COP the highest and that substantially minimizes energy demand on the infrastructure during time periods at which the COP is the lowest.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more modules are further to determine the COP with respect to a sustainability metric of the infrastructure.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the sustainability metric comprises a metric selected from the group consisting of:

energy consumption, carbon emission, exergy, and toxicity.

15. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more modules are further to determine the temporal reallocation of the energy demand subject to one or more additional constraints, wherein the one or more additional constraints pertain to factors other than the COP and energy costs.

16. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more modules are to determine the energy demand schedule for the infrastructure using:

F(D_t)=f(w,D_t,COP_t),

wherein Σ

D_t=D_T, is a total energy demand for the infrastructure, D_t is a demand to be performed as a function of time, ω

is a normalized weight assigned to each demand based on a predetermined relevance, and COP_t is an aggregate COP of the system as a function of time.

17. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more modules is further to determine the energy demand schedule to reallocate the energy demand from time periods at which the COP is relatively high to time periods at which the COP is relatively low using one or more energy storage devices.

18. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more modules are to determine the energy demand schedule for the infrastructure using a minimization function:

COP=D/E

wherein D is useful work performed and E is energy consumed in performing the useful work.

19. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more modules are to determine the energy demand schedule for the infrastructure using:

F(D_t)=f(w,D_t,U_t),

wherein Σ

D_t=D_T, is a total energy demand for the infrastructure, D_t is a demand to be performed as a function of time, ω

is a normalized weight assigned to each demand based on a predetermined relevance, and

U_t=f(U<sub>t—

COP</sub>,U<sub>t—

COST</sub>).

wherein U<sub>t—

COP</sub> and U<sub>t—

COST</sub> are utility functions between 0 and 1 and an aggregate COP is mapped into U<sub>t—

COP</sub> and an aggregate energy cost map is mapped into U<sub>t—

COST</sub>.

20. A computer readable storage medium on which is embedded one or more computer programs, said one or more computer programs implementing a method for managing energy demand in an infrastructure, said one or more computer programs comprising computer readable code to:

determine a coefficient of performance (COP) of the infrastructure as a function of time, wherein the COP is a measure of efficiency of the infrastructure;

determine an energy demand on the infrastructure as a function of time; and

determine an energy demand schedule for the infrastructure that temporally reallocates the energy demand based upon the determined COP of the infrastructure.