OPERATION PLANNING METHOD, OPERATION PLANNING DEVICE, HEAT PUMP HOT WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM OPERATION METHOD, AND HEAT PUMP HOT WATER SUPPLY AND HEATING SYSTEM OPERATION METHOD

• US 20120232706A1
• Filed: 10/18/2011
• Published: 09/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Hayashida, Gaku
• Granted Patent: US 8,972,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/282
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 18/00 Small-scale combined heat and power [CHP] generation systems specially adapted for domestic heating, space heating or domestic hot-water supply
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 19/1045 the system uses a heat pump and solar energy
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2101/40 Photovoltaic [PV] modules
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2103/13 characterised by their heat exchangers
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2103/17 Storage tanks
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2200/02 Photovoltaic energy
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2200/08 Electric heater
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 2200/12 Heat pump
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1924 using thermal energy, the availability of which is aleatory
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/003 Load forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future load demand
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/004 Generation forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future energy generation
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/70 Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/244 the home appliances being or involving heating ventilating and air conditioning [HVAC] units

Abstract

An operation planning method performed in a system including a power generation device, a first electric load operating using power generated by the power generation device, and a second electric load which generates heat using power generated by the power generation device. The operation planning method is performed to design an operation plan for the second electric load and includes: predicting, for individual unit time periods, an amount of power to be generated by the power generation device and an amount of power to be consumed by the first electric load; and designing the operation plan for the second electric load to operate during an operation period including the time period with the largest amount of reverse power, calculated by subtracting the amount of power to be consumed from the amount of power to be generated.

Claims

1. An operation planning method performed in a system including a power generation device, a first electric load which operates using power generated by the power generation device, and a second electric load which generates heat using power generated by the power generation device, said operation planning method being performed to design an operation plan for the second electric load, and comprising:

predicting, for individual unit time periods, an amount of power to be generated by the power generation device and an amount of power to be consumed by the first electric load; and

designing the operation plan for the second electric load to cause the second electric load to operate during an operation period which includes, among the time periods, a time period in which an amount of reverse power is the largest, the reverse power being calculated by subtracting the amount of power to be consumed from the amount of power to be generated.

2. The operation planning method according to claim 1,

wherein the power generation device is a photovoltaic device,

the second electric load includes a heat generation unit which generates heat using power generated by the power generation device, a heat storage unit which stores heat generated by the heat generation unit, and a radiator unit which radiates heat stored in the heat storage unit,

in said predicting, an amount of heat to be radiated in reverse flow standby by the radiator unit during a reverse flow standby time period is further predicted, the reverse flow standby time period being a time period in which the amount of power to be consumed exceeds the amount of power to be generated, and

in said designing, an operation plan for the heat generation unit to operate during the operation period is designed such that an amount of heat is stored in the heat storage unit, the amount of heat corresponding to the amount of heat to be radiated in reverse flow standby as predicted in said predicting.

3. The operation planning method according to claim 2,

wherein in said designing, the operation plan is designed for the operation period which is determined by selecting one or more of the time periods in descending order of the amount of reverse power until a total amount of time of the one or more selected time periods exceeds an amount of time required for the heat generation unit to generate the amount of heat corresponding to the amount of heat to be radiated in reverse flow standby.

4. The operation planning method according to claim 3,

wherein in said designing,

a reverse power threshold value is set to be the amount of reverse power with the lowest value among the one or more selected time periods, and

the operation plan is designed such that operation of the heat generation unit is started at a point in time at which the reverse power as actually measured becomes equal to or exceeds the reverse power threshold value during the operation period.

5. The operation planning method according to claim 4,

wherein in said designing, the operation plan is further designed such that operation of the heat generation unit is stopped at a point in time at which the amount of heat corresponding to the amount of heat to be radiated in reverse flow standby is generated during the operation period.

6. The operation planning method according to claim 2,

wherein the heat storage unit includes a thermal storage medium whose temperature varies according to the amount of heat stored,

the heat generation unit includes a heat pump capable of heating the thermal storage medium to a first temperature, and a heater capable of heating the thermal storage medium beyond the first temperature, and

in said designing, with respect to the amount of heat corresponding to the amount of heat to be radiated in reverse flow standby, the operation plan is designed to cause the heat pump to generate an amount of heat until the thermal storage medium reaches the first temperature, and cause the heater to generate an amount of heat after the thermal storage medium reaches the first temperature.

7. The operation planning method according to claim 2,

wherein in said predicting, the amount of heat to be radiated by the radiator unit during the reverse flow standby time period is predicted as the amount of heat to be radiated in reverse flow standby, the reverse flow standby time period being a time period delimited by a reverse flow standby start time and a predetermined assumed time at which the radiator unit will stop radiating heat, and the reverse flow standby start time being a time when the amount of reverse power changes from a positive value to a non-positive value.

8. The operation planning method according to claim 2,

wherein in said predicting,

the amount of power to be consumed is predicted for each time period to be equivalent to an average of power consumption values previously measured in a corresponding time period on the same day of the week, and

the amount of heat to be radiated in reverse flow standby is predicted for each time period to be equivalent to an average of reverse flow standby radiated heat values previously measured in a corresponding time period on the same day of the week.

9. The operation planning method according to claim 2,

wherein in said predicting, a predicted amount of solar radiation is obtained for each time period for a prediction target day, and the amount of power to be generated during each time period is predicted to be equivalent to, from among previously measured amounts of generated power, an amount of generated power from the time period having an amount of solar radiation that is closest to the predicted amount of solar radiation.

10. An operation planning device in a system including a power generation device, a first electric load which operates using power generated by the power generation device, and a second electric load which generates heat using power generated by the power generation device, said operation planning device configured to design an operation plan for the second electric load, and comprising:

a prediction unit which predicts, for individual unit time periods, an amount of power to be generated by the power generation device and an amount of power to be consumed by the first electric load, and

an operation planning unit which designs an operation plan for the second electric load to cause the second electric load to operate during an operation period which includes, among the time periods, a time period in which an amount of reverse power is the largest, the reverse power being calculated by subtracting the amount of power to be consumed from the amount of power to be generated.

11. An operation method performed by a heat pump hot water supply system including a photovoltaic device and a heat pump hot water supply device,

the system further including an operation planning device, and

said operation method comprising control of the system by the operation planning device, said control including:

predicting an amount of power to be generated by the power generation device and an amount of power to be consumed by an electric load;

calculating an amount of reverse power by subtracting the amount of power to be consumed from the amount of power to be generated;

predicting an amount of heat required in a reverse flow standby time period during which the amount of reverse power is zero; and

designing an operation plan which causes the heat pump hot water supply device to operate to store the predicted amount of heat during an operation period which includes a time period in which the amount of reverse power is the largest.

12. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply system according to claim 11,

wherein in said designing,

a heat storage target temperature to store the predicted amount of heat is determined and a reverse power threshold value is set to the amount of reverse power with the lowest value among the one or more selected time periods.

13. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply system according to claim 12,

further comprising controlling that is performed based on the heat storage target temperature and the reverse power threshold value determined and set in said designing,

wherein in said controlling, operation of the heat pump hot water supply device is started at a point in time at which the reverse power as measured reaches or exceeds the reverse power threshold value during the operation period, and

operation of the heat pump hot water supply device is stopped at a point in time at which the predicted amount of heat is generated during the operation period.

14. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply system according to claim 13,

wherein the amount of power to be generated, the amount of power to be consumed, and the amount of heat are predicted using history information stored in a storage.

15. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply system according to claim 14,

wherein the operation planning device is installed inside the heat pump hot water supply device.

16. An operation method performed by a heat pump hot water supply and heating system including a photovoltaic device and a heat pump hot water supply and heating device,

the heat pump hot water and heating device including a hot water supply tank and heating device,

the system including an operation planning device, and

said operation method comprising control of the system by the operation planning device, said control including:

predicting an amount of power to be generated by the power generation device and an amount of power to be consumed by an electric load;

calculating an amount of reverse power by subtracting the amount of power to be consumed from the amount of power to be generated;

predicting an amount of heat required in a reverse flow standby time period during which the amount of reverse power is zero; and

designing an operation plan which causes the heat pump hot water supply and heating device to operate to store the predicted amount of heat during an operation period which includes a time period in which the amount of reverse power is the largest.

17. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply and heating system according to claim 16,

wherein in said designing,

a heat storage target temperature to store the predicted amount of heat is determined and a reverse power threshold value is set to the amount of reverse power with the lowest value among the one or more selected time periods.

18. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply and heating system according to claim 17,

further comprising controlling that is performed based on the heat storage target temperature and the reverse power threshold value determined and set in said designing,

wherein in said controlling, operation of the heat pump hot water supply device is started at a point in time at which the reverse power as measured reaches or exceeds the reverse power threshold value during the operation period, and

operation of the heat pump hot water supply device is stopped at a point in time at which the predicted amount of heat is generated during the operation period.

19. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply and heating system according to claim 18,

wherein in said designing, the heat storage target temperature for storing the predicted amount of heat in a hot water supply tank is determined, and

a thermal storage medium inside the hot water supply tank is heated to a first temperature with a heat pump included in the heat pump hot water supply and heating device, then the thermal storage medium is heated to a second temperature which is higher than the first temperature with a heater installed in the hot water supply tank.

20. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply and heating system according to claim 18,

wherein the heat pump hot water supply and heating device includes a hot water supply and heating control device, and

the hot water supply and heating control device is set up to receive operation information for the heat pump hot water supply and heating device from a remote control as well as from the operation planning device, and

when received by the operation planning device, gives the operation information from the operation planning device priority over the operation information from the remote control, and controls the heat pump hot water supply and heating device based on the operation information from the operation planning device.

21. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply and heating system according to claim 20,

wherein the operation information is an operation mode for the heat pump hot water supply and heating device, and a hot water supply temperature setting for the hot water supply tank.

22. The operation method performed by the heat pump hot water supply and heating system according to claim 18,

wherein the heat pump hot water supply and heating device includes a heat exchanger, and

a thermal storage medium supplied from the heat exchanger is controlled via a switching device so as to be supplied to one of a hot water supply tank and a heating device.