METHOD AND SYSTEM TO MONITOR AND CONTROL ENERGY

• US 20130079931A1
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Published: 03/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: EC Infosystems, Inc. (VTX Holdings Companyöperatief UA)
• Original Assignee: EC Infosystems, Inc. (VTX Holdings Companyöperatief UA)
• Inventors: Leopold, David L., Wanchoo, Mohan, Shah, Nirav ., Strautman, Richard, Slattery, Gary, Mervosh, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US13/245,236
• Publication Number:
  US 20130079931A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/278
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/12 Determination or prediction of behaviour, e.g. likely power consumption or unusual usage patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/14 Displaying of utility usage with respect to time, e.g. for monitoring evolution of usage or with respect to weather conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/45 Utility meters networked together within a single building
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/002 Remote reading of utility meters
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00002 characterised by monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00004 characterised by the power network being locally controlled
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00017 using optical fiber
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/12 The local stationary network supplying a household or a building
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/124 using wired telecommunication networks or data transmission busses

Abstract

A system to monitor and control energy usage includes at least one consumer system and a control center that communicates with the at least one consumer system via the interne. Each consumer system includes a private network, at least one smart device that is configured to provide usage data across the private network, and a console. The console creates the private network, receives the usage data across the private network, sends the usage data across a communication channel, and enables a local user to control the at least one smart device and monitor energy usage of the at least one smart device. The control center is configured to receive the usage data across the communication channel from each console for storage thereon and enables a user remote to the consumer systems to control the smart devices and monitor energy usage of the smart devices.

Claims

1. A system to monitor and control energy usage, the system comprising:

at least one consumer system; and

a control center that communicates with the at least one consumer system via a communication channel,

wherein each consumer system comprises;

a private network;

at least one smart device that is configured to provide usage data across the private network;

a console configured to create the private network, receive the usage data across the private network, send the usage data across the communication channel, and enable a local user to control the at least one smart device and monitor energy usage of the at least one smart device,

wherein the control center is configured to receive the usage data across the communication channel from each console for storage thereon and enables a user remote from the consumer systems to control the smart devices and monitor energy usage of the smart devices.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the usage data is sent over the private network using a Zigbee communications protocol.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the smart devices include at least one of a smart meter, a smart appliance, and a smart plug.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control center includes an application that provides a web portal through which messages are transmitted by the remote user to control the smart devices and monitor the energy usage of the smart devices.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the control center is configured to send commands through the web portal to a corresponding one of the consoles for operation thereon.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the console is configured to read usage data from at least two of the corresponding smart devices at the same time.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the console is configured read usage data having an automatic meter reading (AMR) data format and usage data having an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data format.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein each console provides its own unique identifier along with its usage data to the control center and a database of the control center stores a plurality of entries, where each entry includes the usage data and a corresponding one of the unique identifiers.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the console is configured to provide a ratio of the energy usage of one of the smart devices as compared to the total energy usage of all the smart devices of the console.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the smart devices provides usage data on a source of renewable energy to the control center.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the console includes an opt-in function that allows the local user to opt-in to a demand response event and the control center records the consoles that are participating in the demand response event.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the control center is configured to provide an analysis on the usage data of those that participated in the event against a projected load shedding amount to predict how much load will be shed in a future such event.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the console includes a thermostat interfaced with a heating system or a cooling system and settings of the thermostat can be adjusted using the console and the control center.

14. A method of controlling and managing energy usage, the method comprising:

establishing, by a console of a consumer system, a private network to allow at least one smart device to connect to the private network;

sending, by the console, a first message including usage data received from the private network from the smart devices across a communication channel to an external control center;

determining, by the control center, a schedule for the smart devices based on the usage data received in the message;

sending, by the control center, a second message including commands based on the schedule across the communication channel to the console; and

executing, by the console, the commands in the second message to control the smart devices.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the usage data is sent over the private network using a Zigbee communications protocol.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the smart devices include at least one of a smart meter, a smart appliance, and a smart plug.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein when the control center determines that a current time is within a peak period and the usage data indicates that one of the smart devices is non-essential, execution of one the commands sets the corresponding smart device to a power-save mode.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the first message includes a device identifier of the console, the method further comprising storing, by the control center, a data record including the device identifier and the usage data

19. A method of controlling and managing energy usage, the method comprising:

establishing, by a console of a consumer system, a private network to allow at least one smart device to connect to the private network;

sending a first message from an external control center to the console across a communications channel, the first message indicating a time period of a curtailment event;

displaying, by the console, the time period of the curtailment event and an option that when selected indicates opting into the curtailment event;

sending a second message from the console across the communications channel to the control center to indicate opting into the curtailment event when the option is selected; and

sending a third message from the control center across the communication channel to the console including a command to control one of the smart devices during the time period to reduce its power consumption in response to the second message.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the command is sent to the corresponding smart device across the private network using a Zigbee communications protocol.