Power Factor

• US 20130261822A1
• Filed: 03/29/2012
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Universiti Brunei Darussalam
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hazra, Jagabondhu, Narayanaswamy, Balakrishnan, Seetharamakrishnan, Devasenapathi P., De Silva, Liyanage Chandratilak
• Granted Patent: US 9,014,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/18 Arrangements for adjusting, eliminating or compensating reactive power in networks for adjustment of voltage H02J3/16
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 40/30 Reactive power compensation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier

Abstract

A method, an apparatus and an article of manufacture for improving power factor. The method includes collecting consumption data of at least one appliance, building a consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption data collected, reconstructing reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance, and computing a schedule for each of the at least one appliance in accordance the reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance to improve power factor while respecting at least one constraint.

Claims

1. (canceled)

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12. (canceled)

13. An article of manufacture comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable instructions tangibly embodied thereon which, when implemented, cause a computer to carry out a plurality of method steps comprising:

collecting consumption data of at least one appliance;

building a consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption data collected;

reconstructing reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance; and

computing a schedule for each of the at least one appliance in accordance the reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance to improve power factor while respecting at least one constraint.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the computer readable instructions which, when implemented, further cause a computer to carry out a method step comprising:

editing the schedule based on user input.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein collecting consumption data of at least one appliance comprises collecting consumption data from a smart meter.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the at least one constraint comprises at least one of such as user availability, comfort, user preference for device usage time and duration and delay, user preference for device usage intensity and change in intensity, user preference for device co-scheduling and re-scheduling, cost related to reactive power, and available source of power.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein computing a schedule for each of the at least one appliance comprises co-scheduling multiple appliances to improve a net power factor.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein computing a schedule for each of the at least one appliance comprises re-scheduling an appliance based on real-time pricing of reactive power.

19. A system for improving power factor, comprising:

at least one distinct software module, each distinct software module being embodied on a tangible computer-readable medium;

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and operative for;

collecting consumption data of at least one appliance;

building a consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption data collected;

reconstructing reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance; and

computing a schedule for each of the at least one appliance in accordance the reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance to improve power factor while respecting at least one constraint.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor coupled to the memory is further operative for:

editing the schedule based on user input.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor coupled to the memory operative for collecting consumption data of at least one appliance is further operative for collecting consumption data from a smart meter.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one constraint comprises at least one of such as user availability, comfort, user preference for device usage time and duration and delay, user preference for device usage intensity and change in intensity, user preference for device co-scheduling and re-scheduling, cost related to reactive power, and available source of power.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor coupled to the memory operative for computing a schedule for each of the at least one appliance is further operative for co-scheduling multiple appliances to improve a net power factor.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor coupled to the memory operative for computing a schedule for each of the at least one appliance is further operative for re-scheduling an appliance based on real-time pricing of reactive power.