METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MANAGING ELECTRIC ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND/OR PRODUCTION

• US 20130268135A1
• Filed: 12/28/2011
• Published: 10/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fondazione Links-Leading Innovation & Knowledge For Society
• Original Assignee: Istituto Superiore Mario Boella Sulle Tecnologie Dell' Informazione E Delle Telecomunicazioni
• Inventors: Simonov, Mikhail
• Granted Patent: US 9,823,653 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 21/1336 Measuring overconsumption
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/02 Electric testing or monitoring
• 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 13/00007 using the power network as support for the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00034 the elements or equipment being or involving an electric power substation
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/60 Limiting power consumption in the network or in one section of the network, e.g. load shedding or peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/003 Load forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future load demand
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/008 involving trading of energy or energy transmission rights
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• 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: 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 10/30 State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/00 Management or operation of end-user stationary applications or the last stages of power distribution; Controlling, monitoring or operating thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 : Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/121 : using the power network as support for the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/10 : Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid

Abstract

A method of managing electric energy consumption and/or production dynamics, includes the steps of: sampling an electric energy flow, adapted to be measured by an electricity metering device (1) within a network (15) of an electrical company; calculating a variation ΔE_i=(E_i−E_i−1)/Δt at regular intervals, where E_i and E_i−1 are two integral sum values of electric energy amounts consolidated over a given number of cycles and Δt represents a time interval between the respective times at which the two values are obtained; adding the variation (ΔE_i) to analogous variations calculated at previous times, to obtain a cumulative sum of such variations; determining whether the variation and/or the cumulative sum exceed a predetermined threshold value (δ_DE); transmitting a message over the network (15) from the electricity metering device (1) if the variation and/or cumulative sum exceed the predetermined threshold value (δ_DE).

Claims

1. A method of managing electric energy consumption and/or production dynamics, comprising the steps of:

sampling an electric energy flow, adapted to be measured by an electricity metering device belonging to a network of an electrical company;

calculating a variation Δ

E_i=(E_i−

E<sub>i−

1</sub>)/Δ

t at regular intervals, where E_i and E<sub>i−

1</sub> are two integral sum values of electric energy amounts consolidated over a given number of cycles and Δ

t represents a time interval between the respective times at which said two values are obtained;

adding said variation (Δ

E_i) to analogous variations calculated at previous time instants, to obtain a cumulative sum of such variations;

determining whether said variation and/or said cumulative sum exceed a predetermined threshold value (δ

_DE);

transmitting a message over said network from said electricity metering device if said variation and/or cumulative sum exceed said predetermined threshold value (δ

_DE).

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said predetermined threshold value (δ

_DE) is a constant value.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said predetermined threshold value (δ

_DE) is a percentage value of a measured amount of electric energy.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said predetermined threshold value (δ

_DE) is obtained empirically, through the observation of a collection of previously captured load shapes.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said given number of cycles is a value ranging from 5 to 10.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said message comprises:

an attribute indicating the identity of said electricity metering device;

information about the electric energy values that triggered the transmission of said message;

a timestamp.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said message further comprises one or more message recipients and/or the type of variation that triggered the transmission of said message.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said electricity metering device is associated with an electricity user and, if the variations and/or said cumulative sum exceed a maximum electric energy value for a given time, then such metering device cuts off electricity.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein, prior to said cut-off, said electricity metering device emits a notification, particularly an acoustic or optical notification.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said notification is transmitted to the network manager, to prevent said cut-off, by increasing said maximum electric energy value for a period of time.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said network comprises a network computer which is adapted to manage said consumption and/or production dynamics, said network computer being able to process the data that come from a network segment or a group of network nodes for balancing purposes.

15. A method of managing electric energy consumption and/or production dynamics in an electric energy distribution network, comprising a plurality of metering devices which operate according to the method as claimed in claim 1, and at least one computer for receiving and processing messages transmitted by said plurality of devices, wherein said computer:

receives said messages and processes the attributes contained therein;

counts the number of messages received from said plurality of metering devices within a period of time, as an indicator of event intensity;

totals the electric energy variations that took place in said period of time over said plurality of metering devices;

calculates the cumulative trend of electric energy variations over said period of time;

and if the amount of said received messages exceeds a first threshold (C_MIN) and/or said totaled variations exceed a second threshold (E_MAX) and/or said cumulative trend exceeds said second threshold (E_MAX), it generates a control action on said distribution network.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said control action includes one or more of the following actions:

network load control, feed-forward control, assessment of network state and/or stability.

17. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said control action comprises a predictive calculation to predict the amount of energy for the next period, based on said variations.

18. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said computer shares its estimates with the nodes of said network for the purpose of general optimization.

19. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said method may be carried out at any node of said network, particularly on a metering device and/or a computer, which detects a variation in a single section of said network at two different times.

12. An electricity metering device comprising:

an analog module for detecting electric voltage and current;

a communication unit for transmitting messages,

characterized in that it further comprises a digital metering circuit, which is adapted to provide instantaneous electric voltage and current values and to calculate a variation Δ

E_i=(E_i−

E<sub>i−

1</sub>)/Δ

t at regular intervals, where E_i and E<sub>i−

1</sub> are two integral sum values of electric energy amounts consolidated over a given number of cycles and Δ

t represents a time interval between the respective time instants at which said two values are obtained, and to add said variation (Δ

E_i) to analogous variations calculated at previous time instants, to obtain a cumulative sum of such variations; and

in that said communication unit transmits a message over said network if said variation and/or said cumulative sum exceed a predetermined threshold value (δ

_DE).

13. A device as claimed in claim 12, wherein said analog module comprises a Rogowski coil.

14. A device as claimed in claim 12, wherein said message is transmitted over said network using a power line protocol.