INTERFACE DEVICE FOR AN ENERGY HARVESTING SYSTEM

• US 20140236366A1
• Filed: 10/12/2012
• Published: 08/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: carbonTRACK Pty Ltd
• Original Assignee: carbonTRACK Pty Ltd
• Inventors: Livadaras, Spyridon, Harridge, Evan Neil, Kallamkote, Shavaj
• Granted Patent: US 9,952,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/286
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 11/003 combined with solar energy
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 19/1006 for water heating systems
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 19/1042 the system uses solar energy
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/212 Temperature of the water
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/292 Metering of electricity sold to the grid
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2625 Sprinkler, irrigation, watering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00002 characterised by monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00006 characterised by information or instructions transport means between the monitoring, controlling or managing units and monitored, controlled or operated power network element or electrical equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00022 using wireless data transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2300/22 The renewable source being solar energy
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2300/24 of photovoltaic origin
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/381 Dispersed generators
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/20 Solar thermal
• 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: 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 10/56 : Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 40/70 : Smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the energy generation sector
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 : Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/84 : Greenhouse gas [GHG] management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/845 : Inventory and reporting systems for greenhouse gases [GHG]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/123 : the energy generation units being or involving renewable energy sources
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/30 : State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/221 : General power management systems
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/12 : characterised by data transport means between the monitoring, controlling or managing units and monitored, controlled or operated electrical equipment
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/126 : using wireless data transmission

Abstract

Described embodiments relate generally to energy harvesting systems and interface devices for such systems. In particular, such energy harvesting systems may be configured to harvest kinetic energy from the environment, such as wind, hydro, wave or geothermal energy or to harvest electromagnetic energy like solar radiation. Embodiments also relate to systems and methods to facilitate remote monitoring and/or control of a system comprising an interface device.

Claims

1. An interface device to interface with an energy harvesting system, the interface device comprising:

at least one processing device;

a memory storing program code executable by the at least one processing device to control measurement, communication and location functions of the interface device;

a measurement component to measure electrical energy generated by the energy harvesting system;

a location component to determine a location of the interface device and the energy harvesting system; and

a communication component to wirelessly communicate to and from an external network.

2. An interface device to interface with an energy harvesting system, the interface device comprising:

at least one processing device;

a memory storing program code executable by the at least one processing device to control measurement and communication functions of the interface device;

a measurement component to measure electrical energy generated by the energy harvesting system and to determine an amount of the generated electrical energy consumed by a local power sink; and

a communication component to wirelessly communicate to and from an external network.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the interface device further comprises a location component to determine a location of the interface device and the energy harvesting system and the program code is further executable to control location functions of the interface device.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the communication component communicates information to the external network regarding the measured electrical energy.

5. An energy harvesting system comprising the interface device of claim 2.

6. The energy harvesting system of claim 5, wherein the system comprises means configured to determine an amount of the measured electrical energy that is used locally and/or an amount of the measured electrical energy that is provided to a power supply network.

7. The energy harvesting system of claim 5, further comprising a temperature sensor arranged to sense a water temperature of a water storage device associated with the energy harvesting system.

8. The energy harvesting system of claim 7, wherein the interface device is configured to receive an output from the temperature sensor to determine the sensed water temperature.

9. The energy harvesting system of claim 8, wherein the interface device is further configured to transmit control signals to at least one of the energy harvesting system and a back-up heating system to control heating of the water in the water heating device so that the water is maintained at or above a set temperature for a set minimum period of time.

10. A system for remote monitoring of an energy harvesting system, comprising:

an interface device installed at a site of the energy harvesting system and configured to continuously monitor energy drawn and/or produced by the energy harvesting system and to calculate a power contribution of the energy harvesting system, the interface device comprising a wireless communication component and being configured to periodically transmit data representing the calculated power contribution to an address over a network; and

a server remote from the interface device and receiving data representing the transmitted power contributions from the interface device, the server being configured to store the data and to allow authorised access to the data in real-time.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the server is further configured to calculate carbon credits associated with the energy harvesting system based on the received data representing power contributions.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the interface device is further configured to calculate power consumption of a booster system at the site of the energy harvesting system and to transmit data representing the power consumption to the server.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the energy harvesting system comprises a solar water heating system and an electrical water heating system cooperating to supply heated water to the site.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a first temperature sensor to sense water temperature in the solar heating system and a second temperature sensor to sense water temperature in the electrical water heating system, wherein the interface device is arranged to receive output signals from the first and second temperature sensors indicative of sensed temperatures.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the interface device is configured to control supply of electrical power to the electric water heating system.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the interface device is configured to turn off electrical power to the electric water heating system in response to a specific command received from the server.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the server is configured to allow receipt of input from an authorised user via a client computing device to turn off electrical power to the electric water heating system and, in response to the received input, to generate and transmit the specific command to the interface device to cause the interface device to turn off power to the electric water heating system.

18. The system of claim 13, further comprising a circulation pump to circulate water between the solar water heating system and the electric water heating system, wherein operation of the circulation pump is controlled by the interface device.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the interface device and the server are both configured to use a data transfer protocol to transmit messages to each other having a message header and message data, the message header having a header size of only a single byte or a single word.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein each message of the data transfer protocol comprises one of:

a trailing check sum byte; and

no trailing byte.

21. A system for power consumption management comprising:

a plurality of geographically spread electrical water heating systems, each being installed at a site for supplying heated water to the site;

a plurality of interface devices, each being installed at a respective site, wherein each interface device has a wireless communication component to receive a control command from a server and each interface is configured to control supply of electrical power to a respective electrical water heating system in response to the control command; and

the server, the server allowing receipt of control input to cause the server to transmit the control command to the interface devices.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein each interface device is further configured to determine power usage of the electrical water heating system at the respective site and to regularly transmit data indicative of the determined power usage to the server.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a temperature sensor at each site arranged to sense water temperature of the electrical water heating system and to provide a signal to the respective interface device indicative of the sensed water temperature;

wherein the interface device at each site is configured to regularly transmit data indicative of the sensed temperature to the server.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the server is configured to compare the sensed water temperature of a respective water heating system to a temperature threshold and to transmit the control message to the interface device associated with the respective water heating system based on an outcome of the comparison.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the server is configured to transmit the control messages to the respective interface devices to cause the respective interface devices to turn off electrical power to the respective electric water heating systems during a specific daily time period.

26. A method of power consumption management, comprising:

receiving at a server sensed water temperature data from a plurality of remote sites having respective electric water heating systems and respective interface devices arranged to control electrical power to the respective electric water heating system, wherein each interface device is configured to communicate the sensed water temperature data to the server;

determining from the sensed water temperature data whether a sensed water temperature of a respective electric water heating system is at or above a threshold temperature; and

during a specific daily time period, transmitting control commands to those interface devices at sites where the sensed water temperature is at or above the threshold temperature, the control commands causing the respective interface devices to turn off electrical power to the electrical water heating systems at the respective sites.

27. A water heating system, comprising:

a solar water heating system;

an electric water heating system coupled to the solar water heating system to circulate water between the solar and electric water heating systems;

temperature sensing means to sense the water temperature in the solar water heating system and in the electric water heating system;

an interface device coupled to receive output signals from the temperature sensing means and to determine from the output signals a rate of change of water temperature in the solar water heating system, wherein for a predetermined period daily the interface device is configured to cause electrical power to the electric water heating system to be switched on when the electrical water heating system is off and determined rate of change indicates that the water temperature in the solar water heating system will not reach a target temperature by a predetermined time.

28-30. -30. (canceled)