Method of communicating a command for load shedding of a load control system

• US 7,747,357 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2007
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Lutron Electronics Company Incorporated (Lutron Electronics)
• Inventors: Murdoch, John Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel; Ramesh B
• Application Number:
  US11/938,604
• Publication Number:
  US 20080114811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 960 Days
• Field of Search: 700286-287, 700/291, 700295-297, 709/203, 340/310.11
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/185 via power line carrier transmission

Abstract

A system provides for secure communication between an electrical utility company and an electricity customer, such that the customer is able to shed one or more loads in response to a load shed command from the utility company. A system server of the customer periodically connects to a utility server of the utility company using a standard computer protocol, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The system server sends a request message via the Internet to the utility server. The request message provides data on the total possible load, the present power consumption, and the present load shed state of the electricity customer. The utility server receives the request message and responds to the request message by transmitting to the system server a response message, which includes a load shed command.

Claims

1. A load control system for controlling a plurality of electrical loads, the load control system adapted to communicate with an external server via the Internet, the load control system comprising:

a plurality of load control devices adapted to control the amount of power delivered to the plurality of electrical loads; and

an internal system server operatively coupled to the load control devices for controlling the amount of power delivered to the electrical loads, the internal server adapted to transmit a command request message from a secured network through the Internet to the external server, and receive a response message from the external server in response to the command request message, wherein the response message does not compromise the secured network, the response message including a command, the internal server operable to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical loads in response to the command of the response message.

2. The load control system of claim 1, wherein the internal server is adapted to the external server using a standard computer protocol to transmit the command message and receive the response message.

3. The load control system of claim 2, wherein the internal server is adapted to periodically connect to the external server to transmit the command request message.

4. The load control system of claim 3, wherein the internal server connects to the external server approximately every six seconds.

5. The load control system of claim 3, wherein the standard computer protocol comprises HTTP.

6. The load control system of claim 2, wherein the internal server is operable to transmit a connection request to the external server and establish a network connection with the external server before the internal server transmits the command request message to the external server.

7. The load control system of claim 6, wherein the standard computer protocol comprises TCP.

8. The load control system of claim 6, wherein the internal server is operable to drop the network connection after the internal server receives the response message from the external server.

9. The load control system of claim 1, wherein the request message comprises a present power consumption of the plurality of electrical loads, and the command of the response message comprises a load shed command.

10. The load control system of claim 9, wherein the external server comprises a utility server of an electrical utility company, and the internal server comprises a system server of a customer of the electrical utility company.

11. The load control system of claim 9, wherein the request message further comprises a total power requirement of all of the electrical loads and a present load shed state of the load control system.

12. The load control system of claim 1, wherein the secured network includes a firewall to prevent unapproved incoming messages from being received by the secured network, the firewall allowing the response message to the command request message to be received, whereby the command in the response message can be received to enable the external server to control the internal server.

13. A method of controlling a plurality of electrical loads comprising the steps of:

transmitting a load shed request message from a secured network via the Internet including a present power consumption of the plurality of electrical loads;

determining a load shed command for the plurality of electrical loads in response to the present power consumption of the plurality of electrical loads;

transmitting a response message in response to the load shed request message via the Internet, wherein the response message includes the load shed command and does not compromise the secured network; and

controlling the plurality of electrical loads in response to the load shed command.

14. A method of controlling a plurality of load control systems, each load control system comprising a system server operable to control a plurality of electrical loads, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a command request message from a secured network via the Internet from a first system server of a first load control system;

determining a command to control the plurality of electrical loads in response to the command request message; and

transmitting a response message via the Internet to the first system server in response to the command request message, wherein the response message includes the command to control the plurality of electrical loads and does not compromise the secured network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the command request message includes a total amount of power presently being consumed by the electrical loads of the first load control system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the command comprises a load shed command.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of:

determining a total amount of power presently being consumed by a subset of the load control systems including the first load control system;

wherein the step of determining a command further comprises determining the load shed command for the plurality of electrical loads in response to the total amount of power presently being consumed by the subset of the load control systems.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of:

storing the total amount of power presently being consumed by the electrical loads of the first load control system in a first database;

wherein the step of determining a total amount of power presently being consumed by a subset of the load control systems is responsive to the first database.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of:

storing the load shed command in a second database in response to the step of determining a load shed command for the plurality of electrical loads;

wherein the step of transmitting a response message to the first system server is responsive to the second database.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of:

comparing the total amount of power being consumed by the subset of the load control systems to a threshold amount of power.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of:

controlling the plurality of electrical loads of the first load control system in response to the command of the response message.

22. A system for controlling the amount of power delivered to a plurality of electrical loads, the system comprising:

a load control system including a system server and a plurality of load control devices for controlling the amount of power delivered to the electrical loads; and

a utility server adapted to communicate with the system server via the Internet;

wherein the system server is adapted to transmit a command request message to the utility server from a secured network via the Internet, the utility server adapted to transmit a response message to the system server in response to the command request message, wherein the response message does not compromise the secured network and includes a command, the system server operable to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical loads in response to the command of the response message.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

a plurality of load control systems, each of the load control systems including a plurality of load control devices and a system server coupled to the Internet; and

a substation operable to supply power to the plurality of load control systems;

wherein the utility server is operable to determine a total amount of power presently being consumed by the load control systems powered by the substation.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the command of the response message comprises a load shed command, and the utility server is operable to determine the load shed command in response to the total amount of power presently being consumed by the load control systems powered by the substation.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the utility server is operable to compare the total amount of power being consumed by the load control systems powered by the substation to a threshold amount of power.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the utility server is operable to receive a command request message from each of the system servers of each of the load control systems.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the utility server is operable to sum the total amounts of power being consumed by each of the load control systems powered by the substation.

28. The system of claim 23, further comprising:

a plurality of substations, each operable to supply power to a subset of the plurality of load control systems;

wherein the utility server is operable to determine a total amount of power presently being supplied by each of the substations.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein each of the substations is characterized by a total capacity, the utility server operable to compare the total amount of power being supplied by each substation to the total capacity of the substation.

30. The system of claim 22, wherein the system server and the utility server are operable to connect using a standard computer protocol.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the internal server is operable to periodically connect to the external server to transmit the command request message.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the internal server connects to the external server approximately every six seconds.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the standard computer protocol comprises HTTP.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein the system server is operable to transmit a connection request to the utility server and establish a network connection with the utility server before the system server transmits the command request message to the utility server.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the standard computer protocol comprises TCP.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the system server is operable to drop the network connection after the system server receives the response message from the utility server.

37. The system of claim 22, wherein the request message comprises a present power consumption of the plurality of electrical loads, and the command of the response message comprises a load shed command.

38. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method of controlling a plurality of load control systems, each load control system comprising a system server operable to control a plurality of electrical loads, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a load shed request message from a first system server of a first load control system from a secured network via the Internet, the load shed request message including a total amount of power presently being consumed by the electrical loads of the first load control system;

determining a total amount of power presently being consumed by a subset of the load control systems including the first load control system;

determining a load shed command for the plurality of electrical loads in response to the total amount of power presently being consumed by the subset of the load control systems; and

transmitting a response message to the first system server via the Internet in response to the load shed request message, wherein the response message does not compromise the secured network and includes the load shed command.