Method and system for organizing and optimizing electricity consumption

• US 8,183,712 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2008
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: MacLellan, Scot, Perticara', Valeria
• Primary Examiner(s): Barnie, Rexford N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fauth, Justen
• Application Number:
  US12/208,197
• Publication Number:
  US 20100060079A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 307/36
• US Class Current: 307/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 The load or loads being home appliances
• 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: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 Home appliances

Abstract

A method and system for managing power consumption by electrical appliances, is provided. One implementation involves obtaining power consumption information for a use cycle of a each of multiple appliances; and automatically scheduling a time slot for an operation cycle of a selected appliance as a function of power consumption by appliance cycles scheduled in that time slot, such that an upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot.

Claims

1. A method of managing power consumption by electrical appliances, comprising:

obtaining power consumption information for a use cycle of each of multiple appliances;

automatically scheduling a time slot for a future planned operation cycle of a selected appliance as a function of power consumption by appliance cycles scheduled in that time slot, such that an upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot;

providing a user interface for receiving from a user an appliance selection and preferred operation time slot for the selected appliance; and

automatically rescheduling an appliance cycle to another scheduled time slot as a function of power consumption by future planned appliance cycles scheduled in the user preferred time slot based on determining a difference between planned consumption and an upper power consumption limit such that the upper power consumption limit is determined to not exceed the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the user preferred time slot, wherein a risk of exceeding the upper power consumption limit is reduced.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically scheduling a time slot for a future planned operation cycle of a selected appliance further includes automatically scheduling a time slot for a future planned operation cycle of the selected appliance as a function of:

the collective predicted power consumption comprising;

predicted power consumption during an operation cycle of said selected appliance cycle, predicted power consumption during an operation cycle of each of other appliances scheduled for operation during that time slot, and predicted background power consumption,

such that the upper power consumption limit is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption in the time slot.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining power consumption information includes receiving power consumption information for a use cycle of each of multiple appliances from historical power consumption usage patterns.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically scheduling a time slot for a future planned operation cycle of a selected appliance further includes automatically scheduling a time slot for an operation cycle of a selected appliance as a function of:

the predicted power consumption by appliance cycles scheduled in that time slot, and historical power consumption patterns of said appliances,

such that the upper power consumption limit is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot.

5. The method of claim 1 further including:

determining power consumption projections based on historical power consumption patterns of the appliances; and

automatically rescheduling appliance cycles for future planned usage based on tracked actual power consumption levels and power consumption projections for the appliances, such that the upper power consumption limit is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in each time slot.

6. The method of claim 1 further including:

if an appliance cycle is imposed for a future planned time slot, then automatically rescheduling other appliance cycles in that time slot according to predefined schedule constraints and prioritization of appliance cycles, wherein rescheduling comprises moving other appliance cycles to other future planned time slots.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically rescheduling appliance cycles further comprises:

moving future planned appliance cycles scheduled in the user preferred time slot to another time slot, such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in said another time slot.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein automatically rescheduling appliance cycles further comprises:

moving future planned appliance cycles scheduled in the user preferred time slot to another time slot based on one or more of;

predefined cycle constraints, prioritization of cycles, power consumption projections, and historical power consumption observations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining power consumption information comprises obtaining power consumption information for a predicted use cycle of each of multiple appliances from one or more of:

an appliance manufacturer, and recorded historical actual power consumption data.

10. An apparatus for managing power consumption by electrical appliances, comprising:

an interface configured for obtaining power consumption information for a use cycle of a each of multiple appliances; and

a scheduler configured for automatically scheduling a time slot for a future planned operation cycle of a selected appliance as a function of predicted power consumption by appliance cycles scheduled in that time slot, such that an upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by a collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot, the scheduler further configured for automatically rescheduling an appliance cycle by moving the appliance cycle to another scheduled time slot for maintaining power consumption below the upper limit of power consumption for the particular time slot based on a time slot selection and by determining a difference between planned consumption and the user limit of power consumption.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the scheduler is further configured for automatically scheduling a time slot for a future planned operation cycle of the selected appliance as a function of:

the collective predicted power consumption comprising;

predicted power consumption during an operation cycle of said selected appliance cycle, predicted power consumption during an operation cycle of each of other appliances scheduled for operation during that time slot, and predicted background power consumption,

such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the interface is further configured for receiving power consumption information for a use cycle of each of multiple appliances from historical power consumption usage patterns.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the scheduler is further configured for automatically scheduling a time slot for a future planned operation cycle of a selected appliance as a function of:

the predicted power consumption by appliance cycles scheduled in that time slot, and historical power consumption patterns of said appliances,

such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the scheduler is further configured for:

determining power consumption projections based on historical power consumption patterns of the appliances; and

automatically rescheduling appliance cycles for future planned usage based on tracked actual power consumption levels and power consumption projections for the appliances, such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in each time slot.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein:

the interface is further configured for providing a user interface for receiving from a user an appliance selection and preferred operation time slot for the selected appliance; and

the scheduler is further configured for automatically rescheduling future planned appliance cycles as a function of predicted power consumption by appliance cycles scheduled in that time slot, such that an upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the scheduler is further configured such that if an appliance cycle is imposed for a future planned time slot, then the scheduler automatically reschedules other appliance cycles in that time slot according to predefined schedule constraints and prioritization of appliance cycles, wherein rescheduling comprises moving other appliance cycles to other future planned time slots.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein automatically rescheduling appliance cycles comprises:

moving future planned appliance cycles from the particular time slot to another time slot, such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective power consumption for future planned scheduled appliance cycles in said another time slot.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein automatically rescheduling appliance cycles further comprises:

moving future planned appliance cycles scheduled in the particular time slot to another available time slot based on one or more of;

predefined cycle constraints, prioritization of cycles, power consumption projections, and historical power consumption observations.

19. A system for managing power consumption by multiple electrical appliances, comprising:

an interface configured for obtaining power consumption information for a use cycle of each of multiple appliances;

a repository configured for maintaining historical appliance cycle information; and

a scheduler configured for automatically scheduling a time slot for a future planned operation cycle of a selected appliance as a function of power consumption by appliance cycles scheduled in that time slot, such that an upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by a collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot, the scheduler further configured for automatically rescheduling an appliance cycle to another scheduled time slot based on determining a difference between planned consumption and the upper limit of power consumption in a particular time slot to prevent power consumption from exceeding the upper limit of power consumption for the particular time slot based on a time slot selection.

20. The system of claim 19 further including multiple appliances interconnected to the scheduler for providing consumption information thereto and receiving operation cycle schedules, wherein the scheduler is further configured for automatically scheduling a time slot for an operation cycle of the selected appliance as a function of:

the collective predicted consumption comprising;

predicted power consumption during an operation cycle of said selected appliance cycle, predicted power consumption during an operation cycle of each of other appliances scheduled for operation during that time slot, and historical power consumption usage patterns,

such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the scheduler is further configured for automatically scheduling a time slot for an operation cycle of a selected appliance as a function of:

the predicted power consumption by appliance cycles scheduled in that time slot, and historical power consumption patterns of said appliances,

such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the scheduler is further configured for:

determining power consumption projections based on historical power consumption patterns of the appliances; and

automatically rescheduling appliance cycles for future planned usage based on tracked actual power consumption levels and power consumption projections for the appliances, such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in each time slot.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein:

the interface is further configured for providing a user interface for receiving from a user an appliance selection and preferred operation time slot for the selected appliance; and

the scheduler is further configured for automatically rescheduling future planned appliance cycles as a function of power consumption by appliance cycles scheduled in that time slot, such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in the time slot.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the scheduler is further configured such that if an appliance cycle is imposed for a future planned time slot, then the scheduler automatically reschedules other appliance cycles in that time slot according to predefined schedule constraints and prioritization of appliance cycles, wherein rescheduling comprises moving other appliance cycles to other future planned time slots.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein automatically rescheduling appliance cycles comprises:

moving future planned appliance cycles from the particular time slot to another time slot, such that the upper limit of power consumption is not exceeded by the collective predicted power consumption for scheduled appliance cycles in said another time slot.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein automatically rescheduling appliance cycles further comprises:

moving future planned appliance cycles scheduled in the particular time slot to another time slot for future planned appliance cycles based on one or more of;

predefined cycle constraints, prioritization of cycles, power consumption projections, and historical power consumption observations.