Energy management system

• US 8,364,324 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2008
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Maeda, Yuko, Morimoto, Naohisa, Takamiya, Akiko
• Primary Examiner(s): HARTMAN JR, RONALD D
• Application Number:
  US12/743,687
• Publication Number:
  US 20100274403A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,531 Days
• Field of Search: 700/291, 700/295
• US Class Current: 700/291
• 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 13/00017 using optical fiber
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00028 involving the use of Internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/12 The local stationary network supplying a household or a building
• 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: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/124 using wired telecommunication networks or data transmission busses

Abstract

Provided is an energy management system which can increase the awareness of energy saving. The energy management system according to the present invention includes a home appliance A located in a home, an external portable terminal PT, and a center device SV connected to the home appliance A and portable terminal PT via internet NT. The home appliance A includes an energy management unit 3 and a display control device CV. The center device SV stores for each home the electricity usage at a main breaker Bs and at branch breakers Bmn that is transmitted from the energy management unit 3 of each home. In the center device SV, the ranking in terms of the electricity usage or a degree of a decrease of the electricity usage is made relative to other homes on the basis of the stored electricity usage. The ranking is made for each home and transmitted to the display control device CV of the corresponding home.

Claims

1. An energy management system comprising:

a home appliance located in a home; and

a terminal device connected to said home appliance,

wherein said home appliance comprises a main current measurement unit, a main electrical energy calculation unit, a branch current measurement unit, a branch electrical energy calculation unit, and a processing unit,

said main current measurement unit being configured to measure a current flowing through a main breaker,

said main electrical energy calculation unit being configured to calculate electricity usage at said main breaker on the basis of a measurement of said main current measurement unit,

said branch current measurement unit being configured to measure a current flowing through each branch breaker connected to an output terminal of said main breaker,

said branch electrical energy calculation unit being configured to calculate electricity usage at each of said branch breakers on the basis of a measurement of said branch current measurement unit, and

said processing unit being configured to generate information of electricity usage at the home on the basis of the electricity usage calculated by said main electrical energy calculation unit together with the electricity usage calculated by said branch electrical energy calculation unit,

wherein said terminal device comprises a display unit configured to display the information of the electricity usage generated by said processing unit,

wherein said energy management system comprises a server connected to said home appliance via an outside network, and

wherein said server comprises a history registration unit, an analysis unit, and an result transmission unit,

said history registration unit being configured to store history information of the electricity usage at said main breaker and the electricity usage at said branch breaker of each of the homes,

said analysis unit being configured to make a ranking of the homes in terms of the electricity usage according to the history information of each of the homes stored in said history registration unit, and

said result transmission unit being configured to transmit the ranking made by said analysis unit to said terminal device of each of the homes.

2. An energy management system as set forth in claim 1,

wherein said server comprises a storage unit configured to store a data of a region designation webpage prepared to designate a region where a candidate of the home being ranked is located,

wherein said terminal device comprises a browser unit and a designation unit, said browser unit being configured to obtain the data of the region designation webpage from said storage unit and control said display unit to display the same, and said designation unit being configured to designate the region within the region designation webpage displayed on said display unit, and

wherein said analysis unit is configured to select the home located in the region designated by said designation unit as the candidate for the ranking.

3. An energy management system as set forth in claim 1,

wherein said server comprises a storage unit configured to store a data of a time period designation webpage prepared to designate a time period of the history information used for the ranking,

wherein said terminal device comprises a browser unit and a designation unit, said browser unit being configured to obtain the data of the time period designation webpage from said storage unit and control said display unit to display the same, and said designation unit being configured to designate the time period in accordance with the time period designation webpage displayed on said display unit, and

wherein said analysis unit is configured to make the ranking according to the history information included in the time period designated by said designation unit.

4. An energy management system as set forth in claim 1,

wherein said result transmission unit is configured to transmit the ranking to said terminal device at a prescribed timing.

5. An energy management system as set forth in claim 1,

wherein said result transmission unit is configured to transmit the ranking to said terminal device in response to a request from said terminal device.

6. An energy management system comprising:

a home appliance located in a home; and

a terminal device connected to said home appliance,

wherein said home appliance comprises a main current measurement unit, a main electrical energy calculation unit, a branch current measurement unit, a branch electrical energy calculation unit, and a processing unit,

said main current measurement unit being configured to measure a current flowing through a main breaker,

said main electrical energy calculation unit being configured to calculate electricity usage at said main breaker on the basis of a measurement of said main current measurement unit,

said branch current measurement unit being configured to measure a current flowing through each branch breaker connected to an output terminal of said main breaker,

said branch electrical energy calculation unit being configured to calculate electricity usage at each of said branch breakers on the basis of a measurement of said branch current measurement unit, and

said processing unit being configured to generate information of electricity usage at the home on the basis of the electricity usage calculated by said main electrical energy calculation unit together with the electricity usage calculated by said branch electrical energy calculation unit,

wherein said terminal device comprises a display unit configured to display the information of the electricity usage generated by said processing unit,

wherein said energy management system comprises a server connected to said home appliance via an outside network, and

wherein said server comprises a history registration unit, an analysis unit, and an result transmission unit,

said history registration unit being configured to store history information of the electricity usage at said main breaker and the electricity usage at said branch breaker of each of the homes,

said analysis unit being configured to make a ranking of the homes in terms of a degree of a decrease of the electricity usage in a predetermined time period according to the history information of each of the homes stored in said history registration unit, and

said result transmission unit being configured to transmit the ranking made by said analysis unit to said terminal device of each of the homes.

7. An energy management system as set forth in claim 6,

wherein said server comprises a storage unit configured to store a data of a region designation webpage prepared to designate a region where a candidate of the home being ranked is placed,

wherein said terminal device comprises a browser unit and a designation unit, said browser unit being configured to obtain the data of the region designation webpage from said storage unit and control said display unit to display the same, and said designation unit being configured to designate the region in accordance with the region designation webpage displayed on said display unit, and

wherein said analysis unit is configured to select the home placed in the region designated by said designation unit as the candidate for the ranking.

8. An energy management system as set forth in claim 6,

wherein said server comprises a storage unit configured to store a data of a time period designation webpage prepared to designate the predetermined time period,

wherein said terminal device comprises a browser unit and a designation unit, said browser unit being configured to obtain the data of the time period designation webpage from said storage unit and control said display unit to display the same, and said designation unit being configured to designate the predetermined time period in accordance with the time period designation webpage displayed on said display unit, and

wherein said analysis unit is configured to make the ranking according to the history information included in the predetermined time period designated by said designation unit.

9. An energy management system as set forth in claim 6,

wherein said server comprises a storage unit configured to store a data of a class designation webpage prepared to designate a class indicative of whether or not a candidate of the home being ranked is an electric home,

wherein said terminal device comprises a browser unit and a designation unit, said browser unit being configured to obtain the data of the class designation webpage from said storage unit and control said display unit to display the same, and said designation unit being configured to designate the class in accordance with the region designation webpage displayed on said display unit, and

wherein said analysis unit is configured to select as the candidate for the ranking the home of the same class designated by the designation unit.

10. An energy management system as set forth in claim 6,

wherein said result transmission unit is configured to transmit the ranking to said terminal device at a prescribed timing.

11. An energy management system as set forth in claim 6,

wherein said result transmission unit is configured to transmit the ranking to said terminal device in response to a request from said terminal device.