Measure energy consumption and determine energy-consumption patterns for electricity-consuming devices

• US 8,396,686 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2011
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Song, Zhexuan, Ghosh, Indradeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Tung S
• Application Number:
  US13/085,803
• Publication Number:
  US 20120265357A1
• Time in Patent Office: 699 Days
• Field of Search: 702/177
• US Class Current: 702/177
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/002 Remote reading of utility meters
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• 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 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: Y02P 90/82 Energy audits or management systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

In one embodiment, one or more electronic devices access energy-consumption data at each of a plurality of electricity-consuming devices, the energy-consumption data at each of the electricity-consuming devices indicating for each of a plurality of past pre-determined time periods an aggregate energy usage by the electricity-consuming device over the past pre-determined time period, an energy-measurement unit at the electricity-consuming device having measured and recorded the aggregate energy usage by the electricity-consuming device for each of the past pre-determined time periods for later access, each of the energy-measurement units having a substantially unique identifier (ID), each of the electricity-consuming devices having its own one of the energy-measurement units; and based on the energy-consumption data, determine one or more energy-consumption patterns across the electricity-consuming devices over at least the past pre-determined time periods.

Claims

1. A method comprising, by one or more computing devices:

accessing energy-consumption data at each of a plurality of electricity-consuming devices, the energy-consumption data at each of the electricity-consuming devices indicating for each of a plurality of past pre-determined time periods an aggregate energy usage by the electricity-consuming device over the past pre-determined time period, an energy-measurement unit at the electricity-consuming device having measured and recorded the aggregate energy usage by the electricity-consuming device for each of the past pre-determined time periods for later access, each of the energy-measurement units having a substantially unique identifier (ID), each of the electricity-consuming devices having its own one of the energy-measurement units; and

based on the energy-consumption data, determining one or more energy-consumption patterns across the electricity-consuming devices over at least the past pre-determined time periods.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing energy-consumption data comprise an electricity-consumption reader reading the energy-consumption data from the energy-measurement units, the electricity-consumption reader being separate from the electricity-consuming devices.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the electricity-consumption reader is operable to read the energy-consumption data from the energy-measurement units wirelessly.

4. The method of claim 3, the electricity-consumption reader is operable to read the energy-consumption data from the energy-measurement units wirelessly using one or more of a WI-FI connection, a BLUETOOTH connection, a ZIGBEE connection, or an infra-red (IR) connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of one or more of the energy-measurement units is part of one of the electricity-consuming devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of one or more of the energy-measurement units is separate from but connected to one of the electricity-consuming devices.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of one or more of the energy-measurement units that is separate from but connected to one of the electricity-consuming devices is part of a power cord connecting the electricity-consuming device to a source of electricity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the substantially unique ID is an Internet Protocol (IP) address or a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring an aggregate energy usage by an electricity-consuming device for a pre-determined time period comprises calculating the aggregate energy usage by the electricity-consuming device for the pre-determined time period.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregate energy usage is measured in watts hour or kilowatts hour.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the pre-determined time periods has a length of one minute, one hour, or one day.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the pre-determined time periods has a length that is adjustable by a user.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the electricity-consuming devices are servers in a data center.