Method and apparatus for contextualizing energy consumption data

• US 8,577,486 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2011
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Tippireddy, Giri, Sankaramurthy, Aravindan, Feng, Yong, Unver, Hakki Ozgur
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): WHITTINGTON, ANTHONY T
• Application Number:
  US13/006,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20120185104A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• Field of Search: 700/95, 705/80, 705/317
• US Class Current: 700/95
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment

Abstract

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with contextualizing energy consumption are described. One example method includes accessing stored energy consumption data and stored operation status data from production-related equipment; correlating the operation status data with the energy consumption data; and categorizing energy consumed by the production-related equipment as value-added or non-value-added based, at least in part, on the correlating of the operation status data with the energy consumption data. The example methods may also include determining an energy classification for an energy-consuming entity; identifying child entities of the energy-consuming entity; accessing energy consumption data for the energy-consuming entity and the child entities; aggregating the energy consumption data for the energy-consuming entity and the child entities; and classifying the aggregated energy consumption data with the energy classification for the energy-consuming entity.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

accessing stored operation status data from production-related equipment configured to manufacture a product, where the operation status data indicates whether the production-related equipment is engaged in manufacturing the product or not engaged in manufacturing the product;

accessing stored energy consumption data for the production-related equipment;

correlating the operation status data with the energy consumption data; and

categorizing energy consumed by the production-related equipment as value-added or non-value-added based, at least in part, on the correlating of the operation status data with the energy consumption data, where energy consumed by the production-related equipment is categorized as i) value-added when the production-related equipment is engaged in manufacturing the product, or ii) non-value-added when the production-related equipment is not engaged in manufacturing the product.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, the instructions further comprising:

storing the operation status data as a function of time;

storing the energy consumption data as a function of time; and

categorizing energy consumed by the production-related equipment by identifying energy consumption data that corresponds, in time, to operation status data that indicates that the production-related equipment is engaged in manufacturing the product as value-added energy.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, the instructions further comprising providing a user interface to allow a user to classify one or more production-related equipment status values as indicating that the production-related equipment is engaged in manufacturing the product or indicating that the production-related equipment is not engaged in manufacturing the product.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, the instructions further comprising:

accessing production scheduling data that identifies one or more products being manufactured by the production-related equipment;

correlating the production scheduling data with categorized energy consumption; and

providing categorized energy consumption data aggregated according to the one or more products being manufactured by the production-related equipment.

5. A computing system comprising:

electronic storage medium for storing energy consumption data for production-related equipment and operational status data for the production-related equipment, where the production-related equipment is configured to manufacture a product, and further where the operation status data indicates whether the production-related equipment is engaged in manufacturing the product or not engaged in manufacturing the product; and

a contextualization engine configured to;

access stored operation status data and stored energy consumption data;

correlate the operation status data with the energy consumption data; and

categorize energy consumed by the production-related equipment as value-added or non-value-added based, at least in part, on the correlating of the operation status data with the energy consumption data, where energy consumed by the production-related equipment is categorized as value-added when the production-related equipment is engaged in manufacturing the product or ii) non-value-added when the production-related equipment is not engaged in manufacturing the product.

6. The computing system of claim 5 where:

the electronic storage medium stores the operation status data and the energy consumption data as a function of time; and

the contextualization engine is further configured to categorize energy consumed by the production-related equipment by identifying energy consumption data that corresponds, in time, to operation status data that indicates that the production-related equipment is engaged in manufacturing the product as value-added energy.

7. The computing system of claim 5 where the contextualization engine is further configured to provide a user interface to allow a user to classify one or more production-related equipment status values as indicating that the production-related equipment is engaged in manufacturing the product or indicating that the production-related equipment is not engaged in manufacturing the product.

8. The computing system of claim 5 where the contextualization engine is further configured to:

access production scheduling data that identifies one or more products being manufactured by the production-related equipment;

correlate the production scheduling data with categorized energy consumption; and

provide categorized energy consumption data aggregated according to the one or more products being manufactured by the production-related equipment.

9. The computing system of claim 5 where the contextualization engine comprises:

means for accessing stored operation status data from production-related equipment;

means for accessing stored energy consumption data for the production-related equipment;

means for correlating the operation status data with the energy consumption data; and

means for categorizing energy consumed by the production-related equipment as value-added or non-value-added based, at least in part, on the correlating of the operation status data with the energy consumption data.

10. The computing system of claim 9 where the contextualization engine further comprises:

means for accessing production scheduling data that identifies one or more products being manufactured by the production-related equipment;

means for correlating the production scheduling data with categorized energy consumption; and

means for providing categorized energy consumption data aggregated according to the one or more products being manufactured by the production-related equipment.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

determining an energy classification for an energy-consuming entity by accessing a hierarchical model of energy-consuming entities to determine a production classification for the entity, where an energy-consuming entity comprises a group of related energy-consuming equipment entities, and further where a production classification of production-related for an energy-consuming entity results in an energy classification of direct energy consumption for the energy-consuming entity;

identifying child entities of the energy-consuming entity;

aggregating the energy consumption data for the energy-consuming entity and the child entities; and

classifying the aggregated energy consumption data with the energy classification for the energy-consuming entity.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, where the energy-consuming entity has a production classification of production-related and at least one of the child entities has a production classification of non-production-related and where the classifying comprises classifying the aggregated energy consumption data as direct energy consumption.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, where a production classification of non-production-related for an energy-consuming entity results in an energy classification of indirect energy consumption for the energy-consuming entity.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the energy-consuming entity has a production classification of non-production-related and at least one of the child entities has a production classification of production-related and where the classifying comprises classifying the aggregated energy consumption data as indirect energy consumption.

15. A computing system comprising:

electronic storage medium for storing energy consumption data for production-related equipment and operational status data for the production related equipment; and

a contextualization engine comprising;

means for determining an energy classification for an energy-consuming entity by accessing a hierarchical model of energy-consuming entities to determine a production classification for the entity, where an energy-consuming entity comprises a group of related energy-consuming equipment entities, further where a production classification of production-related for an energy-consuming entity results in an energy classification of direct energy consumption for the energy-consuming entity;

means for identifying child entities of the energy-consuming entity;

means for accessing energy consumption data for the energy-consuming entity and the child entities;

means for aggregating the energy consumption data for the energy-consuming entity and the child entities;

means for classifying the aggregated energy consumption data as direct energy consumption when the energy-consuming entity has a production classification of production-related and at least one of the child entities has a production classification of non-production-related

and

means for classifying the aggregated energy consumption data with the energy classification for the energy-consuming entity.

16. The computing system of claim 15 where the contextualization engine further comprises means for classifying the aggregated energy consumption data as indirect energy consumption when the energy-consuming entity has a production classification of non-production-related and at least one of the child entities has a production classification of production-related.