Load control system and load control method

• US 9,449,352 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2012
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Tang, Wen-Shiang, Hsu, Ping-Hai
• Primary Examiner(s): Barnie, Rexford
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ly, Xuan
• Application Number:
  US13/562,107
• Publication Number:
  US 20130162041A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,513 Days
• Field of Search: 307/39, 324/140
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

An exemplary embodiment provides a load management system, including a detecting module and a determining module. The detecting module creates at least one activated one of a plurality of loads located in a predetermined space as an activation set, and creates a group set including a plurality of sub-groups according to locations and activation times of the activated ones of the plurality of loads. The detecting module creates the activated ones of the plurality of loads which have been activated within a predetermined time period as one of the sub-groups. The determining module determines whether each of the activated ones of the plurality of loads is an essential load or a non-essential load according to the group set and the activation set to produce a determining result.

Claims

1. A load management system, comprising:

a detecting module configured to create at least one activated one of a plurality of loads located in a predetermined space as an activation set, and create a group set comprising a plurality of sub-groups according to locations and activation times of the at least one activated one of the plurality of loads, wherein the detecting module creates the at least one activated one of the plurality of loads which has been activated within a predetermined time period as one of the sub-groups, and

a determining module configured to determine whether each of the at least one activated one of the plurality of load is an essential load or a non-essential load according to the group set and the activation set, and to produce a determining result, wherein the determining module is configured to determine whether each of the at least one activated one of the plurality of loads is the essential load or the non-essential load according to an aggressive mode and a comfortable mode, wherein;

when the load management system is in the aggressive mode, the determining module is configured to compare the sub-groups with the activation set sequentially, and tag each of the loads of a first sub-group of the sub-groups as the non-essential load when the first sub-group is partially included in the activation set; and

when the load management system is in the comfortable mode, the determining module is configured to compare the sub-groups with the activation set sequentially, tag each of the loads of a second sub-group of the sub-groups as the essential load when the second sub-group is included in the activation set, and tag each of the remaining loads, which is not tagged as the essential load, of the activation set as the non-essential load after the comparison.

2. The load management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the detecting module is further configured to delete a first sub-group of the sub-groups when all of the loads of the first sub-group are not operated simultaneously over an aging time of the first sub-group.

3. The load management system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a load detection device configured to detect and to send the locations and status of the loads to the detecting module.

4. The load management system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a control device configured to turn off each of the non-essential loads according to the determining result.

5. The load management system as claimed in claim 4, further comprising an evaluation module configured to detect whether the non-essential loads are re-activated after a predetermined time period since the control device has turned off the non-essential loads, wherein the evaluation module is configured to decrease an aging time of the sub-group corresponding to the turned-off non-essential loads, when any of the turned-off non-essential loads is re-activated after the predetermined time period, and the evaluation module is configured to increase the aging time when the turned-off non-essential loads have maintained to be in an inactivation state after the predetermined time period.

6. The load management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the control device is configured to display the determining result and turns off the non-essential loads according to an input signal corresponding to the determining result.

7. The load management system as claimed in claim 6, further comprising an evaluation module is configured to detect whether the non-essential loads have been re-activated after a predetermined time period after the determining result has been displayed, wherein the evaluation module is configured to decrease an aging time of the sub-group corresponding to the non-essential loads when any of the non-essential loads has been activated, and increase the aging time when the non-essential loads are inactivated.

8. A load management method, applied to a load management system, wherein the load management system comprises a plurality of loads and a group set including a plurality of sub-groups, the method comprising:

detecting whether a number of the activated ones of the plurality of the loads has changed;

creating the activated ones of the plurality of loads located in a predetermined space as an activation set when the number of the activated ones of the plurality of loads in the predetermined space has changed;

determining whether the load management system is in an aggressive mode or a comfortable mode;

determining whether each of the sub-groups is an incomplete activation group sequentially according to whether the sub-group is partially included in the activation set, when the load management system is in the aggressive mode, wherein the sub-group is the incomplete activation group when the sub-group is partially included in the activation set;

tagging each of the loads in a first sub-group of the sub-groups as a non-essential load, when the first sub-group is the incomplete activation group;

producing a determining result according to the non-essential loads; and

sending the determining result to a control device to turn off the non-essential loads, wherein the aggressive mode and the comfortable mode are for the load management system to define the non-essential loads in different rules.

9. The load management method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising:

determining whether each of the sub-groups is a complete activation group sequentially according to whether each of the sub-groups is included in the activation set, when the load management system is in the comfortable mode;

tagging each of the loads of a second sub-group of the sub-groups as an essential load, when the second sub-group is the complete activation group; and

tagging each of the remaining loads which is not tagged as the essential load of the activation set as the non-essential load after determining whether each of the sub-groups is the complete activation group.

10. The load management method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the non-essential loads are automatically turned off by the control device according to the determining result.

11. The load management method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether any of the non-essential loads has been re-activated after a predetermined time period after the non-essential loads are automatically turned off;

increasing an aging time of the sub-group corresponding to the turned-off non-essential loads, when the turned-off non-essential load have maintained to be in an inactivation state; and

decreasing the aging time of the sub-group corresponding to the turned-off non-essential loads, when any of the turned-off non-essential loads is activated again.

12. The load management method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising displaying the determining result by the control device, wherein the non-essential loads are turned off by the control device according to an input signal corresponding to the determining result.

13. The load management method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising:

determining whether any of the non-essential loads has been re-activated after a predetermined time period after the determining result has been displayed;

increasing an aging time of the sub-group corresponding to the non-essential loads, when the non-essential loads have maintained to be in an inactivation state; and

decreasing the aging time of the sub-group corresponding to the non-essential loads, when any of the non-essential loads has been activated again.

14. A load management method, applied to a load management system, wherein the load management system comprises a plurality of loads and an group set including a plurality of sub-groups, the method comprising:

detecting whether a number of the activated ones of the plurality of the loads has increased;

determining whether the activated load is activated in a predetermined time period since an activation time of a most recently activated load included in a most recently created sub-group of the sub-groups and whether the activated load is

located in a predetermined space with the most recently activated load included in the most recently created sub-group; and

adding the activated load in the most recently created sub-group when the activated load is activated in the predetermined time period since the activation time of the most recently activated load and located in the predetermined space.

15. The load management method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising:

determining whether the activated load is included in at least one of the sub-group(s) when the activated load is not activated in the predetermined time period since the activation time of the most recently activated load and/or located in the predetermined space;

determining whether an activated percentage of the at least one of the sub-group(s) is less than a threshold when the activated load is included in the at least one of the sub-group(s); and

creating the activated load as an new sub-group when the activated percentage of the at least one of the sub-group(s) is less than the threshold.

16. The load management method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising deleting the sub-group when all of the activated ones of the plurality of loads of the sub-group have not been simultaneously operated over an aging time.