Managing a Picogrid with a Computing Device

• US 20150357848A1
• Filed: 06/04/2014
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Universiti Brunei Darussalam
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Universiti Brunei Darussalam
• Inventors: Chee Ming, Jimmy Lim, Chandan, Vikas, Charbiwala, Zainul M., Ganu, Tanuja H., Ghai, Sunil, Kalra, Sandeep, Khadilkar, Harshad D., Seetharamakrish, Devasenapathi P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,847,660 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/30 Charge provided using DC bus or data bus of a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0071 with a programmable schedule

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing a picogrid with a computing device are provided herein. A method includes generating one or more power-related models based on (i) data pertaining to a given device battery, (ii) data pertaining to one or more context sources, and (iii) one or more items of power-related historical data; determining a charging schedule for the given device battery to provision power for a picogrid based on the one or more power-related models, wherein said picogrid comprises a set of one or more additional devices connected to (i) the given device and (ii) an energy storage component; and implementing the charging schedule on the given device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating one or more power-related models based on (i) data pertaining to a given device battery, (ii) data pertaining to one or more context sources, and (iii) one or more items of power-related historical data;

determining a charging schedule for the given device battery to provision power for a picogrid based on the one or more power-related models, wherein said picogrid comprises a set of one or more additional devices connected to (i) the given device and (ii) an energy storage component; and

implementing the charging schedule on the given device;

wherein at least one of said generating, said determining, and said implementing is carried out by a computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the given device battery comprises a laptop battery.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the given device battery comprises a battery of a portable computing device with sufficient storage capacity to power the picogrid.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said data pertaining to the given device battery comprise data related to the charge rate of the given device battery.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said data pertaining to the given device battery comprise data related to the discharge rate of the given device battery.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said data pertaining to the given device battery comprise the capacity of the given device battery.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more context sources comprise one or more user preferences and/or one or more user-related constraints.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said one or more user preferences comprise a lower bound on time before a complete discharge of the given device battery.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said one or more user preferences comprise a scheduled time for ending use of the given device battery.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said one or more user preferences comprise a scheduled time for beginning use of the given device battery.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said one or more user preferences comprise an average state of charge of the given device battery at the scheduled time for beginning use of the given device battery.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein said one or more user preferences comprise an average duration of time for use of the given device battery.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more context sources comprise one or more battery-related constraints.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more items of power-related historical data comprise one or more historical power cut schedules.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more items of power-related historical data comprise an energy price schedule.

16. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:

generate one or more power-related models based on (i) data pertaining to a given device battery, (ii) data pertaining to one or more context sources, and (iii) one or more items of power-related historical data;

determine a charging schedule for the given device battery to provision power for a picogrid based on the one or more power-related models, wherein said picogrid comprises a set of one or more additional devices connected to (i) the given device and (ii) an energy storage component; and

implement the charging schedule on the given device.

17. A system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured for;

generating one or more power-related models based on (i) data pertaining to a given device battery, (ii) data pertaining to one or more context sources, and (iii) one or more items of power-related historical data;

determining a charging schedule for the given device battery to provision power for a picogrid based on the one or more power-related models, wherein said picogrid comprises a set of one or more additional devices connected to (i) the given device and (ii) an energy storage component; and

implementing the charging schedule on the given device.

18. A method comprising:

generating (i) a user computing device battery model, (ii) a user preferences model, and (iii) an energy pricing model based on data collected from multiple power-related sources;

determining a charging schedule for the user computing device battery to provision power for a picogrid based on (i) the user computing device battery model, (ii) the user preferences model, and (iii) the energy pricing model, wherein said picogrid comprises a set of one or more devices connected to the user computing device;

implementing the charging schedule on the user computing device; and

updating the charging schedule in response to one or more changed parameters;

wherein at least one of said generating, said determining, said implementing, and said updating is carried out by a computing device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said one or more changed parameters comprise at least one of a modeling error, user deviation from the charging schedule, a change in a projected energy price schedule, and passage of a pre-determined amount of time.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said determining and/or said updating is based on solving an optimization problem to minimize a projected cost of power consumed by the picogrid over a given period of time, subject to one or more battery-related constraints and/or one or more user-related constraints.