Patent ID: 11859869
Assignee: RHEEM MANUFACTURING COMPANY
Field: Thermal processes and apparatus (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  G  H  Y | IPC F  G  H

Claim 8:
9. A controller for controlling operation of a water heater, the controller comprising:
one or more processors;
a switch; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the controller to:
receive a current water temperature from the water heater;
determine that the current water temperature is less than a first PV heat point that is greater than a normal lower threshold heat point;
in response to the current water temperature being less than the first PV heat point, calculate a required amount of energy to increase a temperature of the water from the current water temperature to a set point temperature greater than the first PV heat point;
determine whether that the required amount of the energy is greater than an amount of available PV energy in a PV system at a first time;
in response to the required amount of the energy being greater than the amount of available PV energy at the first time, determine that the current water temperature is less than or equal to the normal lower threshold heat point;
in response to the current water temperature being less than or equal to the normal lower threshold heat point, determine that the amount of the available PV energy at a second time is greater than or equal to the required amount of the energy; and
in response to the amount of the available PV energy being greater than or equal to the required amount of the energy at the second time, set the switch to transfer PV energy from the PV system to a heating device of the water heater, until the current water temperature is greater than or equal to the set point temperature, and to not transfer energy from a utility system to the heating device.