Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US10054972B2/en
Timestamp: 2020-01-25 06:13:42
Document Index: 330508646

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 103050787', 'Application No. 2009', 'Application No. 09305779', 'Application No. 09305779', 'Application No. 10', 'Application No. 2011200317', 'Application No. 2']

US10054972B2 - Analytics for consumer power consumption - Google Patents
US10054972B2
US10054972B2 US14/554,738 US201414554738A US10054972B2 US 10054972 B2 US10054972 B2 US 10054972B2 US 201414554738 A US201414554738 A US 201414554738A US 10054972 B2 US10054972 B2 US 10054972B2
US14/554,738
US20150120075A1 (en
2010-01-25 Priority to EP10305078 priority Critical
2010-01-25 Priority to EP10305078.7 priority
2011-01-24 Priority to US13/012,331 priority patent/US8918221B2/en
2014-11-26 Priority to US14/554,738 priority patent/US10054972B2/en
2014-11-26 Application filed by Accenture Global Services Ltd filed Critical Accenture Global Services Ltd
2015-04-30 Publication of US20150120075A1 publication Critical patent/US20150120075A1/en
2015-07-28 Assigned to ACCENTURE SAS reassignment ACCENTURE SAS ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: LEROUX, GAELLE
2015-07-28 Assigned to ACCENTURE GLOBAL SERVICES GMBH reassignment ACCENTURE GLOBAL SERVICES GMBH ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: Partington, Alastair
2015-07-28 Assigned to ACCENTURE GLOBAL SERVICES LIMITED reassignment ACCENTURE GLOBAL SERVICES LIMITED ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: ACCENTURE SAS
2015-07-28 Assigned to ACCENTURE GLOBAL SERVICES LIMITED reassignment ACCENTURE GLOBAL SERVICES LIMITED ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: ACCENTURE GLOBAL SERVICES GMBH
2018-08-21 Publication of US10054972B2 publication Critical patent/US10054972B2/en
238000007619 statistical methods Methods 0 abstract description 14
238000010248 power generation Methods 0 claims 14
This Application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/012,331 filed on Jan. 24, 2011, which claims the priority benefit of European Patent Application No. 103050787, filed on Jan. 25, 2010, which are both incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Customers typically receive scant information from the utility company in terms of the amount of power consumed. Ordinarily, customers receive (along with the billing statement) the total amount of power consumed during a pre-determined period (such as a monthly period). This sending of limited information is due to several reasons. First, the automatic meter reading (AMR) technology used in the customers' homes is often crude, providing little information other than the total amount of power being consumed. Second, the architecture of the power grid tends to create a one-way flow of information—from the customers' premises to the utility—and therefore provides little ability to provide meaningful feedback to the consumer. In this way, the consumer receives little help in reducing power consumption.
Turning to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements, FIG. 1 illustrates is a block diagram of one configuration of the utility management system 110, power system 130, and customer premises 140. The utility management system 110 includes an analytics system 120, which may include an analytics engine and one or more databases, as discussed in more detail below. The analytics system 120 may include a processor 122 and a memory 124 that can communicate via a bus. The memory 124 may include volatile and/or non-volatile memory, and may include one or more programs. The memory 124 may be a main memory, a static memory, or a dynamic memory. The memory 124 may include, but may not be limited to, computer-readable storage media such as various types of volatile and non-volatile storage media including, but not limited to, random access memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable read-only memory, flash memory, magnetic tape or disk, optical media and the like. In one case, the memory 124 may include a cache or random access memory for the processor 122. Alternatively or in addition, the memory 124 may be separate from the processor 122, such as a cache memory of a processor, the system memory, or other memory. The memory 124 may be an external storage device or database for storing data. Examples may include a hard drive, compact disc (“CD”), digital video disc (“DVD”), memory card, memory stick, floppy disc, universal serial bus (“USB”) memory device, or any other device operative to store data. The memory 124 may be operable to store instructions executable by the processor 122. The functions, acts or tasks illustrated in the figures (such as FIG. 4) or described herein may be performed by the programmed processor 122 executing the instructions stored in the memory 124. The functions, acts or tasks may be independent of the particular type of instruction set, storage media, processor or processing strategy and may be performed by software, hardware, integrated circuits, firm-ware, micro-code and the like, operating alone or in combination. Likewise, processing strategies may include multiprocessing, multitasking, parallel processing and the like.
For example, the instructions to perform the actions illustrated in FIG. 4 (described below) may be included in the memory 124. The processor 122 may execute the programs in memory 124, and may receive inputs and send outputs via I/O to various other devices, as shown in FIG. 2.
The analytics engine 235, using the analytics engine rules 245, the energy meter database 250, the customer database 255, weather data 225, and temperature data 230, may generate calculations and recommendations for the customer 205. For example, the analytics engine 235 may calculate current energy consumption 210, as discussed in more detail with respect to FIG. 5. The customer may view the current energy consumption 210 via an Input/Output device dedicated to communication with the utility 260 (such as a display associated with the Smart Meter). Or, the customer may view the current energy consumption 210 via a computer, a PDA, and/or a mobile telephone. In addition, the analytics engine may generate energy consumption statistics 215 and/or recommendations to “save energy” 220, as discussed in more detail with respect to FIG. 5.
As depicted in FIG. 3, the customer premises 376 may communicate in a variety of ways, such as via the Internet 378, the public-switched telephone network (PSTN), or via a dedicated line (such as via collector 350). Via any of the listed communication channels, the data from one or more customer premises may be sent. As shown in FIG. 3, one or more customer premises may comprise a Smart Meter Network 360, sending data to a collector 350 for transmission to the utility management system 110 via the utility management network 335. One example of the utility management network 335 to communicate the data from the Smart Meters to the utility management system 110 is disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/378,102, filed on Feb. 11, 2009 (published as U.S. Patent Application No. 2009-0281674A1 on Nov. 12, 2009), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIG. 3 further illustrates a high-level architecture of a substation 382. The substation shown in FIG. 3 is representative of one substation in the power grid. The power grid may include a plurality of substations. The substation 382 may include data security services 384 used for security when communicating with utility communication network 335. The substation 382 may further include substation non-operation data database 394 (storing non-operational data related to performance and/health data for the substation 382) and substation operation data database 396 (storing real time grid state data). The substation 382 may also include substation instrumentation 388 and substation
The analytics system 120 may analyze the data generated by the Smart Meter in order to determine the one or more appliances that are operating at the customer's premises. As discussed in copending application entitled “System And Method For Electric Patterns Discovery,” European Application No. 09305779.2, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, the Smart Meter may generate a customer load profile for the customer's premises. The load profile is a measure of all of the devices that draw load in real-time. For example, an electricity load profile includes the aggregation of the loads for all of the devices that are drawing power in real-time.
The analytics system 120 may automatically analyze the customer load profile in order to determine the one or more devices that contribute to the load profile. For example, the analytics system 120 may use statistical analysis (such as a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate) to recognize predetermined electrical patterns in the electricity load profile in order to identify the one or more devices that contribute to the electricity load profile. A database of known load patterns (which may be stored in customer database 255) may be used to recognize the electrical patterns. Specifically, one or more characteristics of the known load patterns may be used to disaggregate the customer load profile. For example, the “on”/“off” steps, events time-pattern, and steady state variations of the known load pattern may be compared against the customer load profile in order to determine whether these characteristic(s) match the customer profile.
In particular, the analytics engine 235 may analyze the current or upcoming expected usage of the customer premises for various customer criteria, such as energy savings, carbon footprint, etc. to command one or more appliances at the customer premises. For example, if the price of electricity changes periodically (such as every 5, 10, or 15 minutes), the analytics engine 235 may send commands in order to reduce the overall cost of operating the appliances. The analytics engine 235 may determine the currently operating appliances, such as by using dedicated sensors on the appliances that transmit information indicative of the operation of the appliances through the home computer 610 to the utility management system 110 or by disaggregation analysis using European Application No. 09305779.2.
Or, the command from the utility management system 110 may comprise a command to switch the source of power for one or more appliances. In certain instances, the customer premises may include a generation source, such as one or more solar panels. The utility management system 110 may send a command to the home computer 610 for one, some, or all of the appliances to stop drawing power from the power grid and draw power from the generation source. In still another embodiment, the command from the utility management system 110 may comprise a command to route power generated at the customer premises to a portion of the power grid (as discussed in more detail below). The home computer 610 may also control the one or more appliances resident at the customer premises without a command sent from the utility management system. For example, in the case where a customer premises has one or more generation sources, the home computer 610 may determine an amount of energy generated by the solar panels and control the appliances accordingly. At times, the generation sources may have more energy than is necessary to operate the current appliances in use, such as at mid-day. The home computer 610 may determine an amount of energy that is in excess of what is required, select one or more appliances that can use the excess energy, and control the appliances accordingly. For example, if the excess capacity is “X” KW, the home computer 610 may instruct the refrigerator to defrost, instruct the freezer to reduce its temperature by one or more degrees, heat up the coils of the dryer, etc. in order to efficiently use the excess energy. In this way, the excess energy may be used in the event that it cannot be stored for later use. Also, in the case of varying pricing for electricity, the customer may sell the electricity back to the grid. In one embodiment, the home computer 610 can select when to use and when to sell energy generated by the generator resident at the customer premises. In particular, the user may program the memory 612 of the home computer 610 for conditions whereby the electricity would be sent back to the grid (such as a minimum price, or a range of prices, under which the electricity would be sent back to the grid). In a second embodiment, the analytics system 120 resident at the utility management system may make the decision whether the generator should sell the electricity back to the grid. In particular, the analytics system 120 may receive data (communicated via home computer 610) indicative of the amount of electricity generated at the customer premises and/or the amount of electricity available for routing to the power grid (in the event that a portion of the electricity generated at the customer premises is for use at the customer premises). The analytics system 120 may then issue a command to the customer premises (in one embodiment sending the command to the home computer 610 with the home computer 610 issuing a command to the generator to route the power to the power lines that comprise the power grid, and in a second embodiment sending the command directly to the generator). The analytics system 120 may make the determination whether to send the command based on: (1) the amount of electricity generated at the customer premises; (2) the amount of electricity available for routing to the power grid; (3) the minimum price, or a range of prices, under which the electricity would be sent back to the grid; (4) the amount of current power consumption in the grid; or any combination thereof.
One example of wired communication may include Power Line Communication Systems (PLC) in which a modulated carrier signal is impressed on the customer premises wiring system. In particular, PLC may be used to send coded signals along a home's existing electric wiring to programmable switches, or outlets. These signals convey commands that correspond to “addresses” or locations of specific devices, and that control how and when those devices operate. The home computer 610 may activate a PLC transmitter, for instance, which can send a signal along a home's wiring. A receiver plugged into any electric outlet in the home could receive that signal and operate the appliance to which it is attached.
Another example of wired communication may include an additional bus (such as a two-wire bus) installed along with normal electric wiring. Sometimes termed “Instabus”, this two-wire bus may link all appliances to the home computer 610. Thus, the additional bus may enable a centralized, rather than a decentralized communication system. Examples of wireless communication may include IEEE 802.11 or IEEE 802.15.4-2003 (ZigBee).
Further, the one or more appliances 602, 604 may be configured with additional hardware in order to communicate with the home computer 610 and in order to implement commands sent from the utility management system 110 (via the home computer 610). A new generation of appliances, at times referred to as “smart appliances”, include software and hardware enabling the appliances to receive commands (such as wireless commands) and to execute the commands (such as to turn an appliance off, to delay an action that the appliance may take (such as defrosting a refrigerator), etc.). Or, additional hardware may be installed in conjunction with existing appliances. The additional hardware may comprise a device to interface between the wall socket and the appliance. This interface device may be considered a node in the home computing network, whereby the home computer 610 may send a command to shut-off the appliance to the node. The interface device may then stop the flow of power from the wall socket to the appliance.
1. A power utility management system comprising:
receive power consumption data from a first customer premises, the power consumption data comprising individual power consumption data of a plurality of devices at the first customer premises;
analyze the power consumption data of each of the devices at the first customer premises;
compare the analyzed data of a first device among the devices at the first customer premises with data of a second device from a second customer premises; and
generate and send a command to change operation of the first device at the first customer premises, the command generated based on the comparison, and sent to the first customer premises to change operation of the first device to match power consumption of the first customer premises with power consumption of the second customer premises.
2. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein, the first customer premises includes a power generation device, the processor configured to control allocation of power produced by the power generation device.
3. The power utility management system of claim 2, wherein the change in the operation of the first device at the first customer premises comprises the processor configured to change an allocation in power production by the power generation device to supply the first device among the devices at the first customer premises.
4. The power utility management system of claim 2, wherein the change in the operation of the first device at the first customer premises comprises the processor configured to reallocate a quantity of power production by the power generation device away from the first device, or to the first device.
5. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein the first device at the first customer premises is a power consumption device, and the change in the operation of the power consumption device comprises a change in a time of power consumption.
6. The power utility management system of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to change operation of a power generation device at the first customer premises, wherein the change in the operation of the power generation device comprises alignment of a time of power generation by the power generation device with the changed time of power consumption by said power consumption device.
7. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein to match power consumption of the first customer premises with the second customer premises comprises adjustment of power consumption at the first customer premises to match a utility bill of the first customer premises with a utility bill of the second customer premises.
8. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein to match power consumption of the first customer premises with the second customer premises comprises adjustment of power consumption at the first customer premises to match a carbon footprint of the first customer premises with a carbon footprint of the second customer premises.
9. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to generate a command to change the operation of the device, and the system further comprising:
a smart meter resident at the first customer premises, the smart meter configured to transmit the power consumption data; and
a computer resident at the first customer premises, the computer in communication with the smart meter, the computer configured to receive the command from the processor and control the device based on the command.
10. The power utility management system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:
access attributes of the first customer premises and the second customer premises, the accessed attributes selected from a group comprising: house size, appliances, climate, and time of year; and
select the second customer premises based on the accessed attributes of the first customer premises being similar to the accessed attributes of the second customer premises.
receiving, via an interface, first load data comprising individual load data of each of a plurality of first devices, the first devices being at a first location; and
receiving, via the interface, second load data comprising individual load data of each of a plurality of second devices, the second devices being at the second location, wherein the second location is different from the first location, and the first devices are comparable with the second devices;
comparing individual load data of a device from the first location with individual load data of a device from the second location; and
transmitting instructions to reconfigure operation of the device from the first location based on the comparison to match the first load data with the second load data.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first location and the second location have similar demographic information.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the first load data comprises receiving as aggregated load data which is aggregated by an apparatus resident at the first location, the aggregated load data comprising individual power consumption data of one or more power consumption devices at the first location.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprises receiving, via the interface, individual power generation data of one or more power generation devices at the first location.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting instructions to reconfigure operation of the device from the first location comprises transmitting instructions to initiate operation of the device during a period when a price of power is lowest.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting instructions to reconfigure operation of the device from the first location comprises transmitting instructions to initiate operation of the device during a period when a price of power is highest.
17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions executable by one or more processors, the instructions comprising:
instructions to receive individual load data from multiple electric devices at a first premises, and individual load data from multiple electric devices at a second premises;
instructions to independently transmit the individual load data from the multiple electric devices at the first premises and the individual load data from the multiple electric devices at the second premises over a communication network;
instructions to receive, from over the communication network, in response to the transmitted individual load data from the multiple electric devices at the first and second premises, a reconfiguration of a load of the multiple electric devices at the first premises to match a load of the multiple electric devices at the second premises, wherein the reconfiguration comprises a setting applicable to at least one of the multiple electric devices at the first premises; and
instructions to control operation of the multiple electric devices at the first premises according to the received settings.
18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the multiple electric devices include a power consumption device, and the received setting provides at least one of: a time to start the power consumption device, or a time to shut down the power consumption device.
19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first premises comprise a power generation device, and the received setting provides at least one of: a time to start at least one of multiple electronic devices to allocate excess generated power from the power generation device to the least one of multiple electronic devices, a time to shut down at least one of multiple electronic devices to allocate power from the power generation device to an external power grid, or a time to control an amount of power consumption of at least one of multiple electronic devices to allocate an excess amount of power generated by the power generation device to the at least one of multiple electronic devices.
20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising:
US14/554,738 2010-01-25 2014-11-26 Analytics for consumer power consumption Active 2032-06-13 US10054972B2 (en)
EP10305078 2010-01-25
US13/012,331 Continuation US8918221B2 (en) 2010-01-25 2011-01-24 Analytics for consumer power consumption
US20150120075A1 US20150120075A1 (en) 2015-04-30
US10054972B2 true US10054972B2 (en) 2018-08-21
US13/012,331 Active 2031-08-19 US8918221B2 (en) 2010-01-25 2011-01-24 Analytics for consumer power consumption
US14/554,738 Active 2032-06-13 US10054972B2 (en) 2010-01-25 2014-11-26 Analytics for consumer power consumption
European Search Report and Written Opinion, dated Jun. 9, 2010, pp. 1-7, issued in European Patent Application No. 10 30 5078, European Patent Office, Munich, Germany.
Examiner's First Report, dated Feb. 21, 2011, pp. 1-2, issued in Australian Patent Application No. 2011200317, IP Australia, Woden ACT, Australia.
Office Action, dated Jan. 26, 2017, pp. 1-8, issued in corresponding Canadian Application No. 2,729,211, Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
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