Power management system and refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10031543-B2
Application number	US-201414762495-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 4, 2014
Priority date	Mar 26, 2013
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

A power management system includes a plurality of electric devices including a refrigerator, and a centralized controller configured to control the plurality of electric devices. The centralized controller includes difficulty determination means configured to determine power supply difficulty as a degree of difficulty in supplying power to the plurality of electric devices. Meanwhile, the refrigerator includes: a control setting table in which a plurality of power reduction controls that reduce use of power are stored to be associated with the power supply difficulty; reduction control setting means configured to set the power reduction control to be executed, by using the control setting table and the power supply difficulty determined by the difficulty determination means; and a device controller configured to perform the power reduction control set by the reduction control setting means.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A power management system comprising:
a plurality of electric devices including a refrigerator; and
a centralized controller configured to control the plurality of electric devices,
the centralized controller including
a difficulty determination table in which a power supply difficulty indicating a degree of difficulty in supplying power to the plurality of electric devices is associated with power supply information externally acquired and indicating a state of power supply, power use states of the plurality of electric devices, and a power generation state of a solar power generation panel, and
a difficulty determination unit configured to
acquire the power supply information, the power use states, and the power generation state, and
determine the power supply difficulty by using the difficulty determination table, the refrigerator including
a control setting table in which contents of a plurality of power reduction controls that reduce use of power are stored to be associated with the power supply difficulty,
a reduction control setting unit configured to set the plurality of power reduction controls by using the control setting table and the power supply difficulty determined by the difficulty determination unit, and
a device controller configured to perform the plurality of power reduction controls set by the reduction control setting unit.

2. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein
in the control setting table, priorities of the plurality of power reduction controls are set in accordance with the power supply difficulty,
the reduction control setting unit sets the priorities of the plurality of power reduction controls in accordance with the power supply difficulty, and
the device controller performs the plurality of the power reduction controls in accordance with the priorities set by the reduction control setting unit.

3. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein
in the control setting table, an executable control of the plurality of power reduction controls is set for each level of the power supply difficulty,
the reduction control setting unit sets the executable control of the plurality of power reduction controls in accordance with the power supply difficulty, and
the device controller executes the plurality of power reduction controls set by the reduction control setting unit.

4. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein
the centralized controller determines the power supply difficulty by using information that is externally acquired and indicates the state of power supply to all the plurality of electric devices.

5. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein
the centralized controller acquires the power use states of the plurality of electric devices and determines the power supply difficulty by using the power use states.

6. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of electric devices includes an information terminal device that allows a user to view information managed by the centralized controller, and inputs and outputs the information, and
information indicating that it is difficult to supply power is transmitted to the refrigerator by operating the information terminal device by a user.

7. A refrigerator that is connected to a centralized controller that is configured to control a plurality of electric devices and includes a difficulty determination table in which a power supply difficulty indicating a degree of difficulty in supplying power to the plurality of electric devices is associated with power supply information externally acquired and indicating a state of power supply, power use states of the plurality of electric devices, and a power generation state of a solar power generation panel and a difficulty determination unit configured to acquire the power supply information, the power use states, and the power generation state and determine the power supply difficulty by using the difficulty determination table, the refrigerator comprising:
a control setting table in which contents of a plurality of power reduction controls that reduce use of power are stored to be associated with the power supply difficulty;
a reduction control setting unit configured to set the plurality of power reduction controls by using the control setting table and the power supply difficulty determined by the difficulty determination unit; and
a device controller configured to perform the plurality of power reduction controls set by the reduction control setting unit.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Yamato Yasunari
• Maeda Go
• Sakamoto Katsumasa
• Oishi Takashi
• Okabe Makoto

Classifications

• H02J2105/42

  Home appliances · CPC title

• H02J13/12

  Monitoring network conditions, e.g. electrical magnitudes or operational status · CPC title

• H02J13/14

  the power network being locally controlled, e.g. home energy management systems [HEMS] · CPC title

• G05F1/66 Primary

  Regulating electric power · CPC title

• F25D29/00

  Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices · CPC title