Systems, methods and apparatus for monitoring and managing device-level energy consumption in a smart-home environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9523993-B2
Application number	US-201414473925-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2014
Priority date	Oct 2, 2007
Publication date	Dec 20, 2016
Grant date	Dec 20, 2016

Abstract

Accessing an energy management policy for a plurality of devices is described, wherein the devices are coupled with a first structure. The energy usage of the devices is monitored. An energy usage rule and energy usage is then compared. The energy management policy and energy usage is also compared. Based on the comparing, an instruction is generated to modify an energy usage profile of said device to correlate with the energy usage rule associated with the devices and the energy management policy, thereby enabling efficient energy management.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for managing energy consumption of a plurality of devices associated with an enclosure, comprising:
an energy manager device;
a plurality of energy measurement modules, each energy measurement module being:
associated with a device from the plurality of devices,
configured to measure an amount of energy consumed by the device, and
capable of wirelessly communicating energy consumption information indicative of the amount of energy consumed by the device to the energy manager device; and

a plurality of energy usage modifier modules, each energy usage modifier module being:
associated with a device which is also associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of energy measurement modules; and
configured to control energy consumption of the device which is also associated with the corresponding one of the plurality of energy measurement modules in response to an instruction received from the energy manager device;

the energy manager device being configured to:
wirelessly receive from each of the plurality of energy measurement modules the energy consumption information indicative of the amount of energy consumed by the device associated with the energy measurement module;
receive duration information indicative of a length of time an energy-consuming device has been in operation;
calculate an energy consumption for the energy-consuming device based on the duration information;
determine desired energy usage profiles for each of the plurality of devices, wherein the desired energy usage profiles are determined at least in part based on a peak energy demand response command issued by a utility provider and a household energy profile that defines energy usage for a household for which the energy manager device manages energy usage; and
in response to receiving an instruction from a user, wirelessly communicate an instruction to each of the energy usage modifier modules instructing the energy usage modifier modules to control energy consumption of their respective devices, the instruction causing energy consumption of each device to be correlated with the desired energy usage profile of the device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy manager device includes a graphical user interface and is configured to receive the instruction from the user via the graphical user interface.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy manager device is further configured to communicate with a user device located outside of the enclosure, and to receive the instruction from the user via the user device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy manager device includes a touch screen panel and is configured to display information to the user and receive the instruction from the user via the touch screen panel, and at least one of the energy measurement modules and an associated one of the energy usage modifier modules are integrated into a single hardware component.

5. A method for managing energy consumption of a plurality of energy consuming devices associated with an enclosure, comprising:
establishing communication over a wireless protocol between a plurality of energy measurement modules and an energy management device, each energy measurement module being associated with an energy consuming device from the plurality of energy consuming devices associated with the enclosure;
establishing a wireless communication between a plurality of energy usage modifier modules and the energy management device, each energy usage modifier module being associated with an energy consuming device which is also associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of energy measurement modules;
measuring, by each energy measurement module, an amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device associated with the energy measurement module;
wirelessly communicating, by each energy measurement module to the energy management device, energy consumption information indicative of the amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device associated with the energy measurement module;
receiving duration information indicative of a length of time an energy consuming device has been in operation at the energy management device;
calculating, by the energy management device, an energy consumption for the energy consuming device based on the duration information;
determining, by the energy management device, desired energy usage profiles for each of the plurality of energy consuming devices, wherein the desired energy usage profiles are determined at least in part based on peak energy demand response command issued by a utility provider and a household energy profile that defines energy usage for a household in which the energy manager device is situated;
receiving an instruction from a user indicative of a modification to energy consumption for the enclosure;
in response to receiving the user instruction, wirelessly communicating an instruction from the energy management device to each of the plurality of energy usage modifier modules instructing the energy usage modifier modules to control energy consumption of their respective energy consuming devices, the instruction causing energy consumption of each energy consuming device to be correlated with the desired energy usage profile of the energy consuming device; and
controlling, by each energy usage modifier module, the energy consumption of the energy consuming device associated with the energy usage modifier module in accordance with the instruction.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
calculating, by the energy management device, a sum amount of energy consumed by the plurality of energy consuming devices;
receiving a measurement of a total amount of energy consumed by the enclosure at the energy management device;
generating, by the energy management device, a passive power consumption analysis by comparing the total amount of energy consumed by the enclosure with the sum amount of energy consumed by the plurality of energy consuming devices, wherein the passive power consumption analysis indicates an amount of power consumed other than by devices turned on; and
communicating, by the energy management device, the passive power consumption analysis to the user.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving an instruction at the energy management device from an energy company regarding a demand-response event; and
modifying, by the energy management device, the desired energy usage profile for an energy consuming device in response to receiving the instruction from the energy company.

8. A method for managing energy consumption of a plurality of energy consuming devices associated with an enclosure, comprising:
establishing communication over a wireless protocol between a plurality of energy measurement modules and an energy management device, each energy measurement module being associated with an energy consuming device from the plurality of energy consuming devices associated with the enclosure;
establishing a wireless communication between a plurality of energy usage modifier modules and the energy management device, each energy usage modifier module being associated with an energy consuming device which is also associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of energy measurement modules;
measuring, by each energy measurement module, an amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device associated with the energy measurement module;
wirelessly communicating, by each energy measurement module to the energy management device, energy consumption information indicative of the amount of energy consumed by the energy consuming device associated with the energy measurement module;
determining, by the energy management device

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Weaver Jason C
• Kayton Bradley A

Classifications

• H02J2105/42

  Home appliances · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04W74/00

  Wireless channel access · CPC title

• G06Q50/06

  Energy or water supply · CPC title

• H04L12/12

  Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof · CPC title