Adaptive power management for self-sustaining energy harvesting system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9948113-B2
Application number	US-201514726739-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2015
Priority date	Dec 15, 2014
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

Systems ( 100 ) and methods ( 500, 600 ) for adaptively managing power for an Energy Harvesting System (“EHS”). The methods involve: measuring a light intensity level available in a surrounding environment; wirelessly communicating a first wireless signal from the EHS ( 100 ) to a remote device ( 700 ) for causing the light intensity level to be increased by remotely turning on a light source ( 106, 108 ) or opening a cover preventing light emitted from the light source from reaching the EHC, when the light intensity level is below a pre-specified level; using an Energy Harvesting Circuit (“EHC”) to recharge a rechargeable battery ( 310 ) when the light intensity level rises above the pre-specified level; and wirelessly communicating a second wireless signal from the EHS to the remote device for causing the light source be turned off or the cover to be closed, when the capacity or state-of-charge of the rechargeable battery reaches a pre-specified value.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for adaptively managing power for an Energy Harvesting System (“EHS”), comprising:
determining by the EHS a level of light intensity for a surrounding environment of the EHS;
wirelessly communicating a first wireless signal from the EHS to cause a remote device to perform first operations to increase the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when the level of light intensity is below a pre-specified level;
using electricity generated by an Energy Harvesting Circuit (“EHC”) from ambient light energy to charge a rechargeable battery of the EHS when the level of light intensity rises to a level above the pre-specified level;
wirelessly communicating a second wireless signal from the EHS to cause the remote device to perform second operations to decrease the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when a capacity or State-Of-Charge (“SOC”) of the rechargeable battery reaches a pre-specified value;
using power from a rechargeable battery to charge another energy store of the EHS; and
subsequently supplying a voltage to a load of the EHS from the another energy store rather than from the rechargeable battery.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether an available energy in the rechargeable battery is sufficient to cause an electrical load of the EHS to perform at least one function; and
supplying power to the electrical load if the available energy in the rechargeable battery is sufficient to cause the electrical load to perform the at least one function.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the light intensity level is measured when an available energy in the rechargeable battery is below a value needed to operate an electrical load.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising using the rechargeable battery to simultaneously supply electrical energy to a control circuit of the EHS and a capacitor storage element of the EHS.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the remote window treatment control comprises remote window shade control.

6. A method for adaptively managing power for an Energy Harvesting System (“EHS”), comprising:
determining by the EHS a level of light intensity for a surrounding environment of the EHS;
wirelessly communicating a first wireless signal from the EHS to cause a remote device to perform first operations to increase the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when the level of light intensity is below a pre-specified level;
using electricity generated by an Energy Harvesting Circuit (“EHC”) from ambient light energy to charge a rechargeable battery of the EHS when the level of light intensity level rises to a level above the pre-specified level; and
wirelessly communicating a second wireless signal from the EHS to cause the remote device to perform second operations to decrease the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when a capacity or State-Of-Charge (“SOC”) of the rechargeable battery reaches a pre-specified value;
wherein the first operations performed by the remote device further comprise:
determining if at least one source of harvestable energy in the surrounding environment is operating properly; and
performing actions to cause a repair of the at least one source or a supply of power to the at least one source prior to using the EHC to recharge the rechargeable battery.

7. A method for adaptively managing power for an Energy Harvesting System (“EHS”), comprising:
determining by the EHS a level of light intensity for a surrounding environment of the EHS;
wirelessly communicating a first wireless signal from the EHS to cause a remote device to perform first operations to increase the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when the level of light intensity is below a pre-specified level;
using electricity generated by an Energy Harvesting Circuit (“EHC”) from ambient light energy to charge a rechargeable battery of the EHS when the level of light intensity level rises to a level above the pre-specified level; and
wirelessly communicating a second wireless signal from the EHS to cause the remote device to perform second operations to decrease the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when a capacity or State-Of-Charge (“SOC”) of the rechargeable battery reaches a pre-specified value;
wherein the light intensity level is measured on a date or time specified by a pre-stored date or a pre-stored time stored in a memory of the EHS.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein at least one of the pre-stored date and pre-stored time was selected prior to being stored in a memory of the EHS based on at least one of (a) power consumption patterns of the EHS, (b) power profiles of light sources, (c) estimated future energy deficits of the EHS system and/or the light sources, (d) a business entity's hours of operation, (e) current and future weather of the surrounding environment, and (f) times of low power demands on an AC power grid.

9. A method for adaptively managing power for an Energy Harvesting System (“EHS”), comprising:
determining by the EHS a level of light intensity for a surrounding environment of the EHS;
wirelessly communicating a first wireless signal from the EHS to cause a remote device to perform first operations to increase the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when the level of light intensity is below a pre-specified level;
using electricity generated by an Energy Harvesting Circuit (“EHC”) from ambient light energy to charge a rechargeable battery of the EHS when the level of light intensity level rises to a level above the pre-specified level; and
wirelessly communicating a second wireless signal from the EHS to cause the remote device to perform second operations to decrease the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when a capacity or State-Of-Charge (“SOC”) of the rechargeable battery reaches a pre-specified value;
wherein the light intensity level is measured when (a) a storm is likely to occur in the EHS's geographic area in a next N hours, days, weeks or months, or (b) the EHS is likely to have an insufficient amount of stored energy to operate a load in a next N hours, days, weeks or months, where N is an integer.

10. A system, comprising:
an Energy Harvesting System (“EHS”) configured to
measure a level of light intensity for a surrounding environment of the EHS,
wirelessly communicate a first wireless signal to cause a remote device to perform first operations to increase the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when the level of light intensity level is below a pre-specified level,

use electricity generated by an internal Energy Harvesting Circuit (“EHC”) from ambient light energy to charge an internal rechargeable battery when the level of light intensity rises to a level above the pre-specified level,
wirelessly communicate a second wireless signal to cause the remote device to perform second operations to decrease the level of light intensity through remote lighting control or through remote window treatment control, when a capacity or State-Of-Charge (“SOC”) of the rechargeable battery reaches a pre-specified value;
use power from a rechargeable battery to charge another energy store; and
subse

Assignees

• Hall Stewart E
• Sequeira Melwyn F
• Tyco Fire & Security Gmbh

Inventors

• Hall Stewart E
• Sequeira Melwyn F

Classifications

• H02J7/345 Primary

  using capacitors as storage or buffering devices · CPC title

• H02J7/35 Primary

  with light sensitive cells · CPC title

• G08B17/00

  Fire alarms; Alarms responsive to explosion · CPC title

• H02J7/342

  The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging (with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/68) · CPC title

• G08B29/181

  due to failing power supply · CPC title