ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM USING AN ENERGY GATEWAY AND ENTERPRISE COMMAND CENTER

BACKGROUND
Field of the Invention

[0001] The present invention relates to an Energy Management System. More particularly, the present invention relates to an Energy Management System designed to optimize energy consumption by using an Energy Gateway, Energy Saver, Enterprise Command Center, solution engine and analytics engine (both server and client analytics) that adopts wireless sensor networking technology. Background Information and Prior Art

[0002] Conventionally, controls for lighting systems and electrical loads have been devised and are now commercially available that will activate a light circuit or load circuit depending on the signals provided by sensors such as motion detectors. Generally, the motion detector is a Passive Infra-Red (PIR) or Pyro-Electric technology device that provides a signal whenever motion is detected in the control zone. Motion created by occupants working in the area is not continuous and a detectable signal is not always available for a motion sensor. In an attempt to ensure that the lights are not turned off while the area is still occupied, a manually adjustable time delay is set on each sensor to keep the lighting circuit powered ON before turning off the load. One of the disadvantages to circuit-switching occupancy sensors relates to the requirement to manually set a time delay in each sensor or timer based control circuit which is not intelligent. In practice, most such sensors are set to the maximum delay time to minimize the annoyance of having the lights turned off when people are still occupying the area. The above method is inefficient having delay time set to the maximum value reduces the energy saving potential of this control method. Another major disadvantage of circuit-switching occupancy sensors relates to having only an ON and an OFF state, the controlled area is either at full light or dark.

[0003] Controls for lighting systems have been devised and are now commercially available that will turn a light circuit on and off based on the availability of adequate light from an external source such as daylight. Generally, a photo sensor is provided to look at a window or at a representative area of the workspace to "see" if there is sufficient natural light available. If not, the artificial lighting circuit is switched ON. This type of control is usually provided with a manual adjustment in each sensor to set the activation light level. In order to have a stable control system, the additional light provided by the artificial lights controlled by the circuit must not cause the sensor to immediately turn the lights off again. One of the disadvantages to circuit-switching photo sensor controls relates to the requirement to manually set the operative light level in each sensor or make it off line computer programmable. Even Off line computer programmable has its limitation of not being real time and intelligent.

[0004] Dimming fluorescent ballasts are commercially available with a light level adjustment control (dimmer) so that the light level can be set manually. The purpose for such controls is primarily for aesthetic purposes and secondarily for energy saving. Relying on the occupant to set a lower light level to save energy is not a practical method for energy management.

[0005] Lighting control systems have been devised and are now commercially available that will adjust the light output of special electronic ballast in response to a control signal provided by a light level controller. Such light level controllers are stand-alone controllers or centrally controlled (but not intelligent) that are connected to a group of light fixtures using additional control wires. These controllers require manual adjustment or through a remote or through very expensive cables, adjustment of the set point light level at each sensor. Frequent adjustments of the light sensor are not practical if the light level should be changed daily in order to optimize energy consumption. Also lot of systems are available with wired approach in-which every sensor would be addressable and would be wired to a control panel to control the configuration. The significant disadvantages of this type of controller are lack of real time control with intelligence, high cost of the components because of their individual complexity, high cost of installation because of their need for distributed control signal wiring to every ballast and every sensor to control panel, the high cost of maintenance due to the requirement of either individual calibration and adjustment at each sensor, high cost of maintenance because of very complex cabling and any issues in cable would lead to complete breakdown of network and that the dimming controller cannot be interfaced to manual controls, time clocks, or occupancy sensors.

[0006] Therefore, it is desirable to design a system and method that overcomes noted disadvantages of the current technology lighting systems and Energy management systems.

[0007] Conventional art discloses a Passive Infra Red (PIR) sensor, consisting of number of sensing elements, meant for security and energy management application. It has separate detector circuit each for gauging security threshold and energy management threshold. The detector circuit is interfaced to analog-to-digital converter which in turn is interfaced to processor. The analog switch in this invention controls the amplification of detector output to switch between energy management sensor with high amplification gain and security sensor with lesser amplification gain. The processor detects two sequential changes of opposite polarity in the output signal which occur within a window timeframe of less than 2 seconds and greater than 75 milliseconds.

[0008] Yet another conventional art discloses an energy saving lighting control system for operating fluorescent light fixtures. A method of providing sensor inputs to detect the occupancy in controlled area provides control signals to the lighting control system. The controlled area is divided in various zones and each zone has its own computer connected to zone controller. Each zone controller controls the load in each zone, sends control signals and operative power from each zone. Central computer, interfaced with central security system, controls the Heat Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) system.

[0009] The referred conventional a rt use PIR sensors for energy management solution and security solution. Both the patents do not address the need for analytics at client or terminal side or wireless communication, intelligent controls, real time monitoring and control, analytical controls. They also don't talk about the typical analytics, energy consumption patterns and trends, ways of Optimizing energy consumption, future trends and projections, Analytical projections based on various dynamic parameters like time, date, time of the day, period of the year, behavioral patterns and trends, analysis and control at both central and terminal side.

[0010] The present invention uses PCB mounted modules for Energy Gateway, Enterprise Command Center and Energy Saver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] A system and method are designed to improve and optimize the energy consumption on a sustainable basis in an environment particularly associated to human occupancy and analytical trending of historical data. This circuit and method adopts a technique involving, detecting a plurality of switching signals triggered from a plurality of application sensors by means of routers followed by monitoring a plurality of data from a plurality of Energy Gateway microcontroller units by means of command center. The Energy Gateway has built in local analytics and control mechanism as well at a central place called command center. The command center has server analytics built in where in it collects information from each Energy Gateway or group of energy gateways directly or through energy saver in a mesh network or ad-hoc network. The command center has also a built in enterprise solution engine along with web server application. The entire system would be internet or intranet enabled. The command center communicates (bidirectional at the same time) and remotely controls the Energy Gateway microcontrollers using wireless communication. This system and method thereby provides better Energy saving and management system & solution by providing appropriate information of the occupancy patterns and trends and to analyze the pattern of energy consumption thereby optimizing electrical loads such as lighting, Heat Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC), various building related electrical loads based on various dynamic parameters like occupancy, behavioral pattern of occupiers, occupancy period, occupancy occasion, background of the occupancy, thus maximizing energy savings. The same analytical data is also leveraged to form a security map of a building or a hot zone map of a building just before the fire accidents. Security zones can be defined dynamically by the command center through software and can be
monitored online through web based mechanism. Similarly occupancy areas can be defined using occupancy areas just before fire accident, to evacuate people.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Fig. 1 is a Block diagram of a hardware configuration of a typical Energy Management System.

[0013] Fig. 2 is a Block diagram of an Energy Gateway Unit in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0014] Fig. 3 is a Block diagram of an Enterprise Command Center in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0015] Fig. 4 is a state diagram of the Energy Gateway unit in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] Fig. 5 is a flow chart representation of Energy Gateway unit in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] The system and method discloses an Energy Management System designed to optimize energy consumption by using an energy gateway, energy saver and Enterprise Command Center that adopts a wireless sensor networking technology.

[0018] Fig. 1 illustrates the typical hardware in a typical Energy Management system (EMS). Fig. 1 shows an Energy Gateway (EG) [110], an Energy Saver (ES) [114], and an Enterprise Command Center (ECC) [115] that exists concurrently to form the hardware part of the Energy Management System (EMS). A Web Server [119] hosts Analytics and Lamp Control & electrical load control Software which is used to remotely control electrical loads, monitor occupancy and plot energy consumption analytics graphs [126].

[0019] The Energy Gateway [110] unit interfaces Passive Infra Red (PIR) Inputs [105] that is connected to PIR sensor [102] and powered by the mains power [100]. The switch interfaces to the Energy Gateway [110] via the switch inputs interface [106]. Based on the occupancy of an area the PIR sensor [102] outputs a signal to the Energy Gateway [110] unit indicating the presence or absence of a human (obstacle) in the monitored area. The Energy Gateway [110] Unit switches on the corresponding lamps [104], via the Lamp controls & electrical load Output Interface [107] based on the switch control, conference and non-conference mode. The Energy Gateway [110] communicates this data to the Enterprise Command Center [115] by the wireless communication interface [109] and the Energy Saver [114] on a wireless link [129] and [130]. The Energy Gateway is also powered by Client Analytics Engine Software which enables local or client or terminal intelligence to provide optimized energy consumption at local or sub zone or zonal level. [0020] The Entergy Saver [114] is a wireless communication router and can optimize energy consumption for that p articular zone, forms mesh network and increase the distance of communication between the Energy Gateway [110] unit and the Enterprise Command Center [115]. The Enterprise Command Center [115] is the hub of the Energy Management System and can accept multiple Energy Gateway [110] Units inputs via the Energy Savers [114]. The Enterprise Command Center [115] is connected to a computer by the serial link [131]. The Computer [117] connects to the wireless modem using serial link [132]. The computer transmits data of various Energy Gateways [110] to Web server [119] using wireless communication link [129] and [130]. The Web Server hosts an Analytics Software [120], Solution Engine software [123] and Lamp Control & electrical load control software [127].

[0021] The remote device or computer [121] can connect to the Web server [119] and use the Analytics software [120] to obtain occupancy patterns [125] and Energy Consumption analytics [126]. The remote device or computer [121] can control the activation and deactivation of lamps & electrical loads [104] connected to the various Energy Gateways [110].

[0022] Fig. 2 represents one of the preferred embodiments of the Energy Gateway Unit. The Energy Gateway Unit comprises of six PIR Sensors [102] which are optically coupled to the Microcontroller Unit [226] via the protection and filtering PIR sensing circuit [225]. The switch inputs are sensed by the microcontroller unit [226] by a protection and filtering switch input sensing circuit [224]. The microcontroller unit can control six lamp units using the lamp control output [227] circuit which is optically connected to the lamp load. The microcontroller unit [226] is interfaced to the RF module [229] which is used for communication. When the PIR sensor [102] detects a human occupancy it signals the microcontroller [226]. The corresponding lamp [228] mapped to the PIR sensor [224] is switched on by the microcontroller [226]. The data is transmitted periodically to the Enterprise Command Center (ECC) about the status of the PIR sensor input(s) [102] and the lamp(s) [227] activation/deactivation status using the RF module [229]. The microcontroller unit [226] also receives the schedule of activation and deactivation of lamps from the lamp control & load control scheduler [128] on Web Server [119] and updates the same in the microcontroller unit [226] internal non volatile memory.

[0023] Fig. 3 represents one of the preferred embodiments of the Enterprise Command Center. The Enterprise Command Center [305] comprises of a RF Module [301], Wireless modem [302], Power Regulator [303], Level Translator [304] and two serial interfaces [306], [307] for communicating with a computer. The occupancy, lamp and switch status information is sent by the Energy Gateway unit to the Enterprise Command Center [305] which is received by the RF module [301] and the same is sent to the computer via the serial port connection [306]. The computer connected to the interface connector [307] sends this information to the wireless modem [302]. The wireless modem [302] tra nsmits this information to the Web server.

[0024] Fig. 4 represents the state diagram of the Energy Gateway unit. The device has five states namely init state [402], operating mode selection state [403], observation state [408], normal state [404] and schedule state [405]. The device enters the init state [402] after power on and initializes the sensor inputs, switch inputs and lamp control outputs. The device switches over to the operating mode selection state after the initialization is complete i.e. Init Complete. The Energy Gateway also has self learning algorithm and built in client analytics to understand the human behavior in places like workplaces, conference rooms, cabins, meeting areas, common areas etc. It also understands the patterns at various timings like morning, afternoon, evening, late nights, also during coffee-tea breaks, work timings and lunch timings. This information would be used to analyze and optimize the energy consumption. The switch input plays a vital role to determine which mode is it in to determine the lighting.

[0025] Fig. 5 represents the algorithm involved in Energy Gateway [110] for implementation of Energy Management System. The Energy Gateway [110] on power up initializes [502] the electrical load control interface [107], PIR input interface [105] & switch input interface [106]. The operating mode is retrieved [503] from non-volatile memory. The Energy Gateway continues to operate in the state before power shutdown. The Energy Gateway operates in one of the state among Normal, Schedule and Observation states after device initialization and operating mode selection state. The Energy Gateway software processes three tasks. The first task receives [516] & buffer [517] the command data received from wireless communication interface [109]. The second task processes [514] the received command and sends [515] a response to Enterprise Command Center [115] after processing the command. The Energy Gateway [110] switches between Normal, Schedule and Observation state based on the remote command received from Load control scheduler [128]. The third task scans the change in switch state [505] & PIR sensor state [506] and governs [508] [509] [511] [512] the Electrical load control Interface. The advanced client analytics engine software [122] monitors the wireless network & performs other diagnostic tests periodically to monitor the good health and proper operation of the device.

[0026] The Energy Management Software [124] in conjunction with Enterprise Command Center [115] and Energy Gateway [110] network understands the patterns of various zones, sub zones, floors of building, various buildings of a site and various sites of an organization. The analytics engine at the enterprise site understands the patterns of that particular building to optimize the energy consumption. The client analytics [122] correlates the server intelligence with client intelligence to optimize the energy consumption for that particular covered area.

[0027] Every sensor, switch, electrical load point forms an element in a mesh or ad-hoc network, this ensures that every information is available to everyone in a network to take necessary action in a controlled fashion determined by the EMS. This feature ensures complete reconfiguration any number of times and at any given point of time from any location through EMS and ECC.

WE CLAIM

1. An Energy Management System (EMS) to optimize on energy consumption in an environment associated to human occupancy, the system comprising:

a plurality of Energy Gateway (EG) microcontroller units configured as a control and communication interface between a plurality of switching devices, passive infrared sensors and load circuits;

an Enterprise Command Center (ECC) hub to couple the plurality of energy gate way microcontroller units via a plurality of energy saving routers (ES), wherein the energy saving routers transfer data from the energy gate way microcontroller units to the enterprise command center hub; and

a web server unit loaded with an application software to remotely control the Energy Gateway microcontroller units via the Enterprise Command Center (ECC).

2. The EMS of claim 1, wherein the energy Gateway microcontroller units is at least an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).

3. The EMS of claim 1 wherein the Passive Infra Red sensors includes at least a plurality of Ultrasound based sensor devices.

4. The EMS of claim 1, wherein the Passive Infra Red sensors includes at least a plurality of Microwave based sensor devices.

5. The EMS of claim 1, wherein the Energy Gateway Microcontroller units serve as energy saving routers (ES).

6. The EMS of claim 1, wherein the Web Server unit loaded with the application software is controlled remotely by a mobile device.

7. The EMS of claim 6, wherein the Web Server unit loaded with the application software is controlled by a computer.

8. The EMS of claim 5, wherein the Energy Gateway Microcontroller unit includes at least a HVAC system interface, a wireless communication interface and a PIR sensor interface.

9. The EMS of claim 8, wherein the Energy Gateway Microcontroller unit further comprises an optical isolation between a lamp control circuit and a plurality of lamp loads.

10. A method of optimizing energy consumption in an environment associated to human occupancy, the method comprising:

enabling a plurality of Energy Gateway microcontroller units by means of switching signals triggered from a plurality of application sensors;

detecting the switching signals via a plurality of energy saving routers; and

monitoring a plurality of data from the Energy Gateway microcontroller units via an Enterprise Command Center that relays the data to an enterprise solution engine.