EP3243109A1

EP3243109A1 - System for managing the energy consumption of a building

Info

Publication number: EP3243109A1
Application number: EP16701981.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Emmanuel OLIVIER; Saber MANSOUR; Olivier Lefevre; Romain BAZILLE; François DEMARES
Original assignee: Ubiant SA
Current assignee: Ubiant SA
Priority date: 2015-01-06
Filing date: 2016-01-05
Publication date: 2017-11-15
Also published as: FR3031401B1; FR3031401A1; US10642234B2; CA2973054A1; WO2016110636A1; US20180259919A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a system (1) for managing the energy consumption of a building including at least one area, which comprises: a set of sensors (8) capable of generating information representing environmental parameters, in particular the current temperature and luminosity in the area in which they are installed; a set of at least one actuator (4-6) capable of controlling the temperature and/or the luminosity in said area; a computer system (2) arranged to receive said information from said sensors (8) and to transmit instructions to said actuators (4-6), and executing a method for regulating said actuators (4-6) via a multi-agent mechanism, in order to respect a set of at least two predetermined criteria, characterised in that it also comprises: a routing device (3) connected to said computer system (2), to said sensors (8) and to said actuators (4-6), arranged to transmit the information representing the environmental parameters intended for the computer system (2), and the instructions to said actuators (4-6); and a human-machine interface device (10) located in said area, connected to said routing device (2) and comprising: display means (121) for displaying information from the computer system (2), and means (131-135, 150) for capturing information relative to the configuration of the actuators and/or sensors provided in the area, and to instructions from the users present in the area.

Description

SYSTEM FOR MANAGING THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF A BUILDING

Technical area

The invention relates to the field of energy, and more specifically to the management of energy consumption in buildings. By "building" is meant any type of construction intended to serve as housing or business premises, and more generally to accommodate people. The invention more specifically relates to a global management system of the energy consumed in a building, or by extension in a group of buildings. More specifically, it aims at an architecture of means which allows a great adaptability to evolutions of configuration of the energy equipment of the building, as well as to the external conditions, to the comfort felt by the users and to the mode of use of the various zones of the building . It is specified, that a "zone" is defined arbitrarily during the setting of the system and can correspond to a part of a part or a group of parts.

PRIOR ART In general, management of the energy consumption of buildings is a growing concern. There are relatively simple systems, which allow to take into account a criterion related to consumption, such as the failure to exceed a threshold of electrical power consumed by heating appliances in particular. Thus, certain electrical installations include load cells that can cut the power consumption of certain appliances when the overall power consumed in a building exceeds a predetermined threshold. On a larger scale, so-called "erasure" or "adjustment" mechanisms put in place by electrical energy suppliers, by which the power consumption of certain users is constrained during periods defined by the supplier, are known. of electrical energy.

These various systems, although having a certain efficiency, remain rudimentary, in that they do not take into account that a particular criterion to ensure the summary regulation of energy consumption.

In conventional control, only data from sensors and / or statistical databases are taken into account to manage the various conventional automation functions (Light, Air Quality, Temperature, Energy Management). On the other hand, none of these systems takes into account the feeling or the real activity of the occupants of the zone concerned in their adjustment algorithms. The existing systems on the market are able to ensure either comfort or energy savings, but never perfectly the two sets, because the behavior of the occupants is never taken into account.

Furthermore, documents US 2011/178 640, WO 2006/35472 and WO 2013/144 820 have proposed centralized home automation systems for communicating various distributed devices within a building with a computer system. central which provides the regulation of the operation of each of said devices.

These systems, although they offer progress in terms of centralized management, however, have the disadvantage of being poorly adapted to changes in the criteria to be met to ensure the desired energy regulation, since their regulatory model is based on the control material and not on the environmental parameters that the occupant perceives.

Document FR 2 967 793 describes a home automation system using a multi-agent model which is embedded in the building or in the equipment, which imposes a large amount of exchanges between the various sensors and / or actuator, so that such a system is not functional. Moreover, such a system is ultimately unsuited to the adjustment of a group of buildings that requires a management model on a scale higher than that of the building

Presentation of the invention

There is therefore a need for more versatility of energy management systems, to take into account the evolution of devices likely to be installed in a building, as well as the wishes and needs of users, and changes in climate parameters , which can vary quickly and unpredictably.

To this end, the Applicant has therefore imagined and designed a system that relies on environmental parameters as perceived by the occupant in the area it occupies, and constrained with one or more energy objectives to be respected. This multi-stress management is provided by a device allowing the occupant of a zone to influence the system and the system to influence the actions of the occupant. This multifactor system for managing the energy consumption of buildings includes at least one zone, which comprises a set of sensors able to generate information representative of the environmental parameters perceived by the occupant, in particular the temperature and / or the brightness, or even the quality of the air prevailing in the area in which they are installed. This system also comprises at least one actuator capable of acting in combination with at least one energy consumption criterion and at least one comfort criterion between the temperature and / or the brightness prevailing in this zone. The system also comprises a computer system arranged to receive this information from the sensors, and to issue instructions to the actuators. This computer system, which can preferably be located outside the building, and preferably hosted on the "cloud", executes an actuator control method by a multi-agent mechanism, to respect a set of at least two predetermined criteria. in order to arbitrate optimally for the user, between comfort and energy efficiency.

Complementarily, this system also comprises a routing device connected to the computer system, the sensors and the actuators, and arranged to firstly transmit the information representative of the environmental parameters to the computer system, and secondly to transmit the instructions. desired state of the environmental parameters to the actuators concerned. Thus, the multi-agent system operates by modeling each of the sensors and actuators, constituting a set of virtualized agents, and performs the various negotiation tasks between the virtualized agents in a remote computer system of the building, and advantageously connected to the building through the Internet network via the routing device.

The system further comprises a man-machine interface device located in the area in question, and connected to the routing device. This interface device comprises:

Means for displaying information from the computer system on which the multi-agent system is running;

And means for entering information relating to the configuration of the actuators and / or sensors present in the zone, and information relating to instructions given by the users present in the zone concerning the desired or perceived state of the parameters. environmental impact or activity in the area. In other words, the system according to the invention includes a set of actuators which are capable of acting concomitantly, for example, on the temperature or on the brightness prevailing in a given area of the building, in order to meet a certain number of criteria which may be of a different nature. variety. These criteria may relate to global financial factors, for example to limit the volume or the cumulative cost of the energy consumption of the building over a given period. They may also involve intensive financial considerations, aimed at limiting energy consumption per unit area. These criteria can also include a more global management of the building, or even a set of buildings managed by the same computer system.

According to the invention, the multi-agent computer system controlling the environmental parameters is in relation with the sensors and the actuators via a routing device and a human-machine interface device, which are located in the zone considered or in the immediate vicinity. The routing device ensures the transmission of information between the actuators and the computer system, federating the different protocols that can be accessed at the various actuators and sensors with a conventional network protocol, TCP / IP type or the like. The routing device can communicate with the human machine interface device by which users can receive information from the computer system, or enter information of very different types, which will be detailed later, and transmitted to the computer system to modify the operation of the management process. In practice, the sensors capable of generating the information representative of the environmental parameters may be distinct devices, implanted in privileged locations of the zone, or else be integrated directly into the human machine interface device. This may be particularly the case for environmental parameters, the measurement of which does not need to be carried out in a very specific area of the zone, but which is, on the contrary, very constant over the entire volume of the zone. . For example, the environmental parameters can be selected from the group consisting of energy consumption, atmospheric pressure, brightness, temperature, carbon dioxide level, sound intensity, humidity level, presence the rate of volatile organic compounds, or any other environmental parameter likely to have an influence in the process of regulating the energy consumption and comfort perceived by the users. In practice, the human-machine interface device and the routing device can be integrated into a common box, and constitute a single device. It is also possible conversely that the routing device is independent of the human machine interface device, and connected thereto by different types of link, whether or not it is filial. It is also possible that the routing device is connected to several human machine interface devices, distributed in different zones.

Advantageously in practice, the human machine interface device may include an electronic control unit capable of executing a program generating basic setpoints for the actuators in the event of absence of connection between the routing devices and the computer system. In other words, the man-machine device can autonomously control the various actuators connected to it in place of the global computer system, when the latter is inaccessible because of a connection fault. In this case, the human-machine interface device executes a backup scenario making it possible to send the instructions to the different actuators according to the information available locally, without being able to take into account in this case the evolutions of the different criteria managed by the computer system. global. This backup scenario can be sent by the global computer system on a regular basis and for example at each structural change or change of instructions.

In practice, the multiple actuators can be controlled by the computer system, via the routing device and even the human machine interface device. It can in particular be heat sources such as radiators or air conditioning systems, as well as mechanisms for solar occultation or lighting. It should be noted here that, in the case of the heating function, the multi-agent management engine makes it possible to take advantage of the combination of the heat source constituted by the radiators or the like with the heat source constituted by the external solar radiation. According to another characteristic of the invention, the human machine interface device comprises an information acquisition means. Advantageously in practice, this information acquisition means can operate by a contactless exchange, optically or by near-field communication. This information input means can in particular be used to input information relating to the configuration of the actuators or sensors. In this case, it is possible to add, subtract or move an actuator or a sensor by passing it near the human machine interface device. This operation allows the transmission of an identifier of the actuator or the sensor to the computer system and its association with the zone in which it is present. In this case, the computer system, which advantageously includes a database of shareholders and / or sensors, makes it possible, by means of the identifier in question, to integrate the new sensor or the new actuator into the multi-agent control method. The database can also include for each actuator / sensor the description of the wired or wireless communication protocol and the list of environmental parameters concerned by this actuator / sensor. According to another feature of the invention, the human machine interface device may include means for displaying information from the computer system. This information may be of various natures, and is advantageously displayed via optical organs, and in particular a set of indicator lights whose number of active indicators and or their color makes it possible to indicate the value of the information in question. question. This display can also be done via a screen indicating alphanumeric characters or pictograms, or any other data display mode for the user. This display can be combined with messages or sound or haptic indications. The nature of the information concerned may for example be an indication of the instantaneous or cumulative level of energy consumption by the area where the HMI device is installed. It may also be an indication of the comparison of this instantaneous or cumulative consumption with the consumption level of other areas of the building, or with other buildings of the same type or not belonging to a community. or else information relating to the level of satisfaction of the criteria used by the multi-agent system in execution in the computer system. The reference consumption measurement is that corresponding to the supplier's energy meter index (Gas, Water, Electricity) read by a sensor or manually at regular intervals.

Optionally, configurable from the computer system, the user can display the consumption of the area where the interface device is installed and compare with other areas where similar interface devices are installed. Alternatively, information of different natures can be displayed simultaneously. Brief description of the figures

The manner of carrying out the invention, as well as the advantages which result therefrom, will emerge from the description of the embodiment which follows, in support of the appended figures in which

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram showing the various elements of a system according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a summary perspective view of the human-machine interface device of the system of FIG. 1.

detailed description

As already mentioned, the invention relates to a system 1 for managing the electrical consumption of a building which consists in a simplified manner as illustrated in FIG. 1 of a cloud computing system 2 connected via a routing device 3 to a set of actuators 4-6 and a sensor 8, as well as a human machine interface device 10. This device 10 makes it possible to view and exchange information between the computer system 2 and the users in the area. In the illustrated example, the three shareholders 4-6 include a bulb 40 responsible for lighting a portion of the area in which it is installed. This bulb 40 is associated with an electronic device 41 allowing the ignition or extinction of the bulb 40, possibly with a gradual manner. This electronic device 41 also comprises a wireless communication circuit 42, and has a near field communication circuit (NFC) 43. The second actuator 5 is a pump 50 integrated in the circulation circuit of a heating installation. This pump 50 is associated with an electronic circuit 51 also comprising a wireless communication circuit 52 and a near-field communication circuit 53. The actuator 6 is a motor 60 capable of acting on a solar occultation system, for example by winding or unwinding a blind, or the orientation of blades of a shade system. This motor 60 is associated with a control electronics 61 integrating a wireless communication circuit 62 and similarly a near-field communication circuit 63.

Of course, these are only particular examples of actuators, and other types of actuators can be integrated into the system of the invention without difficulty. In particular electric heating devices may be mentioned incorporating an actuator composed of an electrical switch and a resistive circuit, or even an air conditioner or a ventilation circuit. In the illustrated form, the system also includes a sensor 8, represented as a temperature sensor 80, associated with an electronic circuit 81 having a wireless communication circuit 82 and a near-field field communication circuit 83. These different sensors and shareholders 4-8 communicate with the routing device or gateway 3 with a wireless communication protocol, preferably low energy consumption, of the "Bluetooth Low Energy" type, or protocols such as the one developed by Enocean ^® company ratified by the International Electrotechnical Commission according to ISO / IEC 14543-3-10. The gateway 3 is therefore equipped with a communication circuit 31 for sending and receiving information to and from the shareholders and sensors 4-8. The routing circuit 3 also comprises a second communication circuit 32 making it possible to communicate with, on the one hand, the human machine interface device 10, and on the other hand the computer system 2.

In the illustrated form, this communication is provided by a wireless protocol, Wifi type or the like. Specifically, the routing device 3 is connected to the computer system 2 via a network termination box 12 with which in the illustrated form it communicates by wireless communication. This network termination equipment 12 is connected for example by the public Internet network 13 to the computer system hosted in the cloud 2. Of course, all its communications can also be carried out wired without departing from the scope of the invention. To ensure operational security, it is possible to encrypt the communication between the routing device and the computer system.

Similarly, the gateway 3 can be connected to other human machine interface devices 11, and serve as a common gateway to several human machine interface devices, located in different areas of the building. In the illustrated form, this routing device 3 is shown as a separate element of the HMI device 10, but as already mentioned, these two devices could be merged into one and the same device.

In the illustrated form, the routing device 3 communicates by a wireless protocol with the human machine interface devices 10, itself equipped with a communication circuit 101. Of course, this communication could also be carried out in the same mode. wired. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the human-machine interface device 10 is in the form of a base 110, equipped with various buttons 131-135 present on its upper face 111. The illustrated form, the buttons 132-135 allow the user to enter different types of instructions. For example, the four main instructions 5 can be:

- a system standby;

an operation instruction in automatic mode, whereby the system autonomously determines the instructions to be imposed on the actuators, according to the predetermined management criteria;

- An instruction of an operation in a mode providing more comfort, for example by increasing the temperature or strengthening the lighting environment, by relaxing constraints to limit the broad sense of energy consumption.

an operation instruction in a more economical mode, for example by reducing the temperature, or the lighting level by reinforcing the constraints aimed at limiting the energy consumption.

The flexibility available to the system in these four modes is determined by the behavior of the users and the state of the perceived environmental parameters.

20 desired. These thresholds are adjusted automatically by the multi-agent system present on the cloud, without any specific programming other than the determination of the energy objectives to be consumed, in the period chosen by the user. The comfort felt is deduced by successive learning phases as and when the settings requested by the user in a context given by the state of environmental parameters

Simultaneously influenced by the sensors and actuators.

In the form illustrated in FIG. 2, the central button 131 rests on a near-field communication (NFC) circuit 150. This circuit 150 makes it possible to communicate with devices equipped with complementary circuits, and in particular the circuits 43 53 63

30 83 of the actuators and sensors 4-8 mentioned above. When one of these circuits is approached from the circuit 150, the interface device 10 thus receives the identifier of the actuator or the sensor. In the form illustrated, the central button 131 at which the NFC circuit 150 is located also plays the role of validating the reading of the corresponding circuit of the nearby apparatus. A visual signal, sound or even

Vibration can be provided to confirm the good reading of the NFC circuit. This information is transmitted to the computer system 2, which is interfaced with a database 22 listing the different devices that can be integrated into the overall system, with their main functional characteristics, namely essentially the environmental factors they affect or measure, and the communication protocols and how to interpret them. In doing so, the apparatus is then integrated into the multi-agent model running in the computer system 2. The apparatus is thus added, being assigned to the building area where the man-machine interface device is located. through which this addition went.

Of course, other configurations are possible, in which when adding an actuator or a sensor, the main characteristics for integration into the multi-agent calculation model are also transmitted to the computer system. without using the database 22.

Additionally, the NFC circuit 150 can also be used to acquire various instructions from the user. To do this, the user may have at his disposal a set 200 of object labels 201, 202, 203, 204 each integrating a

NFC circuit 211 whose identifier corresponds to a determined instruction, for example of passage into an operating mode requiring maximum or minimum illumination, or else any instructions for modifying the criteria of the control method executed by the control system. 2. One of these circuits may in particular make it possible to identify a specific user, in order to put the system

In a preferred configuration for the user in question.

Additionally, the man-machine interface device 10 may be equipped with different probes or sensors 170 - 173 for measuring environmental parameters having an impact on the control method. The information developed from these sensors can be transmitted to the computer system 2 in the same manner as the instructions entered on the buttons or via the NFC circuit 150.

In addition, and as illustrated in FIG. 2, the man-machine interface device 10 comprises a specific region, configured in the form of a column.

120, and which incorporates different light organs 121. These luminous elements 121, formed for example by light-emitting diodes make it possible to display, by the number of organs lit, or the color, or the lighting sequence (orders and frequency), different information, from the computer system 2. In an illustrated form, it is also possible for the entire column 120 to illuminate with a

35 color at an intensity representative of information developed by the computer system 2. Of course, the information displayed by all the display means may also correspond to measurements made at the sensors 141-144 present on the device 10 itself, and therefore associated environmental factors. As already mentioned, the man-machine interface device 10 can include electronic means making it possible to effectively control the influence of the actuators on the desired state of the environmental parameters 4-6 in the case where the communication with the computer system 2 is not possible. not possible, for example in the case of a loss of network connection. In this case, these electronic means provide regulation in degraded mode, in which only the locally available environmental parameters are integrated in the calculation scenario.

It follows from the foregoing that the system according to the invention has numerous advantages, and in particular that of allowing self-organization and self-configuration of the system as a function of the addition and withdrawal of actuators and / or sensors, directly achievable by users. The advantages of a regulation by a multi-agent system are added to this architecture, allowing a control by the feeling of the users, with a multifactorial regulation, according to indications given by the users on their level of comfort in particular. The multi-agent system used can be programmed for example from "Madkit", which is an open-source generic multi-agent platform architecture.

Claims

1 / System (1) for managing the energy consumption of a building including at least one zone, comprising:

A set of sensors (8) capable of generating information representative of environmental parameters, in particular the temperature and the brightness prevailing in the zone in which they are installed;

• a set of at least one actuator (4-6) able to act the temperature and / or the brightness prevailing in said zone;

A computer system (2) arranged to receive said information from said sensors (8), and to issue instructions to said actuators (4-6), and executing a method of regulating said actuators (4-6) by a mechanism multi-agents, to respect a set of at least two predetermined criteria,

characterized in that it further comprises:

A routing device (3) connected to said computer system (2), to said sensors (8) and to said actuators (4-6), arranged to transmit the information representative of the environmental parameters to the computer system (2), and the instructions to said actuators (4-6),

A human / machine interface device (10) located in said zone, connected to said routing device (2) and comprising:

display means (121) for information from the computer system (2),

means (131-135, 150) for entering information relating to the configuration of the actuators and / or sensors present in the zone, and to instructions from the users present in the zone.

21 system according to claim 1, characterized in that the human / machine interface device includes all or part of the sensors (141-144) capable of generating the information representative of the environmental parameters.

3 / A system according to claim 2, characterized in that the environmental parameters are chosen from the group comprising the energy consumption, the atmospheric pressure, the temperature, the carbon dioxide level, the sound intensity, the brightness, the humidity, the presence of users, the rate of volatile organic compounds. 4 / System according to claim 1, characterized in that the man / machine interface device includes an electronic control unit capable of executing a program generating instructions to the actuators in case of absence of connection between the routing device (3) and the computer system (2).

5 / System according to claim 1, characterized in that the human / machine interface device (10) and the routing device (3) are integrated in a common housing.

6 / A system according to claim 1, characterized in that a first of the actuators is a heat source, and a second actuator is a lighting or solar occultation device.

System according to claim 1, characterized in that the information acquisition means (150) operates by contactless exchange.

15

8 / System according to claim 1, characterized in that the information relating to the configuration of the actuators and / or sensors contain an identifier of the actuator and / or the sensor.

System according to claim 8, characterized in that the computer system (2) includes a database (22) of the actuators and / or sensors that can be integrated in the set of sensors and / or the set of actuators, identified by their identifier.

The system of claim 1, characterized in that the information display means (121) from the computer system indicate information selected from the group consisting of:

• an indication of the instantaneous level of energy consumption and

• an indication of the cumulative level of energy consumption according to the 30 objectives set by the user;

• an indication of the comparison of the instantaneous energy consumption level with the consumption level of buildings of the same type whose statistics are compiled by the computer system.

An indication relating to the comparison of the cumulative energy consumption level with respect to the consumption level of the buildings of the same type whose statistics are compiled by the computer system.