JP2012239081A - Energy saving control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an energy saving control system capable of saving energy while taking account of the comfort of a user.SOLUTION: The energy saving control system comprises: a sensor which detects the utilization environment utilizing a home appliance; a storage unit which stores the detection results of the sensor in association with the operation instruction of a home appliance utilized under a utilization environment to be detected by the sensor; a control unit which obtains the detection results of the sensor, reads an operation instruction corresponding to the detection results from the storage unit, and controls the home appliance according to the operation instruction thus read; an operation information detection unit which detects the operation information representing the operation content being input for the home appliance; and an update unit which updates the information stored in the storage unit when the operation information is obtained from the operation information detection unit.

Description

  The present invention relates to an energy saving control system process capable of achieving energy saving.

  In order to realize energy saving, a system for controlling the operation of home appliances has been proposed. For example, using sensors such as human sensors to directly control on / off of home appliances, devices that link devices together, or the operation of home appliances according to the user's return time There is something to do. There is a system that uses such a configuration to detect the presence or absence of a user with a sensor, and cuts off power supplied to a home appliance such as a television according to the detected result (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-124078

However, in Patent Document 1 described above, the presence or absence of a user is detected by a sensor, but the sensor has a detectable range. Then, when it is detected that the user is absent despite the fact that the user is present, the power of the home appliance is turned off. In that case, the user must manually turn on the power of the home appliance, and the comfort of the usage environment of the home appliance decreases. Moreover, if priority is given to comfort, the home appliance may remain on even though the user is absent, which is not preferable from the viewpoint of energy saving.
Further, in the case where the outside air temperature or the room temperature is detected and cooling is performed by the air conditioner according to the set temperature set as the target temperature, the case where the target temperature is set at 27 degrees and the operation is performed is considered. At this time, as a result of fluctuations in the outside air temperature, the user's sensible temperature changes, and when the user raises the set temperature, the air conditioner can be controlled to raise the set temperature according to the fluctuation in the outside air temperature. It leads to energy saving and user comfort.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a situation, The objective is to provide the energy saving control system which can aim at energy saving, considering a user's comfort.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a sensor that detects a usage environment in which a home appliance is used, a detection result of the sensor, and a driving instruction for the home appliance that is used in a target usage environment that is detected by the sensor. And a storage unit that stores the data in association with each other, a control unit that obtains a detection result of the sensor, reads out a driving command corresponding to the detection result from the storage unit, and controls the home appliance according to the read driving command; When the operation information is obtained from the operation information detection unit that detects the operation information representing the operation content input to the home appliance and the operation information detection unit, the operation information is stored in the storage unit according to the operation information. And an update unit for updating the received information.

  In the energy saving control system described above, the sensor is a human sensor, the detection result of the human sensor is 0 to M (M is a number of 2 or more), and the detection result of the sensor. A determination unit that determines whether or not a user exists by comparing whether or not the detection result of the sensor is equal to or greater than the reference value by comparing with a reference value stored in advance. The control unit controls the home appliance using the determination result of the determination unit, and the update unit sets the reference value according to the operation information when the operation information is obtained from the operation information detection unit. It is characterized by updating.

In the energy saving control system described above, the control unit obtains a detection result of the sensor, extracts a detection situation corresponding to the detection result from the storage unit, and corresponds to the extracted detection situation. A driving command is read from the storage unit, and the home appliance is controlled according to the read driving command.
Further, the present invention is the above-described energy saving control system, wherein a plurality of the home appliances are provided, the home appliances are arranged in different indoor spaces, and the sensors correspond to different indoor spaces, respectively. The reference value is set according to an indoor space in which the sensor is provided.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to save energy while considering user comfort.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the structure of the energy saving control system by one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a mounting position of a sensor 20 and a detection range of the sensor 20. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating configurations of an analysis device 50 and a control device 60. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a reference value stored in a storage unit 52. FIG. It is a figure explaining the information showing the reaction condition of the human sensitive sensor memorize | stored in the memory | storage part. 4 is an example of information stored in a storage unit 52. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the energy saving control system in 3rd Embodiment.

Hereinafter, an energy saving control system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of an energy saving control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The energy saving control system 1 has a function of controlling home appliances provided in a space used by a user, and includes an energy device 10 (10a to 10c), a measuring instrument 11 (11a to 11c), an overall measuring instrument 12, and a sensor 20. (20a, 20b), a sensor 30, a storage device 40, an analysis device 50, and a control device 60.

  The energy device 10 is a device that consumes energy, and is, for example, a home appliance, a water supply facility, a gas device, or the like. Here, a description will be made assuming that home appliances consume electric power, water supply facilities use tap water, and gas appliances consume energy from the viewpoint of gas consumption. Hereinafter, the case where the energy device 10 is a lighting device will be described as an example.

One measuring instrument 11 is provided for each energy device, and measures the amount of energy consumed by the energy device. For example, power consumption, tap water consumption, and gas consumption are detected.
The total measuring instrument 12 detects the total amount of energy consumed in each energy device.

  The sensor 20 detects the usage environment in which the energy device is used. For example, a human sensor that detects whether there is a user in the area where the energy device is located, a temperature sensor that detects the indoor temperature, a temperature sensor that detects the outdoor temperature, and the illuminance of the area where the energy device is located An illuminance sensor or the like is used to detect. Hereinafter, the case where the sensor 20 is a human sensor will be described as an example.

The sensor 30 detects operation information representing the operation content input to the energy device. For example, when the energy device is a lighting device, an operation of turning on / off the lighting, an operation of increasing / decreasing illuminance, an operation of increasing / decreasing the set temperature of the air conditioner, and discharging / stopping tap water by the user Detects operations and operations that ignite / digest gas ranges.
For these operations, the operation of the operator itself operated by the user may be detected, or an operation input to the remote controller for operating the energy device may be detected.

  The storage device 40 has an energy consumption data storage function for obtaining and storing the detection result of the overall measuring instrument 12, a sensor information storage function for acquiring and storing the detection result of the sensor 20, and a person who acquires and accumulates the detection result of the sensor 30. It has a function to store control data.

The analysis device 50 analyzes how to operate the energy device based on the detection result obtained by the sensor 20, the current operation state of the energy device, and the operation information obtained by the sensor 30. Based on the analysis results, the energy equipment is operated and managed.
The control device 60 controls the operation of each energy device 10 based on the analysis result of the analysis device 50.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the mounting position of the sensor 20 and the detection range of the sensor 20.
As energy equipment 10, one lighting device is arranged in each room of a Japanese room, a salon, and an office which are different indoor spaces. In FIG. 2, a heating toilet seat is provided as an energy device 10 in the toilet.
The sensors 20 are provided in different indoor spaces. As an example, two sensors are provided in a Japanese-style room, two in a salon, two in an office, one in a kitchen, and one in a toilet. This sensor 20 has a detectable angle and a detectable distance, and detects whether or not a user exists within the detectable region. For example, in the Japanese-style room, one sensor 20 cannot include a region for detecting a user, and therefore, the Japanese-style room is arranged to be included by two sensors 20 having different detection directions.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the analysis device 50 and the control device 60 in FIG.
In this figure, the analysis device 50 includes a storage unit 51, an input unit 52, a determination unit 53, an update unit 54, and an output unit 55.
The input unit 51 reads the detection results of the measuring instrument 11, the total measuring instrument 12, the sensors 20, and the sensor 30 stored in the storage device 40.
Here, the detection result of the sensor 20 input to the input unit 51 is information indicating that a user using the energy device 10 is present or not in the vicinity of the energy device 10 or 0 to M (M is 2). This is information representing multiple values. Here, a value when the user using the energy device 10 exists in the vicinity of the energy device 10 is described as R, and a value when the user does not exist is described as N. In addition, when information representing multiple values is used, a number in the range of 0 to 59 is used. For example, the sensor 20 detects whether or not the user is in the vicinity at intervals of 1 second from 0 seconds to 59 seconds after the start of measurement. In this case, 60 measurement results are obtained. Of the 60 measurement results, the number of results determined to be present is counted, and the count results are obtained as detection results every 60 seconds. In this case, detection results measured during every minute are obtained. For example, when it is detected that a user exists in the vicinity from 6th to 15th in one minute, the detection result is obtained as “10”, and in the next 1 minute, the 31st second The detection result when it is detected that the user exists in the vicinity from the first to the 55th second is obtained as “25”. Here, these counts may be performed by the sensor 20 or the storage device 40.

The storage unit 52 stores various information.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the reference value stored in the storage unit 52.
In this figure, the reference value of the sensor 20 (B) provided in the Japanese-style room is 10, the reference value of the sensor 20 (F) is 10, and the reference value of the sensor 20 (C) provided in the salon is 10 The reference value of the sensor 20 (D) provided in the office is 15, and the reference value of the sensor 20 (G) is 18.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining information representing the reaction status of the human sensor stored in the storage unit 52. In this figure, it is a figure showing the relationship between each sensor 20 (A-G) and whether a user exists in the positions 1-16 in FIG. In this figure, N represents that no user exists, and R represents that a user exists. For example, when the sensor 20 (B) detects the presence of the user, this indicates that the user may be present in at least one of the positions 1 to 6 and the positions 11 and 12. Yes.
FIG. 6 is an example of information stored in the storage unit 52. In this figure, an example of information stored in association with the detection result of the sensor and the operation instruction of the home appliance used in the target usage environment detected by the sensor is shown.
In this figure, T represents a state where the user does not exist, and T represents a state where the user does not exist. For example, when all the sensors 20 do not detect the presence of the user, this indicates that the user does not exist in any space of the Japanese-style room, salon, or office. Moreover, even if only the sensor 20 (G) detects the presence of the user, here, it represents that the user does not exist in any space of the Japanese-style room, the salon, and the office (symbol a). On the other hand, when the sensor 20 (B) and the sensor 20 (F) detect the presence of the user, this indicates that the user exists in the Japanese-style room. Here, in this embodiment, when the sensor 20 (B) and the sensor 20 (F) detect the presence of the user, it can be determined that the user exists in the Japanese-style room (the Japanese-style room is F). This is used as an operation command for switching a home electric appliance (for example, a lighting device) to an operation state. That is, in a Japanese-style room, a salon, or an office, a value that is T or F is used, and if it is F, it is used as a driving instruction for not operating a home electric appliance disposed in the space. It is used as an operation command for operating the home appliances arranged in

  When the determination unit 53 obtains the detection result of each sensor 20, the determination unit 53 compares it with a reference value (for example, FIG. 4) stored in advance for the space in which the sensor 20 is arranged. By determining whether or not this is the case, it is determined whether or not the user exists. For example, when the detection result of the sensor 20 (B) is “20”, it is determined that the user exists because the reference value is “10” or more set for the sensor 20 (B), and the sensor When the detection result of 20 (B) is “8”, it is less than the reference value “10”, so it is determined that there is no user.

When the operation information output from the sensor 30 is obtained by referring to the information stored in the storage device 40, the update unit 54 updates the information stored in the storage unit according to the operation information.
Hereinafter, an example of update performed by the update unit 54 will be described.
For example, the update unit 54 updates the reference value according to the operation information. Specifically, when the operation information indicating that the home appliance is switched from the stopped state to the driving state is obtained from the sensor 30, the update unit 54 specifies a space in which the operation information is input, and in the space, When the detection result of the sensor 20 at the time when the operation information is input is N, the reference value is updated to a reference value lower than the reference value set for the sensor 20. Thereby, when the user is not moving much, it is possible to determine that the user has been determined as the user does not exist. As a result, it can be changed so that it is not erroneously detected that the user does not exist.For example, when the user is in the Japanese-style room, it is determined that the user is not present, the illumination is turned off, and the light is turned on manually. It is possible to prevent a situation in which the comfort that must be reduced is reduced.

  On the other hand, when the operation information for switching the home electric appliance from the driving state to the stop state is obtained from the sensor 30, the update unit 54 specifies a space in which the operation information is input, and the operation information is input in the space. If the detection result of the sensor 20 at that time is R, the reference value is updated to a reference value higher than the reference value set for the sensor 20. As a result, when the user moves his / her body to some extent, it can be determined that the user has not been present where it has been determined that the user is present. Thereby, when the user exists but the operation of the home appliance is not necessary, it can be changed so as not to operate the home appliance. For example, when the user is in the Japanese-style room, It is possible to save energy because it is possible to avoid driving the home appliance while preventing the situation where the user is judged to exist and the illumination is turned on and the user has to turn it off manually, while reducing the comfort level. . For example, when the home appliance is a ventilation fan, if the user does not move much, the ventilation fan is stopped, and when the user moves the body actively, the ventilation fan is rotated to actively ventilate. Do. Thereby, according to a user's activity condition, it can ventilate when necessary and can stop a ventilation fan when unnecessary.

  The output unit 55 obtains the detection result of the sensor 20, reads a driving command corresponding to the detection result from the storage unit 52, generates a control command for controlling the home appliance according to the read driving command, and sends the control command to the control unit 61. Output. For example, the detection results obtained from the sensors 20 (A) to 20 (G) are compared with the reference values stored in the storage unit 52, and the two sensors 20 (B) and 20 (F) are compared. When the determination unit 53 determines that it is R, the operation command corresponding to the determination result is read from the storage unit 52 and the operation command is output to the control unit 61. For example, when the sensor 20 (B) and the sensor 20 (F) are R, the Japanese-style room is T based on the data shown in FIG. Read out as an operation command and output to the control unit 61.

  The control unit 61 of the control device 60 controls each energy device according to the operation command output from the output unit 55.

Next, a second embodiment will be described.
In the second embodiment, the configuration is the same as that of the above-described embodiment, but the function is different. The different functions will be described below.
When the operation information is obtained from the sensor 30, the update unit 54 responds to the operation information derived from the detection status corresponding to one or more latest operation commands stored in the storage unit 52 according to the operation information. The first update process to be updated, or when the operation information is not detected within a certain time after issuing the operation command, the second to update the effectiveness of the combination of the detection status and the operation command At least one of the update processes is performed.

  Here, the one or more most recent driving instructions are, for example, predetermined driving instructions that are output last to the control target household appliances or last output instructions to the control target household appliances. This is an operation command output within a range that goes back to the previous number. The operation command derived from the detection results corresponding to these operation commands is a control command determined based on the detection results of the sensors corresponding to the already output operation commands. This control command may be input from the outside, or may be determined by the update unit 54 according to a predetermined rule.

  The effectiveness is, for example, information stored in association with a detection situation and a driving instruction, and information indicating how close the combination of the detection situation and the driving instruction is to how the user uses the home electric appliance. It is. The higher the effectiveness, the closer the combination of the detection status and the driving command is to the way the user uses the home appliance, that is, the closer the home appliance is controlled to the user's preference.

  Here, the update unit 54 may perform both of the first update process and the second update process, or specify in advance which one to perform. Also good.

Next, a third embodiment will be described. Here, the functions of the analysis device 50 and the control device 60 are different from those of the above-described embodiment. The function will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
The analysis device 50 generates an estimation formula (Pn) of the power consumption of the target home appliance from the past data (step S1). This estimation formula is Pn = p (a, b, c, d).

here,
n: Target home appliance
a: Elements related to disturbance effects (room temperature, outside temperature, etc.)
b: Elements related to weather effects (sunny, cloudy, rain, etc.)
c: Lifestyle-related elements (home time, sleep time, etc.)
d: Elements related to device settings (setting temperature, brightness level, etc.)
It is.

  Next, the analysis device 50 calculates the reduction potential (Wn) of the power consumption of the target home appliance from the estimation formula (step S2). This reduction potential (Wn) is Wn = Pbefore-Pafter.

here,
Pbefore: predicted power consumption in the current state quantity
Pafter: The amount of electricity predicted by the energy saving menu.

  Next, the analysis device 50 calculates a reduction potential (ΣWbefore) of power consumption for each house (step S3). This reduction potential (ΣWbefore) is a reduction potential of power consumption at the time of menu selection.

  Next, the analysis apparatus 50 presents the recommended energy saving menu to the user (re-) (step S4). Then, when a menu desired to be implemented is selected by the user (when ΣWbefore is determined), the analysis device 50 inputs the selected value. Next, in the control device 60, the control device controls the input value (step S6). When the sensor detects human control (step S7), the analyzer 50 determines whether or not the target can be achieved (whether Σwbefore <ΣWafter) (step S8). If it is determined that the target can be achieved, the analysis apparatus 50 accumulates this data (step S9). If it is determined that the target cannot be achieved, the analysis apparatus 50 proceeds to step S4 and accepts input from the user again. .

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the home appliance is a lighting device has been described. However, other home appliances may be used.
For example, when an air conditioner is used as a home appliance, for example, a temperature sensor that measures the outside air temperature and a plurality of temperature sensors that are arranged indoors are used as the sensor. Then, the energy device 10 may be controlled based on the results of the outside air temperature sensor, the indoor temperature sensors, and the user operation content obtained by the sensor 30.

A specific example of the third embodiment will be described. Here, a case where an air conditioner and lighting are set as target home appliances will be described.
(1) The user selects “10% reduction course” from the recommended menu. Here, the information of the air conditioner: set temperature 23 ° C to 24 ° C and lighting to the current brightness is set.
(2) One week after selecting the menu, when it is automatically detected that the air conditioner is often set to 23 ° C from the sensor value, it is determined that the target cannot be achieved, so a new energy saving menu is presented to the user again. .
(3) The user selects the “10% reduction course” from the recommended menu presented again, and sets information on the content of setting the air conditioner to a set temperature of 24 ° C. and the lighting to darken from the current brightness.
(4) One week after selecting the menu, it is determined that the target can be achieved.
(5) Present the recommended menu to the user in the following month.

  Also, a program for realizing the functions of the analysis device 50 and the control device 60 in FIG. 1 is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed. Various controls may be performed by the above. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices.

Further, the “computer system” includes a homepage providing environment (or display environment) if a WWW system is used.
The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a storage device such as a flexible medium, a magneto-optical disk, a portable medium such as a ROM and a CD-ROM, and a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” includes a medium that holds a program for a certain period of time, such as a volatile memory inside a computer system serving as a server or a client. The program may be a program for realizing a part of the functions described above, and may be a program capable of realizing the functions described above in combination with a program already recorded in a computer system. Alternatively, the program may be stored in a predetermined server, and the program may be distributed (downloaded or the like) via a communication line in response to a request from another device.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes designs and the like that do not depart from the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Energy apparatus 20, 30 Sensor 40 Accumulation apparatus 50 Analysis part 60 Control apparatus

Claims (4)

A sensor that detects the usage environment of home appliances;
A storage unit for storing the detection status of the sensor and information representing the operation instruction of the home appliance in association with each other;
Obtaining a detection result of the sensor, extracting a detection situation corresponding to the detection result, determining a driving command corresponding to the extracted detection situation, and controlling the home appliance;
An operation information detection unit that detects operation information representing the operation content input to the home appliance;
When the operation information is obtained from the operation information detection unit, the operation command derived from the detection status corresponding to the one or more latest operation commands stored in the storage unit according to the operation information is determined according to the operation information. An update unit that performs at least one of updating the validity of the combination of the detection status and the driving command when the operation information is not detected within a certain time after issuing the driving command. ,
Having energy saving control system. The sensor is a human sensor, and the detection result of the human sensor is 0 to M (M is a number of 2 or more),
When the detection result of the sensor is obtained, it is compared with a reference value stored in advance, and it is determined whether or not the user exists by determining whether or not the detection result of the sensor is greater than or equal to the reference value. Having a determination unit,
The control unit controls the home appliance using the determination result of the determination unit,
The energy saving control system according to claim 1, wherein when the operation information is obtained from the operation information detection unit, the update unit updates the reference value according to the operation information. The control unit obtains a detection result of the sensor, extracts a detection situation corresponding to the detection result from the storage unit, reads an operation command corresponding to the extracted detection situation from the storage unit, and reads the read operation command The energy-saving control system according to claim 1, wherein the home appliance is controlled according to the above. A plurality of the home appliances are provided, the home appliances are arranged in different indoor spaces,
The energy saving control system according to claim 2, wherein the sensors are provided corresponding to different indoor spaces, and the reference value is set in accordance with the indoor space in which the sensors are provided. .

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