JP2015228175A - Purchase article selection support system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a purchase article selection support system considering lifetime cost of an appliance which is a purchase candidate.SOLUTION: An information server 90 selects a candidate of an appliance which will be purchased next, based on information on kinds and price zones of appliances which will be purchased next, transmitted from a HEMS 30, and then calculates lifetime cost of the candidate of the appliance which will be purchased next, using a use schedule period of the appliance which will be purchased next, and information of an energy consumption amount of an appliance which is used present, and information of a rating energy consumption amount of the appliance which is used present, and information of a rating energy consumption amount of the candidate of the appliance which will be purchased next, transmitted from the HEMS 30, and then sends the information of the candidate of the appliance which will be purchased next, and information of lifetime cost of the candidate of the appliance which will be purchased next to the HEMS 30. The HEMS 30 receives the information of the candidate of the appliance which will be purchased next and information of the lifetime cost of the candidate of the appliance which will be purchased next, sent from the information server 90 and then displays them on an interior operation board 72.

Description

  The present invention relates to a purchased product selection support system for selecting a device to be purchased next by replacement or the like.

  There has been proposed a system that supports selection of equipment to be purchased when replacing equipment used in a building such as a home appliance or a water heater. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for registering device usage records in a database, grasping a tendency of a user to use the device based on the database, and extracting device candidates suitable for replacement by purchase. Yes.

JP 2012-107812 A

  However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 only introduces new devices based on the user's usage tendency of the devices, and does not make a selection in consideration of the purchase of the devices and the cost during the scheduled period of use. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above facts, and provides a purchased product selection support system that considers LCC (Life Cycle Cost), which is the cost of using a purchase candidate device for a predetermined period of time. The purpose is to do.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention of claim 1 includes a measuring unit that measures the amount of energy consumption of a current device in a building, a storage unit that stores the measured amount of energy consumption, and a user of the current device purchases next An input unit for inputting the type of the next device to be used, the price range of the next device and the scheduled use period of the next device, and a transmission unit capable of transmitting information input to the input unit and information on the energy consumption of the current device A candidate for the next device is selected based on the input terminal, the type of the next device transmitted from the input terminal and the price range of the next device, and the expected period of use of the next device transmitted from the input terminal and the current Using the information on the energy consumption of the equipment, the information on the rated energy consumption of the current equipment and the information on the rated energy consumption of the next equipment candidate, the lifetime cost of the next equipment candidate is calculated. A calculation processing unit for transmitting the next device candidate and the lifetime cost information of the next device candidate, and receiving and receiving the next device candidate and the next device candidate lifetime cost information transmitted by the calculation processing unit. A display terminal for displaying the information.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the arithmetic processing unit can select a candidate for the next device based on the type of the next device and the price range of the next device transmitted from the input terminal.

  In addition, the arithmetic processing unit sends information on the expected period of use of the next device and the energy consumption of the current device, information on the rated energy consumption of the current device, and information on the rated energy consumption of the next device candidate transmitted from the input terminal. Can be used to calculate the lifetime cost of the next device candidate.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the arithmetic processing unit is configured to provide the current energy unit price information, the rated energy consumption information of the current device, and the actual selling price and rating of the next device candidate. Information on the amount of energy consumption is acquired via the network, and the information on the next device is acquired based on the acquired information, the scheduled use period of the next device transmitted from the input terminal, and the information on the energy consumption of the current device. Calculate the lifetime cost of the candidate.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the arithmetic processing unit can acquire information from the network as necessary, and can calculate the lifetime cost of the candidate for the next device using the acquired information.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, the arithmetic processing unit acquires information on a device similar to the candidate for the next device via a network, and the acquired similar device The lifetime cost of the similar device is calculated on the basis of the information, and the lifetime cost of the similar device and the similar device is transmitted to the display terminal.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, information on a device similar to a next device candidate can be presented as a separately recommended next device candidate.

  As described above, the invention according to claim 1 has an effect that it is possible to support purchase selection in consideration of the LCC of the purchase candidate device by displaying the calculated LCC of the next device candidate on the display terminal. Have.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, by using the energy unit price, the rated energy consumption amount of the current device, the actual selling price of the next device candidate, and the rated energy consumption amount of the next device candidate, the next device Can be calculated accurately. Further, there is an effect that it is possible to support purchase item selection in consideration of the LCC of the purchase candidate device calculated accurately.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to support purchase item selection considering LCC even for devices that can be recommended to users in the same category as the purchase candidate devices.

It is the schematic which shows an example of the purchase goods selection assistance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of HEMS in the purchased goods selection assistance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process by the apparatus purchase assistance in the information server in the purchased goods selection assistance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which showed an example of the state by which the candidate apparatus list | wrist transmitted from an information server in the purchased goods selection assistance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention was displayed on the display part and indoor operation panel of HEMS. It is the schematic which showed an example of the display of the display part of HEMS based on the information of LCC transmitted from the information server in the purchased goods selection assistance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and the indoor operation panel. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process of contract selection assistance, such as electric power in the information server in the purchased goods selection assistance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process of assistance in contract selection selection, such as an apparatus and electric power, in the information server in the purchased goods selection assistance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an example of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a purchased product selection support system 10 according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, power from the grid power 12 is supplied to the distribution board 14 of the building 100 via the main breaker 110.

  A main breaker current sensor 120 that detects a current value of power supplied from the grid power 12 is provided on the distribution board 14 side of the main breaker 110. The power supplied from the grid power 12 to the distribution board 14 is distributed to the power load means and the electric water heater 66 installed in the living room 56 and the washroom 58 via the branch circuits 20A to 20E.

  In this embodiment, as an example, branch circuits 20A, 20B, and 20C are led to living room 56, branch circuit 20A is connected to air conditioner 18, branch circuit 20B is connected to personal computer 28 and television 32, and branch circuit 20C is connected to lighting 26. Has been. The branch circuit 20 </ b> D is guided to the washroom 58 and connected to the washing machine 34. Further, the branch circuit 20E is connected to the electric water heater 66.

  The branch circuits 20A to 20E are provided with current sensors 22A to 22E for measuring the current values of the branch circuits 20A to 20E, respectively. The information lines from the current sensors 22 </ b> A to 22 </ b> E are information for controlling the distribution board 14 by the information line from the main breaker current sensor 120 and the HEMS (Home Energy Management System) 30 that manages and controls energy in the house. It is connected to the HEMS 30 together with the line. In FIG. 1, the broken line is an information line through which measurement data or control information flows. The current values detected by the main breaker current sensor 120 and the current sensors 22A to 22E are associated with each other when the current values are detected, and are stored in the memory of the HEMS 30 as detection results of the current sensors 22A to 22E. The HEMS 30 is connected to an indoor operation panel 72 having an input device such as a touch panel and a display device such as a liquid crystal panel. The indoor operation panel 72 can be installed in any place in the building 100, but is installed in the living room 56 in the present embodiment.

  The branch circuits 20A to 20E of the distribution board 14 are respectively provided with branch breakers 24A to 24E for switching the branch circuits 20A to 20E to an on state or an off state, and the branch breakers 24A to 24E are controlled by the HEMS 30. . In FIG. 1, for simplicity of description, only five branch circuits are shown, but in this embodiment, the number of branch circuits may be five or more and five or less, and the number of branch circuits is not particularly limited. . When the air conditioner 18, the personal computer 28, the lighting 26, the television 32, the washing machine 34, and the electric water heater 66 are so-called smart home appliances that can be controlled from the HEMS 30, the HEMS 30 Measure equipment usage time, power consumption, etc. as needed. The measured usage time, power consumption, and the like are stored in the storage device.

  A termination device 60 that is a gateway is connected to the HEMS 30, and is connected to the network 80 via the termination device 60. An information server 90 of an information center that provides the building 100 with information on the device to be replaced is connected to the network 80, and the HEMS 30 can appropriately acquire information related to device selection from the information server 90. The information server 90 is connected to the cloud server 92 via the network 80. The information server 90 acquires detailed information on the device that is a purchase candidate from the cloud server 92, and assists the user in selecting the device based on the acquired information.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the HEMS 30 according to the purchased product selection support system according to the present embodiment. The HEMS 30 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 42, a hard disk drive (HDD) 44, a random access memory (RAM) 46, a network I / F unit 48, and a read only memory (ROM) 50. Moreover, HEMS22A-22D contains the display part 52, the operation input part 54, and the bus | bath 56, and has the function of the terminal which inputs information, and the terminal which displays information.

  The CPU 42 controls the entire operation of the HEMS. The HDD 44 includes a program related to device selection support, a program that calculates power consumption in the building 100 based on the detection results of the current sensors 22A to 22E, and a program that controls each device and measures usage and power consumption. It is a non-volatile storage device that is stored. Further, the HDD 44 stores various information for executing these programs and an OS (Operating System). The RAM 46 is a volatile storage device in which an OS, a program, or data is expanded. The network I / F unit 48 is for connecting to a network, and includes a NIC (Network Interface Card) and its driver. The ROM 50 is a nonvolatile storage device that stores a boot program that operates when the HEMS is activated. The display unit 52 displays information related to the purchased product selection support system 10 to the user. The operation input unit 54 is used when the user inputs the operation and information of the purchased product selection support system 10. As an example, an input device such as a touch panel and a keyboard and a pointing device such as a trackball, a pen tablet, and a mouse are used. Is included. In the present embodiment, an indoor operation panel 72 including a display device and an input device may be used as the display unit 52 and the operation input unit 54. The bus 56 is used when information is exchanged.

  The power consumption of the building 100 can be calculated from the current values detected by the current sensors 22A to 22E. Since the voltage supplied from the distribution board 14 is approximately 100 V, in this embodiment, the current value detected by each current sensor is multiplied by 100 to calculate the power consumption. However, in a branch circuit with a large voltage fluctuation, a means for measuring the voltage may be provided separately. Further, when each device is a smart home appliance, the HEMS 30 grasps the usage time, power consumption, and the like of each device as needed in addition to the control of these devices, and stores them in the HDD 44 serving as storage means.

  Further, the HEMS 30 calculates the consumption of energy other than electric power such as gas supplied to the building 100 by monitoring a gas meter (not shown) and each gas appliance, and stores it in the HDD 44. Good.

  Next, the operation and effect of the purchased product selection support system 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of device purchase support processing in the information server 90 in the purchased product selection support system 10 according to the present embodiment. In step 300, after the process is started by the user operating the HEMS 30, a list of candidate devices based on the user's request is transmitted.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a state in which the candidate device list transmitted from the information server 90 in the purchased product selection support system 10 according to the present embodiment is displayed on the display unit 52 and the indoor operation panel 72 of the HEMS 30. It is. FIG. 4 shows a list of candidate devices when the user designates the device type as “4K smart TV” and requests the information server 90 from the HEMS 30 to request that the TV 32 in the living room 56 be replaced with a 4K smart TV. It is an example. In FIG. 4, a TV with a screen size of 46 inches is displayed with a model number and a thumbnail image of the device. The user touches the “Yes” button at the lower right of the screen to narrow down the model from the displayed list of devices.

  In step 302, it is determined whether or not the user has touched “Yes”. If the determination is affirmative, in step 304, the power consumption (actually measured value) of the television 32, which is the currently used device, is given to the HEMS 30. Send a request to get. If the determination in step 302 is negative, that is, if the user does not touch “Yes” in FIG. 4 within a predetermined time, the process ends due to a timeout.

  In step 306, information related to the power consumption (measured value) of the television 32 that is the currently used device is received from the HEMS 30.

  In step 308, a question about the price range desired by the user is transmitted to the HEMS 30, and in step 310, it is determined whether or not there is a response in the desired price range from the user. To narrow down candidate devices by price range.

  In step 314, the candidate device list narrowed down by the price range is transmitted, and a question about the desired age of the device is transmitted to the HEMS 30. In step 316, it is determined whether or not there is a response from the user. If the determination is affirmative, in step 318, the purchase price (sale price) of the candidate device, the annual power consumption of the candidate device, and the current grid power are determined. Information on the unit price of electricity is acquired from the cloud server 92 or the like. The annual power consumption of the candidate device may be so-called catalog data.

  In step 320, information on the annual power consumption of the television 32 that is the currently used device is acquired from the cloud server 92 or the like. The annual power consumption of the currently used equipment may be so-called catalog data. In step 322, information on non-candidate devices is acquired from the cloud server 92 or the like. Non-candidate devices for which information is acquired are similar products to the candidate devices, such as those having technical characteristics, those having some preferential treatment in sales, or those having a particularly low actual selling price.

  In step 324, the LCC of the candidate device and the non-candidate device acquired in step 322 is calculated. For example, “1. Purchase price of candidate device”, “2. Annual power consumption of candidate device (catalog data)”, “3. Unit price of current grid power”, “4. Based on “power consumption of equipment (actually measured value)”, “5. annual power consumption of currently used equipment (catalog data)” and “6. The catalog data “2. Annual power consumption of candidate devices” and “5. Annual power consumption of currently used devices” are known numerical values and may be stored in the information server 90 in advance.

The following equation (1) is an example of an equation for calculating the LCC in assisting device selection.
LCC = “1” + “2” × “3” × (“4” / “5”) × “6” (1)
In equation (1), the quotient of “4. Current power consumption of the used equipment (actual value)” and “5. Annual power consumption of the current used equipment (catalog data)” is “2. Multiply by "Electric energy (catalog data)". With this calculation, the annual power consumption of the candidate device is corrected based on the actual measurement value.

  In step 326, the calculated LCC information is transmitted to the HEMS 30. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of display on the display unit 52 of the HEMS 30 and the indoor operation panel 72 based on the LCC information transmitted from the information server 90 in the purchased product selection support system 10 according to the present embodiment. is there. In FIG. 5, as an example, the recommended purchase price, LCC, and rated power consumption of the device are displayed. In addition to this, the predicted annual power consumption of each device, the annual electricity consumption calculated from the annual power consumption and the current power unit price, and the like may be displayed.

  In the lower part of FIG. 5, devices that can be recommended even if they are not candidates are introduced. For example, a display that uses a next-generation technology such as an organic EL, or a discount product that can be expected to benefit the user is displayed.

  The purchased product selection support system according to the present embodiment can also be applied to support for selecting a contract for power, gas, and the like. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a process for supporting contract selection such as power in the information server 90 in the purchased product selection support system 10 according to the present embodiment. The process of FIG. 6 is started when the information server 90 is requested to support the selection of a contract for reviewing the current contract, for example, contract capacity or time period plan, by the operation of the HEMS 30. Send a list of existing power contracts.

  In step 602, it is determined whether or not the user has made a response for narrowing down the contract. If the determination is affirmative, in step 604, the power consumption (measured value) for each time zone is determined for the HEMS 30. Send a request to get. If the determination in step 602 is negative, the process ends due to a timeout.

  In step 606, information related to the power consumption (measured value) for each time zone is received from the HEMS 30. In step 608, a question about the desired usage years of the contract is transmitted to the HEMS 30, and in step 610, it is determined whether or not there is a response of the desired usage years from the user. If the determination in step 610 is affirmative, in step 612 the candidate contract introduction cost including the unit price of the candidate contract according to the time zone, the basic charge of the candidate contract and the cost of the equipment necessary for the candidate contract, etc. Information is acquired from the cloud server 92 or the like. Further, even for contracts that are not candidates, information on contracts that are provided with preferential treatment that is beneficial to the user is acquired.

  In step 614, LCCs of candidate contracts and non-candidate contracts are calculated. The LCC is calculated by, for example, “1. Candidate contract introduction cost”, “2. Candidate contract price per hour”, “3. Power consumption (actual value) for the past year”, “4. Based on years of use. “3. Power Consumption for the Past One Year (Measured Value)” is calculated from information related to the power consumption (measured value) for each time period acquired from the HEMS 30 in Step 606.

The following equation (2) is an example of an equation for calculating LCC in support of contract selection.
LCC = “1” + “2” × “3” × “4” (2)
In step 616, the calculated LCC information is transmitted to the HEMS 30, and the process is terminated.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a process for supporting contract selection such as equipment and power in the information server 90 in the purchased product selection support system 10 according to the present embodiment. In the process of FIG. 7, support for contract selection is provided to the information server 90 in order to review the current equipment used and the current contract, for example, the contract capacity of electric power or the plan according to time period or the contract of gas, by the operation of the HEMS 30 by the user. It starts when requested. First, in step 700, a list of candidate devices and a list of existing power contracts or existing gas contracts are transmitted to the HEMS 30.

  In step 702, it is determined whether or not the user has responded to narrow down the devices and contracts. If the determination in step 702 is affirmative, in step 704, a request for acquiring the power consumption amount (measured value) for each time zone and the energy consumption amount such as the gas consumption amount is transmitted to the HEMS 30. If the determination in step 702 is negative, the process ends due to a timeout.

  In step 706, information related to the energy consumption (measured value) for each time zone is received from the HEMS 30. In step 708, a question about the device and the desired usage age of the contract is transmitted to the HEMS 30, and in step 710, it is determined whether or not there is a response of the desired usage age from the user. If the determination in step 710 is affirmative, in step 712 details of the candidate contract introduction cost including the unit price of the candidate contract for each time period, the basic charge of the candidate contract, and the cost of the equipment required for the candidate contract, etc. Information is acquired from the cloud server 92 or the like.

  In step 714, information on the purchase price (actual sales price) of the candidate device, the annual energy consumption of the candidate device, and the current energy unit price is acquired from the cloud server 92 or the like. The annual energy consumption of the candidate device may be so-called catalog data.

  In step 716, information on the annual energy consumption of the currently used device is acquired from the cloud server 92 or the like. The annual energy consumption of the currently used equipment may be so-called catalog data. In step 718, information on non-candidate devices and contracts is acquired from the cloud server 92 or the like. Non-candidate devices for which information is acquired are similar products to the candidate devices, such as those having technical characteristics, those having some preferential treatment in sales, or those having a particularly low actual selling price. Further, contracts that are not candidates for acquiring information are contracts that are provided with preferential treatment that is beneficial to the user.

  In step 720, an LCC is calculated for each of the candidate device and non-candidate device, and the candidate contract and non-candidate contract. The LCC is calculated by, for example, “1. Candidate equipment, introduction cost of candidate contract”, “2. Annual energy consumption of candidate equipment (catalog data)”, “3. Current energy unit price”, “4. Based on “energy consumption of equipment (actually measured value)”, “5. annual energy consumption of currently used equipment (catalog data)” and “6.

The following equation (3) is an example of an equation for calculating the LCC in support of device and contract selection.
LCC = “1” + “2” × “3” × (“4” / “5”) × “6” (3)
In step 722, the calculated LCC information is transmitted to the HEMS 30, and the process ends.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the information server 90 calculates the LCC based on the information acquired from the HEMS 30 and the cloud server 92 and the input in the interactive format, and narrows down candidates. . With this process, support for selecting a device that the user wants to replace by purchase, a contract such as power that is considered for review, etc., considering the LCC, which is the cost of operating the device or contract for a predetermined period, is taken into account. It can be carried out.

  In the present embodiment, when a candidate device is replaced in the future, the LCC does not include a fee for discarding the candidate device assuming the device trade-in. However, trade-in may be difficult depending on the type of device or the state of the device used. Assuming such a case, the cost required for disposal of the device may be recorded in the LCC. The cost required to discard the device may be stored in advance in the information server 90, or may be acquired from the cloud server 92 as necessary.

10 Purchased product selection support system 12 System power 14 Distribution board 18 Air conditioner 20A, 20B, 20C, 20D, 20E Branch circuit 22A, 22B, 22C, 22D, 22E Current sensor 26 Lighting 28 Personal computer 30 HEMS
32 TV 34 Washing machine 42 CPU
44 HDD
46 RAM
48 Network I / F 50 ROM
52 Display Unit 54 Operation Input Unit 56 Bath 56 Living 58 Toilet 60 Termination Device 66 Electric Water Heater 72 Indoor Operation Panel 80 Network 90 Information Server 92 Cloud Server 100 Building

Claims (3)

A measuring unit that measures the amount of energy consumed by the current device in the building, a storage unit that stores the measured amount of consumed energy, the type of the next device that the user of the current device will purchase next, the price range of the next device, and the next device An input terminal having a transmission unit capable of transmitting information on the amount of energy consumed by the input unit and the current device, and an input unit for inputting a scheduled use period of
A candidate for the next device is selected based on the type of the next device and the price range of the next device transmitted from the input terminal, and the expected period of use of the next device and the energy consumption of the current device transmitted from the input terminal. The lifetime cost of the next device candidate is calculated using the information on the amount, the rated energy consumption of the current device, and the rated energy consumption information of the next device candidate, and the lifetime of the next device candidate and the next device candidate. An arithmetic processing unit for transmitting cost information;
A display terminal that displays information received while receiving information on lifetime costs of candidates for next devices and candidates for next devices transmitted by the arithmetic processing unit;
Purchased goods selection support system with.   The arithmetic processing unit acquires information on the current energy unit price, information on the rated energy consumption of the current device, and information on the actual sale price and rated energy consumption of the next device candidate through the network. The purchase item selection according to claim 1, wherein the lifetime cost of the candidate for the next device is calculated based on the information obtained and the information on the scheduled use period of the next device and the energy consumption amount of the current device transmitted from the input terminal. Support system.   The arithmetic processing unit acquires information on a device similar to the candidate for the next device via a network, calculates a lifetime cost of the similar device based on the acquired information on the similar device, and calculates the similarity The purchased product selection support system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein information on lifetime cost of the device to be used and the similar device is transmitted to the display terminal.

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