JP2020035462A - Local management device, server management device, and management method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an energy management device and an energy management method that, when a plurality of facilities are in cooperation with each other, can reduce the possibility that failure in facilities is induced.SOLUTION: In an energy management system 100, a server power management device 40 includes a control unit that instructs a plurality of facilities 10 to apply an operation pattern for controlling the plurality of facilities 10 so as to obtain a predetermined operation result through cooperation of the plurality of facilities 10 with each other. The control unit determines the operation pattern according to a failure risk that the facilities fail. In the operation pattern, a burden on a facility having a first failure risk as the failure risk is smaller than a burden on a facility having a second failure risk lower than the first failure risk as the failure risk.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an energy management device and an energy management method for managing energy consumption of equipment.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an energy management system (EMS) that manages energy consumption of a plurality of facilities has received attention. Examples of such an energy management system include a home energy management system (HEMS) provided in a house, a building energy management system (BEMS) provided in a building, a factory energy management system (FEMS) provided in a factory, and a factory energy management system (FEMS) provided in a factory. (Store Energy Management System) and the like.

  By the way, there has been proposed a technique for performing a maintenance schedule of equipment in accordance with the operation status of the equipment. Specifically, the schedule of the equipment is set so as to avoid the period when the operation of the equipment reaches a peak (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-T-2005-502112

  By the way, there is a case where each of the plurality of facilities operates in cooperation with each other to obtain a desired operation result. For example, taking a case where the equipment is an air conditioning equipment as an example, a desired room temperature can be obtained by cooperation of a plurality of air conditioning equipments.

  In such a case, the operation pattern applied to the plurality of facilities is determined by, for example, the rated capacity of the facility or the energy consumption of the facility. Alternatively, the operation pattern applied to a plurality of facilities is determined so that, for example, in the current operation state, the number of times of forced control of the facilities from the EMS is equalized.

  Incidentally, the risk of equipment failure (hereinafter, failure risk) differs depending on the period elapsed from the time when the equipment was introduced (hereinafter, introduction period), the maintenance history of the equipment, the cumulative number of forced controls during the introduction period, and the like.

  However, in the above-described technology, the risk of equipment failure is not considered, and there is a possibility that equipment failure will be induced.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and in a case where each of a plurality of facilities cooperates with each other, it is possible to reduce the possibility of causing a failure of the facilities. It is an object to provide an energy management device and an energy management method.

  A first feature is an energy management device that manages a plurality of facilities that cooperate with each other, and is an application of an operation pattern that controls the plurality of facilities so as to obtain a desired operation result by cooperation of the plurality of facilities. A control unit that instructs the plurality of facilities, the control unit determines the operation pattern according to a failure risk that the facility fails, and in the operation pattern, the first failure risk as the failure risk The point is that the load of the facility having the second failure risk is smaller than the load of the facility having the second failure risk lower than the first failure risk as the failure risk.

  In the first feature, the control unit determines the failure risk based on introduction period information indicating a period elapsed from a timing at which the facility was introduced, or repair information indicating a history of repair of the facility.

  In the first feature, for each of the plurality of facilities, it is possible to apply a forcible control of forcibly changing an operation mode from a device different from the plurality of facilities, and the control unit includes: The failure risk is determined based on the cumulative number of forced controls, the cumulative period of the forced controls, or the type of the forced controls.

  A second feature is an energy management method for managing a plurality of facilities cooperating with each other, and applying an operation pattern for controlling the plurality of facilities so as to obtain a desired operation result by the cooperation of each of the plurality of facilities. The operation pattern is determined according to a failure risk that equipment breaks down, and in the operation pattern, a load of equipment having a first failure risk as the failure risk is the second load as the failure risk. The gist is that the load is smaller than the load of the facility having the second failure risk lower than the first failure risk.

  Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an energy management device and an energy management method that can reduce the possibility of causing a failure of a facility when a plurality of facilities are linked to each other.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an energy management system 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the server power management device 40 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the facility management device 50 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of maintenance information stored in the facility management device 50 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation pattern according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an operation pattern according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the energy management method according to the first embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an energy management system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description of the drawings, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals.

  However, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic and ratios of dimensions are different from actual ones. Therefore, specific dimensions and the like should be determined in consideration of the following description. In addition, it is needless to say that dimensional relationships and ratios are different between drawings.

[Overview of Embodiment]
The energy management device according to the embodiment manages a plurality of facilities that cooperate with each other. The energy management device includes a control unit that instructs the plurality of facilities to apply an operation pattern for controlling the plurality of facilities so as to obtain a desired operation result by cooperation of the plurality of facilities. The control unit determines the operation pattern according to a risk of failure of the equipment. In the operation pattern, the load of the equipment having the first failure risk as the failure risk is smaller than the load of the equipment having the second failure risk lower than the first failure risk as the failure risk.

  In the embodiment, as an operation pattern for obtaining a desired operation result by the cooperation of each of the plurality of facilities, the energy management device determines that the load of the facility having the first failure risk is greater than the load of the facility having the second failure risk. Instruct the application of a small motion pattern. Thereby, when each of the plurality of facilities cooperates with each other, it is possible to reduce the possibility of causing a failure of the facilities.

[First Embodiment]
(Energy management system)
Hereinafter, the energy management system according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an energy management system 100 according to the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the energy management system 100 includes a plurality of facilities 10, a plurality of sensors 20, a plurality of local power management devices 30, a server power management device 40, and a facility management device 50.

  In the first embodiment, as an example of the energy management system, a system that manages electric power will be mainly described. However, the embodiment is not limited to this, and the energy management system 100 may manage energy (for example, gas or the like) other than electric power. Therefore, “power” may be read as “energy”.

  The facility 10 is a facility that consumes energy such as electric power or gas. The facility 10 is, for example, an air conditioner, a lighting facility, a cold case facility, or the like. For example, the facility 10A is provided in the facility A, and the facility 10B is provided in the facility B. The facilities A and B are operated by the same capital group, for example.

  In the first embodiment, the facility 10 may include a facility 10 that can be controlled by automatic control and a facility 10 that cannot be controlled by automatic control described later. The automatic control of the facility 10 is a process of controlling each facility such that the accumulated value of power consumption for a predetermined period (for example, 30 minutes) does not exceed a predetermined threshold (target value). Alternatively, the automatic control of the facility 10 is a process of automatically controlling the power consumption of the facility 10 so that the total value of the power consumption does not exceed a predetermined threshold (target value). Here, the automatic control forcibly changes the operation mode for each of the plurality of facilities 10 from a device different from the plurality of facilities (for example, the local power management device 30 or the server power management device 40). It is an example of control.

  The sensor 20 detects information necessary for managing the facility 10. For example, the sensor 20 is a power sensor that detects power consumption of the facility 10. When the equipment 10 is an air-conditioning equipment, the sensor 20 is a space (area) where the air-conditioning equipment is provided or a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the outside air of the facility, a space (area) where the air-conditioning equipment is provided or a sensor of the facility. This is a humidity sensor that detects the humidity of the outside air. When the facility 10 is a lighting facility, the sensor 20 is an illuminance sensor that detects illuminance in a space (area) where the lighting facility is provided. When the facility 10 is a cold case facility, the sensor 20 is a temperature sensor that detects the temperature inside the cold case facility. For example, the sensor 20A is provided in the facility A, and the sensor 20B is provided in the facility B.

  The local power management device 30 manages the equipment 10 connected by the LAN 80. Specifically, the local power management device 30 is connected to the facility 10 and the sensor 20 via the LAN 80, and manages power consumption of the facility 10 based on information detected by the sensor 20. For example, the local power management device 30A is provided in the facility A, and manages the facility 10A connected by the LAN 80A. The local power management device 30B is provided in the facility B, and manages the facility 10B connected by the LAN 80B.

  In the first embodiment, the local power management device 30 controls an operation pattern of the facility 10 according to a control signal received from the server power management device 40.

  The server power management device 40 is connected to each local power management device 30 via the WAN 90, and manages the power consumption of the facility 10 via each local power management device 30. Specifically, the server power management device 40 manages a plurality of facilities 10 that cooperate with each other. The server power management apparatus 40 instructs the plurality of facilities 10 to apply an operation pattern (hereinafter, a first operation pattern) for controlling the plurality of facilities 10 so as to obtain a desired operation result by cooperation of the plurality of facilities 10. I do.

  Here, the plurality of facilities 10 that cooperate with each other are, for example, air-conditioning facilities that are provided in the same facility and that adjust the room temperature in a predetermined area. Alternatively, the plurality of facilities 10 that cooperate with each other are, for example, cold case facilities that are provided in the same counter and adjust the temperature in the case of a predetermined area.

  The desired operation result is a result set in advance by a user or the like. For example, in a case where the facility 10 is an air conditioning facility, a desired operation result is that the room temperature is brought close to a desired temperature by a plurality of air conditioning facilities. Alternatively, taking the case where the facility 10 is a cold case facility as an example, the desired operation result is to bring the temperature in the case closer to the desired temperature in a plurality of cold case facilities.

  The facility management device 50 manages maintenance information of the facility 10. The maintenance information is a history of maintenance such as replacement of the facility 10 or repair of the facility 10. Alternatively, it is a maintenance plan such as replacement of the equipment 10 or repair of the equipment 10. The maintenance information is registered by a maintenance company in charge of the maintenance of the facility 10. In other words, the facility management device 50 manages introduction period information indicating a period elapsed from the timing at which the facility 10 was introduced, or repair information indicating a repair history of the facility 10.

(Energy management device)
Hereinafter, the energy management device according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the server power management device 40 according to the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, the server power management device 40 is an example of an energy management device.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the server power management device 40 has a communication unit 41, a storage unit 42, and a control unit 43.

  The communication unit 41 is a communication module that performs communication via the WAN 90. The communication unit 41 receives, from the local power management device 30, the operation state of the facility 10 and information detected by the sensor 20. The communication unit 41 transmits a control signal for controlling the operation of the facility 10 to the local power management device 30.

  The storage unit 42 stores information received from the local power management device 30. For example, the storage unit 42 stores the power consumption of the facility 10 cumulatively. Alternatively, the storage unit 42 stores a control history (such as a control signal history) for the equipment 10.

  The control unit 43 manages the server power management device 40. For example, the control unit 43 instructs the plurality of facilities 10 to apply an operation pattern for controlling the plurality of facilities 10 to obtain a desired operation result by cooperation of the plurality of facilities 10. Specifically, the control unit 43 instructs the communication unit 41 to transmit a control signal indicating an operation pattern, thereby instructing the plurality of facilities 10 to apply the first operation pattern.

  In the first embodiment, the control unit 43 determines an operation pattern according to a risk of failure of the facility 10. In the operation pattern, the load of the facility 10 having the first failure risk as the failure risk is smaller than the load of the facility 10 having the second failure risk lower than the first failure risk as the failure risk.

  First, the control unit 43 determines the failure risk based on introduction period information indicating a period (hereinafter referred to as an installation period) that has elapsed from the timing at which the facility 10 was introduced or repair information indicating a repair history of the facility 10. Is preferably determined. The introduction period information and the repair information are registered in the equipment management device 50 and can be acquired from the equipment management device 50.

  Specifically, the control unit 43 determines that the longer the installation period, the higher the risk of failure. The control unit 43 determines that the higher the degree of influence on the failure determined by the type of repair is, the higher the failure risk is. Preferably, the degree of influence on the failure is registered by a maintenance company. Alternatively, the degree of influence on the failure may be determined in advance according to the type of repair.

  Second, the control unit 43 determines the risk of failure based on the cumulative number of forced controls, the cumulative period of forced controls, or the type of forced control. The forced control is control for forcibly changing the operation mode from a device different from the plurality of facilities 10. As described above, an example of the forced control includes automatic control. The history of the forced control can be extracted from the control history stored in the storage unit 42, for example.

  The control unit 43 determines that the greater the cumulative number of forced controls, the higher the risk of failure. The control unit 43 determines that the longer the cumulative period of the forced control is, the higher the risk of failure is. The control unit 43 determines that the higher the degree of influence on a failure determined by the type of forced control, the higher the risk of failure. The degree of influence on the failure may be determined in advance according to the type of the forced control.

  For example, in a case where the facility 10 is an air conditioning facility, the forced control is control for forcibly instructing a change in the set temperature (hereinafter, first control) so that both the indoor unit and the outdoor unit are synchronized. The first control may be control intervening in a remote controller or the like attached to the air conditioning equipment. Alternatively, the forced control is a control (hereinafter, second control) for forcibly instructing only the outdoor unit to perform a predetermined operation (for example, stop) without giving any instruction to the indoor unit. Alternatively, the forcible control is control for forcibly stopping the supply of power to the air conditioning equipment (hereinafter, third control). In such a case, the degree of influence on the failure associated with the third control is higher than the degree of influence on the failure associated with the second control, and the degree of influence on the failure associated with the second control is greater than the degree of influence on the failure associated with the first control. Higher than the impact.

  Third, the control unit 43 may determine a failure risk caused by the forced control based on the correspondence between the repair history and the forced control history. Specifically, when there is a causal relationship such as a need for repair as a result of the forced control, the control unit 43 increases the risk of failure due to the forced control as the number of times such a causal relationship occurs increases. Is determined.

  In the first embodiment, the control unit 43 determines the failure risk based on one or more parameters selected from the introduction period information, the repair information, the cumulative number of the forced control, the cumulative period of the forced control, and the type of the forced control. Should be determined.

(Equipment management device)
Hereinafter, a facility management device according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the facility management device 50 according to the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the facility management device 50 includes a communication unit 51, a storage unit 52, and a control unit 53.

  The communication unit 51 is a communication module that performs communication via the WAN 90. The communication unit 51 receives maintenance information from a terminal of a maintenance company.

  The storage unit 52 stores maintenance information. The maintenance information is registered by a maintenance company in charge of the maintenance of the facility 10. The maintenance information is a history of maintenance such as replacement of the facility 10 or repair of the facility 10. Alternatively, it is a maintenance plan such as replacement of the equipment 10 or repair of the equipment 10. In other words, the facility management device 50 manages introduction period information indicating a period elapsed from the timing at which the facility 10 was introduced, or repair information indicating a repair history of the facility 10.

  For example, the storage unit 52 stores the information shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the storage unit 52 stores the repair history including the cause of the abnormality (see the “Request Title” column). The causes of the abnormality include, for example, “cooling failure occurred” (A-1 shown in FIG. 4), “water leak from hose” and “filter replacement message” (B shown in FIG. 4), and “outdoor unit error”. Display "(A-2 shown in FIG. 4).

  In such a case, it is highly probable that the causes A-1 and A-2 of the abnormality are abnormalities resulting from the forced control. Therefore, the server power management apparatus 40 (control unit 43) performs the forced control based on the correlation between the occurrence date and time of the causes A-1 and A-2 of the abnormality and the execution date and time of the forced control. It is preferable to determine the resulting failure risk.

  On the other hand, the cause B of the abnormality is unlikely to be an abnormality generated as a result of the forced control. Therefore, the server power management device 40 (control unit 43) described above does not need to determine the risk of failure due to forced control.

  The control unit 53 controls the facility management device 50. Specifically, when requesting transmission of maintenance information from server power management device 40, control unit 53 instructs communication unit 51 to transmit the maintenance information.

(Operation pattern)
Hereinafter, an operation pattern according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 to FIG. 6 are diagrams for explaining an operation pattern according to the first embodiment. 5 to 6, a case is considered in which control (rotation control) for sequentially turning on a plurality of facilities 10 belonging to a group is applied. In addition, an air conditioner will be described as an example of the facility 10.

(Operation pattern A)
The operation pattern A exemplifies the wheel number control of the air conditioners # 1 to # 3. The failure risks of the air conditioners # 1 to # 3 are almost the same. The period in which each air conditioner is turned on in the wheel number control of the operation pattern A will be described with reference to FIG. In the operation pattern A, as shown in FIG. 5, the server power management device 40 sets the air conditioners # 1 to # 3 so that any one of the air conditioners # 1 to # 3 is turned on. Set the period for turning on. Here, the period in which each air conditioner is turned on is substantially equal to each other.

(Operation pattern B)
The operation pattern B exemplifies the wheel number control of the air conditioners # 1 to # 3. Although the failure risk of the air conditioner # 2 and the air conditioner # 3 is almost the same, the failure risk of the air conditioner # 1 is higher than the failure risk of the air conditioner # 2 and the air conditioner # 3. A period during which each air conditioner is turned on in the wheel number control of the operation pattern B will be described with reference to FIG. In the operation pattern B, as shown in FIG. 6, the server power management device 40 controls the air conditioners # 1 to # 3 so that any one of the air conditioners # 1 to # 3 is turned on. Set the period for turning on. Here, the periods during which the air conditioner # 2 and the air conditioner # 3 are turned on are substantially equal to each other. On the other hand, the period during which the air conditioner # 1 is turned on is shorter than the period during which the air conditioner # 2 and the air conditioner # 3 are turned on.

  In other words, in the operation pattern B, the loads on the air conditioning equipment # 1 (the equipment 10 having the first failure risk as the failure risk) are lower than the loads on the air conditioning equipment # 2 and the air conditioning equipment # 3 (the failure risk is lower than the first failure risk). (2) The load is smaller than the load of the facility 10) having the risk of failure.

  In FIG. 6, the period during which the air conditioner # 1 having a high risk of failure is turned on is reduced, but the embodiment is not limited to this. For example, the number of times that air conditioner # 1 is turned on may be smaller than the number of times that air conditioner # 2 and air conditioner # 3 are turned on. Alternatively, when each air conditioner functions as cooling, the set temperature of the air conditioner # 1 may be higher than the set temperatures of the air conditioners # 2 and # 3. On the other hand, when each air conditioner functions as heating, the set temperature of air conditioner # 1 may be lower than the set temperatures of air conditioner # 2 and air conditioner # 3.

(Energy management method)
Hereinafter, the energy management method according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the energy management method according to the first embodiment. Here, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing of the server power management device 40.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in step S10, the server power management device 40 reads maintenance information from the equipment management device 50.

  In step S20, the server power management device 40 reads a control history from the storage unit 42.

  In step S30, the server power management device 40 determines a failure risk that the equipment 10 will fail based on the maintenance information or the control history. As described above, the failure risk is determined based on at least one parameter selected from the introduction period information, the repair information, the cumulative number of forced controls, the cumulative period of the forced control, and the type of the forced control. It should be done. Therefore, when the maintenance information is not used, the processing of step S10 can be omitted, and when the control history is not used, the processing of step S20 can be omitted.

  In step S40, the server power management device 40 determines an operation pattern according to the risk of failure of the facility 10. In the operation pattern, the load of the facility 10 having the first failure risk as the failure risk is smaller than the load of the facility 10 having the second failure risk lower than the first failure risk as the failure risk.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the server power management device 40 determines the load of the facility 10 having the first failure risk as an operation pattern for obtaining a desired operation result by cooperation of the plurality of facilities 10. Indicates an application of an operation pattern smaller than the load of the facility 10 having the second failure risk. Thereby, when each of the plurality of facilities 10 cooperates with each other, it is possible to reduce the possibility of causing a failure of the facilities.

[Other Embodiments]
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above-described embodiments, it should not be understood that the description and drawings forming part of this disclosure limit the present invention. From this disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples, and operation techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

  In the embodiment, the case where the server power management device 40 centrally manages the plurality of local power management devices 30 has been illustrated. However, embodiments are not limited to this. For example, each of the local power management apparatuses 30 may instruct an operation pattern to be applied to a plurality of facilities 10 in an autonomous distributed manner.

  In the embodiment, the change of the operation pattern of the air conditioner has been mainly described, but the embodiment is not limited to this. The above-described instruction of the operation pattern may be applied to a cold case facility or the like.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Facility, 20 ... Sensor, 30 ... Local power management apparatus, 40 ... Server power management apparatus, 41 ... Communication part, 42 ... Storage part, 43 ... Control part, 50 ... Facility management apparatus, 51 ... Communication part, 52 ... Storage unit, 53 control unit, 80 LAN, 90 WAN

Claims (8)

A local management device for managing the equipment,
A local management device comprising: a communication unit that transmits a control history of forced control for forcibly changing an operation mode of the equipment from a device different from the equipment to a server management device.   The local management device according to claim 1, wherein the forcible control includes automatic control for automatically controlling power consumption of the facility.   The local according to claim 1, wherein the control history of the forced control includes at least one of an accumulated number of times of the forced control, an accumulation period of the forced control, and a type of the forced control. Management device. A server management device that communicates with a local management device that manages equipment,
A server management device, comprising: a communication unit that receives, from the local management device, a control history of forced control for forcibly changing an operation mode of the equipment from a device different from the equipment.   The server management device according to claim 4, wherein the forcible control includes automatic control for automatically controlling power consumption of the facility.   The server according to claim 4, wherein the control history of the forced control includes at least one of an accumulated number of the forced control, an accumulation period of the forced control, and a type of the forced control. Management device.   A management method, comprising: transmitting, to a server management device, a control history of forced control for forcibly changing an operation mode of the facility from a device different from the facility, the local management apparatus managing the facility.   A step of receiving, from the local management device, a control history of forced control for forcibly changing the operation mode of the equipment from a device different from the equipment, wherein the server management device performing communication with the local management device for managing the equipment; A management method.

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