JP2022148623A - Hot water supply control system - Google Patents

Abstract

To ensure a heat quantity required in boiling operation while suppressing an increase of a peak for power consumption of a plurality of hot water storage type water heater in a target area.SOLUTION: A hot water supply control system comprises a group determination part for dividing a plurality of hot water storage type water heaters installed in a target area into a plurality of groups, and operation control means for controlling operation of the plurality of hot water storage type water heater. Each hot water storage type water heater comprises heating means and a hot water storage tank, and can perform boiling operation to store hat water in the hot water storage tank after boiling a target hot water storage amount of water with the heating means. The group determination part allocates an allocation time for performing boiling operation to each group. The operation control means forces each group's hot water storage type water heater to start boiling operation at the start time of the allocation time for the group, and when it is presumed that boiling operation by any one of the hot water storage type water heaters is not completed within the allocation time, performs control to increase the heating capacity of the hot water storage type water heater whose boiling operation is not completed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

The present disclosure relates to a hot water supply control system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a hot water supply control system capable of controlling a plurality of hot water storage type hot water heaters in a target area.

For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a hot water supply control system that controls a plurality of water heaters in a target area. This hot water supply control system divides a plurality of water heaters in a target area into a plurality of groups, and controls the operation of the water heaters so that peak power consumption times of the water heaters are shifted between different groups. Patent Document 1 discloses, as a method of shifting the peak time of power consumption, a method of shifting the operating time of a water heater between different groups, a method of shifting the phases of the increase/decrease cycle of the operating frequency of the compressor of the water heater, and , a method for periodically starting and stopping the operation of the compressor, and the like.

JP 2014-126351 A

A method of shifting the operation time of the water heater or the phase of the operation of the compressor, such as the hot water supply control system described in Patent Document 1, may not be able to sufficiently reduce the power consumption, for example, when there are multiple water heaters. There is In this case, the power demand may exceed the power supply in the target area. Further, when the operation of the compressor of the water heater is periodically started and stopped, there is a possibility that the heating of the target heat storage amount cannot be completed.

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above problems, and can secure the required amount of heat in the boiling operation while suppressing the increase in the peak power consumption of a plurality of storage-type water heaters in the target area. To provide an improved hot water supply control system.

A hot water supply control system according to the present disclosure includes a group determination unit that divides a plurality of storage-type hot water heaters installed in a target area into a plurality of groups, and an operation control means that controls the operation of the plurality of storage-type hot water heaters. Prepare. Each of the hot water storage type water heaters is driven by electric power and includes a heating means capable of changing the heating capacity and a hot water storage tank for storing water heated by the heating means, and the heating means boils a target amount of water to be stored. It is configured to perform a boiling-up operation in which hot water is stored in the hot water storage tank. The group determining unit allocates different allocation times to each group as the time for executing the boiling operation, and the operation control means controls the boiling operation of the storage-type water heaters belonging to each group to each group. Start at the start time of the allocated time allocated to each, and it is estimated that the boiling-up operation in any of the storage-type water heaters will not be completed within the allocated time allocated to the group to which the storage-type water heater belongs In this case, the first control is executed to increase the heating capacity of the hot water storage type water heater that is estimated not to complete the boiling operation.

According to the hot water supply control system of the present disclosure, it is possible to suppress excessive power demand with respect to the power supply in the target area, and in the boiling operation, the necessary amount of heat cannot be secured in the hot water storage tank. can be suppressed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a hot water storage type hot water heater according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure; 1 is a schematic diagram showing a network configuration of a hot water supply control system according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure; FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining functions of a centralized monitoring server and connection configuration with peripheral devices according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure; FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining an overview of overlap suppression control in the hot water supply control system according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure; FIG. FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining an overview of overlap suppression control in the hot water supply control system according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure; FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining an overview of peak suppression control in the hot water supply control system according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure; 4 is a timing chart for explaining an overview of peak suppression control in the hot water supply control system according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure;

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. Elements that are common or correspond to each figure are denoted by the same reference numerals, and overlapping descriptions are simplified or omitted. In the present embodiment, the calorie of water is calculated as a difference from the calorie of water having a water temperature equal to that of water supplied from a water source, for example. In addition, in the present embodiment, when describing the calorie of water, in principle, the calorie of hot water is described in units of the amount of hot water [L] when converted into the calorie of hot water at a predetermined standard hot water supply temperature. In the present disclosure, simply describing “water” or “hot water” may include liquid water of any temperature, from low-temperature water to high-temperature hot water.

Embodiment 1.
<Overall configuration of hot water storage type water heater>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a hot water storage type hot water heater according to Embodiment 1. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the hot water storage type water heater 1 includes a hot water storage tank 10, a heating means 2, a water pump 31, a reheating pump 32, a bathtub pump 33, a hot water tap temperature control valve 41, a reheating heat exchanger 5, Heating pipe 301a, heating return pipe 301b, water supply pipe 302, high temperature outlet pipe 303, temperature control pipe 304, hot water tap pipe 305, bathtub pipe 306a, bathtub return pipe 306b, reheating pipe 307a, reheating return pipe 307b , a remote controller 101, a control means 100, and the like.

The heating means 2 is driven by electric power to heat the introduced water to high temperature water. In this embodiment, the heating means 2 is configured using a heat pump, and includes devices such as a compressor, a water-refrigerant heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and an air heat exchanger, which are connected in a ring by a refrigerant circuit. have. However, the heating means 2 is not limited to a heat pump, and may be other equipment as long as it can be driven by electric power and can heat water.

The value of the heating capacity of the heating means 2 can be changed. In the following description, the heating capacity of the refrigerant circuit of the heating means 2 may be simply referred to as "heating capacity". The heating capacity corresponds to the amount of heat given to water by the heating means 2 per hour. The unit of heating capacity is kW (kilowatt), for example.

The compressor of the heating means 2 is driven by a driving device (not shown) including, for example, an inverter-controlled DC brushless motor. In this case, it is possible to change the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor or change the value of the heating capacity by adjusting the frequency (that is, the rotational speed) of the compressor with the drive device. can. However, the hot water storage type hot water heater 1 is not limited to one using such a drive device. It may be configured to change the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant to be discharged, or the value of the heating capacity.

The water supply pipe 302 guides low-temperature water supplied from a water source such as a tap to the lower portion of the hot water storage tank 10 . The heating pipe 301 a connects the lower part of the hot water storage tank 10 and the heating means 2 . The water pump 31 is connected in the middle of the heating pipe 301a. By driving the water pump 31 , the water in the lower part of the hot water storage tank 10 is sent to the heating means 2 . The hot water heated by the heating means 2 flows into the upper part of the hot water storage tank 10 through the heating return pipe 301b. As a result, hot water is stored in the hot water storage tank 10 in a state in which a temperature stratification is formed in which the upper side has a high temperature and the lower side has a low temperature.

The high-temperature lead-out pipe 303 sends high-temperature water led out from the upper part of the hot water storage tank 10 to the hot water tap temperature control valve 41 . A temperature control pipe 304 branches off from the water supply pipe 302 and guides low-temperature water to the hot water tap temperature control valve 41 . The hot water tap temperature control valve 41 adjusts the temperature of the hot water by adjusting the mixing ratio of the high temperature water from the high temperature lead-out pipe 303 and the low temperature water from the temperature control pipe 304 . The hot water whose temperature has been adjusted by the hot water tap temperature control valve 41 is discharged from a hot water tap (not shown) such as a faucet and a shower via a hot water tap pipe 305, or is injected into the bathtub 6 to fill or add hot water. Hot water is done.

The reheating heat exchanger 5 heats the bathtub water by exchanging heat between the hot water drawn out from the upper part of the hot water storage tank 10 and the bathtub water taken out from the bathtub 6 . The bathtub return pipe 306 b guides the bathtub water in the bathtub 6 to the reheating heat exchanger 5 . The bathtub going pipe 306 a guides the bathtub water heated by the reheating heat exchanger 5 to the bathtub 6 . The bathtub pump 33 is connected in the middle of the bathtub return pipe 306b. The reheating outgoing pipe 307 a guides the high-temperature water in the upper part of the hot water storage tank 10 to the reheating heat exchanger 5 . The reheating return pipe 307 b conducts heat exchange with the bathtub water from the bathtub 6 in the reheating heat exchanger 5 and guides the hot water whose temperature has been lowered to the hot water storage tank 10 . The reheating pump 32 is connected in the middle of the reheating return pipe 307b.

The hot water storage tank 10 is provided with hot water storage temperature sensors 501a to 501f at intervals in the height direction. By detecting the temperature distribution in the hot water storage tank 10 from the outputs of the hot water storage temperature sensors 501a to 501f, the remaining hot water amount and heat storage amount in the hot water storage tank 10 can be grasped. In the illustrated configuration, the number of stored hot water temperature sensors 501a to 501f is six, but the number of stored hot water temperature sensors is not limited to six. A sufficient number of temperature sensors should be installed.

A heating temperature sensor 502 for detecting the temperature of the heated high-temperature water is provided downstream of the heating means 2 in the heating return pipe 301b. The water supply pipe 302 is provided with a water supply temperature sensor 504 that detects the temperature of the water supply. A lead-out temperature sensor 503 for detecting the temperature of the high-temperature water led out from the hot water storage tank 10 is provided above the hot water storage tank 10 . The hot water tap pipe 305 is provided with a hot water tap temperature sensor 505 for detecting the temperature of the hot water supplied to the hot water tap. A bathtub return temperature sensor 506 for detecting the bathtub return temperature flowing from the bathtub 6 to the reheating heat exchanger 5 is provided in the bathtub return pipe 306b. The bathtub return temperature sensor 506 may be used as means for detecting the bathtub temperature by periodically operating the bathtub pump 33 . The reheating return pipe 307b is provided with a reheating return temperature sensor 507 for detecting the temperature of the hot water returning from the reheating heat exchanger 5 to the hot water storage tank 10 (that is, the reheating return temperature). The reheating return temperature may be estimated from the rotation speed of the reheating pump 32, the rotation speed of the bathtub pump 33, the hot water outlet temperature, the bathtub return temperature, etc., instead of detection by the sensor. The hot water tap pipe 305 is provided with a hot water tap flow rate sensor 601 for detecting the amount of hot water used on the demand side.

The control means 100 and the remote controller 101 are connected by wire or wirelessly so as to be bidirectionally communicable. Control means 100 and remote controller 101 may be able to communicate via a network. A remote control 101 is an example of a user interface. The remote controller 101 has a display unit for displaying information and an operation unit that can be operated by a person such as a user (hereinafter simply referred to as "user"). The remote controller 101 may have a touch screen that functions as both a display unit and an operation unit.

The operation unit of the remote control 101 has a function as an input means for receiving an operation input regarding a command for the operation of the storage-type water heater 1 and a set value. By operating the operation unit, the user can remotely control the hot water storage type water heater and perform various settings. The display unit has a function as notification means for notifying the user of information. Remote controller 101 in the present embodiment includes a display unit as notification means, but as a modification, it may be provided with other notification means such as a voice guidance device. The remote controller 101 may be installed on the wall of the kitchen, living room, bathroom, or the like, for example. Alternatively, for example, a mobile information terminal such as a smart phone may be configured to have a function as a user interface like the remote control 101 . A plurality of remote controllers 101 may be configured to communicate with the control means 100 .

The control means 100 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer or the like, and includes a storage unit including ROM, RAM, nonvolatile memory, etc., an arithmetic processing unit (CPU) that executes arithmetic processing based on a program stored in the storage unit, An input/output port for inputting/outputting an external signal to/from the arithmetic processing unit is provided. The control means 100 calculates the hot water tap load, the reheating load, the heat storage amount or the remaining hot water amount in the hot water storage tank 10, etc. based on the information detected by each sensor described above. In addition, the control means 100 controls the heating means 2, the water pump 31, the reheating pump 32, the bathtub pump 33, and the By controlling the operation of the hot water tap temperature control valve 41 and the like, the operation of the hot water storage type hot water heater 1 is controlled. The control executed by the control means 100 includes the control of the boiling operation in which the water boiled by the heating means 2 is stored in the hot water storage tank 10 .

<Network configuration of hot water supply control system>
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the network configuration of the hot water supply control system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 shows a plurality of dwelling units X to Z within the target area managed by the hot water supply control system. There is no limit to the number of dwelling units in the target area. Also, in FIG. 2, only the dwelling unit X shows the network configuration within the dwelling unit, but the other dwelling units Y and Z have similar network configurations.

Each dwelling unit is provided with an optical line terminal 701 , a line concentrator 702 and a router 703 . The optical line terminal 701 is connected to the end of the network 709 . The line concentrator 702 constitutes a so-called hub, and is connected to a router 703 and other devices via a plurality of LAN cables. Other devices may include, for example, home server 708, personal computer 705, smart phone 706, and the like. The storage-type water heater 1 is provided with a communication adapter 704 corresponding to the router 703 . The controller 100 of the hot water storage type water heater 1 is connected to the optical line terminal 701 via the communication adapter 704, the router 703, and the like. The communication adapter 704 and router 703 may be of a wireless connection system or a wired connection system.

Each of the hot water storage type water heaters 1 of the plurality of dwelling units in the target area can bidirectionally communicate with the central monitoring server 707 via the network 709 . In addition, the centralized monitoring server 707 is communicably connected to a portable terminal such as a smart phone 706 possessed by a user of the hot water storage type hot water heater 1 in each dwelling unit. A user can send and receive information to and from the centralized monitoring server 707 using a portable terminal. Note that the centralized monitoring server 707 may be configured to communicate with the control means 100 of each hot water storage type hot water heater 1 via the home server 708 .

<Configuration of Centralized Monitoring Server>
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the functions of the centralized monitoring server 707 and the connection configuration with peripheral devices. As shown in FIG. 3 , the centralized monitoring server 707 has a data storage unit 801 . The data storage unit 801 stores various information about the hot water storage type water heater 1 in the target area. For example, the data storage unit 801 stores information such as the output data of the stored hot water temperature sensors 501a to 501f and the output data of the feed water temperature sensor 504 of the hot water storage type hot water heater 1 in the target area.

The centralized monitoring server 707 further comprises a group determination section 802 and an operation control section 803 . These do not exist as individual hardware, but are implemented in software when a program stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the centralized monitoring server 707 is executed by a processor. good. The centralized monitoring server 707 has various functions in addition to the functions of the group determination unit 802 and the operation control unit 803 described below, but illustration of these functions is omitted.

By the way, in the present embodiment, each hot water storage type water heater 1 boils hot water corresponding to the required amount of heat to be used in a day at a predetermined time in the day, and supplies it to the hot water storage tank 10. It is set to perform a boiling-up operation in which hot water is stored. Here, the required amount of heat is determined, for example, based on the data of the amount of heat used for hot water supply during a certain period of time in the past. The target amount of hot water to be stored in this boiling-up operation is determined based on the difference between the required amount of heat and the amount of remaining hot water in the hot water storage tank 10 . In the following description, the simple term “boiling operation” means the boiling operation for storing a target amount of hot water in the hot water storage tank 10 .

The group determination unit 802 and the operation control unit 803 of the centralized monitoring server 707 control the target area so that the power demand in the target area does not exceed the power supply when the storage-type water heater 1 in the target area performs the boiling operation. It manages the boiling-up operation of each hot water storage type water heater 1 inside. This will be explained below.

A group determination unit 802 classifies specific times in a day into a plurality of boiling time groups for each allocated time. Here, "a specific time in a day" is a time suitable for each hot water storage type water heater 1 to perform the boiling operation. The specific time is set, for example, to a time period during which power consumption of other electric devices other than the hot water heater 1 is low. For example, the specific time may be midnight hours. The "late night time period" is a low electricity price time period in which the unit price of electricity is cheaper than other time periods of the day. Electricity charges can be reduced by performing boiling-up operation in a late-night time zone and storing a required amount of hot water in a hot water storage tank. Information on the specific time for performing the boiling-up operation and the start time and end time of the other time period is stored in the data storage unit 801, for example.

The allocated time is the time for performing the boiling operation in each storage-type hot water heater 1 . Therefore, the length of the allotted time is determined based on the average time required for boiling operation at the rated heating capacity of each storage-type water heater 1 . The allocated time is defined by a start time and an end time, and each allocated time is defined so as not to overlap another allocated time. Each allocated time does not necessarily have to be continuous, but in the present embodiment, the allocated time for the next boiling time group starts at the end time of the allocated time for one boiling time group. A case where the time is set continuously will be described.

The group determination unit 802 further divides the hot water storage type hot water heaters 1 to be controlled and arranged in the target area into a plurality of groups equal in number to the boiling time groups, which are defined as hot water heater groups. The method of classifying the hot water heater groups is not limited, and the hot water storage type hot water heaters 1 in the target area may be simply classified in the order of registration. Further, for example, a configuration may be adopted in which the total value for each water heater group of the electric power consumption that is expected to be used by the hot water heater 1 during boiling operation is classified so that the different water heater groups are approximately the same.

The number of boiling time groups, the length of allocation time, the classification of water heater groups, and the allocation of allocation time to water heater groups can be arbitrarily set by the user via a user interface such as the smartphone 706. It is good also as a structure which can do it.

The water heater group and the boiling time group are combined on a one-to-one basis. That is, one group is combined with one boiling time group, and another water heater group is combined with another boiling time group. Therefore, the storage-type hot water heaters 1 belonging to the same hot water heater group are assigned the same allocated time, and the allocated time does not overlap with the allocated time allocated to other water heater groups.

The operation control unit 803 has a timer function, and can determine, for example, which water heater group the current time is in the allocated time. The operation control unit 803 also controls future weather forecast information (weather, indoor temperature, outdoor temperature, humidity, etc.) in the target area, and the stored hot water temperature sensor of the hot water storage type hot water heater 1 in the target area stored in the data storage unit 801. The boiling-up operation is controlled based on the output data of 501a to 501f, the output data of the feed water temperature sensor 504, and the like. It should be noted that the control means 100 of the hot water storage type hot water heater 1 may be configured to perform all or part of the control of the boiling operation, which will be described later.

<Operation of duplication suppression control>
Furthermore, the operation control unit 803 estimates whether or not the boiling operation of the storage-type water heater 1 belonging to each water heater group will be completed within the allotted time allocated to each water heater group. Then, when it is estimated that there is a hot water storage type hot water heater 1 that cannot complete the boiling operation within the allotted time in a certain hot water heater group, duplication suppression control, which will be described later, is executed as the first control.

4 and 5 are timing charts for explaining an overview of the overlap suppression control of the hot water supply control system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 shows an example in which overlap suppression control is not executed, and FIG. 5 shows an example in which overlap suppression control is carried out. In the example of FIGS. 4 and 5, the group determination unit 802 divides the storage-type water heater 1 into water heater groups A to C, and combines the boiling time groups A to C with each of the water heater groups A to C. there is In FIGS. 4 and 5, the boiling operation of one storage-type water heater 1 belonging to each of the water heater groups A to C is representatively described. The hot water storage type hot water heater 1 of the stand may belong.

The operation control unit 803 starts the hot water storage type water heater belonging to the hot water heater group to which the allocated time is allocated at the time a predetermined time before the start time of the allocated time for one of the boiling time groups A to C. The recorded information of the stored hot water temperature sensors 501 a to 501 f and the feed water temperature sensor 504 is obtained from the data storage unit 801 . Further, the operation control unit 803, based on the recorded information and the future weather forecast information for the target area, for each of the storage-type water heaters 1 belonging to the hot water heater group, when the boiling-up operation is performed at the normal heating capacity. Then, the boiling completion time for completing the boiling of the set target hot water amount is predicted. FIG. 4 shows predicted boiling-up completion times.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, it is expected that the boiling completion time of the storage-type hot water heater 1 belonging to the hot water heater group A will be later than the start time of the allocation time of the hot water heater group B. That is, it is expected that at least one storage-type hot water heater 1 in the hot water heater group A will not complete the boiling operation within the allotted time. Similarly, in the water heater group B, it is expected that there will be storage-type water heaters 1 whose boiling-up operation will not be completed within the allotted time.

In this state, when the boiling operation with the normal heating capacity is executed, as shown in FIG. While the boiling operation overlaps between group B and water heater group C, it is expected that the peak value of power consumption in the target area will rise significantly.

The operation control unit 803 executes overlap suppression control in order to suppress such an excessive increase in power consumption. Specifically, the overlap suppression control is started by outputting a control signal instructing the execution of the overlap suppression control to the control means 100 of the hot water storage type water heater 1 that is estimated to be unable to complete the boiling operation within the allotted time. be done.

When the control means 100 of the hot water storage type water heater 1 receives the control signal instructing execution of the overlapping suppression control, the control means 100 increases the heating capacity of the heating means 2 so that the maximum value of the heating capacity of the heating means 2 is exhibited. to adjust. Specifically, for example, when the heating means 2 is configured using a heat pump, the heating capacity is increased by increasing the frequency (rotational speed) of the compressor of the heat pump by inverter control.

As a result, the total power consumption of the storage-type hot water heaters 1 in the target area is higher than in the example of FIG. 4 in which the overlap suppression control is not performed. However, in the hot water storage type water heater 1 that has executed the overlap suppression control, the heating capacity is increased, so that the boiling time required for the boiling operation is shortened, and the boiling completion time is brought forward. As a result, the boiling operation of water heater group A (or water heater group B) is completed before the start of the allocated time of water heater group B (or water heater group C) that follows. Therefore, it is possible to avoid redundant execution of the boiling-up operation among the water heater groups A to C. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to suppress the peak value of power consumption in the target area from increasing, and to avoid the power demand in the target area from exceeding the power supply.

<Peak suppression control>
Furthermore, the operation control unit 803 is assigned the next allocated time when any one of the hot water heater groups A to C belonging to the hot water heater group is performing the boiling operation. When the allotted time for the hot water heater group comes, a control signal is output to the controller of the hot water storage type hot water heater 1 so as to execute the operation of the peak suppression control, which is the second control. To simplify the explanation, the group of water heaters to which the allocated time is assigned earlier is referred to as the "preceding group", and the group of water heaters to which the next allocated time is assigned to the preceding group is referred to as the "following group". do.

6 and 7 are timing charts for explaining the outline of peak suppression control. FIG. 6 shows an example in which the boiling operation is continued without performing peak suppression control, and FIG. 7 shows an example in which peak suppression is performed.

In the example shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, during the boiling operation of any storage-type water heater 1 belonging to the preceding group (eg, water heater group A), the following group (eg, water heater group B) has started. Here, when peak suppression control is not performed, the operating state of the storage-type hot water heaters 1 in the preceding group is maintained until the boiling-up operation is completed, and the boiling-up operation of the storage-type hot water heaters 1 belonging to the following group is Start with normal heating capacity. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, the power consumption is greatly increased during the overlapping time when the boiling operation of the preceding group and the boiling operation of the following group are simultaneously performed.

In order to suppress an increase in the peak value of power consumption, operation control unit 803 in the present embodiment is storage-type water heater 1 in which the completion time of the boiling operation is later than the start of the allocation time of the following group. Outputs a control signal instructing execution of peak suppression control to the target water heater.

When the control means 100 of the target water heater receives the control signal instructing execution of the peak suppression control, the control means 100 of the target water heater controls the heating means 2 so as to minimize the power consumption during the boiling operation, for example, in order to reduce the power consumption. reduce ability. Alternatively, instead of changing the heating capacity, the power consumption may be reduced by stopping the anti-freezing operation, reducing the standby power of other control parts, or the like. Both the reduction of heating capacity and the reduction of power consumption by other methods may be performed.

As a result, compared to when the peak suppression control is not performed, as shown in FIG. become longer. However, the increase in the peak value of power consumption during the time when the boiling operation overlaps can be suppressed to a smaller value than when the peak suppression control is not executed.

Note that in the peak suppression control, when the heating capacity of the target water heater is reduced, there is a possibility that the boiling operation time will become longer. In this case, even if the target water heater does not reach the target hot water storage amount, the heating operation of the preceding group may be stopped halfway. Alternatively, the boiling operation may be continued until the target water heater completes boiling of the target amount of stored hot water. Also, when peak suppression control is executed, the amount of heat in the hot water storage tank 10 becomes insufficient, and there is a possibility that hot water will run out. In order to suppress the occurrence of running out of hot water, for example, the control means 100 of each hot water storage type water heater 1 predicts the presence or absence of running out of hot water based on the data of the current amount of remaining hot water, the amount of heat used for hot water supply, and the current heating capacity. However, the peak suppression control may be configured not to be executed when the occurrence of hot water shortage is expected.

In addition, when the hot water supply control system is performing overlap suppression control and peak suppression control, the storage-type hot water heater 1 It may be configured to notify that the boiling operation is being performed by increasing or decreasing the heating capacity of the. As a result, even when the rate of increase of hot water in the storage-type hot water heater 1 is changed by overlapping suppression control or peak suppression control, it is possible to prevent the user from erroneously recognizing that the storage-type hot water heater 1 is malfunctioning. .

Further, the overlap suppression control and the peak suppression control described above may each be configured such that the user can set whether or not to execute them from an operation unit such as the remote controller 101 or the like. When the control means 100 of the hot water storage type hot water supply machine 1 is set to prohibit the execution of these controls, when receiving a control signal instructing execution of overlap suppression control or peak suppression control from the hot water supply control system In the meantime, the control signal is disabled so that these controls are not executed. When settings are made to permit the execution of these controls, the control means 100 validates the signals for executing these controls and executes the instructed controls. Alternatively, the operation control unit 803 of the centralized monitoring server 707 may be configured to receive a command set by the remote controller 101 or the like of each hot water storage type hot water heater 1 to prohibit the execution of overlap suppression control or peak suppression control. In this case, the operation control unit 803 is configured so as not to transmit a control signal that instructs execution of control that has been disabled.

For example, when the heating capacity of the hot water storage type water heater 1 increases, the noise due to the operation sound of the heating means 2 increases. For this reason, there are cases where it is not preferable to perform the overlap suppression control that increases the heating capacity, for example, it is a nuisance to others. Therefore, by providing a function that allows the user to select whether the overlap suppression control is enabled or disabled, the overlap suppression control can be executed only under conditions in which an increase in the heating capacity is permitted.

Similarly, for example, when the heating capacity of the hot water storage type hot water heater 1 is reduced by peak suppression control, the required amount of hot water cannot be secured, and there is a risk of running out of hot water. Therefore, by providing a function that allows the user to select whether to enable or disable the peak suppression control, if it is desired to secure the necessary amount of stored hot water, priority can be given to securing hot water, thereby increasing the convenience of the hot water storage type water heater. can improve sexuality.

The control means 100 of the storage-type water heater 1 controls the boiling-up of the storage-type water heater 1 from the remote control 101, the smartphone 706, or the like outside the allotted time, for example, because the user maximizes the amount of hot water in the hot-water storage tank 10. When a command to start operation is input, the user's command is given priority. In other words, the control means 100 starts the boiling-up operation with the normal heating capacity even outside the allotted time of the group to which the storage-type water heater 1 belongs. As a result, hot water can be secured in accordance with the timing at which the user wants to use hot water, and convenience of the hot water storage type water heater 1 can be improved.

1 Hot water storage type hot water heater 2 Heating means 5 Reheating heat exchanger 6 Bathtub 10 Hot water storage tank 31 Water pump 32 Reheating pump 33 Bathtub pump 41 Hot water tap temperature control valve 100 Control means 101 Remote controller , 301a Heating pipe 301b Heating return pipe 302 Water supply pipe 303 High temperature outlet pipe 304 Temperature control pipe 305 Hot water tap pipe 306a Bathtub pipe 306b Bathtub return pipe 307a Reheating pipe 307b Reheating return Piping 501a-501f Hot water storage temperature sensor 502 Heating temperature sensor 503 Outlet temperature sensor 504 Water supply temperature sensor 505 Hot water tap temperature sensor 506 Bathtub return temperature sensor 507 Reheating return temperature sensor 601 Hot water tap flow rate sensor 701 Optical network terminal 702 Concentrator 703 Router 704 Communication adapter 705 Personal computer 706 Smartphone 707 Centralized monitoring server 708 Home server 709 Network 801 Data storage unit 802 Group determination unit 803 Operation control unit

Claims (8)

a group determination unit that divides a plurality of storage-type hot water heaters installed in a target area into a plurality of groups;
an operation control means for controlling the operation of the plurality of storage-type water heaters;
with
Each of the storage-type water heaters includes:
a heating means driven by electric power and capable of changing the heating capacity;
a hot water storage tank for storing water heated by the heating means;
with
The heating means is configured to boil a target amount of water to be stored and to perform a boiling-up operation in which the hot water is stored in the hot water storage tank,
The group determination unit allocates different allocated times to each of the groups as times for executing the boiling operation,
The operation control means is
starting the boiling operation of the storage-type water heaters belonging to each of the groups at the start time of the allocated time allocated to each of the groups;
When it is estimated that the boiling-up operation in any of the storage-type water heaters will not be completed within the allotted time allocated to the group to which the storage-type water heater belongs,
configured to execute a first control that increases the heating capacity of the storage-type water heater that is estimated that the boiling-up operation will not be completed;
A hot water supply control system characterized by: An input means for receiving an input of a command relating to the operation of each of the hot water storage type hot water heaters,
The input means is configured to set whether or not to execute the first control,
The hot water supply control system according to claim 1, characterized by: Among the groups, a group is a leading group, and a group next to the allotted time of the leading group is a trailing group,
The operation control means is
When there is a target water heater, which is the storage-type water heater that does not complete the boiling operation by the start time of the allotted time of the trailing group, among the storage-type water heaters belonging to the preceding group,
During the time when the boiling time during which the target water heater is performing the boiling operation and the allocated time of the succeeding group overlap,
configured to execute a second control that reduces the power consumption of the target water heater,
The hot water supply control system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: An input means for receiving an input of a command relating to the operation of each of the hot water storage type hot water heaters,
The input means is configured to set whether or not to execute the second control,
The hot water supply control system according to claim 3, characterized in that: 5. The hot water supply control system according to claim 3, wherein the second control includes control for reducing the heating capacity of the heating means of the target water heater. The operation control means is
In the target water heater, when it is predicted that the amount of hot water in the hot water storage tank will run out,
configured not to execute the second control,
The hot water supply control system according to claim 5, characterized in that: Each of the storage-type water heaters includes:
An input means for receiving an input of a command relating to the operation of the hot water storage type hot water heater,
The operation control means is
When the input means receives an input of a command to start the boiling-up operation,
It is configured to perform the boiling operation with the normal heating capacity without performing the second control.
The hot water supply control system according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that: Each of the hot water storage type water heaters further comprises a reporting means for reporting information on operation,
The operation control means is
When executing the second control, the notification means is configured to notify that the heating capacity of the target water heater is lowered and the boiling operation is being performed.
The hot water supply control system according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that:

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