KR20160053129A - Energy management system and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention proposes an energy management system and an energy management method capable of using a web based protocol connecting to a communication protocol of power devices to syntagmatically control the power devices and capable of executing plug-and-play of the power devices. The present invention relates to an energy management system and an energy management method. The system comprises: at least one interface module to transmit or receive data to/from power devices by using a plurality of different communication methods and to convert the data received from the power devices into a web standard language by using a web based protocol; a middleware module to store and manage data received from the interface module and converted by the web based protocol; and a control module to generate a control command signal to control the power device by using the data. Accordingly, the energy management system can control each power device by collecting data from each power device in accordance with the usage of an open type platform. A power device using various protocols and various communication methods can be applied to the energy management system by simply adding the power device. Furthermore, the energy management system can guarantee transparency, can be effectively maintained and repaired, and has excellent expandability and excellent flexibility with using the web based open protocol.

Description

[0001] ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF [0002]

The present invention relates to an energy management system and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a power management system and a power management method thereof, To an energy management system and a method thereof.

As domestic energy demand has increased rapidly, power shortages are getting worse. In order to solve this power shortage problem, social costs are rising rapidly due to the addition of power generation and transmission and distribution facilities to supply electric power, and the supply of electric power is delayed. As a result, the government is shifting from past supply-oriented to demand management-oriented energy policies.

Demand management of power is a way to meet stable power demand at minimum cost through changing the pattern of power usage of consumers. Demand management of power can be divided into demand response and energy efficiency improvement. When applied to buildings, homes, and factories, this demand management can have a significant effect on energy demand management.

Recently, various smart grid technologies such as renewable energy such as solar power, LED lighting, ESS (Enery Storage System), electric vehicle and smit meter have been introduced into buildings, Market demand for BEMS (Building Energy Management System), HEMS (Home Energy Management System) and FEMS (Factory Management System) technologies is increasing.

One of the key technologies that make up these BEMS, FEMS, and FEMS is the communication control platform. However, most of the companies that are currently leading the global market are using their closed communication platforms, and closed communication platforms are difficult to interoperate with each other, and have a disadvantage that they are expensive to expand or maintain the system.

Accordingly, development of an open communication control platform capable of linking various communication protocols is required in order to effectively control the power devices using various communication protocols and to perform energy demand management.

The present invention proposes an energy management system and method for enabling plug-and-play of power devices as well as a web-based protocol that can be linked to communication protocols of power devices for integrated control of power devices.

The above object is accomplished by a data processing system including at least one interface module for transmitting and receiving data with power devices using a plurality of different communication methods and converting the data received from the power devices into a web standard language using a web based protocol; A middleware module for storing and managing data converted by the web-based protocol transmitted from the interface module; And a control module for generating a control command signal for controlling the power devices using the data.

The above object can be accomplished by a data processing apparatus comprising: an interface communication unit for transmitting and receiving data with power devices using a plurality of different communication methods; a protocol processing unit including a plurality of different protocol processes for analyzing data received from the interface communication unit; At least one interface module including a web service unit for converting the interpreted data using a web-based protocol; A middleware module for storing and managing data converted by the web-based protocol transmitted from the interface module; And a control module for generating a control command signal for controlling the power devices using the data.

The object is achieved by a method comprising: receiving data from power devices using a plurality of different communication schemes; Analyzing the data using a protocol supporting a communication method of the power device; A conversion step of converting the data into a web standard language using a web-based protocol; And a generation step of generating a control command signal for controlling the power devices using the data converted by the web-based protocol.

In the energy management system according to the present invention, the communication protocol corresponding to the communication method used in each power device and oBIX, a web-based communication protocol used in the energy management system, can be mutually linked, Data can be collected from each power device to control each power device, and power devices using various protocols and communication methods can be simply added to the energy management system. In addition, when the number of power devices is increased, the system can be easily expanded by simply adding an interface module. In addition, the use of Web-based open protocols ensures transparency, ease of maintenance, and scalability and flexibility.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an energy management system according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration diagram of the energy management system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a detailed configuration diagram of the interface module of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of providing data from each power device to a control module in the energy management system of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of transmitting control command signals from the control module to each power device in the energy management system of the present invention.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to exemplary drawings. It should be noted that, in adding reference numerals to the constituent elements of the drawings, the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference symbols as possible even if they are shown in different drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

In describing the components of the present invention, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), and (b) may be used. These terms are intended to distinguish the constituent elements from other constituent elements, and the terms do not limit the nature, order or order of the constituent elements. When a component is described as being "connected", "coupled", or "connected" to another component, the component may be directly connected to or connected to the other component, It should be understood that an element may be "connected," "coupled," or "connected."

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an energy management system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration diagram of the energy management system of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a detailed configuration diagram of the interface module of FIG.

The energy management system according to the present invention facilitates control and management of power devices by allowing different communication protocols to be linked with web-based protocols depending on power devices.

1, the energy management system includes an interface module group 30 for communicating with power devices and processing data transmitted to and receiving from the power devices using a web-based protocol, a middleware module 30 for managing data provided from the power devices, (20), and a control module (10) for generating a control command signal for the power device using data from the power device and demand response information.

Here, the electric power devices are various electric or mechanical systems or devices installed and installed in buildings, homes, and factories, and may include a heating and cooling system (HVAC), a security system, a power management system, have. Power devices are not limited to this and may include various electrical or mechanical systems installed in buildings, homes, and factories. For example, electric appliances such as a refrigerator, a TV, a microwave oven, a stove, and the like may be included in the electric power equipment.

The interface module group 30 is composed of a plurality of interface modules 40. Each of the interface modules 40 includes an interface communication unit 41 for communication with the power device, A processing unit 43, and a web service unit 45 for converting data into a web standard language using a standard protocol.

The interface communication unit 41 supports a variety of communication methods used in the power equipment. The communication methods supported by the interface communication unit 41 include RS232, Ethernet, programmable logic controller (PLC), RS485, Wifi , And 3G.

That is, the communication method supported by the interface communication unit 41 includes communication methods of various power devices such as a PC, a smart phone, a tablet PC, an LED, a distributed power source, an electric vehicle, an air conditioner, a power conversion device, , But is not limited to the communication method described above. Accordingly, the interface communication unit 41 can transmit and receive data by communicating with various power devices using each communication method.

The data received from the power device may vary depending on the type of the power device, and general data may include power device status information including energy consumption, operation status of the power device, and failure status.

When the interface communication unit 41 receives the data received from each power device, the protocol processor 43 selects a protocol corresponding to the communication method used by the corresponding power device, and processes the data using the selected protocol .

The protocol supported by the protocol processing unit 43 is mapped to a communication method supported by the interface communication unit 41. The protocols that can be processed by the interface communication unit 41 include XML (Extensible Markup Language), DLMS Specification), DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface), IEC61850, BACnet (Building Automation Control Network), Modbus, DNP3.0, ANSI and others. Here, XML is a web-based protocol, DALI is an LED communication standard protocol, DLMS / ANSI is a smith meter standard protocol, IEC61850 is a distributed power and electric vehicle standard protocol, BACnet is an air conditioner standard protocol, Modbus / It is a communication protocol mainly used for power conversion equipment control.

The types of protocols supported by the protocol processing unit 43 are not limited thereto and can be configured to support all the protocols used in the power devices connected to the energy management system. The protocol processing section 43 can select a protocol in consideration of a communication environment such as a communication amount and a communication efficiency.

Meanwhile, one protocol may be matched to one communication method, a plurality of protocols may be matched to one communication method, or one protocol may be matched to a plurality of communication methods. The protocol processing unit 43 selects the Modbus protocol and processes the data received through the Ethernet, RS232, and RS485 communication methods.

The web service unit 45 can convert the data processed by the protocol processor 43 into the proprietary protocol of the power device into the web standard language using the standard protocol of the energy management system.

The standard protocol of the energy management system used by the web service unit 45 is oBIX (Open Building Information Exchange) which follows the principle of REST (Representational State Transfer). Here, REST is a network architectural principle, an overview of how resources are defined and addressed to resources. oBIX is a web-based protocol that follows the principles of REST, a standard protocol used in building control systems. oBIX processes data in the form of XML or URI (Uniform Resource Identifier), and the most common form of URI is a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Accordingly, the web service unit 45 can process the data processed by protocols such as DLMS, DALI, IEC61850, BACnet, and Modbus in XML or URI format.

When the web service unit 45 receives the data such as the control command signal provided from the control module 10 through the oBIX protocol, the web service unit 45 transmits the XML or URI format data to the DLMS, which is a protocol used for communication with the power device, DALI, IEC61850, BACnet, Modbus, DNP3.0, and ANSI.

The web service unit 45 communicates with the middleware module 20 via the web service and transmits and receives data, and uses the oBIX protocol when exchanging data with the middleware module 20. [

Meanwhile, since the interface module group 30 is composed of a plurality of interface modules 40 that operate independently of each other, the interface module 40 can be easily registered and removed. In addition, since the power devices can be distributed and the power devices communicating with the respective interface modules 40 can be set, the communication efficiency can be improved. That is, each interface module 40 may be assigned one or more power devices.

As a method for allocating power devices to each interface module 40, a method considering the number of power devices, a method considering communication load, a method considering communication method, and the like can be used. A method of considering the number of power devices is a method of allocating the same number of power devices to be processed in each interface. A method of considering a communication load is a method of comparing the communication amount of each power device, A method for allocating power equipments so as to be evenly distributed and a method for considering a communication method is a method for allocating power equipments using the same communication method to the same interface module 40. [

The interface module 40 may provide a plug-and-play function. Accordingly, when the power device is connected to the interface module 40, the interface module 40 automatically maps the communication method and the communication protocol of the power device to the control module 10 through the above- Data exchange is possible.

On the other hand, in this energy management system, since the web-based oBIX protocol is used as a standard protocol, the system can be upgraded and corrected / supplemented at any time through the web, thus upgrading, modifying, and supplementing work becomes simple.

The middleware module 20 includes a data management unit 21 that processes data from the interface module 40, a database 23 that stores data processed by the data management unit 21 and data from the control module 10, And an middleware communication unit 25 for exchanging data with the control module 10.

The data management unit 21 may store the data in the database 23 and provide the data to the middleware communication unit 25 when the data is received from the web service unit 45 of the interface module 40. [ Here, the data may include an amount of energy consumption, an operating state of the power equipment, a failure, and the like.

When the data management unit 21 stores the data provided from the interface module 40 in the database 23, the data management unit 21 can separate and store data according to each power device. As the data management unit 21 stores data provided from the interface module 40 in the database 23, cumulative data can be generated for each power device. The accumulated data may be read from the middleware communication unit 25 and provided to the control module 10.

On the other hand, when the control module 10 receives the control command signal, the data management module 21 can transmit the control command signal to the interface module 40. That is, when the control command signal from the control module 10 is provided through the middleware communication unit 25, the data management unit 21 may not transmit the control command signal to the interface module 40 ). ≪ / RTI >

The data management unit 21 uses the oBIX protocol in the same manner as the interface module 40.

The database 23 may store data of each power equipment provided by the data management unit 21 and cumulative data formed by accumulating data, and the data may be classified and stored according to each power equipment.

The middleware communication unit 25 communicates with the control module 10 to transmit and receive data. The middleware communication unit 25 transmits data for each power device to the control module 10 through a web service, To the interface module 40 through the data management unit 21.

The middleware communication unit 25 transmits and receives information to and from the demand reaction management unit 11, the HMI unit 13 and the control unit 15 of the control module 10 via the web service and controls the demand response management unit 11 or the HMI unit 13 To the data management unit 21. The middleware communication unit 25 transmits the control command signal received from the control unit 15 to the data management unit 21 and provides the control command signal to the interface module 40.

In contrast, the middleware communication unit 25 transmits the real-time data provided from the data management unit 21 to the HMI unit 13 and the control unit 15 through the web service, so that the data is displayed externally, while the control unit 15 So that control command signals can be generated using data. The middleware communication unit 25 reads the cumulative data stored in the database 23 for a predetermined period of time, for example, every 15 minutes and transfers the cumulative data to the HMI unit 13 and the control unit 15, And the control unit 15 can generate the control command signal using the accumulated data. At this time, the middleware communication unit 25 may automatically read the cumulative data stored in the database 23 at predetermined time intervals, and may accumulate cumulative data in the database 23 according to a request provided through the HMI unit 13 Read control module 10 may be provided.

The control module 10 may include a demand reaction management unit 11, an HMI (Human Machine Interface) unit 13, and a control unit 15.

The demand response management unit 11 collects information on demand responses such as demand management plan and incentive system and provides the collected information to the HMI unit 13 and the control unit 15 so that the demand response information is displayed outside And generates a control command signal for controlling the operation of each electric power device in accordance with demand response information.

The demand management plan is a system that induces a change of the consumer's power usage pattern according to the power supply situation by changing the charge according to the time zone. For example, the power unit price of the peak time period with high power consumption is increased, The unit price may include a lower rate plan. The incentive system is a system that gives an appropriate incentive depending on the amount of electricity used. For example, if the monthly electricity consumption is reduced by a certain percentage, .

The demand reaction management unit 11 can access a network such as the Internet and receive information on the demand response directly from KEPCO and the like.

The HMI unit 13 has a display function for displaying information to the outside to provide information to the user and displays demand response information provided from the demand response management unit 11 and data about each power equipment provided from the middleware module 20 can do. The HMI unit 13 uses a graphical user interface (GUI) using a graph or a table to display data, thereby allowing the user to easily grasp the information.

The control unit 15 generates a control command signal for controlling the operation of each power equipment by using the demand response information from the demand response management unit 11 and the real time data provided from the middleware module 20 or the accumulated data stored in the database 23, Lt; / RTI > The control unit 15 has a control algorithm that considers energy efficiency, demand response information, user emotion, etc., and a control algorithm according to a limited load amount. The controller 15 applies control information such as demand response information and data to the control algorithm to generate a control command signal can do. The control command signal uses the standard protocol oBIX protocol.

For example, when it is determined that the indoor temperature is excessively low in the summer based on the real-time data provided from the middleware module 20, the controller 15 generates a control command signal for raising the set temperature of the air conditioner, 20). The control command signal is provided to the interface module 40 through the data management unit 21 of the middleware module 20 and the interface module 40 can convert the protocol of the control command signal and transmit the protocol to the air conditioner.

As another example, when the current time is a peak time period in which power consumption is high, the control unit 15 controls the brightness or on-off of the illumination light or the temperature of the air conditioner Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > a < / RTI >

In addition, the control unit 15 specifies a desired power usage amount or price by applying an algorithm according to the limited load amount, and analyzes the pattern of the user to determine the load usage amount of the lower equipment through the middleware module 20 and the interface module 40 So that an algorithm capable of operating the consumption amount constantly or efficiently can be applied.

A process of providing data from each power device to the control module 10 in an embodiment of the energy management system with such a configuration will now be described with reference to FIG. 4A.

Each power device collects data on the energy consumption, the operation state of the power device, and the failure, and transmits the collected data to the interface module 40 of the energy management system using a unique communication method.

When data is received through the interface communication unit 41 of the interface module 40 in step S400a, the protocol processing unit 43 selects a protocol corresponding to the data communication method in step S410a, and processes the data using the selected protocol (S420a). Then, the web service unit 45 converts the protocol of the data into the web-based oBIX protocol (S430a), and transmits the converted data to the data management unit 21 of the middleware module 20 through the web service (S440a ).

The data management unit 21 of the middleware module 20 stores the data in the database 23 (S450a), and transfers the data to the middleware communication unit 25. The middleware communication unit 25 transmits data to the HMI unit 13 and the control unit 15 of the control module 10 through the web service (S460a). Meanwhile, the middleware communication unit 25 fetches cumulative data stored in the database 23 at predetermined intervals in accordance with a request from the HMI unit 13, not only in real time data, but also via the web service to the control module 10 Lt; / RTI >

On the other hand, when the demand response management unit 11 of the control module 10 delivers the demand reaction information provided from the outside to the HMI unit 13 and the control unit 15, the HMI unit 13 acquires real- Data and / or cumulative data, and demand response information from the demand response management unit 11 and displays the analyzed demand response information (S470a). The control unit 15 generates a control command signal for controlling each power device using the demand response information and the collected data or the usage pattern of the user and the collected data (S480a).

In another embodiment of the energy management system having such a configuration, a process of providing data from each power device to the control module 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 4B.

The protocol processing unit 43 selects a protocol corresponding to the data communication method in step S410b and transmits the selected protocol using the selected protocol to the protocol processing unit 43 via the interface communication unit 41 of the interface module 40 And processes the data (S420b). Then, the web service unit 45 converts the protocol of the data into the web-based oBIX protocol (S430b), and transmits the converted data to the data management unit 21 of the middleware module 20 through the web service (S440b ).

The data management unit 21 of the middleware module 20 transfers the data to the middleware communication unit 25 and the middleware communication unit 25 transmits the data to the HMI unit 13 and the control unit 15 of the control module 10 through the web service Data is transmitted (S450b).

Meanwhile, when the demand response management unit 11 of the control module 10 delivers the demand reaction information provided from the outside to the HMI unit 13 and the control unit 15, the HMI unit 13 acquires data provided from the middleware module 20 And the demand response information from the demand response management unit 11 and displays the demand response information to the outside (S460b). The control unit 15 generates a control command signal for controlling each power device using the demand response information and the collected data or the usage pattern of the user and the collected data (S470b).

A process of transmitting a control command signal generated by the control module 10 to each power device in the energy management system with such a configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

The demand response management unit 11 of the control module 10 collects the demand reaction information through the network and transfers the demand reaction information to the HMI unit 13 and the control unit 15. When the data is provided from the middleware module 20, Generates a control command signal for controlling each power device using the demand response information and the collected data or the usage pattern of the user and the collected data at step S500.

The control command signal is provided from the control module 10 to the middleware communication unit 25 of the middleware module 20 via the web service (S510). The middleware communication unit 25 transmits a control command signal to the data management unit 21 and a control command signal is transmitted to the web service unit 45 of the interface module 40 through the web service based data management unit 21 ).

The web service unit 45 converts the control command signal into a data format used in a protocol of a power device to which a control command signal is to be transmitted in a data format used in the oBIX protocol (S540). For example, when the power device receiving the control command signal is an air conditioner, the web service unit 45 converts the protocol of the control command signal from oBIX to BACnet. Then, the interface communication unit 41 selects a communication method corresponding to the protocol (S550), and transmits the control command signal to the power device using the selected communication method (S560). For example, since the communication method used in the air conditioner is Ethernet, RS-232, RS485, PLC, etc., the control command signal can be transmitted to the air conditioner using one of the communication methods.

The interface module 40, the middleware module 20, and the control module 10 of the above-described embodiment may be built in one server, but they may be constructed as separate servers.

As described above, in the energy management system according to the present invention, oBIX, which is a web-based communication protocol used in the energy management system, can be interlinked with a communication protocol corresponding to a communication method used in each power device, Data can be collected to control each power device, and power devices using various protocols and communication methods can be simply added and applied to an energy management system. In addition, when the number of power devices is increased, the system can be easily expanded by simply adding the interface module 40. In addition, the use of Web-based open protocols ensures transparency, ease of maintenance, and scalability and flexibility.

The standard content or standard documents referred to in the above-mentioned embodiments constitute a part of this specification, for the sake of simplicity of description of the specification. Therefore, it is to be understood that the content of the above standard content and portions of the standard documents are added to or contained in the scope of the present invention.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents thereof should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

10: control module 11: demand response manager
13: HMI section 15: Control section
20: Middleware module 21: Data management section
23: Database 25: Middleware communication section
30: Interface module group 40: Interface module
41: interface communication unit 43: protocol processing unit
45: Web service department

Claims (16)

At least one interface module for transmitting and receiving data with power devices using a plurality of different communication methods and converting the data received from the power devices into a web standard language using a web based protocol;
A middleware module for storing and managing data converted by the web-based protocol transmitted from the interface module; And
And a control module for generating a control command signal for controlling the power devices using the data. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the interface module comprises:
An interface communication unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from power devices using a plurality of different communication methods;
A protocol processing unit for supporting a plurality of protocols conforming to a plurality of communication methods used in the power devices and analyzing data provided from the power devices by selecting a protocol conforming to the communication method of the power devices;
And a web service unit for converting the data analyzed by the protocol processing unit using a web-based protocol. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the interface module provides a plug and play function to the power device to automatically map a protocol and a communication method of the power device when the power device is connected. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the web service unit converts data from the power device using an oBIX protocol based on REST. The method according to claim 1,
The middleware module includes:
A database for storing data provided from the interface module;
A middleware communication unit for supporting communication with the control module;
A data management unit for providing the data to at least one of the database and the middleware communication unit; And an energy management system for managing the energy management system. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the middleware communication unit provides the data stored in the database to the control module at predetermined time intervals. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the middleware communication unit transfers the control command signal received through the web service to the data management unit, and the data management unit transmits the control command signal to the interface module. The method according to claim 1,
The control module includes:
A demand response manager connected to an external network and collecting demand response information for the power equipment;
A controller for generating a control command signal for controlling the power device based on demand response information collected by the demand response manager and data provided from the middleware module;
And an HMI unit for processing the demand response information collected by the demand response management unit and the data provided from the middleware module and displaying the processed data. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein,
And analyzes the usage pattern of the user according to a power usage amount or a power consumption amount set by the user and controls a load usage amount of the power device based on data provided from the middleware module. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein a plurality of the interface modules are provided and at least one of the power devices is allocated to each interface module to communicate with the power devices. Receiving data from power devices using a plurality of different communication schemes;
Analyzing the data using a protocol supporting a communication method of the power device;
A conversion step of converting the data into a web standard language using a web-based protocol; And
And generating a control command signal for controlling the power devices using the data converted by the web-based protocol. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the converting step is a step of converting data from the power device using oBIX protocol based on REST. 12. The method of claim 11,
Further comprising collecting demand response information for the power device from an external network;
Wherein the generation step is a step of generating a control command signal for controlling the power device based on the demand response information and the data converted in the conversion step. 12. The method of claim 11,
Analyzing the usage pattern of the user according to a power usage amount or a power usage amount set by the user;
Wherein the generating step further includes the step of controlling a load usage amount of the power device based on the usage pattern of the user and the data converted in the conversion step. 12. The method of claim 11,
Converting the control command signal using a protocol used in a power device from which the control command signal is to be received;
Selecting one of communication methods matching a protocol of the power device;
And transmitting the control command signal to the power device using the selected communication method. 12. The method of claim 11,
Further comprising processing the demand response information for the power device and the data converted in the conversion step and displaying the processed data.

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