KR20170062006A

KR20170062006A - Simple Home Energy Estimation/Notification Method and System

Info

Publication number: KR20170062006A
Application number: KR1020150167305A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 강정훈; 임호정
Original assignee: 전자부품연구원
Priority date: 2015-11-27
Filing date: 2015-11-27
Publication date: 2017-06-07

Abstract

Home energy brief prediction / alarm methods and systems are provided. A power management method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes calculating monthly power usage amounts by receiving monthly electricity rates, measuring monthly power usage amounts in at least one regular power usage device, and calculating at least one , Estimates monthly electric power usage in the electric power consuming equipment during the year, and estimates the current electricity cost of the current month by referring to the calculation result, the measurement result and the prediction result. As a result, the number of smart plugs can be reduced to a minimum without using a smart meter, and the amount of electricity used in a home can easily be estimated with the lowest cost.

Description

{Home Home Energy Estimation / Notification Method and System}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to home energy management, and more particularly, to a method and system that can easily and low-costly manage electric power used in a home.

To accurately measure and analyze the power used in the home, a smart meter should be installed in the distribution box and smart plugs should be connected to all major household appliances in the home.

However, there is no room for installing a smart meter in a real home distribution box, and a smart meter is relatively expensive.

Although smart plugs are less expensive than smart meters, the number of home appliances in the home is still large enough and is expected to continue to increase in the future.

Also, installing smart meters and smart plugs is a very cumbersome task. In addition, the information that can be provided through this is the electric power usage and the rough electric fee based on the electric power consumption, but there is a dissatisfaction among the users that there is a difference from the actual electric fee charged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for predicting and guiding the amount of electricity used in a home with a simple and minimal cost.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power management method including: receiving monthly electricity charges; Calculating monthly power usage based on the input electricity charges; Measuring monthly power usage in at least one power-consuming device; Estimating monthly power usage amounts in at least one power using device during the year using the calculation results and the measurement results; And estimating an electricity price of the current month by referring to the calculation result, the measurement result, and the prediction result.

In addition, the constant power use device may include at least one of a refrigerator, a kimchi refrigerator, a water purifier, and a wine cellar.

In addition, the prediction step may predict a specific ratio of the power usage amount obtained by subtracting the monthly power usage amount of the constant power use device from the lowest monthly power usage amount to the monthly power usage amount in the power use device.

Then, the always-used power-consuming device may be an illumination.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power management method comprising: inputting a number of lights; And guiding the reduction of the electricity rate due to the reduction of the lighting.

The calculation step may further include a step of calculating the monthly power consumption in consideration of the progress ratio in the inputted monthly electricity rates and the power management method may guide the rise of the progression step based on the prediction result have.

In addition, the estimation step may selectively apply a weight to the power consumption of the current month, which is the basis of the current monthly electricity rate estimation, according to the ambient temperature.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile device comprising: a touch screen receiving monthly electricity charges; A communication unit for receiving the measured monthly power usage for at least one normally powered device; And monthly electricity use amounts are calculated on the basis of the input electricity charges, and monthly electricity use amounts are predicted in at least one power use device during the year using the calculation results and the measurement results, and the calculation results, And estimating the electricity bill of the month.

As described above, according to the embodiments of the present invention, the number of smart plugs can be reduced to a minimum without using a smart meter, and the amount of electricity used in a home can easily be estimated with the lowest cost.

Further, according to the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to guide the electricity bill that is close to the actual billing, and guide the user to effectively respond to the change of the progressive step.

In addition, according to the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to simplify the operation of the user who is required for the electricity bill management and the practice by recommending the electricity rate that is familiar to the user as the input parameter and recommending the reduction of the lighting number do.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a house power management system to which the present invention is applicable,
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a home power according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a home energy management application in which a monthly electricity bill input screen is displayed,
4 is a diagram illustrating a home energy management application in which an estimated electricity bill guiding screen is displayed,
FIG. 5 illustrates a home energy management application for guiding power savings due to illumination reduction, and FIG.
6 is a detailed block diagram of the smartphone shown in Fig.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a house power management system to which the present invention is applicable. The home power management system to which the present invention can be applied is a system for providing simple but important alarms and action items for predicting the electric power consumption in the home through a simple facility and easy input.

1, the home power management system to which the present invention performing such functions is applicable includes a smart plug 100, a smart phone 200, and a temperature sensor 300. [

The smart plug 100 measures the power consumption of the refrigerator 10 and wirelessly transmits the measurement result to the smartphone 200. The refrigerator (10) exemplifies a constant power use device.

If a kimchi refrigerator, a water purifier, a wine cellar, etc. are provided in the home in addition to the refrigerator, it is preferable to install the smart plug 100 in these.

The temperature sensor 300 measures the ambient temperature and wirelessly transmits the measurement result to the smartphone 200. The meteorological station server 20 is a server for providing weather information to the smartphone 200.

The smartphone 200 is provided with a home energy management application 250. The home energy management application 250 is an application for predicting in-home power usage from a simple user input and providing key alarms and actions for reducing electricity bills.

Hereinafter, a process of easily predicting and alarming the amount of power consumption in the home by the home energy management application 250 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a home power according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the home energy management application 250 is executed for the first time, monthly electricity rates are input from the user (S410).

3 illustrates a home energy management application 250 in which a monthly electricity bill input screen is displayed. As shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable, but not necessarily, to receive monthly electricity rates for one year.

If the user has lost his bill or is not sure how to check it on the Internet, or if he / she has been living for less than one year, he / she may receive only a portion of the bill. Furthermore, it is also possible to input electricity meter numbers, addresses, and the like so as to obtain monthly electricity rates from the KEPCO server.

On the other hand, the electricity bill calculation period is inputted in the lower part of the screen of Fig. This reflects the difference in estimating the electricity bill for each household. For example, assuming that electricity rates are calculated based on the electricity used during the period from November 11 to the following month, and there are households whose electricity charges are calculated based on the electricity used during the period from April 26 to April 25 This can be.

Like the monthly electricity bill, the billing period can also be determined by the user from the bill or automatically obtained from the KEPCO server.

Based on the monthly electricity rates input in step S410, the home energy management application 250 calculates the monthly electric power consumption (S420). Since the rate of progression is applied to the calculation of electricity rates, the calculation of monthly electricity consumption shall be applied in reverse proportion to the monthly electricity charges entered.

Meanwhile, the smart plug 100 measures the amount of power used in the refrigerator 10 (S430), and the home energy management application 250 calculates the monthly power consumption of the refrigerator 10 by accumulating the measurement result in the step S430 (S440).

Next, the home energy management application 250 subtracts a monthly average power consumption amount of the refrigerator 10 calculated in step S440 from a lowest one among the monthly electricity consumption amounts calculated in step S420, To estimate the monthly power consumption of the lights, which are power-consuming devices, during the year (S450).

Electricity consumption by heating and air-conditioning equipment (air conditioner, electric fan, electric stove, etc.) is the smallest in monthly household electricity consumption. Therefore, when the power consumption of the refrigerator 10, which is a constant power consuming device, is subtracted from the lowest monthly household power consumption, a considerable portion can handle the monthly power consumption by the lights.

The remaining part can be regarded as power consumption by the remaining devices (such as TV, washing machine, etc.).

The monthly power consumption of the lights predicted in step S450 is one. That is, in the embodiment of the present invention, the lights are treated as power-consuming devices throughout the year using the same power each month.

Thereafter, based on the power consumption of the refrigerator 10 measured by the smart plug 100 and the monthly power consumption calculated in step S420, the home energy management application 250 calculates the current power consumption and the current monthly power The fee is estimated (S460).

For example, the power consumption of the month of the last year or the month corresponding to the same season is 100 kWh, the electricity consumption of the refrigerator 10 is 30 kWh in the month, and today is the 20th day of the electricity bill calculation period. When the electric power consumption of the refrigerator 10 is 30 kWh, the electric power consumption is 100 kWh and the electric power consumption is 150 kWh.

The current power consumption is estimated based on the power consumption of the refrigerator 10 in comparison with the past data. In the above example, since the usage amount of the refrigerator 10 is 30 kWh, the power consumption until now is estimated as 100 * (30/30) = 100 kWh.

Also, since today is the twentieth day, power consumption of 45 (= 30/20 * 30) kWh is expected for only one month in the refrigerator 10, which is 1.5 times of the past consumption. The reason why the refrigerator 10 consumes a large amount of electric power is that as a result of storing many foods in the refrigerator 10 and closing the doors frequently, it is treated as having a lot of life / activity in the home, As well.

In step S460, the outside air temperature measured by the temperature sensor 300 and the weather information provided from the meteorological office server 20 may be referred to. That is, when the outdoor air temperature in summer is higher than in the past, or when the outdoor air temperature in winter is lower than the past, a weight (> 1) can be applied to the estimated power consumption.

Next, the home energy management application 250 displays the estimated electricity rate information in step S460, and warns the advancement of the progressive stage at a time point when the progressing step is passed or at an imminent time (S470).

FIG. 4 illustrates a home energy management application 250 in which an estimated electricity bill information screen is displayed.

On the other hand, the home energy management application 250 guides the user of power saving due to illumination reduction. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the home energy management application 250 receives the number of lights installed in the home from the user and the number of rooms provided in the home. Here, the illumination means each of the individual lights included in one light bulb. Normally, three to four lights are installed in one electric lamp.

The home energy management application 250 divides the monthly power consumption amount of the predicted lights by the number of the input by the user, and guides the power consumption amount per one illumination. That is, the home energy management application 250 calculates the amount of electricity . For families with four rooms, you will be informed that even if only one light is removed from the area, you can save the amount of power consumed by the four lights.

6 is a detailed block diagram of the smartphone 200 shown in FIG. 6, the smartphone 200 includes a communication unit 210, a touch screen 220, a processor 230, and a memory 240.

The communication unit 210 is a means for communicating with the smart plug 100, the temperature sensor 300, the weather station server 20, and the KEPCO server. The processor 230 executes the above-described home energy management application 250 to perform the algorithm shown in Fig.

The touch screen 220 displays an execution screen of the home energy management application 250 shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, and receives necessary information from a user. The memory 240 is a storage medium in which data necessary for the home energy management application 250 to be stored is stored.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

10: Refrigerator 100: Smart plug
200: Smartphone 250: Home Energy Management Application
300: temperature sensor 20: weather station server

Claims

Receiving monthly electricity charges;
Calculating monthly power usage based on the input electricity charges;
Measuring monthly power usage in at least one power-consuming device;
Estimating monthly power usage amounts in at least one power using device during the year using the calculation results and the measurement results; And
And estimating an electricity price of the current month by referring to the calculation result, the measurement result, and the prediction result.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the power-consuming device comprises at least one of a refrigerator, a kimchi refrigerator, a water purifier, and a wine cellar.

The method according to claim 1,
In the prediction step,
Wherein a specific ratio of the power consumption obtained by subtracting the monthly power consumption of the constant power consuming device from the lowest monthly power consumption is predicted to the monthly power consumption in the power consuming device during the year.

The method of claim 3,
Wherein the constant power use device is an illumination.

The method of claim 4,
Receiving a number of lights;
And guiding the reduction of the electricity rate due to the reduction of the lighting.

A touch screen receiving monthly electricity charges;
A communication unit for receiving the measured monthly power usage for at least one normally powered device; And
Calculating the monthly power usage based on the inputted electricity charges, estimating monthly power usage amounts in at least one power consuming device during the year by using the calculation result and the measurement result, and referring to the calculation result, the measurement result and the prediction result, And a processor for estimating an electric charge of the mobile terminal.