WO2020017035A1

WO2020017035A1 - Control device, control system, control method, and program

Info

Publication number: WO2020017035A1
Application number: PCT/JP2018/027325
Authority: WO
Inventors: 優太森實; 雄喜小川; 明宏戸田
Original assignee: 三菱電機株式会社
Priority date: 2018-07-20
Filing date: 2018-07-20
Publication date: 2020-01-23
Also published as: JP6914446B2; JPWO2020017035A1

Abstract

A control device (1) equipped with: a power prediction unit (115) for predicting a trend in surplus power during the daytime on the basis of previously generated power and previous power consumption in a house; a period determination unit (116) for determining, on the basis of a predicted trend in the surplus power, a heating-possible period in which a hot water heater (4) is able to heat water using only surplus power during the daytime; a schedule generation unit (119) for generating an operation schedule for heating water by means of the hot water heater (4) on the basis of the heating-possible period; a determination unit (123) for determining whether a daytime heating period exists, when a preset reference time arrives; and a reporting unit (124) for generating an image for reporting to a user message information related to a nighttime heating water amount that can be heated by the hot water heater (4) during the nighttime, when the determination unit (123) determines that a daytime heating period exists.

Description

Control device, control system, control method, and program

The present invention relates to a control device, a control system, a control method, and a program.

A hot water storage type hot water supply device that can reduce the power supplied from the system power supply at night the following day by generating hot water used by the user the next day using the power generated by sunlight in the daytime of the next day is proposed. (For example, see Patent Document 1). According to the hot water storage type hot water supply device described in Patent Literature 1, it is possible to reduce the power to be purchased from a commercial system power supply for boiling hot water.

JP 2008-002703 A

By the way, in the hot water storage type hot water supply device described in Patent Literature 1, since the hot water is boiled using the power generated by sunlight preferentially, the amount of hot water to be boiled by the power supplied from the system power supply at night is reduced. I do. Therefore, for example, when a large amount of hot water is used in the morning, the hot water may run out. Therefore, in a hot water supply device such as a hot water storage type hot water supply device described in Patent Literature 1 that uses water generated by sunlight preferentially to boil hot water, the hot water runs out regardless of the amount of hot water used in the morning. It is required to prevent this.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control device, a control system, a control method, and a program capable of suppressing occurrence of running out of hot water.

To achieve the above object, the control device according to the present invention includes:
In accordance with the operation schedule, the hot water is boiled by the power generated by the power generation equipment in the first period of the target day, and the hot water is supplied by the power supplied from the system power supply in the second period different from the first period on the target day. A control device that controls a water heater that generates hot water to be used on the target day by boiling
A power prediction unit that predicts a transition of surplus power in the first period based on power generated by the power generation facility in the past and power consumption in a past power consumption area;
A period determining unit that determines a boilable period in which the water heater in the first period can boil hot water only with the surplus electric power, based on a transition of the surplus electric power predicted by the electric power predicting unit; ,
A schedule generation unit that generates the operation schedule based on the boiling possible period,
A determination unit that determines whether a first reference period is included in the operation schedule when the reference time set in advance is included in the operation schedule;
When the determination unit determines that the operation schedule includes the first period boiling water period, second period boiling water amount information relating to the second period boiling water amount heated by the water heater in the second period. And a notifying unit for notifying the user of.

According to the present invention, when the notification unit determines that the operation schedule includes the first period boiling period by the determination unit, the notification unit determines the second period relating to the second period boiling water amount to be heated by the water heater in the second period. The user is notified of the period boiling water amount information. Thus, for example, when the user uses hot water immediately after the second period has elapsed, the user can use the hot water while grasping the amount of hot water boiled by the water heater during the second period. Generation is suppressed.

Schematic configuration diagram of a water heater system according to an embodiment of the present invention FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of changes in power generation and power consumption according to the embodiment. Schematic configuration diagram of a water heater according to an embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the terminal device according to the embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a control device according to an embodiment. Functional configuration diagram of a control device according to an embodiment The figure which shows an example of the weather forecast information which the weather forecast storage part concerning embodiment stores. The figure which shows an example of the weather result information which the weather result storage part concerning embodiment stores. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of power generation amount history information stored in a power generation amount storage unit according to the embodiment. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of power consumption history information stored in a power consumption storage unit according to the embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the prediction surplus power information which the prediction surplus power storage part which concerns on Embodiment stores. The figure which shows an example of the used hot water information which the used hot water storage part which concerns on embodiment stores. The figure which shows an example of transition of the amount of hot water storage of the water heater according to the embodiment. Sequence diagram showing operation of control device and terminal device according to embodiment The figure which shows an example of the operation screen image of the terminal device which concerns on Embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the operation screen image of the terminal device which concerns on Embodiment. Flow chart illustrating an example of the flow of hot water supply control processing executed by the control device according to the embodiment. Flow chart illustrating an example of the flow of hot water supply control processing executed by the control device according to the embodiment. Functional configuration diagram of a control device according to a modified example Flow chart showing an example of the flow of hot water supply control processing executed by the control device according to the modification. The figure which shows an example of the operation screen image of the terminal device concerning a modification. Functional configuration diagram of a control device according to a modified example Flow chart showing an example of the flow of hot water supply control processing executed by the control device according to the modification. The figure which shows an example of the operation screen image of the terminal device concerning a modification. The figure which shows an example of the operation screen image of the terminal device concerning a modification. Functional configuration diagram of a control device according to a modified example Flow chart showing an example of the flow of hot water supply control processing executed by the control device according to the modification. The figure which shows an example of the display screen of the terminal device concerning a modification. Functional configuration diagram of a control device according to a modified example Flow chart showing an example of the flow of hot water supply control processing executed by the control device according to the modification. The figure which shows an example of the operation screen image of the terminal device concerning a modification. The figure which shows an example of the operation screen image of the terminal device concerning a modification. The figure which shows an example of the operation screen image of the terminal device concerning a modification. The figure which shows an example of the operation screen image of the terminal device concerning a modification.

Hereinafter, a control device and a control system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The control device according to the present embodiment boils hot water by electric power generated by the power generation equipment in the first period of the target day according to the operation schedule, and operates the system in the second period different from the first period on the target day. The hot water heater that generates hot water to be used on the target day is controlled by boiling the hot water with electric power supplied from the power supply. The water heater boils hot water and supplies it to the house where the user lives. The user can control the water heater by operating the terminal device. Here, "boil the hot water" means that the water is heated and changed to hot water having a preset temperature higher than the temperature of the water. Further, the control device includes a power prediction unit, a period determination unit, a schedule generation unit, a determination unit, and a notification unit. The power prediction unit predicts a transition of surplus power in the first period based on past generated power and past power consumption in a power consumption area. The schedule generation unit determines, based on the transition of the surplus power predicted by the power prediction unit, a boilable period during which the water heater can boil the hot water only with the surplus power in the first period. The schedule generation unit generates an operation schedule of the water heater including a boiling period in which the water is heated by the water heater based on the boilable period. When the preset reference time arrives, the determination unit determines whether or not the length of the boiling period is equal to or longer than the preset reference period. The notification unit, when the determination unit determines that the length of the boiling period is equal to or longer than the reference period, transmits the second-period boiling water amount information relating to the second-period boiling water amount to be heated by the water heater in the second period. Notify the user.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the hot water supply system according to the present embodiment includes a water heater 4 for boiling hot water, a terminal device 7 operated by a user, and a water heater according to operation contents received by the terminal device 7. 4 and a power measuring device 3. Water heater 4, terminal device 7, and control device 1 are installed in user's house H, which is a power consuming area. In the house H, a plurality of electric equipments 5 (only one is shown in FIG. 1) and a plurality of electric equipments 5 arranged in the house H by using the power generation equipment 2 and the power supplied from the power generation equipment 2 and the system power supply 10 are provided. And a distribution board 11 to be supplied to the water heater 4. The system power supply 10 is provided by a power company. The distribution board 11 is connected to the system power supply 10 via a power line D1, connected to the power generation facility 2 via a power line D2, and connected to the water heater 4 via a power line D3. The control device 1, the power measuring device 3, the water heater 4, and the terminal device 7 can communicate with each other via the home network NT1. The home network NT1 conforms to communication standards such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark), Wi-SUN (registered trademark), and wired LAN (Local Area Network). The control device 1 can communicate with the weather server 8 and the time server 9 via the external network NT2. The external network NT2 is, for example, the Internet or a telephone line. The weather server 8 and the time server 9 are installed in, for example, a management company contracted with a user of the house H. Here, a control system that controls a water heater that generates hot water to be used on the target day is realized by the control device 1 and the terminal device 7.

The power generation facility 2 generates power using, for example, sunlight which is natural energy. The power measuring device 3 includes current transformers CT1, CT2, and CT3 provided on the power lines D1, D2, and D3, respectively. Then, the power measuring device 3 outputs the power P1 supplied from the system power supply 10 to the distribution board 11 via the current transformers CT1, CT2, and CT3, the power P2 supplied from the power generation facility 2 to the distribution board 11, and Power P3 supplied from distribution board 11 to water heater 4 is measured. Here, the electric power P1 corresponds to the electric power purchased by the user of the house H from the electric power company. The power P2 corresponds to the power generated by the power generation facility 2. Electric power P3 corresponds to electric power consumed in water heater 4. Then, total power consumption Pt consumed by water heater 4 and electric device 5 corresponds to the sum of power P1 and power P2.

Here, the power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2 and the total power consumption Pt in the house H change as shown in FIG. 2, for example. Here, the power P2 increases in the daytime when the amount of solar radiation increases, and the total power consumption Pt increases from the afternoon to the evening, which corresponds to, for example, the home time period of the user of the house H. In the period Tp in which the electric power P2 is smaller than the total power consumption Pt, the electric power consumed by the house H cannot be covered only by the electric power obtained by the power generation equipment 2, and thus the electric power is supplied from the system power supply 10. Therefore, during this period Tp, the value of the electric power P1 supplied from the system power supply 10 to the distribution board 11 becomes a positive value. On the other hand, during a period Ts in which the power P2 is equal to or greater than the total power consumption Pt, surplus power is supplied to the system power supply 10. That is, during the period Ts during which a reverse power flow from the house H to the system power supply 10 occurs, the value of the power P1 becomes negative.

湯 Hot water heater 4 is a hot water storage type water heater, and has a heat pump unit 400 and a tank unit 410 as shown in FIG. The heat pump unit 400 and the tank unit 410 are connected via a water pipe PL1 through which hot and cold water flows. The water heater 4 operates by power supplied from the system power supply 10 or power generated by the power generation facility 2 via the power line D3 branched by the distribution board 11 to perform boiling of hot water. Water heater 4 performs boiling of hot water using electric power supplied from system power supply 10 when boiling water at night. On the other hand, when the water heater 4 heats the hot water in the daytime, the water heater 4 uses the electric power generated by the power generation facility 2 to heat the hot water. Here, “daytime” is a preset first period, and “nighttime” is a second period different from the preset nighttime. The water heater 4 generates hot water to be used on the target day by boiling the water at night and during the day on the target day according to the operation schedule on the target day.

The heat pump unit 400 is a heat pump type heat source using CO2 (carbon dioxide) or HFC (hydrofluorocarbon) as a refrigerant. The heat pump unit 400 includes a refrigerant pipe PL3 through which the refrigerant flows, a compressor 401 that compresses the refrigerant, a first heat exchanger 402 that performs heat exchange between the refrigerant and water, an expansion valve 403 that expands the refrigerant, And a blower 405 for taking in outside air. Further, the heat pump unit 400 includes a second heat exchanger 404 that performs heat exchange between the outside air and the refrigerant, a circulation pump 407 that supplies water, and a control board 406 that controls the heat pump unit 400. The tank unit 410 has a hot water storage tank 411, a hot water supply controller 412, and a mixing valve 413. Hot water storage tank 411, hot water supply controller 412, and mixing valve 413 are housed in a metal outer case (not shown).

The compressor 401, the first heat exchanger 402, the expansion valve 403, and the second heat exchanger 404 are connected in a ring shape by a refrigerant pipe PL3. Thereby, a refrigerant circuit in which the refrigerant circulates is formed. The refrigerant circuit is also called a heat pump or a refrigeration cycle. The water pipe PL1 returns from the lower part of the hot water storage tank 411 of the tank unit 410 to the upper part of the hot water storage tank 411 via the circulation pump 407 and the first heat exchanger 402.

The compressor 401 compresses the refrigerant to increase the temperature and the pressure. The compressor 401 includes an inverter circuit capable of changing a capacity, which is a delivery amount per unit, according to a drive frequency. The compressor 401 changes the capacity according to an instruction from the control board 406. The first heat exchanger 402 is a heating source that heats supplied water to a preset target hot water storage temperature. The first heat exchanger 402 is a plate-type or double-tube heat exchanger, and exchanges heat between the refrigerant circulating in the refrigerant pipe PL3 and the water sent from the tank unit 410. Due to the heat exchange in the first heat exchanger 402, the refrigerant radiates heat and the temperature decreases, while water absorbs heat and the temperature increases. The expansion valve 403 expands the refrigerant to lower the temperature and the pressure. The valve opening of the expansion valve 403 is controlled by a control board 406. The second heat exchanger 404 performs heat exchange between the outside air sent by the blower 405 and the refrigerant. Due to the heat exchange in the second heat exchanger 404, the refrigerant absorbs heat and the temperature rises, and the outside air radiates heat and the temperature falls.

Circulation pump 407 sends water supplied from the lower part of hot water storage tank 411 of tank unit 410 to first heat exchanger 402. The circulation pump 407 includes an inverter circuit, and changes the flow rate of water to be sent to the first heat exchanger 402 in response to a change in the driving speed by the control board 406. The control board 406 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a communication interface, and a readable and writable nonvolatile memory. The control board 406 is connected to each of the compressor 401, the expansion valve 403, the blower 405, and the circulation pump 407 via a communication line (not shown), and controls these operations.

湯 The hot water storage tank 411 is made of, for example, a metal such as stainless steel or a synthetic resin. A heat insulating material is arranged outside the hot water storage tank 411. Thus, the temperature of the hot water stored in hot water storage tank 411 can be maintained constant for a long time. Further, at the tap of the hot water storage tank 411, there is provided a hot water usage measuring unit (not shown) for measuring the hot water usage, which is the amount of hot water discharged per unit time from the hot water storage tank 411. This amount of used hot water corresponds to the amount of hot water used in the house H. The used hot water amount measurement unit is connected to the hot water supply controller 412 via a communication line (not shown), and transmits information indicating the measured amount of hot water discharged per unit time to the hot water supply controller 412. The hot water storage tank 411 is provided with a hot water storage amount measurement unit (not shown) that measures the amount of hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 411. The hot water storage amount measurement unit is also connected to hot water supply controller 412 via a communication line (not shown), and periodically transmits information indicating the hot water storage amount to hot water supply controller 412.

湯 The hot water supply controller 412 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a communication interface, and a readable and writable nonvolatile memory, and controls the water heater 4. Hot water supply controller 412 is connected to control board 406 of heat pump unit 400 via a communication line. Hot water supply controller 412 is connected to remote control device 44 via communication line SL1. Here, the remote control device 44 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a readable and writable nonvolatile memory, a push button switch, an input device such as a touch panel, a display device such as a liquid crystal display, and a communication interface. The remote control device 44 has a function of displaying the operating state and the hot water storage state of the water heater 4 on a display device. Further, the remote control device 44 is installed, for example, in the bathroom of the house H, and receives an operation related to boiling or hot water supply by the user via the input device.

Furthermore, hot water supply controller 412 is communicably connected to control device 1 via home network NT1. Then, hot water supply controller 412 drives heat pump unit 400 by outputting a control signal to control board 406 based on the schedule information indicating the operation schedule transmitted from control device 1. Further, hot water supply controller 412 acquires information indicating the amount of hot water discharged per unit time from hot water storage tank 411 from the hot water usage measuring unit, generates hot water usage information, and calculates the hot water storage amount of hot water storage tank 411 from the hot water storage measuring unit. The acquired information is acquired to generate hot water storage amount information. Then, hot water supply controller 412 transmits the generated hot water use amount information and hot water storage amount information, the unique identification information given to water heater 4 and measurement time information indicating the time when the hot water use amount and the hot water storage amount are measured, to the control device. Send to 1.

Here, the basic operation of the water heater 4 will be described. At the start of the boiling operation of the water heater 4, the hot water in the hot water storage tank 411 has been consumed, and low-temperature water is stored in the lower part of the hot water storage tank 411. Then, when the circulation pump 407 operates, the water stored in the lower part of the hot water storage tank 411 is sent to the first heat exchanger 402 of the heat pump unit 400. Then, the water sent to first heat exchanger 402 is heated to the hot water storage temperature by heat exchange with the refrigerant. The water at the hot water storage temperature is returned to the upper portion of the hot water storage tank 411. At this time, hot water at the hot water storage temperature exists in the upper part of the hot water storage tank 411, and low-temperature water stays in the lower part of the hot water storage tank 411, and a temperature boundary layer is generated therebetween. Then, when the amount of hot water at the hot water storage temperature in hot water storage tank 411 increases and the proportion of water at the hot water storage temperature increases, the position of the temperature boundary layer approaches the lower portion of hot water storage tank 411, and accordingly, first heat exchanger 402 The temperature of the water sent to increases. Further, hot water having a hot water storage temperature flowing out of a hot water pipe provided at an upper portion of hot water storage tank 411 is mixed with low-temperature water by mixing valve 413. As a result, hot water at a temperature desired by the user (for example, 40 ° C.) is supplied to, for example, a shower 45 or a faucet 46 provided in a bathroom. The faucet 46 is for supplying hot water to a bathtub (not shown) of a bathroom, for example. At this time, low-temperature water is supplied into hot water storage tank 411 from a water supply pipe (not shown) connected to the lower part by the volume of hot water having the hot water storage temperature flowing out from the upper part of hot water storage tank 411. At this time, the temperature boundary layer moves upward in the hot water storage tank 411. Then, when the amount of hot water at the hot water storage temperature decreases, water heater 4 executes an additional boiling operation.

Returning to FIG. 1, the electric device 5 is, for example, an air conditioner, a lighting device, a floor heating system, a refrigerator, an induction heating (IH) cooker, a television, and the like. The electric device 5 is installed in the house H or its premises, and receives power supply from the system power supply 10 or the power generation facility 2 via the distribution board 11 and the power line D4. Further, the electric device 5 includes a communication interface and communicates with the control device 1 via the home network NT1. The electric device 5 may be connected to the home network NT1 via an external communication adapter (not shown). In response to the request from the control device 1, the electric device 5 transmits information including device identification information unique to the electric device 5, time information indicating the current time, and state information indicating the current operation state to the home network NT1. To the control device 1 via the.

(4) The terminal device 7 receives input of various instructions according to the operation by the user. The terminal device 7 transmits data representing the received instruction to the control device 1. Examples of the terminal device 7 include user interface devices such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a mobile phone, a personal computer, and a television. As shown in FIG. 4A, the terminal device 7 includes a CPU 701, a main storage unit 702, an auxiliary storage unit 703, a home communication unit 704, a display unit 705, an input unit 706, and a bus 709 connecting each unit. , Is provided. The input unit 706 is, for example, a push button switch, a touch panel, a touch pad, or the like that is arranged to overlap the display unit 705. The input unit 706 receives various operation information according to the operation of the user and outputs the received operation information to the CPU 701. The display unit 705 is a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electroluminescence) display, or the like. The display unit 705 outputs various information input from the CPU 701. The auxiliary storage unit 703 is a non-volatile memory, and stores various programs executed by the CPU 701. The CPU 701 controls the terminal device 7 by executing a program read from the auxiliary storage unit 703 to the main storage unit 702. The home communication unit 704 has an interface for connecting to the home network NT1.

Returning to FIG. 1, the time server 9 is, for example, an NTP server, measures time using a GPS, an atomic clock, or the like, and transmits time information indicating the measured time via the external network NT2. The time server 9 transmits time information to the control device 1 via the external network NT2.

The meteorological server 8 is an information server operated by the Meteorological Agency, a meteorological company, and the like, and provides weather forecast information indicating a weather forecast in each region and weather actual information which is the actual weather in each region. Here, the weather forecast information and the weather result information indicate the forecast and results regarding the weather, the temperature, the amount of solar radiation, the sunshine hours, the wind direction, and the like in each region. The weather server 8 is communicably connected to the control device 1 installed in the house H via the external network NT2, and transmits weather forecast information and actual weather information to the control device 1 via the external network NT2. To deliver. In addition, the weather server 8 delivers update notification information to the control device 1 via the external network NT2 each time the weather forecast information and the weather actual information are updated.

The control device 1 is installed at an appropriate place in the house H, and collects information transmitted from the electric device 5, the power measuring device 3, and the terminal device 7 installed in the house H via the home network NT1. The control device 1 is, for example, a HEMS (Home Energy Management System) controller that can integrally control the electric device 5. As shown in FIG. 4B, the control device 1 includes a CPU 101, a main storage unit 102, an auxiliary storage unit 103, an in-home communication unit 104, an out-of-home communication unit 105, and a bus 109 connecting these components to each other. Prepare. The main storage unit 102 is used as a work area of the CPU 101. The auxiliary storage unit 103 is, for example, a non-volatile semiconductor memory such as a flash memory, an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). The auxiliary storage unit 103 stores programs and the like for the CPU 101 to execute various processes.

The in-home communication unit 104 has an NIC (Network Interface Card) for communication using the in-home network NT1, and controls the power generation facility 2, the power measurement device 3, the water heater 4, and the electric device 5 under the control of the CPU 101. They communicate with each other via the home network NT1. The in-home communication unit 104 also has an NIC for communicating with the terminal device 7. The in-home communication unit 104 communicates with the terminal device 7 by a communication method conforming to the above-described in-home network NT1 communication standard. The external communication unit 105 has a communication interface for connecting to the external network NT2 via, for example, a broadband router (not shown). The external communication unit 105 communicates with the time server 9 and the weather server 8 via the external network NT2 under the control of the CPU 101.

The CPU 101 implements various functions by reading out the program stored in the auxiliary storage unit 103 into the main storage unit 102 and executing the program. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, CPU 101 includes a weather information acquiring unit 111, a power acquiring unit 112, a hot water amount acquiring unit 113, a power predicting unit 115, a period determining unit 116, a hot water amount determining unit 114, and daytime boiling. It functions as the hot water amount setting unit 117, the nighttime hot water amount calculation unit 118, the schedule generation unit 119, and the transmission unit 120. The CPU 101 further functions as a time information acquisition unit 121, a time acquisition unit 122, a determination unit 123, a notification unit 124, a schedule acquisition unit 125, and a water heater information acquisition unit 126. The auxiliary storage unit 103 includes a weather forecast storage unit 131, a weather result storage unit 132, a power generation amount storage unit 133, a power consumption storage unit 134, a predicted surplus power storage unit 135, a hot water storage amount storage unit 136, and a used hot water storage unit 137. And a schedule storage unit 138 and a time storage unit 139. As shown in FIG. 6A, for example, the weather forecast storage unit 131 stores weather forecast information indicating a weather forecast in an area where the house H exists in each time zone. As shown in FIG. 6B, the weather record storage unit 132 stores, for example, weather record information which is the current record of the weather in the area including the house H in the past and the past. The weather forecast information and the weather actual information are used to predict the power P2 supplied from the power generation facility 2.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7A, the power generation amount storage unit 133 associates information indicating the history of the power generation amount in the past and present day of the power generation facility 2 in each time zone with information indicating the date and the time zone. I remember. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7B, the power consumption storage unit 134 stores information indicating the history of the power consumption in the house H in each time zone of the past and present day, and information indicating the date, day of the week, and time zone. They are stored in association with each other. The predicted surplus power storage unit 135 stores, as shown in FIG. 8A, for example, surplus power information indicating the value of the surplus power Ps predicted for each predetermined time zone for the target date.

The hot water storage amount storage unit 136 stores hot water storage information indicating the current hot water storage amount of the hot water storage tank 411 of the water heater 4. For example, as shown in FIG. 8B, the used hot water storage section 137 stores the used hot water actual result information indicating the past used hot water amount in the past in association with the date. Returning to FIG. 5, schedule storage unit 138 stores schedule information indicating an operation schedule including a time zone in which water heater 4 heats up in the daytime and a time zone in which water heater 4 heats up in the night.

Time storage unit 139 stores schedule transmission time information indicating a schedule transmission time, which is a reference time for transmitting schedule information to water heater 4. Further, the time storage unit 139 stores notification time information indicating a time at which the user is notified of the nighttime hot water amount information on the nighttime hot water amount that is heated by the water heater 4 at night. Here, the nighttime hot water amount information is, for example, the second period hot water amount information that notifies the user of the possibility of running out of the hot water storage tank 411. The schedule transmission time indicated by the schedule transmission time information is set, for example, at 6:00 am, and the notification time indicated by the notification time information is set, for example, at 7:00 am. The schedule transmission timing information and the notification timing information may be stored in advance in the timing storage unit 139, or may be set by the user via the terminal device 7, for example.

The weather information acquisition unit 111 acquires weather forecast information and actual weather information from the weather server 8 via the external network NT2 and the external communication unit 105. The weather information acquisition unit 111 transmits the weather forecast information and the weather forecast information from the weather server 8 by transmitting the weather information transmission request information requesting the transmission of the weather forecast information and the weather actual information to the weather server 8 via the external network NT2. The result information is acquired and stored in the weather forecast storage unit 131 and the weather result storage unit 132. In addition, the weather information acquisition unit 111 transmits the weather information transmission request information to the weather server 8 every time the update notification information is received from the weather server 8, thereby acquiring the weather forecast information and the weather actual information from the weather server 8. I do.

(4) The power acquisition unit 112 acquires power measurement value information indicating the measurement values of the powers P1, P2, and P3 from the power measurement device 3 via the home network NT1 and the home communication unit 104. The power acquisition unit 112 causes the auxiliary storage unit 103 to store the acquired power measurement value information for a certain period. Then, power acquisition section 112 subtracts the measured value of power P3 consumed by water heater 4 from the measured value of total power consumption Pt corresponding to the sum of the measured value of power P1 and the measured value of power P2. The power Pc is calculated and stored in the power consumption storage unit 134.

Hot water amount acquisition section 113 acquires the above-mentioned used hot water amount information and hot water storage amount information from hot water supply device 4 via in-home network NT1 and in-home communication section 104. Hot water amount acquisition section 113 stores the used hot water amount information and the stored hot water amount information for a predetermined period of time in used hot water amount storage section 137 and hot water storage amount storage section 136, respectively.

The power prediction unit 115 predicts a change in surplus power Ps in the daytime on the target day based on the power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2 in the past and the past power consumption Pc. Here, the surplus power Ps corresponds to an excess of power when the power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2 exceeds the power consumption Pc of the house H. That is, the surplus power Ps corresponds to a difference between the power P2 supplied from the power generation facility 2 and the power consumption Pc in the house H.

The power prediction unit 115 predicts the power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2 on the target day based on the weather result information stored in the weather result storage unit 132 and the power generation information stored in the power generation amount storage unit 133. A power generation prediction model is generated. This power generation prediction model indicates a predicted value of power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2 corresponding to each of a combination of a plurality of time zones (for example, one-minute time zones) and weather on the target day. Specifically, the power prediction unit 115 first measures the power of the power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2 during a previously set model generation period (for example, a period from two weeks to one month). Values are categorized by a combination of multiple time periods in a day and weather such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, and the like. Next, the power prediction unit 115 calculates an average value of the power measurement values of the power P2 corresponding to each combination of the time zone and the weather. Then, the power prediction unit 115 generates the above-described power generation prediction model by associating the calculated average value of the measured power values of the power P2 with the combination of the time zone and the weather. After generating the power generation prediction model, the power prediction unit 115 acquires the weather forecast information on the target day (for example, the next day) in the area where the house H exists, which is stored in the weather forecast storage unit 131. Then, based on the power generation prediction model, the power prediction unit 115 calculates the average value of the power measurement values of the power P2 corresponding to the weather forecast for each time zone in the target day in the time zone in the target day. It is assumed that the power P2 is a predicted power value. In this way, the power prediction unit 115 predicts the power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2 in each time zone of the target day.

(4) The power prediction unit 115 creates a consumption prediction model for predicting a transition of the power consumption Pc in the house H on the target day based on the power consumption information stored in the power consumption storage unit 134. This consumption prediction model indicates a predicted value of power consumption Pc corresponding to each of a plurality of time zones on the target day. First, the power prediction unit 115 classifies the value of the power consumption Pc during the model generation period described above into a plurality of days. Next, the power prediction unit 115 calculates an average value of the power consumption Pc corresponding to each of the plurality of days. Then, power prediction section 115 generates the above-described consumption prediction model by associating the average value of the calculated values of power consumption Pc with the day of the week. After generating the power consumption prediction model, the power prediction unit 115 sets the average value of the power consumption Pc in each time zone corresponding to the day of the week of the target day as the predicted value of the power consumption Pc in that time zone of the target day. . In this way, the power prediction unit 115 predicts the transition of the power consumption Pc in each time zone of the target day.

電力 Then, the power prediction unit 115 predicts the transition of the surplus power Ps on the target day from the transition of the power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2 and the transition of the power consumption Pc on the predicted target day. Here, the power prediction unit 115 subtracts the predicted value of the power consumption Pc from the predicted value of the power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2 for each time period of the target day, thereby obtaining the predicted value of the surplus power Ps in that time period. calculate. The power prediction unit 115 causes the predicted surplus power storage unit 135 to store the calculated predicted value of the surplus power Ps in association with the information indicating each time zone on the target date.

The used hot water amount determination unit 114 determines a target daily boiling water amount Wday which is a predicted value of the water amount that needs to be heated by the water heater 4 on the target day. The target daily boiling water amount Wday corresponds to a predicted value of the amount of hot water to be used in the house H on the target day. The hot water consumption determining unit 114 calculates the average value of the hot water usage per day for the past two weeks indicated by the hot water information stored in the hot water storage unit 137, and uses the calculated average value of the hot water consumption as the target daily boiling water amount Wday. decide.

The period determining unit 116 determines a daytime boiling period. The daytime boiling period is a first period boiling period in which the hot water heater 4 is operated using only the electric power Ps and the hot water heater 4 heats the hot water during the daytime when the electric power Ps as surplus electric power is generated. . For example, when the target day is rainy or cloudy all day and the surplus power Ps is small or not generated, the period determination unit 116 eliminates the daytime boiling period. In this case, as shown by the solid line L1 in FIG. 9, the hot water supply device 4 heats hot water having the target daily hot water amount Wday at night, that is, from 3:00 to 7:00. On the other hand, when the target day is sunny all day and a large amount of surplus power Ps occurs, the period determination unit 116 determines a daytime boiling period. In this case, as shown by the dashed line L2 in FIG. 9, the hot water supply device 4 supplies hot water having the daytime hot water amount Wnoon of the target daily hot water amount Wday during the daytime, that is, between 11:00 am and 13:00 pm, as the surplus electric power Ps. Boil. In this case, the amount of hot water to be boiled at night is reduced by the amount of hot water to be boiled during the day, so that the amount of power supplied from the system power supply 10 to the water heater 4 for boiling the hot water at night is reduced.

Returning to FIG. 5, the period determining unit 116 determines the daytime boiling period based on the information indicating the predicted value of the surplus power Ps stored in the predicted surplus power storage unit 135. The period determining unit 116 determines a period in which the predicted value of the surplus power Ps is larger than the power consumption Pw of the water heater consumed by the water heater 4 as a daytime boiling period. Here, the water heater power consumption Pw corresponds to the power consumption when the water heater 4 is performing the boiling operation. The period determining unit 116 acquires information indicating the hot water heater power consumption Pw from the hot water heater 4 via the home network NT1 and the home communication unit 104. The period determining unit 116 determines the magnitude relationship between the predicted value of the surplus power Ps and the water heater power consumption Pw in each time zone in which the surplus power Ps occurs. Then, when there are a plurality of periods in which the predicted value of the surplus power Ps is larger than the hot water heater power consumption Pw, the period determination unit 116 determines the longest period of the plurality of periods as the daytime boiling period. Thus, the number of times the water heater 4 starts and stops can be reduced, so that the operation efficiency of the water heater 4 can be improved. Further, the period determining unit 116 calculates a possible boiling time Tmax corresponding to the determined length of the daytime boiling period. The possible boiling time Tmax corresponds to the longest time in which the water heater 4 can heat the hot water using the surplus power Ps.

The daytime boiling water amount setting section 117 subtracts the starting hot water storage amount Won, which is a predetermined hot water prevention water amount, from the target daily boiling water amount Wday determined by the used hot water amount determination section 114 to obtain a daytime boiling water amount. Set as Wnoon. Here, the starting hot water storage amount Won is set to, for example, 100 L. The nighttime boiling water amount calculation unit 118 calculates the nighttime boiling water amount Wnight, which is the amount of water to be heated by the water heater 4 using only the electric power supplied from the system power supply 10 at nighttime. Further, the nighttime boiling water amount calculation unit 118 calculates the boiling water amount Wmax by multiplying the boiling time Tmax calculated by the period determination unit 116 by the boiling capability of the water heater 4. Here, the boiling capability of the water heater 4 corresponds to the amount of water that the water heater 4 can heat per unit time. Further, the nighttime boiling water amount calculation unit 118 calculates the required boiling time Tnoon by dividing the daytime boiling water amount Wnoon set by the daytime boiling water amount setting unit 117 by the boiling capacity of the water heater 4.

In addition, the daytime hot water amount setting section 117 subtracts the nighttime hotwater amount Wnight calculated by the nighttime hotwater amount calculation section 118 from the target daily hotwater amount Wday determined by the hot water amount determination section 114, and obtains the amount of hotwater obtained. It is set as a new daytime boiling water amount Wnoon. Thereby, daytime hot water amount setting section 117 sets daytime hot water amount Wnoon according to the operation mode selected by the user among a plurality of types of operation modes of water heater 4.

The schedule generation unit 119 generates an operation schedule of the water heater 4 including the start time and the end time of the daytime boiling period, the nighttime boiling water amount Wnight, and the daytime boiling water amount Wnoon. The schedule generation unit 119 causes the schedule storage unit 138 to store schedule information indicating the generated operation schedule. The transmitting unit 120 transmits the schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 to the water heater 4 via the in-home communication unit 104 and the in-home network NT1, thereby operating the water heater 4 according to the operation schedule.

Here, after receiving the schedule information from the control device 1, the hot water heater 4 starts operating using only the electric power supplied from the system power supply 10 when the nighttime operation start time indicated by the schedule information comes. Then, the hot water supply device 4 boiles the hot water having the nighttime hot water amount Wnight indicated by the schedule information at night, using only the electric power supplied from the system power supply 10. Here, the hot water heater 4 monitors the amount of hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 411 by periodically acquiring the hot water amount information from the hot water heater 4 (for example, every 30 seconds) after the operation starts. Then, when it is determined that the increment has reached the nighttime hot water amount Wnight from the amount of hot water stored in hot water storage tank 411 at the nighttime operation start time, hot water supply device 4 stops operating. Thereafter, the water heater 4 maintains the standby state until the start time of the daytime boiling period indicated by the schedule information comes.

{Circle around (5)} When the start time of the daytime boiling period indicated by the schedule information comes, the water heater 4 starts operating using only the surplus power Ps. Here, the hot water heater 4 monitors the amount of hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 411 by periodically acquiring the hot water amount information from the hot water heater 4 (for example, every 30 seconds) after the operation starts. Water heater 4 stops operating when it determines that the increment from the amount of hot water stored in hot water storage tank 411 at the start time of the daytime boiling period has reached daytime boiling water amount Wnoon. Further, when the end time of the daytime boiling period indicated by the schedule information arrives, water heater 4 reaches the daytime boiling water amount Wnoon from the amount of hot water stored in hot water storage tank 411 at the start time of the daytime boiling period at that time. Stop operation regardless of whether or not it is running.

The timing information acquisition unit 121 acquires the above-described notification timing information from the timing storage unit 139. The timing information acquisition unit 121 outputs the acquired notification timing information to the determination unit 123. The time acquisition unit 122 acquires time information indicating the current time from the time server 9 via the external network NT2 and the external communication unit 105. The time obtaining unit 122 outputs the obtained time information to the determining unit 123. The time acquisition unit 122 periodically acquires time information, for example, at one-minute intervals. The interval at which the time acquisition unit 122 acquires the time information is not limited to one minute intervals. The time obtaining unit 122 outputs the obtained time information to the determining unit 123.

The schedule acquisition unit 125 acquires schedule information from the schedule storage unit 138, and outputs the acquired schedule information to the determination unit 123 and the notification unit 124. Hot water heater information acquiring section 126 acquires the operating status information and hot water storage amount information of hot water heater 4 from hot water heater 4, and outputs the obtained hot water storage amount information and operating status information to notifying section 124.

The determination unit 123 compares the schedule transmission time indicated by the schedule transmission time information input from the time information acquisition unit 121 with the current time, and determines whether the schedule transmission time has arrived. In addition, the determination unit 123 compares the notification time indicated by the notification time information input from the time information acquisition unit 121 with the current time, and determines whether the notification time has arrived. Further, determination section 123 determines whether or not there is a daytime boiling period in which water heater 4 performs hot water boiling in the daytime in the operation schedule of water heater 4 based on the schedule information input from schedule acquisition section 125. Determine whether or not.

When the determination unit 123 determines that the notification time has come and that there is a daytime boiling period, the notification unit 124 notifies the user of the possibility of running out of hot water in the hot water storage tank 411, for example, the nighttime boiling water amount information and the schedule information. Is generated and transmitted to the terminal device 7 via the in-home communication unit 104 and the in-home network NT1. In addition, after transmitting image information including the above-mentioned nighttime boiling water amount information and schedule information to terminal device 7, notification unit 124 transmits operation information of a content requesting confirmation of operation state of water heater 4 from terminal device 7. Is received, the image information including the operation status information of the water heater 4 and the hot water storage amount information is generated and transmitted to the terminal device 7.

Next, operations of the control device 1 and the terminal device 7 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Here, a description will be given of a series of processes from the time when control device 1 generates schedule information indicating an operation schedule and transmits the schedule information to water heater 4 until the schedule information is generated and transmitted to water heater 4. Is omitted. A description of a series of these processes will be described later. First, the control device 1 acquires, from the time storage unit 139, notification time information indicating a notification time for notifying the above-mentioned nighttime hot water amount information (step S1). Next, the control device 1 compares the current time with the notification time indicated by the notification time information, and determines that the notification time has arrived (step S2), and acquires the schedule information from the schedule storage unit 138 (step S3). ). Subsequently, it is assumed that control device 1 determines that the daytime boiling period exists in the operation schedule of water heater 4 based on the schedule information (step S4). In this case, the control device 1 generates image information including nighttime boiling water amount information and schedule information (step S5). Thereafter, the image information generated by the control device 1 is transmitted from the control device 1 to the terminal device 7 (Step S6).

On the other hand, when receiving the image information, the terminal device 7 causes the display unit 705 to display the operation screen image 7a including the nighttime hot water amount information and the schedule information based on the received image information (step S7). At this time, for example, as shown in FIG. 11A, the display unit 705 displays nighttime hot water amount information such as “The hot water heater is being heated at night” and “Daytime hot water is from 9:00 to 12:00. Is displayed. ”Is displayed. That is, in the operation screen image 7a, by notifying the user that the night watering of the water heater 4 is suppressed, the user is urged to pay attention to how to use the hot water. Further, on the operation screen image 7a, a selection button image BU1 for allowing the user to select whether or not to request a further confirmation of the operation state of the water heater 4 is displayed.

Returning to FIG. 10, it is assumed that the terminal device 7 has received an operation performed by the user on the input unit 706 corresponding to the selection button image BU1 displayed on the display unit 705 (step S8). In this case, operation information corresponding to the operation content received by the terminal device 7 is transmitted from the terminal device 7 to the control device 1 (Step S9). On the other hand, it is assumed that control device 1 receives the operation information and determines that the operation content indicated by the received operation information is a content requesting confirmation of the operation status of water heater 4 (step S10). This is because the operation screen image 7 a as shown in FIG. 11A is displayed on the display unit 705 of the terminal device 7, and the user selects the “Yes” selection button image included in the selection button image BU 1 via the input unit 706. Corresponds to an operation of selecting. In this case, control device 1 acquires operating condition information and hot water storage amount information from water heater 4 (step S11), and generates image information including the acquired operating condition information and hot water storage amount information (step S12). Next, the image information generated by the control device 1 is transmitted from the control device 1 to the terminal device 7 (step S13).

On the other hand, when the terminal device 7 receives the image information, the terminal device 7 causes the display unit 705 to display the operation screen image 7a including the operation status information of the water heater 4 and the hot water storage amount information based on the received image information (step S14). . At this time, an operation screen image 7a including the operating status information M1 and the hot water storage amount information M2 as shown in FIG. 11B is displayed on the display unit 705, for example.

Next, a hot water supply control process executed by control device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. This hot water supply control process is started, for example, when power is turned on to control device 1. It is assumed that the weather forecast storage unit 131, the weather performance storage unit 132, and the hot water storage amount unit 136 of the control device 1 store the latest weather forecast information, weather performance information, and hot water storage information, respectively. First, the time acquisition unit 122 acquires time information indicating the current time from the time server 9 (step S101). The time obtaining unit 122 outputs the obtained time information to the determining unit 123. Next, the determination unit 123 acquires schedule transmission time information from the time storage unit 139, and determines whether or not the schedule transmission time has arrived based on the time information input from the time acquisition unit 122 (step S102). ). When the determining unit 123 determines that the schedule transmission time has not yet arrived (step S102: No), the process of step S116 described below is executed.

On the other hand, when the determining unit 123 determines that the schedule transmission time has come (step S102: Yes), the used hot water amount determination unit 114 acquires the used hot water amount information for the past two weeks from the used hot water storage unit 137 (step S102). S103). Next, the used hot water amount determination unit 114 calculates the average value of the obtained used hot water amounts per day for the past two weeks, and determines the calculated average value of the used hot water amounts as the target daily boiling water amount Wday (step S104).

Next, the period determining unit 116 determines the daytime boiling period based on the information indicating the predicted value of the surplus power Ps stored in the predicted surplus power storage unit 135 (Step S105). Here, the period determining unit 116 determines a period during which the predicted value of the surplus power Ps is larger than the above-described water heater power consumption Pw as the daytime boiling period. In addition, when there are a plurality of periods in which the predicted value of the surplus power Ps exceeds the water heater power consumption Pw, the period determination unit 116 determines the longest period among the plurality of periods as the daytime boiling period.

{Then, the period determining unit 116 calculates a possible boiling time Tmax corresponding to the determined length of the daytime boiling period (step S106). Next, the nighttime boiling water amount calculation unit 118 calculates the boiling water amount Wmax obtained by multiplying the boiling time Tmax calculated by the period determination unit 116 by the boiling power of the water heater 4 (step S107). ).

Next, the daytime hot water amount setting section 117 sets the daytime hot water amount Wnoon obtained by subtracting the above-mentioned starting hot water amount Won from the target daily hot water amount Wday (step S108). Subsequently, the nighttime boiling water amount calculation unit 118 calculates the required boiling time Tnoon by dividing the set daytime boiling water amount Wnoon by the boiling ability of the water heater 4 (step S109).

{After that, the nighttime boiling water amount calculation unit 118 determines whether or not the above-mentioned boiling time Tmax is longer than the required boiling time Tnoon (step S110). When determining that the possible boiling time Tmax is greater than the required boiling time Tnoon (Step S110: Yes), the nighttime boiling water amount calculation unit 118 subtracts the daytime boiling water amount Wnoon from the target daily boiling water amount Wday. Is set to the nighttime boiling water amount Wnight (step S111). Next, the process of step S114 described below is performed.

On the other hand, when the nighttime boiling water amount calculation unit 118 determines that the above-mentioned boiling time Tmax is equal to or less than the required boiling time Tnoon (Step S110: No), the boiling water amount Wmax is calculated from the target daily boiling water amount Wday. The amount of hot water obtained by subtraction is set as the nighttime hot water amount Wnight (step S112). Subsequently, the daytime hot water amount setting section 117 sets the hot water amount obtained by subtracting the nighttime hotwater amount Wnight from the target daily hotwater amount Wday as a new daytime hotwater amount Wnoon (step S113).

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 13, the schedule generation unit 119 shows the operation schedule of the water heater 4 including the above-mentioned nighttime hot water amount Wnight, the daytime hotwater amount Wnoon, and the start time and end time of the daytime boiling period. The schedule information is generated and stored in the schedule storage unit 138 (step S114). Next, transmitting section 120 acquires schedule information from schedule storage section 138, and transmits the acquired schedule information to water heater 4 (step S115).

Next, the timing information acquisition unit 121 acquires the notification timing information from the timing storage unit 139 (Step S116). The timing information acquisition unit 121 outputs the acquired notification timing information to the determination unit 123. Subsequently, the determination unit 123 compares the notification time indicated by the notification time information input from the time information acquisition unit 121 with the current time, and determines whether the notification time has arrived (step S117). If the determination unit 123 determines that the notification time has not yet arrived (step S117: No), the processing of step S101 is executed again.

On the other hand, when the determination unit 123 determines that the notification time has arrived (step S117: Yes), the schedule acquisition unit 125 acquires schedule information from the schedule storage unit 138 (step S118). The schedule acquisition unit 125 outputs the acquired schedule information to the determination unit 123. Thereafter, determination section 123 determines whether or not there is a daytime boiling period in the operation schedule of water heater 4 based on the schedule information input from schedule acquisition section 125 (step S119). Here, when the determination unit 123 determines that there is no daytime boiling period in the operation schedule of the water heater 4 (step S119: No), the process of step S101 is executed again.

On the other hand, when the determining unit 123 determines that there is a daytime boiling period in the operation schedule of the water heater 4 (step S119: Yes), the notification unit 124 compares the nighttime boiling water amount information and the schedule information with each other. The generated image information is transmitted to the terminal device 7 (step S120). Next, the water heater information acquisition unit 126 transmits the operation information from the terminal device 7 within a preset standby time after the notification unit 124 transmits the image information including the above-mentioned nighttime hot water amount information and the schedule information. It is determined whether or not it has been received (step S121). When it is determined by the water heater information acquisition unit 126 that the operation information has not been received from the terminal device 7 within the standby time (step S121: No), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, when it is determined that the operation information has been received from the terminal device 7 within the standby time (step S121: Yes), the content of the operation information indicates that the operation of the water heater 4 requires confirmation of the operation status of the water heater 4. Is determined (step S122). When the content of the operation information is not determined by the water heater information acquisition unit 126 to be a content requesting confirmation of the operation status of the water heater 4, the process of step S101 is executed again (step S122: No).

On the other hand, when it is determined that the content of the operation information is a content requesting confirmation of the operation status of the water heater 4 (step S122: Yes), the water heater information acquisition unit 126 transmits the above-described operation status information from the water heater 4. And hot water storage amount information are acquired (step S123). Water heater information acquisition section 126 outputs the acquired operation status information and hot water storage amount information to notification section 124. Subsequently, the notification unit 124 generates image information including the operating status information of the water heater 4 and the hot water storage amount information and transmits the image information to the terminal device 7 (Step S124). After that, the process of step S101 is executed again.

As described above, according to control device 1 according to the present embodiment, when notification section 124 determines that daytime boiling period is present by determination section 123, it is determined that notification section 124 determines at night that water heater 4 heats water at night. The image information including the nighttime hot water amount information relating to the hot water amount is transmitted to the terminal device 7. In this way, the notification unit 124 notifies the user of the information of the amount of hot water to be heated at night. Then, the user checks the operation screen image 7a displayed on the display unit 705 of the terminal device 7 to confirm that the amount of hot water to be heated by the water heater 4 at night is reduced and that the water heater 4 is heated during the daytime. Can be grasped. Thus, for example, when the user uses hot water immediately after the night has elapsed, the user can use the hot water while grasping the amount of hot water boiled by the water heater 4 at night, so that the occurrence of running out of hot water during use is suppressed. You. For example, the user can take measures against running out of hot water, such as reducing the amount of hot water used until the daytime boiling period comes.

In addition, notification section 124 according to the present embodiment transmits image information including nighttime boiling water amount information to terminal device 7, and then, according to the selection by the user, operation state information indicating the operation state of water heater 4 and hot water storage. The image information including the amount information is transmitted to the terminal device 7. This allows the user to check the operation status of the water heater 4 and the amount of remaining hot water in the hot water storage tank 411 by checking the operation screen image 7a displayed on the display unit 705 of the terminal device 7. It has the advantage of being able to know exactly.

Furthermore, in control device 1 according to the present embodiment, hot water usage determining section 114 determines target hot water usage Wday to be used on the target day based on the hot water usage and the hot water storage capacity of water heater 4 for the past two weeks. I do. In addition, the nighttime boiling water amount calculation unit 118 calculates the nighttime boiling water amount Wnight based on the target day use water amount Wday and the maximum boiling water amount Wmax that can be heated by the water heater 4 during the above-mentioned period during which the water can be heated. calculate. Thereby, the nighttime boiling water amount Wnight can be appropriately calculated.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, control device 2001 may include a usage frequency calculation unit 2127 that calculates the usage frequency according to a preset usage application based on the remaining hot water amount of water heater 4. . In FIG. 14, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. In FIG. 14, the weather information acquisition unit 111, the power acquisition unit 112, the hot water amount acquisition unit 113, the power prediction unit 115, the period determination unit 116, the hot water usage determination unit 114, the daytime hot water volume setting unit 117, the nighttime hot water volume Calculation section 118, schedule generation section 119, transmission section 120, weather forecast storage section 131, weather result storage section 132, power generation amount storage section 133, power consumption storage section 134, predicted surplus power storage section 135, hot water storage amount storage section 136, and Illustration of the used hot water storage section 137 is omitted. After notifying the above-mentioned nighttime boiling water amount information, the notification unit 124 generates image information including usage frequency information indicating the usage frequency calculated by the usage frequency calculation unit 2127 in accordance with the selection by the user, and outputs the image information. The number of times of use may be notified to the user by transmitting the information to the device 7.

In the hot water supply control process according to the present modification, for example, as shown in FIG. 15, after the hot water heater information acquiring unit 126 acquires the above-described operation status information and hot water storage amount information from the hot water heater 4 (step S123), The calculating unit 2127 calculates the number of times of use according to the preset use purpose based on the remaining amount of hot water in the hot water supply device 4 indicated by the acquired hot water storage amount information (step S201). In FIG. 15, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 13 denote the same processes as the hot water supply control process according to the embodiment. Next, the notification unit 124 generates image information including the operating status information of the water heater 4, the hot water storage amount information, and the usage count information indicating the calculated usage count, and transmits the generated image information to the terminal device 7 (Step S <b> 202). At this time, when receiving the image information, the terminal device 7 causes the display unit 705 to display the operation screen image 7a including the use count information M21 as shown in FIG. 16, for example. The number-of-uses information M21 indicates the number of times of hot water filling and the number of times of showering that are possible with the amount of remaining hot water of the water heater 4. For example, assuming that the remaining hot water amount of the water heater 4 is 125 L, the hot water amount for one shower is 50 L, and the hot water amount for one hot water filling is 150 L, the number of times of hot water filling is “one time” and the number of showers is “two times”. Is set to The amount of hot water used for one shower and the amount of hot water used for one hot water bath may be appropriately set according to the season, usage frequency, and usage trend, or may be set freely by the user via the input unit 706 of the terminal device 7. You may be able to.

According to this configuration, the user can grasp the remaining hot water amount of the water heater 4 according to the number of times of use according to the intended use, so that there is an advantage that it is easy to make a plan for using the remaining hot water of the water heater 4.

In the embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 17, control device 3001 uses hot water amount specifying section for specifying a preset number of past hot water amount information from hot water amount information stored in hot water amount storage section 137. 3128 may be provided. In FIG. 17, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. Also, in FIG. 17, the weather information acquisition unit 111, the power acquisition unit 112, the hot water amount acquisition unit 113, the power prediction unit 115, the period determination unit 116, the hot water amount determination unit 114, the daytime hot water amount setting unit 117, the nighttime hot water amount Calculation section 118, schedule generation section 119, transmission section 120, weather forecast storage section 131, weather result storage section 132, power generation amount storage section 133, power consumption storage section 134, predicted surplus power storage section 135, hot water storage amount storage section 136, and Illustration of the used hot water storage section 137 is omitted. Then, after notifying the above-mentioned nighttime boiling water amount information, the notification unit 124 generates image information including the used water amount information specified by the used water amount specifying unit 3128 according to the selection by the user, and transmits the image information to the terminal device 7. By doing so, the past hot water amount information may be reported to the user.

In the hot water supply control process according to the present modification, for example, in step S301 in FIG. 18, the notification unit 124 displays, for example, "Do you check the amount of remaining hot water together with nighttime hot water amount information and schedule information as shown in FIG. 19A? Is generated and transmitted to the terminal device 7. In FIG. 18, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 13 denote the same processes as the hot water supply control process according to the embodiment. Next, the processing after step S121 is executed. Then, after the water heater information acquiring unit 126 acquires the above-described operation status information and hot water storage amount information from the water heater 4 (step S123), the used water amount specifying unit 3128 causes the display unit 705 of the terminal device 7 to display the past The used hot water amount information is specified (step S302). Next, the notification unit 124 obtains the past used water amount information specified by the used water amount specifying unit 3128 from the used water amount storage unit 137, and obtains the operating status information and the stored hot water amount information of the water heater 4 and the obtained past usage amount. Image information including the hot water amount information is generated and transmitted to the terminal device 7 (step S303). At this time, when receiving the image information, the terminal device 7 causes the display unit 705 to display an operation screen image 7a including past hot water consumption information M31 as shown in FIG. 19B, for example. The used hot water amount information M31 indicates a trend of the used hot water amount used in the last three days by the user. In addition, the used hot water amount information M31 is to display the used hot water amount three days ago in a vertical direction, but the target period and the display method of the used hot water amount information are not limited to those shown in FIG. 19B.

According to this configuration, since the user can check the past trend of the amount of hot water used, it is easy to grasp the amount of hot water to be heated by the hot water heater 4 at present.

In the embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 20, control device 4001 determines a future hot water heater based on the operation schedule indicated by the schedule information input from schedule acquiring section 125 and the remaining hot water amount of hot water heater 4 at the present time. 4 may be provided with an estimating unit 4129 for estimating the remaining hot water amount. In FIG. 20, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 20, in FIG. 20, weather information acquisition section 111, power acquisition section 112, hot water quantity acquisition section 113, power prediction section 115, period determination section 116, hot water quantity determination section 114, daytime hot water quantity setting section 117, nighttime hot water quantity Calculation section 118, schedule generation section 119, transmission section 120, weather forecast storage section 131, weather result storage section 132, power generation amount storage section 133, power consumption storage section 134, predicted surplus power storage section 135, hot water storage amount storage section 136, and Illustration of the used hot water storage section 137 is omitted. Then, after the notification unit 124 notifies the above-mentioned nighttime hot water amount information, the image information including the future remaining hot water amount information indicating the future remaining hot water amount of the water heater 4 estimated by the estimation unit 4129 according to the selection by the user. May be transmitted to the terminal device 7 to notify the user of remaining hot water amount information.

In the hot water supply control process according to the present modification, for example, in step S301 in FIG. 21, the notification unit 124 outputs image information including message information such as "Do you want to check the amount of remaining hot water?" Generated and transmitted to the terminal device 7. In FIG. 21, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 13 and 18 denote the same processes as the hot water supply control process according to the embodiment and the hot water supply control process according to the above-described modification. Next, the processing after step S121 is executed. Then, after water heater information obtaining section 126 obtains the above-mentioned operation status information and hot water storage amount information from water heater 4 (step S123), estimating section 4129 estimates the remaining hot water amount of water heater 4 in the future (step S123). S401). Next, notification section 124 generates image information including future remaining hot water amount information indicating the remaining hot water amount of hot water heater 4 estimated by estimating section 4129, and transmits the generated image information to terminal device 7 (step S402). At this time, when the terminal device 7 receives the image information, the operation screen including the future remaining hot water amount information M41 indicating the estimated amount of the remaining hot water amount of the water heater 4 from one hour to three hours after, for example, as shown in FIG. The image 7a is displayed on the display unit 705.

According to the present configuration, there is an advantage that the user can grasp the hot water use time in the future, and it is easy to make a hot water use plan.

In the embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 23, control device 5001 includes control information generating section 5152 for generating control information for causing water heater 4 to start boiling hot water, and additional boiling water amount calculating section 5151. And a transmission unit 120 for transmitting control information to the water heater 4. In FIG. 23, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. In FIG. 23, the weather information acquisition unit 111, the power acquisition unit 112, the hot water amount acquisition unit 113, the power prediction unit 115, the period determination unit 116, the used hot water amount determination unit 114, the daytime hot water amount setting unit 117, the nighttime hot water amount Calculation section 118, schedule generation section 119, weather forecast storage section 131, weather result storage section 132, generated power storage section 133, power consumption storage section 134, predicted surplus power storage section 135, hot water storage amount storage section 136, and used hot water storage section. 137 is omitted from the drawing.

In control device 5001 according to the present modification, notification unit 124 transmits image information including the amount of hot water at night to terminal device 7 and then asks the user whether or not to start heating of hot water by water heater 4. By transmitting image information including the heating start selection information for selection to the terminal device 7, the user is notified of the heating start selection information. On the other hand, when receiving the image information, the terminal device 7 causes the display unit 705 to display an operation screen image including the boiling start selection information. Then, when the user selects the start of boiling of hot water by water heater 4, terminal device 7 transmits, to control device 1, boiling start instruction information for instructing the start of boiling of hot water by hot water heater 4. I do. When receiving the boiling start command information from terminal device 7, control information generating section 5152 generates control information for starting the boiling of hot water. Here, the boiling start command information includes usage frequency information indicating the number of times of use in a preset use application, and the additional boiling water amount calculation unit 5151 performs processing based on the usage frequency information included in the boiling start command information. Then, the amount of hot water to be additionally heated by the water heater 4 is calculated. Then, control information generating section 5152 generates control information including additional boiling water amount information indicating the amount of hot water calculated by additional boiling water amount calculating section 5151. Transmitting section 120 transmits the control information generated by control information generating section 5152 to water heater 4. At this time, when receiving the control information, water heater 4 starts an operation of boiling the hot water by the additional boiling water amount indicated by the additional boiling water amount information included in the control information.

In the hot water supply control process according to the present modification, for example, in step S501 in FIG. 24, the notification unit 124 sets the “use hot water by then” together with the nighttime hot water amount information and the schedule information as shown in, for example, FIG. 25A. The image information including the boiling start selection information “Is masuka?” Is generated and transmitted to the terminal device 7. In FIG. 24, processes similar to those of the hot water supply control process according to the embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG. Next, the control information generation unit 5152 determines whether or not operation information has been received from the terminal device 7 within a preset standby time after the notification unit 124 transmits the above-described image information (step S121). . Here, if the control information generation unit 5152 determines that the operation information has been received from the terminal device 7 within the standby time (step S121: Yes), the content of the operation information indicates that the water heater 4 needs to heat the hot water. Is determined (step S502). If the control information generation unit 5152 determines that the content of the operation information is not the content that requires the hot water heater 4 to boil the hot water (step S502: No), the process of step S101 is executed again.

On the other hand, it is assumed that the control information generation unit 5152 determines that the content of the operation information is a content requesting the hot water heater 4 to boil the hot water (step S502: Yes). In this case, the notification unit 124 generates image information for requesting the user to specify the number of times of use in a preset usage, and transmits the image information to the terminal device 7 (step S503). At this time, when the terminal device 7 receives the image information, for example, as shown in FIG. 25B, a column B11 for specifying the number of hot water fillings, a column B12 for specifying the number of showers, and a boiling start button image An operation screen image 7a including BU2 is displayed on the display unit 705. Returning to FIG. 24, subsequently, the control information generation unit 5152 determines whether or not operation information has been received from the terminal device 7 within a preset standby time after the notification unit 124 has transmitted the above-described image information. A determination is made (step S504). Here, if the control information generation unit 5152 determines that the operation information has not been received from the terminal device 7 within the standby time (step S504: No), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, if the control information generation unit 5152 determines that the operation information has been received from the terminal device 7 within the standby time (step S504: Yes), the control information generation unit 5152 instructs the operation information to start the boiling of the hot water by the water heater 4. It is determined whether or not the information includes the start-up instruction information (step S505). Here, in the terminal device 7, an operation of selecting the boiling start button image BU2 via the input unit 706 is performed by the user while the operation screen image 7a as illustrated in FIG. 25B is displayed on the display unit 705. Then, the operation information including the boiling start instruction information is transmitted to the control device 1. The boiling start command information includes usage frequency information indicating the number of hot water baths and the number of showers.

Returning to FIG. 24, when the control information generation unit 5152 determines that the operation information does not include the boiling start instruction information (step S505: No), the processing of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, when the control information generation unit 5152 determines that the operation information includes the boiling start command information (step S505: Yes), the additional boiling water amount calculation unit 5151 determines the usage frequency information included in the boiling start command information. The amount of additional boiling water to be additionally heated by the water heater 4 is calculated on the basis of (step S506). When the use frequency information indicates the number of hot water baths and the number of showers, the amount of hot water used for one shower and the amount of hot water used for one hot water bath may be appropriately set according to the season, use frequency, and use trend, The user may be allowed to freely set via the input unit 706 of the terminal device 7. Additional boiling water amount calculating section 5151 outputs additional boiling water amount information indicating the calculated additional boiling water amount to control information generating section 5152. Thereafter, control information generating section 5152 generates control information including additional boiling water amount information indicating the amount of hot water calculated by additional boiling water amount calculating section 5151, and transmitting section 120 transmits the generated control information to water heater 4 (Step S507). Next, the process of step S101 is executed again.

In the present modification, an example has been described in which the notification unit 124 generates image information for requesting a user to specify the number of times of use in a preset use application and transmits the image information to the terminal device 7. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the notification unit 124 may generate image information for directly specifying the amount of hot water to be additionally heated by the user and transmit the generated image information to the terminal device 7. In this case, the control device does not include the additional boiling water amount calculation unit 5151. Upon receiving the image information, the terminal device 7 displays an operation screen image 7a including a column B21 for specifying an additional amount of hot water to be heated and a boiling start button image BU2 as shown in FIG. 26, for example. It is displayed on the unit 705. When the user performs an operation of selecting the boiling start button image BU2 via the input unit 706 while the operation screen image 7a is displayed on the display unit 705, the terminal device 7 includes the boiling start instruction information. The operation information is transmitted to the control device 1. The boiling start command information includes additional boiling water amount information indicating the amount of hot water to be additionally heated by the water heater 4. Then, control information generating section 5152 extracts additional boiling water amount information from boiling start instruction information, and generates control information including the extracted additional boiling water amount information.

According to this configuration, when the user uses hot water, the hot water heater 4 can be additionally heated as necessary, so that fundamental measures against running out of hot water can be implemented, User convenience can be improved. Further, according to the present configuration, the amount of hot water to be heated by the hot water supply device 4 can be set finely, so that the hot water supply device 4 is prevented from unnecessarily boiling hot water.

Alternatively, the notification unit 124 may generate image information indicating a gauge image for allowing the user to specify the level of the amount of hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 411 and transmit the generated image information to the terminal device 7. In this case, when the terminal device 7 receives the image information, for example, as shown in FIG. 27, the terminal device 7 displays a boiling start button image BU2, which is boiling start selection information, and a gauge image M51 indicating a target hot water storage amount of the water heater 4. The display unit 705 displays the operation screen image 7a including the operation screen image 7a. Then, when the user performs an operation of selecting the boiling start button image BU2 via the input unit 706 while the operation screen image 7a is displayed on the display unit 705, the terminal device 7 Operation information including boiling start command information for instructing to start boiling is transmitted to control device 5001. Here, the boiling start instruction information includes target hot water storage information indicating the target hot water storage according to the content of the gauge image M51 indicating the target hot water storage of the water heater 4. Then, upon receiving the boiling start command information, additional boiling water amount calculating section 5151 of the control device adds an additional boiling water amount to be heated by water heater 4 based on target hot water storage information included therein. Calculate the amount of boiling water. Further, control information generating section 5152 generates control information for boiling the additional boiling water amount calculated by additional boiling water amount calculating section 5151.

According to this configuration, the terminal device 7 causes the display unit 705 to display the operation screen image 7a including the gauge image M51 indicating the target hot water storage amount of the water heater 4 as shown in FIG. Can be visually grasped. Therefore, the user can easily set the target hot water storage amount of the water heater 4, so that the convenience for the user is improved.

In the embodiment, the example in which the time acquisition unit 122 acquires the time information from the time server 9 has been described, but the time acquisition unit 122 is not necessarily limited to the one acquired from the time server 9. The time acquisition unit 122 may acquire time information indicating a time measured by an RTC (Real Time Clock) incorporated in the control device 1, for example.

In the embodiment, an example has been described in which the power acquisition unit 112 acquires the power measurement values of the powers P1, P2, and P3 from the power measurement device 3, but this is not a limitation. For example, the power measurement device 3 is obtained by integrating the power P1 supplied from the system power supply 10, the power P2 generated by the power generation facility 2, and the power P3 supplied to the water heater 4 over a predetermined unit time. In the case of outputting the electric energy, the electric power acquisition unit 112 may acquire the electric energy from the electric power measuring device 3.

In the embodiment, an example has been described in which the period determining unit 116 acquires the information indicating the water heater power consumption Pw from the water heater 4 via the in-home network NT1 and the in-home communication unit 104. However, the invention is not limited to this, and the period determining unit 116 may determine the water heater power consumption Pw based on the history of the measured power values of the power P supplied to the water heater 4. Alternatively, the period determining unit 116 may acquire, from the auxiliary storage unit 103, information indicating the water heater power consumption Pw set in advance by the user and stored in the auxiliary storage unit 103.

In the embodiment, the operation screen image 7a of the terminal device 7 is not limited to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B. For example, the remaining hot water amount of the hot water storage tank 411 may be displayed at five or more levels.

In the embodiment, the example in which the control device 1 is installed in the house H has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the control device 1 may be installed outside the house H while being connected to the external network NT2, It may be built in the terminal device 7 or the water heater 4.

In the embodiment, the example in which the determination unit 123 determines whether the driving schedule indicated by the schedule information includes the daytime boiling period or not has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the determination unit 123 may determine whether the length of the daytime boiling period included in the operation schedule is equal to or longer than a preset reference period. Here, the reference time may be set to a length of 0 hour or more. When the determination unit 123 determines that the length of the daytime boiling period is equal to or longer than the reference period, the notification unit 124 generates image information including the nighttime boiling water amount information and transmits the image information to the terminal device 7. Thus, the user may be notified of the amount of hot water at night. In this case, when the reference time is set to, for example, one hour and the daytime boiling period is 30 minutes, the notification unit 124 outputs the nighttime boiling water amount information even when the driving schedule includes the daytime boiling period. Is transmitted to the terminal device 7.

In the embodiment, the example has been described in which the notification unit 124 transmits the image information including the nighttime boiling water amount information to the terminal device 7 when the determination unit 123 determines that the daytime boiling period exists. However, the information transmitted by the notification unit 124 is not limited to image information, and may be, for example, audio information including nighttime hot water amount information or other information.

The various functions of the

control devices

1, 2001, 3001, 4001, 5001 and the terminal device 7 according to the present invention may be realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. In this case, software or firmware is described as a program, and the program can be read by a computer such as a flexible disk, CD-ROM (Compact Disc Only Memory), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), and MO (Magneto-Optical Disc). A computer capable of realizing each of the above-described functions may be configured by storing and distributing the program on a recording medium, reading the program into the computer, and installing the program. When each function is implemented by sharing an OS (Operating System) and an application, or by cooperating with an OS and an application, only a part other than the OS may be stored in a recording medium.

Furthermore, it is also possible to superimpose each program on a carrier wave and distribute it via the external network NT2. For example, the program may be posted on a bulletin board (BBS, Bulletin \ Board \ System) on the external network NT2, and the program may be distributed via the external network NT2. Then, these programs may be started and executed in the same manner as other application programs under the control of the OS, so that the above-described processing can be executed.

Although the embodiments and modified examples of the present invention (including those described in the description, the same applies hereinafter) have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these. The present invention includes those in which the embodiments and the modified examples are appropriately combined, and those in which modifications are appropriately made.

The present invention is suitable for a hot water supply system in which a user in a house can appropriately adjust the amount of hot water to be heated by a water heater at night or in the daytime.

1, 2001, 3001, 4001, 5001 control device, 2 power generation equipment, 3 power measurement device, 4 water heater, 5 electric equipment, 7 terminal device, 7a operation screen image, 8 weather server, 9 time server, 10 system power supply, 11 power distribution board, 44 remote control device, 45 shower, 46 faucet, 101, 701 CPU, 102, 702 main storage unit, 103, 703 auxiliary storage unit, 104, 704 home communication unit, 105 home communication unit, 109 709 bus, 111 weather information obtaining unit, 112 power obtaining unit, 113 hot water amount obtaining unit, 114 hot water consumption determining unit, 115 power predicting unit, 116 period determining unit, 117 daytime hot water amount setting unit, 118 nighttime hot water calculating unit 119 {schedule generation unit, 120} transmission unit, 121 # time information acquisition unit, 1 2 time acquisition unit, 123 judgment unit, 124 notification unit, 125 schedule acquisition unit, 126 water heater information acquisition unit, 131 weather forecast storage unit, 132 weather actual storage unit, 133 power generation amount storage unit, 134 power consumption storage unit, 135 Predicted surplus power storage unit, 136 hot water storage unit, 137 hot water storage unit, 138 schedule storage unit, 139 timing storage unit, 400 heat pump unit, 401 compressor, 402 first heat exchanger, 403 expansion valve, 404 second Heat exchanger, 405 blower, 406 control board, 407 circulation pump, 410 tank unit, 411 hot water storage tank, 412 hot water supply controller, 413 mixing valve, 705 display unit, 706 input unit, 2127 use frequency calculation unit, 3128 hot water consumption specification unit , 4129 Estimator 5151 additional boiling water amount calculator, 5152 control information generator, B11, B12, B21 columns, BU1 selection button image, BU2 boiling start button image, CT1, CT2, CT3 current transformer, D1, D2, D3, D4 power line , H house, M1 operation status information, M2 hot water amount information, M31 hot water amount information, M41 remaining hot water amount information, M51 gauge image, NT1 home network, NT2 home network, Pc power consumption, Ps surplus power, Pw hot water heater power consumption , PL1 water pipe, PL3 refrigerant pipe, SL1 communication line, Tmax boiling time, Tnoon daytime boiling time, Wday target daily boiling water quantity, Wmax 可能 boiling water quantity, Wnight nighttime boiling water quantity, Wnoon daytime boiling water quantity, Won hot water storage

Claims

In accordance with the operation schedule, the hot water is boiled by the power generated by the power generation equipment in the first period of the target day, and the hot water is supplied by the power supplied from the system power supply in the second period different from the first period on the target day. A control device that controls a water heater that generates hot water to be used on the target day by boiling
A power prediction unit that predicts a transition of surplus power in the first period based on power generated by the power generation facility in the past and power consumption in a past power consumption area;
A period determining unit that determines a boilable period in which the water heater in the first period can boil hot water only with the surplus electric power, based on a transition of the surplus electric power predicted by the electric power predicting unit; ,
A schedule generation unit that generates the operation schedule based on the boiling possible period,
A determination unit that determines whether a first reference period is included in the operation schedule when the reference time set in advance is included in the operation schedule;
When the determination unit determines that the operation schedule includes the first period boiling water period, second period boiling water amount information relating to the second period boiling water amount heated by the water heater in the second period. And a notification unit that notifies the user of
Control device.
The notifying unit, after notifying the hot water amount information for the second period, notifies the user of operating condition information indicating an operating condition of the water heater in accordance with a selection by the user,
The control device according to claim 1.
The apparatus further includes a usage frequency calculation unit that calculates a usage frequency according to a preset use application based on the remaining hot water amount of the water heater,
The notifying unit, after notifying the boiling water amount information for the second period, notifies the user of usage count information indicating the usage count calculated by the usage count calculation unit according to the selection by the user,
The control device according to claim 1.
A hot water storage unit that stores hot water information indicating a past hot water usage;
A hot water consumption specifying unit that specifies a preset number of past hot water consumption information from among the used hot water information stored by the used hot water storage unit,
The notifying unit, after notifying the second period boiling hot water amount information, notifies the user of the used hot water amount information specified by the used hot water amount specifying unit according to a selection by a user,
The control device according to claim 1.
An estimating unit for estimating a remaining hot water amount of the hot water heater in the future based on the operation schedule and the remaining hot water amount of the hot water heater at the present time,
The notifying unit notifies the user of the remaining hot water amount information indicating the future remaining hot water amount of the water heater estimated by the estimating unit according to the selection by the user, after notifying the hot water amount information of the second period. ,
The control device according to claim 1.
The apparatus further includes a control information generation unit that generates control information for causing the water heater to start boiling hot water,
The notifying unit, after notifying the boiling water amount information for the second period, notifies the user of boiling start selection information for allowing the user to select whether to start boiling the hot water by the water heater,
The control information generating unit, after the boiling start selection information is notified to the user by the notification unit, when the boiling start command information for instructing to start the boiling of hot water by the water heater is input, Generating the control information;
The control device according to claim 1.
The boiling start command information includes usage count information indicating the usage count in a preset use application,
The apparatus further includes an additional boiling water amount calculating unit that calculates an amount of hot water to be additionally heated by the water heater based on the usage frequency information,
The control information generating unit generates the control information including additional boiling water amount information indicating the amount of hot water calculated by the additional boiling water amount calculating unit,
The control device according to claim 6.
The boiling start command information includes additional boiling water amount information indicating the amount of water to be additionally heated by the water heater.
The control information generating unit extracts the additional boiling water amount information from the boiling start command information, and generates the control information including the extracted additional boiling water amount information,
The control device according to claim 6.
Based on past hot water usage, hot water usage determining unit that determines the hot water usage to be used on the target date,
A second-period boiling water amount calculation unit that calculates the second-period boiling water amount based on a maximum boiling water amount that the water heater can boil during the boiling period.
The control device according to claim 1.
In accordance with the operation schedule, the hot water is boiled by the power generated by the power generation equipment in the first period of the target day, and the hot water is supplied by the power supplied from the system power supply in the second period different from the first period on the target day. A control system that controls a water heater that generates hot water to be used on the target day by boiling
A terminal device;
A power prediction unit that predicts a transition of surplus power in the first period based on power generated by the power generation facility in the past and power consumption in a past power consumption area;
A period determining unit that determines a boilable period in which the water heater in the first period can boil hot water only with the surplus electric power, based on a transition of the surplus electric power predicted by the electric power predicting unit; ,
A schedule generation unit that generates the operation schedule based on the boiling possible period,
A determination unit that determines whether a first reference period is included in the operation schedule when the reference time set in advance is included in the operation schedule;
When the determination unit determines that the operation schedule includes the first period boiling water period, second period boiling water amount information relating to the second period boiling water amount heated by the water heater in the second period. And a notification unit that notifies the user by displaying the terminal device on the terminal device,
Control system.
Based on the target hot water storage amount information indicating the target hot water storage amount of the hot water heater, an additional boiling hot water amount calculation unit that calculates an additional boiling hot water amount indicating the hot water amount of hot water to be additionally heated by the water heater.
A control information generation unit that generates control information for causing the water heater to start boiling hot water,
The notifying section, after notifying the second period boiling water amount information via the terminal device, a boiling start selection for allowing a user to select whether or not to start the boiling of the hot water by the water heater. Transmitting information to the terminal device;
Upon receiving the boiling start selection information, the terminal device displays a gauge image indicating the target hot water storage amount of the water heater together with the boiling start selection information, and displays a target corresponding to the gauge image according to a user's selection. Transmitting boiling start command information for instructing to start boiling of hot water by the water heater including hot water storage amount information to the control information generating unit and the additional hot water amount calculating unit;
The additional boiling water amount calculation unit, upon receiving the boiling start command information, calculates the additional boiling water amount based on the target hot water storage amount information included in the boiling start instruction information,
The control information generating unit, upon receiving the boiling start command information, generates the control information based on the additional boiling water amount,
The control system according to claim 10.
In accordance with the operation schedule, the hot water is boiled by the power generated by the power generation equipment in the first period of the target day, and the hot water is supplied by the power supplied from the system power supply in the second period different from the first period on the target day. A control method for controlling a water heater that generates hot water to be used on the target day by boiling
Predicting a transition of surplus power in the first period based on power generated by the power generation facility in the past and power consumption in a past power consuming area;
Determining a boiling possible period in which the water heater in the first period can boil the hot water only by the surplus electric power, based on the predicted transition of the surplus electric power;
Generating the operation schedule based on the boilable period;
Determining, when a preset reference time has arrived, whether or not the operation schedule includes a first period boiling period for boiling water in the first period;
If it is determined that the first period boiling period is included in the operation schedule, the user is notified of second period boiling water amount information relating to the second period boiling water amount to be heated by the water heater in the second period. And
Control method.
Computer
A power prediction for predicting a transition of surplus power in a power consumption area where a water heater is installed in a first period of a target date based on power generated by a power generation facility in the past and power consumption in a past power consumption area. Department,
A period determining unit that determines a boilable period in which the water heater in the first period can boil hot water only with the surplus electric power, based on the transition of the surplus electric power predicted by the electric power predicting unit;
A schedule generation unit that generates an operation schedule of the water heater based on the boilable period,
When a preset reference time has arrived, a determining unit that determines whether the operation schedule includes a first period boiling period in which the hot water is boiled in the first period,
When the determination section determines that the operation schedule includes the first period boiling period, the second period relating to the second period boiling water amount to be heated by the water heater in a second period different from the first period. A notification unit that notifies the user of boiling water amount information for two periods;
Program to function as