Appliance Usage Period Adjustment Device for Peak Power Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to appropriately change the utilization times of household electrical appliances to reduce peak power consumption, as they cannot differentiate between appliances that can easily change their usage periods and those that cannot, leading to inefficiencies in energy savings.
Innovation Solution
A utilization-time changing support device that determines whether a household electrical appliance is regularly used and assesses the possibility of changing its usage period based on power consumption records, prioritizing daily-use appliances and suggesting alternative usage times to reduce peak demand.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the system advises changing utilization periods of all household electrical appliances, then the peak power consumption can be reduced, but the system cannot differentiate between appliances that can easily change their usage periods and those that cannot
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments household electrical appliances into two categories: regularly used appliances and irregularly used appliances, based on power consumption records. This segmentation allows the system to provide differentiated advice - suggesting utilization period changes for regularly used appliances while acknowledging that irregularly used appliances may not be suitable for such recommendations, thereby resolving the contradiction between reducing peak power consumption and respecting appliance-specific flexibility constraints
2Loss of energy
If the system provides utilization period change advice for all appliances, then energy savings can be maximized, but the advice may not be appropriate for appliances with fixed usage requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary analysis of power consumption records to determine whether an appliance is regularly used before providing utilization period change advice. This preliminary action ensures that advice is only given when appropriate, maximizing energy savings while maintaining reliability by avoiding unsuitable recommendations for appliances with fixed usage requirements
3Ease of operation
If the system monitors and analyzes power consumption of each appliance, then appropriate utilization period recommendations can be provided, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a power consumption monitoring system that automatically collects, stores, and analyzes power consumption data from household electrical appliances without requiring manual user input. The system self-service approach to data collection and analysis provides accurate utilization period recommendations while minimizing the operational burden on users, effectively balancing ease of operation with system complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a utilization-time changing support device including: a household-electrical-appliance power record storage unit storing records of power consumption for each household electrical appliance used in a living space; a power record writing unit receiving information indicating the power consumption of the household electrical appliance from a measuring device that measures the power consumption, and writing, into the household-electrical-appliance power record storage unit, a record of the information as one of the records of the power consumption; a regular use determining unit determining whether or not the household electrical appliance used during a predetermined period is regularly used, based on the records of the power consumption; and a period change possibility determining unit outputting (i) whether or not a utilization period of the household electrical appliance can be changed and (ii) another utilization period as a result of the determination, based on the records of the power consumption.