Smart Meter Load Disaggregation via Central Pattern Recognition
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems, such as Smart Meters, provide real-time load information but lack the capability to easily disaggregate customer load and generation profiles to identify contributing appliances, requiring additional sensors and processing, which is inconvenient for customers and utilities.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilizes existing Smart Meters to analyze customer load and generation profiles by recognizing predetermined electrical patterns through feature extraction and pattern recognition, determining the devices contributing to these profiles without the need for additional software or processing at the customer premises, using a database of known load patterns to match against real-time data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If additional sensors are installed to sense load drawn by specific appliances, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the disaggregation functionality from the customer premises equipment and relocates it to the central utility system. The Smart Meter continues to measure total load as before, but the complex pattern recognition and appliance identification algorithms are executed centrally at the utility, eliminating the need for additional sensors at customer sites while achieving detailed load breakdown.
Solution Approach 2:
The central utility system performs multiple functions: it maintains traditional billing and load monitoring while simultaneously executing advanced disaggregation analysis to identify individual appliances. This multi-functionality allows the existing Smart Meter infrastructure to support both aggregate monitoring and detailed appliance-level analysis without requiring separate dedicated systems.
2Loss of information
If additional processing is implemented at customer premises to disaggregate load profiles, then information completeness is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having the customer premises system perform disaggregation analysis, the patent inverts the approach by having the central utility system perform the analysis on data transmitted from customer meters. This reversal eliminates the need for customers to configure additional software or processing equipment at their premises, while still providing complete load breakdown information through centralized computational resources.
3Loss of information
If Smart Meters communicate detailed load profile data, then information completeness is improved, but loss of time in data transmission increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential aggregated load profile data from the detailed measurements for transmission to the central system. The Smart Meter continues to capture detailed appliance-level information locally, but only transmits summary statistics and key features to the utility, minimizing transmission time and bandwidth requirements while enabling centralized disaggregation analysis.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A system and method for analyzing a customer load and/or generation profile in order to disaggregate the customer load and/or generation profile is provided. The analysis of the customer load and/or customer generation profile may thereby determine the one or more devices that are operating and that contribute to the customer load and/or generation profile. In this way, the system and method may automatically analyze the customer load and/or generation profile in order to determine the one or more devices that contribute to the load and/or generation profile.