US 11,671,817 B2
Method for estimating the time-varying energy balance of a collection of energy sinks, harvesters, and storage devices
Richard O. Stroman, Washington, DC (US); Karen Swider-Lyons, Alexandria, VA (US); Eric A. Leadbetter, Columbia, MD (US); and Christopher Buesser, Washington, DC (US)
Assigned to The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US)
Filed by GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed on Jan. 28, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/160,569.
Application 17/160,569 is a continuation of application No. 15/895,003, filed on Feb. 13, 2018, granted, now 10,936,035.
Prior Publication US 2021/0160682 A1, May 27, 2021
Int. Cl. G05B 15/02 (2006.01); G06F 1/28 (2006.01); H02J 3/00 (2006.01); H02J 3/38 (2006.01); H04W 8/06 (2009.01); H02J 7/35 (2006.01)
CPC H04W 8/06 (2013.01) [G05B 15/02 (2013.01); G06F 1/28 (2013.01); H02J 3/00 (2013.01); H02J 3/003 (2020.01); H02J 3/381 (2013.01); H02J 7/35 (2013.01); H02J 2203/20 (2020.01); H02J 2300/20 (2020.01); H02J 2300/24 (2020.01); Y02E 60/00 (2013.01); Y04S 40/20 (2013.01)] 4 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out a method for scheduling at least one activity to achieve a time-varying energy balance of a power system, the method comprising:
receiving a mission plan for a mission, the mission plan comprising at least one activity and at least one route;
receiving a plurality of power load identifications for at least one time-varying power load for use in the mission plan;
receiving a plurality of energy storage device identifications for at least one energy storage device;
receiving a plurality of energy harvester identifications for at least one time-varying energy harvester for use in the mission plan;
determining based on the plurality of power load identifications a power requirement required to complete the mission plan using the at least one time-varying power load;
simulating an available power for the mission;
scheduling the at least one activity along the at least one route based on the power requirement and the available power; and
using a power manager to perform at least one of:
automatically powering the at least one time-varying power load and to draw power from the at least one time-varying energy harvester based on the scheduled at least one activity; and
automatically switching between the at least one energy storage device and the at least one time-varying energy harvester based on the scheduled at least one activity,
wherein said simulating an available power for the mission comprises simulating based at least in part on the mission plan, the plurality of energy harvester identifications, and the plurality of energy storage device identifications,
wherein the method further comprises:
providing a power load database of time-varying power loads comprising the plurality of power load identifications and a plurality of power consumption profiles, each power load identification of the plurality of power load identifications corresponding to a respective environment-dependent and activity-dependent power consumption profile of the plurality of power consumption profiles,
providing an energy storage device database comprising the plurality of energy storage device identifications for at least one energy storage device and a plurality of energy storage device profiles, each energy storage device profile comprising at least one of an open circuit voltage, an equivalent series resistance, a charge capacity, a minimum voltage, a maximum voltage, a weight, and a volume,
wherein said scheduling the at least one activity along the at least one route comprises accessing at least one of the power load database and the energy storage device database.