US 12,266,938 B2
Dynamic energy management and cost optimization in local grids
Richard Thomas Jones, Port Coquitlam (CA); Christopher Stanley James Tumpach, Vancouver (CA); Md. Zulfiquar Ali Bhotto, Surrey (CA); Ivan Bajic, West Vancouver (CA); and Stephen William Makonin, Burnaby (CA)
Assigned to Rainforest Automation, Inc., Vancouver (CA)
Filed by Rainforest Automation, Inc., Vancouver (CA)
Filed on Oct. 5, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/494,676.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/090,048, filed on Oct. 9, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0115872 A1, Apr. 14, 2022
Int. Cl. H02J 3/32 (2006.01); G05B 19/042 (2006.01); H02J 3/38 (2006.01); H02J 7/00 (2006.01)
CPC H02J 3/32 (2013.01) [G05B 19/042 (2013.01); H02J 3/381 (2013.01); H02J 7/0048 (2020.01); G05B 2219/2639 (2013.01); H02J 2300/22 (2020.01); H02J 2300/28 (2020.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for dynamic management of energy usage, the system comprising:
at least one power source;
at least one energy storage device configured to accumulate power; and
a load distribution controller coupled to the at least one power source and the at least one energy storage device, the load distribution controller being configured to:
acquire reference levels of using energy of the at least one power source at time slots within a time period and cost values corresponding to the reference levels;
dynamically determine, based on the reference levels and the cost values, a schedule indicating charge levels of the at least one energy storage device at the time slots within the time period, the determining the schedule including:
estimating, based on the reference levels and the cost values of energy from the at least one power source, a reference cost; and
performing feedback loop iterations to match a value of an accumulated cost to the reference cost while modifying the charge levels, wherein the accumulated cost is determined based on the cost values and values of energy demand of using the energy from the at least one power source within the time period, the values of energy demand being one of the following:
a sum of a load demand and an amount of energy required to charge the at least one energy storage device from a first level to a second level of the charge levels; and
a difference between the load demand and an amount of energy obtained by discharging the at least one energy storage device from a third level to a fourth level of the charge levels; and
configure the at least one energy storage device to charge or discharge the power according to the schedule.