Electric heating – Heating devices – With power supply and voltage or current regulation or...
Patent
1996-03-15
1997-12-23
Paschall, Mark H.
Electric heating
Heating devices
With power supply and voltage or current regulation or...
219485, 219497, 219494, 219486, 392339, 165 18, 165 2, H05B 102
Patent
active
057009937
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a heating system which utilises electricity having a tariff which varies with time. In particular, the present invention relates to heating control apparatus for use in such a heating system to control heating means to achieve a desired temperature at one or more locations.
The efficient control of heating systems is desirable in order to ensure that the desired temperature for a location is achieved with maximum efficiency.
Electricity Utilities have been providing simple split rate tariffs such as a seven hour cheap rate period, for some time. However, the true cost of generating electricity is not reflected in this tariff and more recently complex tariffs have been introduced.
Since the advent of the Pool Pricing system following privatisation of the Electricity Industry in the United Kingdom, the electricity generators have introduced multi-rate tariffs that reflect more closely the true cost of supplying electricity at any particular time of day or night. It is likely that this pricing system will be extended to more complex tariffs and could lead to a Pool Pricing system with a tariff for which the price of electricity changes every half an hour during a day and also changes from day to day.
FIG. 1 illustrates a graph of the average pool price and national electricity power consumption for November 1990 over a twenty four hour period. It can be seen from this graph that the pool price substantially mirrors the national power demand and forms a complex tariff structure.
They are already heating control systems which utilise simple split rate tariffs. However, such systems are likely to have great difficulty coping with complex and real time tariffs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides heating Control apparatus for use in a heating system having heating means for heating at least one location, and temperature measuring means for measuring the temperature at said at least one location, said heating system being connected to an electricity supply having a tariff which varies with time; said heating control apparatus comprising data receiving means for receiving data on said tariff and weather prediction information; user selection means operable by a user to select a desired temperature for said at least one location and a desired time and duration of said desired temperature; storage means for storing information on the thermal characteristics of said at least one location and said heating means; and control means responsive to said data receiving means, said temperature measuring means, said user selection means, and said stored information to determine the times at which said heating means is energised, said control means being operative to control said heating means accordingly in order to achieve said desired temperature at said at least one location.
Preferably the heating means comprises storage heating means and direct heating means provided at the or each said location, and said control means is operative to energise said storage heating means when said tariff is low.
In another embodiment of the present invention said control means is operative to control said direct heating means to only supply a small amount of the total heat input to the or each said location in order to achieve said desired temperature at the or each location.
Preferably said heating system includes a heating means for each of a plurality of locations and a temperature measuring means for each said location, and said user selection means is adapted to allow a user to select desired temperatures for each said location. The control means is then operative to independently control each heating means to achieve the desired temperature in each said location.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention the control means is operative to use said stored information and said weather prediction information to calculate a predicted temperature for the or each said location.
Preferably the present invention achieves the desired temperature by
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patent: 5481140 (1996-01-01), Maruyama et al.
"An Experiment in Real Time Pricing for Control of Electric Thermal Storage Systems", IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 6 (1991), Nov. No. 4, New York, pp. 1356-1365.
Counsell John M.
Reeves John H.
EA Technology Limited
Paschall Mark H.
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