JP7515307B2 - Water heater control device, water heater system, operation schedule generation method and program - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a water heater control device, a water heater system, and an operation schedule generation method and program.

A water heater control device has been proposed that controls the heating operation of multiple storage-type water heaters (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This water heater control device predicts the future total power consumption of electrical devices other than the water heaters in a home in which each of the multiple water heaters is installed, and the amount of hot water used in each home, and generates an operation schedule for each of the multiple water heaters so that the sum of the power consumption of each of the multiple water heaters and the aforementioned total power consumption is reduced to below a preset power consumption threshold.

JP 2014-137215 A

However, in the case of the water heater control device described in Patent Document 1, depending on the operating schedule, there may be a large time gap between the time when the water heater finishes heating the water and the time when the hot water actually starts to be used in each residence. In this case, there is a risk that the water boiled by the water heater will have cooled down by the time the hot water is actually used, causing a hot water shortage.

This disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned reasons, and aims to provide a water heater control device, a hot water supply system, an operation schedule generation method, and a program that can reduce the total power consumption across multiple homes in which water heaters are installed, while preventing hot water shortages.

In order to achieve the above object, the water heater control device according to the present disclosure includes:
an electric power acquisition unit that acquires electric power consumption information indicating an amount of electric power consumed by the water heater and an amount of electric power consumed by the equipment in each of a plurality of houses in which the water heater and the equipment are installed;
a weather information acquisition unit that acquires weather information including at least weather forecast information indicating future temperatures in an area where the plurality of houses are present;
a water heater information acquisition unit that acquires water heater information including hot water usage history information indicating a history of hot water usage in each of the plurality of residences, hot water storage volume information indicating a current hot water storage volume of the water heater, and a current hot water storage temperature of the water heater;
a power prediction unit that predicts a total device power consumption to be consumed only by the devices throughout the entirety of the plurality of houses during each of a plurality of preset time periods until the next schedule generation time, based on past power consumption information of each of the plurality of houses, at a schedule generation time that occurs at each preset period and that generates an operation schedule for the water heater installed in each of the plurality of houses;
a hot water usage prediction unit that predicts the hot water usage in each of the plurality of residences until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information at the schedule generation period;
a usage time prediction unit that predicts a time period during which hot water will be used in each of the plurality of residences until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information at the schedule generation period;
A hot water cooling amount calculation unit calculates a hot water cooling amount indicating the amount of hot water required to heat up the hot water that has cooled down between the time when the hot water heater boiled the water and the time when the hot water heater boiled the water and the time when the hot water heater boiled the water to the temperature immediately after the hot water heater boiled the water, based on the weather information, the operation schedule, the amount of hot water used, and the time when the hot water is used.
a required power calculation unit that calculates the required power amount and the required operation time of the water heater of each of the plurality of houses until the next schedule generation time based on the amount of hot water used, the time period of use, the amount of hot water stored, the temperature of the stored hot water, and the amount of cooling of the hot water;
The system is equipped with a schedule generation unit that, at the schedule generation time, generates an operation schedule for the water heater for each of the multiple residences based on the required power amount and the necessary operation time so that the total power consumption consumed by the multiple residences as a whole until the next schedule generation time is below a predetermined power consumption threshold.

According to the present disclosure, the power requirement calculation unit calculates the power requirement and required operation time of the water heater for each of the multiple homes until the next schedule generation time based on the amount of hot water used, the time period of use, the amount of hot water stored, the stored hot water temperature, and the amount of water cooling in each of the multiple homes. Then, the schedule generation unit generates an operation schedule for the water heater for each of the multiple homes at the schedule generation time based on the power requirement and the required operation time so that the total power consumption consumed by the entire multiple homes until the next schedule generation time is equal to or less than a preset power consumption upper limit. This reduces the total power consumption of the entire multiple homes in which the water heaters are installed, while suppressing the occurrence of hot water shortages caused by the water cooling between the time the hot water is boiled by the water heater and the time the water is used.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a hot water supply system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. 1 is a schematic diagram of a water heater according to a first embodiment of the present invention; A block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a hot water supply system according to a first embodiment. A block diagram showing a functional configuration of a water heater according to a first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a hot water supply control device and a terminal device according to a first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a meteorological information storage unit according to the first embodiment; FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of information stored in an electric power amount storage unit according to the first embodiment; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a hot water usage history storage unit according to the first embodiment; FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a power amount prediction storage unit according to the first embodiment; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a hot water usage time prediction storage unit according to the first embodiment; FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a schedule storage unit according to the first embodiment; 1A is an explanatory diagram of the operation of a power consumption prediction unit according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 1B is an explanatory diagram of the operation of a hot water consumption prediction unit according to the first embodiment. 1A and 1B show the transition of total power consumption when the water heater is operated according to an operation schedule generated by a schedule generating unit in accordance with the first embodiment, where FIG. 1A shows the transition of total power consumption when the water heater is operated according to a provisional operation schedule, and FIG. 1B shows the transition of total power consumption when the water heater is operated according to a final operation schedule. FIG. 1A shows the transition of the total power consumption when the water heater operates according to the operation schedule generated by the schedule generating unit according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 1B is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the water cooling amount calculating unit. A sequence diagram showing an example of an operation of the hot water supply system according to the first embodiment. A sequence diagram showing an example of an operation of the hot water supply system according to the first embodiment. A sequence diagram showing an example of an operation of the hot water supply system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to the first embodiment; A flowchart showing an example of a flow of an operation schedule generation process executed by a water heater control device according to the first embodiment. A flowchart showing an example of a flow of an operation schedule generation process executed by a water heater control device according to the first embodiment. 1A shows the transition of the total power consumption when the water heater is operated according to the operation schedule generated by the schedule generating unit in the first embodiment, where FIG. 1A shows the transition of the total power consumption when the water heater is operated according to the tentative operation schedule, and FIG. 1B shows the transition of the total power consumption when the water heater is operated according to another tentative operation schedule. A block diagram showing the functional configuration of a water heater control device and a terminal device according to a second embodiment. A flowchart showing an example of a flow of a water cooling amount calculation model generation process executed by a water heater control device according to a second embodiment. A block diagram showing the functional configuration of a water heater control device and a terminal device according to a third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a hot water usage time prediction storage unit according to the third embodiment. A flowchart showing an example of a flow of an operation schedule generation process executed by a water heater control device according to a third embodiment. A flowchart showing an example of a flow of an operation schedule generation process executed by a water heater control device according to a third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a water heater control device and a terminal device according to a fourth embodiment. A sequence diagram showing an example of an operation of a hot water supply system according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to a fourth embodiment; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to the fourth embodiment; FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to a fourth embodiment; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to the fourth embodiment; FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to a fourth embodiment; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to the fourth embodiment; A flowchart showing an example of a flow of an operation schedule generation process executed by a water heater control device according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a hot water supply control device and a terminal device according to a modified example. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a hot water supply control device and a terminal device according to a modified example. FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to a modified example; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to a modified example; FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to a modified example; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to a modified example; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to a modified example.

Below, the hot water supply system according to each embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
The hot water supply system according to the present embodiment includes a terminal device and a hot water supply control device. The hot water supply control device includes an electric power acquisition unit that acquires electric power consumption information indicating the electric power consumption of the hot water supply device and the electric power consumption of the electric power supply device in each of a plurality of houses in which the hot water supply device and the electric power supply device are installed, and a weather information acquisition unit that acquires weather information in an area in which the plurality of houses are located. Here, the weather information includes at least weather forecast information indicating future temperatures. The hot water supply control device also includes a hot water supply information acquisition unit that acquires hot water supply information including hot water usage history information indicating the history of the amount of hot water used by the hot water supply device installed in each of the plurality of houses and hot water storage information indicating the hot water storage amount at the present time of the hot water supply device, and an electric power prediction unit that predicts the electric power consumption consumed only by the electric power supply device in the entire plurality of houses. Here, the electric power prediction unit predicts the electric power consumption consumed only by the electric power supply device in the entire plurality of houses in each of a plurality of time periods until the next schedule generation time based on the electric power consumption information of each of the plurality of houses at a schedule generation time that arrives at a predetermined period and generates an operation schedule for the hot water supply device installed in each of the plurality of houses. The water heater control device further includes a hot water usage prediction unit that predicts the amount of hot water usage in each of the multiple homes until the next schedule generation time based on the water heater information at the schedule generation time, and a usage time prediction unit that predicts the time when hot water will be used in each of the multiple homes until the next schedule generation time based on the water heater information at the schedule generation time. The water heater control device also includes a hot water cooling amount calculation unit that calculates a hot water cooling amount indicating the amount of water required to heat up water that has cooled down between the time of use and the time of use based on weather information, an operation schedule, the amount of hot water used, and the time of use, a required power calculation unit, and a schedule generation unit. The required power calculation unit calculates the required power amount and required operation time of the water heater for each of the multiple homes until the next schedule generation time based on the amount of hot water used, the time of use, the amount of hot water stored, and the amount of hot water cooling. The schedule generation unit generates an operation schedule for each of the water heaters in the multiple homes based on the required power amount and the required operation time at the schedule generation time so that the total power consumption across the multiple homes is below a preset power consumption upper limit value until the next schedule generation time.

The hot water supply system according to the present embodiment is used for an apartment house B1 having a plurality of houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] (n is a positive integer) as shown in FIG. 1. A hot water supply unit 3, an electric appliance 4, a distribution board 21 that supplies power to the hot water supply unit 3 and the electric appliance 4, and a power metering device 22 that measures the amount of power supplied to the hot water supply unit 3 and the electric appliance 4 are installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n]. In addition, the apartment house B1 is installed with a power generation facility 7 such as a solar power generation facility, and a power metering device 72 that measures the amount of power generated by the power generation facility 7. The distribution board 21 branches and supplies power supplied from the system power source PS to the hot water supply unit 3 and the electric appliance 4. In addition, the apartment house B1 is installed with a router 6 that can communicate with the hot water supply unit 3, the power metering device 22, and the power metering device 72 installed in the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] via a local network NW2. The local network NW2 is a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or a wired LAN. The router 6 is, for example, a broadband router, and is connected to a wide area network NW1 such as the Internet. Here, the hot water supply system according to this embodiment includes a terminal device 5 managed by each resident of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], and a hot water supply control device 1 capable of communicating with the terminal device 5 via the wide area network NW1. The hot water supply control device 1 is capable of communicating with the hot water supply devices 3, power measurement devices 22, and power measurement devices 72 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] via the local network NW2, the router 6, and the wide area network NW1.

The power measuring device 22 is a so-called smart meter that measures the amount of power consumed by the power supplied from the distribution board 21 to the water heater 3 and the electrical appliances 4, generates power information indicating the measured amount of power consumed, and transmits this information to the water heater control device 1. The power measuring device 72 also measures the amount of power generated by the power generation facility 7, generates power information indicating the measured amount of power generated, and transmits this information to the water heater control device 1. Here, when the power measuring devices 22 and 72 receive power information request information from the water heater control device 1 requesting that the water heater control device 1 transmit power information to the water heater control device 1, they each generate power information accordingly. Then, the power measuring devices 22 and 72 transmit the generated power information to the water heater control device 1.

2, the hot water heater 3 is a hot water storage type hot water heater having a hot water storage tank 31, a heat pump unit 32, and a controller 33, and the heat pump unit 32 boils water stored in the hot water storage tank 31. The heat pump unit 32 has an evaporator 321, a compressor 322, an expansion valve 324, a heat exchanger 323, a compressor 322, an expansion valve 324, and a control board 325 that controls the compressor 322, which constitute a heat pump. Here, water sent from the hot water storage tank 31 to the heat exchanger 323 by the pump 313 is heated in the heat exchanger 323 and returned to the hot water storage tank 31 again. Then, hot water is supplied to the bathroom or kitchen in the house H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] from the hot water outlet pipe PI1 provided in the hot water storage tank 31, and water is supplied to the hot water storage tank 31 from the water supply pipe PI2. The water heater 3 also has a hot water usage measurement unit 311 that is provided on the hot water outlet pipe PI1 of the hot water storage tank 31 and measures the hot water usage amount, which is the amount of hot water discharged from the hot water storage tank 31 per unit time, and a hot water storage amount measurement unit 312 that measures the amount of hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 31. The hot water usage measurement unit 311 is connected to the controller 33 via a communication line (not shown) and periodically outputs hot water usage information indicating the measured amount of hot water usage to the controller 33. The hot water storage amount measurement unit 312 is also connected to the controller 33 via a communication line (not shown) and periodically outputs hot water storage amount information indicating the measured amount of hot water storage to the controller 33. The water heater 3 also has temperature sensors 313a, 313b, 313c, 313d, and 313e that detect the water temperature in each section when the hot water storage tank 31 is divided into multiple sections in the height direction.

3, the controller 33 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 301, a main memory unit 302 such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), an auxiliary memory unit 303 having a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a readable/writable non-volatile memory, a communication interface 310 connected to the control board 325 of the heat pump unit 32 via a communication line (not shown), and a bus 309 connecting these to each other. Here, the CPU 301 loads the program stored in the auxiliary memory unit 303 into the main memory unit 302 and executes it, thereby functioning as a schedule receiving unit 331, a heat pump control unit 332, a water heater information transmitting unit 334, a hot water usage history generating unit 335, a hot water usage amount acquiring unit 336, a hot water storage amount acquiring unit 337, and a hot water storage temperature acquiring unit 338, as shown in FIG. 3 includes a hot water usage history memory 342 that stores the amount of hot water used, a hot water storage volume/temperature memory 343 that stores hot water storage volume information indicating the amount of hot water stored and hot water storage temperature information indicating the temperature of the hot water stored, and a schedule memory 344 that stores schedule information indicating the operation schedule of the water heater 3, as shown in FIG. 4. When the schedule receiver 331 receives schedule information transmitted from the water heater control device 1, it stores the received schedule information in the schedule memory 344. The heat pump control unit 332 controls the operation of the heat pump of the heat pump unit 32 by transmitting control information to the control board 325 according to the operation schedule indicated by the schedule information stored in the schedule memory 344.

The hot water temperature acquisition unit 338 generates hot water temperature information corresponding to the acquired detection signal each time it acquires a detection signal indicating the hot water temperature detected by each of the temperature sensors 313a, 313b, 313c, 313d, and 313e. The hot water temperature acquisition unit 338 then stores the generated hot water temperature information in the hot water volume/temperature storage unit 343 in chronological order in association with category identification information identifying the category corresponding to each of the temperature sensors 313a, 313b, 313c, 313d, and 313e. The hot water usage acquisition unit 336 stores the acquired hot water volume information in the hot water usage history storage unit 342 in association with time information indicating the time at which the hot water volume information measured by the timekeeping unit was acquired each time it acquires hot water volume information from the hot water usage measurement unit 311. The hot water volume acquisition unit 337 stores the acquired hot water volume information in the hot water volume/temperature storage unit 343 each time it acquires hot water volume information from the hot water volume measurement unit 312. When the hot water usage history generating unit 335 receives hot water heater information request information described later from the hot water heater control device 1, it acquires hot water usage information from the hot water usage history storage unit 342 from the most recent time when the hot water heater information request information was received to the present time and the corresponding time information, and generates hot water usage history information including the acquired hot water usage information and time information. The hot water usage history generating unit 335 then notifies the hot water heater information transmitting unit 334 of the generated hot water usage history information. When the hot water heater information transmitting unit 334 receives hot water heater information request information from the hot water heater control device 1, it transmits the hot water usage history information generated by the hot water usage history generating unit 335 and the hot water storage volume information and hot water storage temperature information stored in the hot water storage volume/temperature storage unit 343 to the hot water heater control device 1.

Returning to FIG. 1, the electrical appliances 4 are, for example, air conditioners, lighting fixtures, floor heating systems, refrigerators, induction heating (IH) cookers, televisions, etc. The electrical appliances 4 are installed in each residence and receive power from a distribution board 21.

The weather server 8 has a storage (not shown), a control unit (not shown) that controls the entire weather server 8, and a communication interface (not shown) connected to the wide area network NW1. The storage stores weather forecast information indicating future weather forecasts for each region, and weather performance information indicating past weather conditions for each region. The weather forecast information includes information indicating future temperatures and information indicating weather. The weather performance information includes information indicating current and past temperatures and information indicating weather. When the weather server 8 receives weather information request information from the water heater control device 1 requesting the weather server 8 to transmit weather information to the water heater control device 1, the weather server 8 extracts regional information indicating the target region contained in the weather information request information. Next, the weather server 8 acquires weather performance information and weather forecast information for the region indicated by the extracted regional information from the storage, and generates weather information including the acquired weather performance information and weather forecast information. The weather server 8 then transmits the generated weather information to the water heater control device 1.

The terminal device 5 is, for example, a smartphone, and includes a CPU 501, a main memory unit 502, an auxiliary memory unit 503, a display unit 504, an input unit 505, a wide area communication unit 506, and a bus 509 connecting each unit, as shown in FIG. 3. The main memory unit 502 is a volatile memory used as a working area for the CPU 501. The auxiliary memory unit 103 is a non-volatile memory such as a semiconductor flash memory, and stores programs for realizing various functions of the terminal device 5. The display unit 504 is a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro-luminescence) display, or the like, and outputs various information input from the CPU 501. The input unit 505 is, for example, a transparent touch pad arranged on top of the display unit 504, and receives various operation information according to the operation of the resident and outputs the received operation information to the CPU 501. The wide area communication unit 506 has an interface for connecting to the wide area network NW1.

The CPU 501 reads out the program stored in the auxiliary storage unit 503 into the main storage unit 502 and executes it, thereby functioning as a receiving unit 511, a display control unit 512, and a reception unit 513, as shown in FIG. 5. The auxiliary storage unit 503 shown in FIG. 3 also has an operation screen storage unit 531 that stores image information for generating an operation screen image that displays the operation schedule of the water heater 3, as shown in FIG. 5. The reception unit 513 receives an operation by the resident via the input unit 505, and notifies the display control unit 512 of operation information indicating the received operation content. The display control unit 512 acquires image information from the operation screen storage unit 531 based on the operation information notified from the reception unit 513, generates an operation screen image from the acquired image information, and displays the generated operation screen image on the display unit 504. When the reception unit 511 receives schedule information indicating the operation schedule of the water heater 3 transmitted from the water heater control device 1, it notifies the display control unit 512 of the received schedule information. When the display control unit 512 receives schedule information from the receiving unit 511, it acquires image information for displaying the operation schedule on the display unit 504 from the operation screen storage unit 531, and generates an operation screen image showing the operation schedule of the water heater 3 based on the schedule information and the acquired image information, and displays the image on the display unit 504.

Returning to FIG. 3, the water heater control device 1 is, for example, a general-purpose personal computer, and has a CPU 101, a main memory unit 102, an auxiliary memory unit 103, a wide area communication unit 106 connected to the wide area network NW1, a local communication unit 107 connected to the local network NW2, a clock unit 108, and a bus 109 that interconnects these. The main memory unit 102 is a volatile memory used as a working area for the CPU 101. The auxiliary memory unit 103 is a non-volatile memory such as a magnetic disk or a semiconductor flash memory, and stores programs for implementing various functions of the water heater control device 1. The local communication unit 107 communicates with the power measurement device 22 via the local network. The clock unit 108 functions as an RTC (Real Time Clock) that keeps track of the current date and time.

The CPU 101 reads out the programs stored in the auxiliary storage unit 103 into the main storage unit 102 and executes them, thereby functioning as a weather information acquisition unit 111, an electric power acquisition unit 112, a water heater information acquisition unit 113, an electric power prediction unit 114, a hot water usage prediction unit 115, a usage time prediction unit 122, a boiling amount calculation unit 116, a required electric power calculation unit 117, a hot water cooling amount calculation unit 121, a schedule generation unit 118, a priority determination unit 123, and a transmission unit 119, as shown in FIG. 5. The auxiliary storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 3 also includes an electric power amount memory unit 131, a weather information memory unit 132, a hot water usage amount memory unit 133, a hot water storage amount/temperature memory unit 134, an electric power amount prediction memory unit 136, a hot water usage time prediction memory unit 137, a schedule memory unit 138, and a threshold memory unit 139, as shown in FIG. 5.

As shown in FIG. 6, for example, the weather information storage unit 132 stores actual weather information indicating actual weather conditions at the present time and in the past, and weather forecast information indicating forecast weather conditions at the present time, in association with a number of pre-set time periods. In the example shown in FIG. 6, when the current time is 23:00-24:00 on 4/1, the weather information storage unit 132 stores the actual temperature and weather for each time period before 23:00 on 4/1 as actual weather information, and stores the forecast temperature and weather for each time period after 0:00 on 4/2 as weather forecast information.

As shown in FIG. 7A, for example, the power consumption memory unit 131 stores, for each house H[i] (i is a positive integer), H[i+1], ..., actual values of equipment power consumption, which is the amount of power consumed by electrical appliances 4 other than the water heater 3, and actual values of water heater power consumption, which is the amount of power consumed by the water heater 3, in each of a number of pre-set time periods for the houses H[i], H[i+1], ..., in association with information indicating the date, day of the week, and time period, and with house identification information ID(H[i]), ID(H[i+1]), ... that identifies the houses H[i], H[i+1], .... The power consumption memory unit 131 also stores actual values of the amount of power generated by the power generation facility 7 in association with information indicating the date, day of the week, and time period.

As shown in FIG. 7(B), for example, the hot water usage history storage unit 133 stores, for each house H[i], H[i+1], ..., the actual values of the hot water usage used during multiple pre-set time periods in the house H[i], H[i+1], ... in association with the date and time of usage, information indicating the day of the week of the date and time of usage, and the house identification information ID (H[i]).

Returning to FIG. 5, the hot water storage amount/temperature memory unit 134 stores the hot water storage amount information and hot water storage temperature information contained in the hot water heater information corresponding to each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] most recently acquired by the hot water heater information acquisition unit 113, in association with the house identification information.

As shown in FIG. 8(A), the power amount prediction memory unit 136 stores information indicating the predicted value of the total appliance power consumption of the electrical appliances 4 other than the hot water heater 3 for the entire apartment building B1 in multiple pre-set time periods predicted by the power amount prediction unit 114, the predicted value of the power generation amount of the power generation equipment 7, and the predicted value of the total power consumption obtained by subtracting the power generation amount of the power generation equipment 7 from the predicted value of the total power consumption of the electrical appliances 4 other than the hot water heater 3, in association with information indicating the time period. As shown in FIG. 8(B), for example, the hot water usage time prediction memory unit 137 stores the predicted value of the hot water usage start time and hot water usage amount for each house H[i], H[i+1], ... in association with date information and house identification information.

As shown in FIG. 9, the schedule storage unit 138 stores information indicating the start time of use, the provisional boiling amount, the provisional operation time, the additional power amount, the additional operation time, the operation end time, the operation time, the operation start time, and the priority in association with the house identification information and the rescheduling implementation date information. The start time of use corresponds to the time when the amount of hot water used in each house H[i] becomes equal to or exceeds the preset hot water usage threshold for the first time between two adjacent schedule generation periods. The provisional boiling amount is the boiling amount required to cover the amount of hot water used when the cooling of the hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 31 is not taken into consideration. Here, the boiling amount is the amount equivalent to the product of the amount of water stored in the hot water storage tank 31 and the temperature difference between the temperature of the water and the hot water storage temperature immediately before use. The hot water storage temperature immediately before use is preset, for example, set to 42°C. The provisional operation time corresponds to the operation time of the water heater 3 required to boil water by the provisional boiling amount. The additional power amount corresponds to the amount of power consumption consumed by the water heater 3 when the hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 31 is heated to the hot water storage temperature immediately before use when the hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 31 has cooled down. The additional operating time corresponds to the operating time of the water heater 3 required to heat the hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 31 to the hot water storage temperature immediately before use when the hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 31 has cooled down. The operation end time is the time when the water heater 3 ends its operation, the operating time is the time when the water heater 3 operates, and the operation start time is the time when the water heater 3 starts its operation. The priority is the priority of the water heater 3 to heat the amount of hot water used according to the provisional operating schedule. Here, the priority information indicating the priority may indicate a priority based on the updated operating schedule when one operating schedule update is performed. Alternatively, it may correspond to a cumulative value or average value of the priority corresponding to each updated operating schedule when multiple operating schedule updates are performed within a preset period.

The weather information acquisition unit 111 acquires weather information from the weather server 8, including weather record information indicating the current temperature and weather in the area where the apartment complex B1 is located and weather forecast information indicating the future temperature and weather. The weather information acquisition unit 111 acquires weather information transmitted from the weather server 8 by transmitting weather information request information to the weather server 8, which requests the weather server 8 to transmit weather information. Here, the weather information includes weather record information indicating the current and past temperature and weather records for which the weather request information is transmitted to the weather server 8, and weather forecast information indicating the hourly temperature and weather forecast after a preset period in the future from the current time, for example, from the current time until 24 hours later. In addition, the weather information acquisition unit 111 transmits weather information request information to the weather server 8 each time it is determined that the time has come to generate a new schedule for generating a preset operation schedule for the water heater 3 from the date and time measured by the clock unit 108. Then, the weather information acquisition unit 111 stores the acquired weather information in the weather information storage unit 132.

The power amount acquisition unit 112 acquires, from the power measurement device 22, power amount information indicating the amount of power consumed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] in which the water heater 3 and the electrical appliance 4 are installed. The power amount acquisition unit 112 also acquires, from the power measurement device 72, power amount information indicating the amount of power generated by the power generation facility 7. When the power amount acquisition unit 112 determines that the preset power amount information acquisition time has arrived based on the date and time measured by the clock unit 108, the power amount acquisition unit 112 acquires the power amount information transmitted from the power measurement device 22, 72 by transmitting, to the power measurement device 22, 72, power amount information request information requesting the power measurement device 22, 72 to transmit the power amount information. The power amount acquisition unit 112 then stores the acquired power amount information in the power amount storage unit 131.

The water heater information acquisition unit 113 acquires water heater information from the water heater 3, including hot water usage history information indicating the history of hot water usage by the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], hot water storage volume information indicating the current hot water storage volume of the water heater 3, and hot water storage temperature information indicating the current hot water storage temperature of the water heater 3. The water heater information acquisition unit 113 acquires water heater information transmitted from the water heater 3 by transmitting to the water heater 3 water heater information request information requesting the water heater 3 to transmit the above-mentioned water heater information. The water heater information acquisition unit 113 then stores the hot water usage history information included in the acquired water heater information in the hot water usage history storage unit 133, and stores the hot water storage volume information and hot water storage temperature information included in the acquired water heater information in the hot water storage volume/temperature storage unit 134.

The power prediction unit 114 predicts the sum of the power consumption of only the electrical appliances 4 in the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], i.e., the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1, based on the past power consumption information, past weather record information, and weather forecast information for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], at a preset schedule generation time. Here, the schedule generation time is set to arrive at a preset period, for example, once a day. In addition, the power prediction unit 114 predicts the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1 in each of a plurality of preset time periods until the next schedule generation time. Here, the power prediction unit 114 first generates a total power consumption calculation formula showing the correlation between temperature and the past total power consumption of the appliances, based on the weather record information. Specifically, the power prediction unit 114 classifies the power consumption information stored in the power storage unit 131 for each house H[i] by a combination of day of the week and time. Next, the power amount prediction unit 114 refers to the weather record information and weather forecast information stored in the weather information storage unit 132, identifies a combination of a date and a time period whose weather coincides with each time period of the target day to be predicted, and identifies a combination of a date and a time period whose day of the week coincides from the identified combination of dates and time periods. Next, the power amount prediction unit 114 extracts power consumption information corresponding to the identified combination of dates and time periods from the power consumption information of the electric appliances 4 other than the water heater 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the power amount storage unit 131, and extracts weather record information corresponding to the identified combination of dates and time periods from the weather record information stored in the weather information storage unit 132. Then, the power amount prediction unit 114 generates a total appliance power consumption calculation formula showing a correlation between the total appliance power consumption Pa, which is the sum of the power consumption indicated by the power consumption information of each of the extracted houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], and the temperature Th indicated by the extracted weather record information, as shown in FIG. 10(A), for example. In the example shown in FIG. 10A, the correlation is shown in which the total device power consumption Pa decreases as the temperature increases. For example, the total device power consumption Pa is smaller when the temperature Th is 18° C. than when the temperature Th is 0° C. The power amount prediction unit 114 also generates a first standard deviation calculation formula that shows the correlation between the first standard deviation indicating the variation in the total device power consumption, which is the sum of the power consumption indicated by the extracted power consumption information, and the temperature indicated by the extracted weather record information. The power amount prediction unit 114 then calculates the total device power consumption calculated using the total device power consumption calculation formula plus N times the first standard deviation (N is an integer equal to or greater than 1) calculated using the first standard deviation calculation formula as the total device power consumption prediction value. Here, N is set to, for example, 1, 2, or 3. Furthermore, when the amount of power generated by the power generation facility 7 is not 0 kWh, the power amount prediction unit 114 calculates the total equipment power consumption predicted value by adding N times (N is an integer of 1 or more) the first standard deviation calculated using the first standard deviation calculation formula to the amount obtained by subtracting the amount of power generated by the power generation facility 7 from the total equipment power amount calculated using the total equipment power consumption calculation formula. Note that the power amount prediction unit 114 only needs to predict the total equipment power consumption in each time period within a period of a length corresponding to the arrival cycle of the schedule generation time, and may predict the total equipment power consumption for 24 hours or 48 hours according to the arrival cycle of the schedule generation time.

Returning to FIG. 5, the hot water usage prediction unit 115 predicts the hot water usage for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation time based on the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history storage unit 132 at the aforementioned schedule generation time. Specifically, the hot water usage prediction unit 115 classifies the hot water usage information stored in the hot water usage history storage unit 133 for each house H[i] by a combination of day of the week and time period. Next, the hot water usage prediction unit 115 refers to the weather record information and weather forecast information stored in the weather information storage unit 132, identifies combinations of dates and time periods in which the weather matches each time period of the target day to be predicted and the temperature difference between the temperature in each time period of the target day is within a preset temperature range, and identifies combinations of dates and time periods in which the day of the week matches from among the identified combinations of dates and time periods. Next, the hot water usage prediction unit 115 extracts hot water usage information corresponding to the combination of the specified date and time from the hot water usage history information of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the hot water usage history storage unit 133, and extracts weather record information corresponding to the combination of the specified date and time from the weather record information stored in the weather information storage unit 132. Then, the hot water usage prediction unit 115 generates a hot water usage calculation formula showing the correlation between the extracted hot water usage and the temperature indicated by the extracted weather record information for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n]. The hot water usage prediction unit 115 also generates a hot water usage standard deviation calculation formula showing the correlation between the hot water usage standard deviation showing the variation in the hot water usage indicated by the extracted hot water usage information and the temperature indicated by the extracted weather record information. Then, the hot water usage prediction unit 115 calculates the amount of hot water usage for each time period until the next schedule generation time by adding S times (S is an integer equal to or greater than 1) the standard deviation of the amount of hot water usage calculated using the hot water usage standard deviation calculation formula to the amount of hot water usage calculated using the hot water usage standard deviation calculation formula. Here, S is set to, for example, 1, 2, or 3. The hot water usage prediction unit 115 then calculates the sum of the amounts of hot water calculated for each time period until the next schedule generation time as the hot water usage prediction value. The hot water usage prediction unit 115 also stores predicted hot water usage information indicating the calculated predicted hot water usage value in the hot water usage time prediction storage unit 137 in association with date information and house identification information.

Based on the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history storage unit 133, the use time prediction unit 122 predicts the time period when hot water will be used in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation time, at the time of schedule generation, based on the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history storage unit 133. Specifically, based on the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history storage unit 133, the use time prediction unit 122 calculates the average time when the hot water usage threshold is first exceeded and the second standard deviation indicating the variation in the time when the hot water usage threshold is exceeded during two schedule generation time periods adjacent in time within a past preset use time calculation period. Here, the use time calculation period is set to the period from the date and time going back one month in the past to the schedule generation time. For example, as shown in FIG. 10B, if the hot water usage V in the house H[i] first exceeds the hot water usage threshold Vth at time Ts[i] during the period between two adjacent schedule generation times Tsc, the use time prediction unit 122 specifies time Ts[i] as the use start time of the house H[i]. In this way, the use time prediction unit 122 calculates the average time of the use start times specified for each period between two adjacent schedule generation times in the past use time calculation period and its second standard deviation. Then, the use time prediction unit 122 calculates the time before the calculated average time by a time equivalent to M times the second standard deviation (M is an integer of 1 or more) or by adding a margin time to M times the second standard deviation as the use start time. Here, M is set to, for example, 1, 2, or 3. In addition, the use time prediction unit 122 stores use start time information indicating the calculated use start time in the hot water use time prediction storage unit 137 in association with the date information and the house identification information.

The water heating amount calculation unit 116 calculates the water heating amount of the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] by the next schedule generation time based on the hot water amount indicated by the hot water amount information and the hot water temperature indicated by the hot water temperature information of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the hot water amount/temperature storage unit 134, and the predicted hot water usage value indicated by the predicted hot water usage information stored in the hot water usage time prediction storage unit 137. The water heating amount calculation unit 116 performs the calculation using the relational expression shown in the following formula (1).

Here, X indicates the amount of boiling, ρt indicates the density of water at the preset target temperature Tt, Vt indicates the preset target amount of hot water storage, and ct is the specific heat of water at the target temperature Tt. Also, Tk (k = 1, 2, ..., 5) indicate the temperatures detected by the temperature sensors 313a, 313b, 313c, 313d, and 313e, respectively, ρk indicates the density of water at temperature Tk, and ck indicates the specific heat of water at temperature Tk. Also, Vk indicates the amount of hot water storage in the section corresponding to each of the temperature sensors 313a, 313b, 313c, 313d, and 313e in the hot water storage tank 31. Then, the boiling amount calculation unit 116 notifies the required power amount calculation unit 117 of boiling amount information indicating the calculated amount of boiling. When the amount of hot water used is, for example, 100 L, the temperature of the hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 31 is the temperature immediately before use begins, and the amount of hot water stored is 30 L, the boiling amount calculation unit 116 calculates the boiling amount corresponding to the amount of hot water used of 70 L.

The required power calculation unit 117 calculates the required power and the required operation time of each water heater 3 of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation time based on the predicted amount of hot water used, the amount of hot water stored, the temperature of the stored hot water, and the amount of hot water cooled down, which will be described later. The required power calculation unit 117 calculates the required power as the product of the amount of boiling water calculated based on the predicted amount of hot water used, the amount of hot water stored, and the temperature of the stored hot water notified by the boiling amount calculation unit 116, and a coefficient (e.g., 1/860) for converting the amount of boiling water into power. The required power calculation unit 117 also calculates the average power consumption per unit time during operation of the water heater 3 stored in the power storage unit 131, and calculates the required operation time by dividing the calculated required power by the calculated average power consumption during operation of the water heater 3.

Based on the required power amount, required operation time, and priority calculated by the required power amount calculation unit 117, the schedule generation unit 118 generates an operation schedule for the water heater 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] at the schedule generation time so that the total power consumption consumed by the entire apartment building B1 until the next schedule generation time is equal to or less than the preset power consumption upper limit value. The schedule generation unit 118 first generates a provisional operation schedule for the water heater 3 based on the start time of use, the required power amount, and the required operation time so that the amount of hot water used is heated at the start time of use. For example, if the start time of use is 8 p.m., the schedule generation unit 118 generates a provisional operation schedule for the water heater 3 so that the amount of hot water used is heated by 8 p.m. Next, when there is an excess time period in which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold when the hot water heaters 3 installed in the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the provisional operation schedule, the schedule generating unit 118 regenerates the operation schedule of the hot water heaters 3 installed in at least one of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] so that the amount of hot water used is heated before the time period of use. Here, the schedule generating unit 118 selects the house [i] for which the operation schedule is to be regenerated in order of the lowest priority of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the schedule storage unit 138. For example, as shown in FIG. 11A, when the hot water heaters 3 installed in the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the provisional operation schedule, there is an excess time period A11 in which the total power consumption Pt exceeds the power consumption threshold Ptth between 17:00 and 19:00. In this case, the schedule generating unit 118 recreates a provisional operation schedule for the water heater 3 installed in the house [i] by shifting the three-hour operation time from 17:00 to 19:00 to between 11:00 and 13:00, which is earlier than the operation start time of 14:00. In this case, as shown in FIG. 11A for example, when the water heaters 3 installed in the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the provisional operation schedule, the operation time zone of the water heater 3 installed in the house H[i] moves to an operation time zone including time zone A12, a part of the power consumption Psp[i] of the house H[i] is allocated to a time zone in which the total device power consumption Pt2 is relatively small, and the total power consumption Pt becomes equal to or less than the power consumption threshold Ptth.

In this way, when the schedule generation unit 118 changes the provisional operation schedule for the house H[i], the water cools down because there is a gap between the time when the water heater 3 finishes heating the amount of hot water used and the start time of use. For this reason, when the schedule generation unit 118 regenerates the provisional operation schedule for the house H[i], it notifies the water coolness calculation unit 121 of the changed provisional operation schedule and the start time of use. The water coolness calculation unit 121 then calculates the amount of water coolness based on the elapsed time from the operation end time of the water heater 3 to the start time of use indicated by the regenerated provisional operation schedule and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information stored in the weather information storage unit 132. The water coolness calculation unit 121 notifies the required power calculation unit 117 of the calculated amount of water coolness. In addition, when the required power calculation unit 117 is notified of the amount of water cooling from the water cooling amount calculation unit 121, the required power calculation unit 117 calculates a new required power amount from an amount equivalent to the sum of the amount of water heating notified from the water heating amount calculation unit 116 and the amount of water cooling notified from the water cooling amount calculation unit 121. Then, the required power calculation unit 117 calculates the average power consumption per unit time during operation of the water heater 3 stored in the power amount storage unit 131, and calculates a new required operation time by dividing the newly calculated required power amount by the calculated average power consumption during operation of the water heater 3. The required power calculation unit 117 notifies the schedule generation unit 118 of the newly calculated required operation time. Then, the schedule generation unit 118 generates an operation schedule in which the operation start time is a time that goes back to the operation start time in the provisional operation schedule by a time equivalent to the difference between the required operation time in the provisional operation schedule and the newly calculated required operation time. For example, as shown in FIG. 12(A), the schedule generation unit 118 generates an operation schedule for operating the water heater 3 installed in the house H[i] for an operation time ΔTf[i] that is longer than the operation time ΔT[i] in the provisional operation schedule by an operation time ΔText[i] required to heat the amount of water that has cooled down.

In addition, after re-creating the operation schedules for all of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] in which the water heaters 3 can be operated according to an operation schedule different from the provisional operation schedule, if there is an excess time period in which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold when the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the operation schedules, the schedule generation unit 118 updates the power consumption threshold stored in the threshold memory unit 139 to the upper limit of the total power consumption during the excess time period.

The hot water cooling amount calculation unit 121 first calculates the amount of hot water cooling per unit time that occurs at each preset unit time between the operation end time of the water heater 3 indicated by the provisional operation schedule notified by the schedule generation unit 118 and the use start time notified by the schedule generation unit 118. Here, the hot water cooling amount calculation unit 121 calculates the amount of hot water cooling per unit time using a relational expression f(Th) between the amount of hot water cooling per unit time dXext[i] and the air temperature Th, for example, as shown in FIG. 12(B). Then, the hot water cooling amount calculation unit 121 calculates the amount of hot water cooling using the relational expression shown in the following formula (2).

Here, Xext indicates the amount of water that has cooled down, dXext[i](t) indicates the amount of water that has cooled down per unit time at time t, tre indicates the time when the water heater 3 stops operating, and ts indicates the time when use starts.

The priority determination unit 123 determines the priority of the water heater 3 for heating the amount of hot water used according to the provisional operation schedule described above. Here, the priority determination unit 123 determines the priority based on information indicating the additional operation time, additional power amount, etc. of the water heater 3 included in the updated schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 138. In addition, the priority determination unit 123 updates the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 in such a way that the priority corresponding to the house [i] that is the target of the change in the provisional operation schedule is increased by a preset number in the updated operation schedule every time the schedule generation unit 118 updates the schedule information. On the other hand, the priority determination unit 123 updates the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 in such a way that the priority corresponding to the house that is not the target of the change in the provisional operation schedule is decreased by a preset number in the updated operation schedule every time the schedule generation unit 118 updates the schedule information. In addition, the priority determination unit 123 may determine the priority of the water heater 3 based on the updated operation schedule when one operation schedule update is performed, and update the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138. Alternatively, the priority determination unit 123 may calculate a cumulative value or an average value of the priority corresponding to each updated operation schedule when the operation schedule is updated multiple times within a preset period, and update the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 with information indicating the calculated cumulative value or average value.

The transmission unit 119 transmits the schedule information stored in the schedule memory unit 138 to the water heater 3. The transmission unit 119 also transmits the schedule information stored in the schedule memory unit 138, the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history memory unit 133, and the hot water storage amount information stored in the hot water storage amount/temperature memory unit 134 to the terminal device 5.

Next, the operation of the hot water supply system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 13 to FIG. 16. First, as shown in FIG. 13, when a preset time for obtaining power information arrives, power information request information for requesting the power measuring devices 22 and 72 to transmit power information is transmitted from the hot water supply control device 1 to the power measuring devices 22 and 72 (step S1). On the other hand, when the power measuring devices 22 and 72 receive the power information request information, they generate power information accordingly (step S2). Next, the generated power information is transmitted from each of the power measuring devices 22 and 72 to the hot water supply control device 1 (step S3). At this time, the hot water supply control device 1 stores the received power information in the power storage unit 131. Thereafter, a series of processes from steps S1 to S3 are executed each time a time for obtaining power information arrives.

When the preset schedule generation time arrives, weather information request information requesting the weather server 8 to send weather information is sent from the water heater control device 1 to the weather server 8 (step S4). Meanwhile, when the weather server 8 receives the weather information request information, it generates weather information including actual weather information and weather forecast information corresponding to the received weather information request information (step S5). The generated weather information is then sent from the weather server 8 to the water heater control device 1 (step S6). Here, when the water heater control device 1 receives the weather information, it stores the actual weather information and weather forecast information included in the received weather information in the weather information storage unit 132.

Then, water heater information request information requesting the water heater 3 to send the above-mentioned water heater information is sent from the water heater control device 1 to the water heater 3 (step S7). Meanwhile, when the water heater 3 receives the water heater information request information, it generates water heater information including hot water usage history information, hot water storage volume information, and hot water storage temperature information (step S8). Next, the generated water heater information is sent from the water heater 3 to the water heater control device 1 (step S9). At this time, the water heater control device 1 stores the hot water usage history information included in the received water heater information in the hot water usage history memory unit 133, and stores the hot water storage volume information and hot water temperature information in the hot water storage volume/temperature memory unit 134.

Next, the water heater control device 1 predicts the transition of the total appliance power consumption, which is the sum of the appliance power consumption consumed only by the electrical appliances 4 in the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], based on the past power consumption information of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the power consumption prediction storage unit 136, the past power generation information of the power generation equipment 7, past weather record information, and weather forecast information (step S10). Here, the water heater control device 1 stores the total appliance power consumption information indicating the predicted total appliance power consumption of the entire apartment building B1 in the power consumption prediction storage unit 136. After that, as shown in FIG. 14, the water heater control device 1 predicts the hot water consumption and the start time of use in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation time based on the hot water consumption history information stored in the hot water consumption history storage unit 132 (step S11). Next, the water heater control device 1 calculates the amount of water to be heated by the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] by the next schedule generation time based on the hot water storage amount indicated by the hot water storage amount information and the hot water temperature indicated by the hot water storage temperature information of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the hot water storage amount/temperature storage unit 134 and the hot water usage forecast value indicated by the forecast hot water usage information stored in the hot water usage time forecast storage unit 137 (step S12). Next, the water heater control device 1 calculates the required power amount and required operation time of the water heaters 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] by the next schedule generation time based on the hot water usage forecast value, hot water storage amount, and hot water storage temperature (step S13).

Then, the water heater control device 1 generates a tentative operation schedule for the water heater 3 based on the use start time, the required power amount, and the required operation time for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] so that the amount of hot water used is boiled at the aforementioned use start time, and stores the generated tentative operation schedule in the schedule storage unit 138 (step S14). Next, it is assumed that the water heater control device 1 determines that there is an excess time period in which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold when the water heater 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] is operated according to the tentative operation schedule (step S15). In this case, the water heater control device 1 extracts a house H[i] that is a candidate for rescheduling the tentative operation schedule (step S16). Specifically, the water heater control device 1 extracts a house [i] in which part of the operation time period of the tentative operation schedule of the water heater 3 is included in the excess time period. Next, the water heater control device 1 determines the priority order for executing rescheduling for the extracted house [i] by referring to the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 (step S17). Here, the water heater control device 1 determines the priority order so that, among the extracted houses [i], the house [i] with a lower priority is given priority in executing rescheduling.

Then, the water heater control device 1 calculates the operation start time when the tentative operation schedule for the extracted house [i] is rescheduled (step S18). Next, it is assumed that the water heater control device 1 determines that the tentative operation schedule can be rescheduled based on the calculated operation start time (step S19). Here, the water heater control device 1 determines that rescheduling is possible if the operation start time is later than the schedule generation time. Next, the water heater control device 1 calculates the amount of water cooling between the operation end time and the usage start time of the water heater 3 indicated in the tentative operation schedule (step S20). Then, the water heater control device 1 calculates a new required amount of electricity and a required operation time from the amount of water heated and the amount of water cooled calculated from the amount of hot water used (step S21).

Next, the water heater control device 1 generates a new operation schedule for the water heater 3 of the house H[i] based on the newly calculated required power amount and required operation time so as to reduce the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1 in each time period until the next schedule generation time (step S22). Next, as shown in FIG. 15, the water heater control device 1 determines that the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1 in each time period until the next schedule generation time will be equal to or less than the preset power consumption threshold (step S23). In this case, the water heater control device 1 updates the schedule information indicating the provisional operation schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 138 with the schedule information indicating the newly generated operation schedule, and updates the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 (step S24). Here, the water heater control device 1 updates the priority information by increasing the priority corresponding to the house [i] that is the target of the change in the provisional operation schedule in the updated operation schedule.

Next, the updated schedule information stored in the schedule memory unit 138 is transmitted from the water heater control device 1 to the water heater 3 (step S25). Meanwhile, when the water heater 3 receives the schedule information, it operates based on the received schedule information (step S26). Next, the updated schedule information stored in the schedule memory unit 138, the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history memory unit 133, and the hot water storage amount information stored in the hot water storage amount/temperature memory unit 134 are transmitted from the water heater control device 1 to the terminal device 5 (step S27). Meanwhile, when the terminal device 5 receives the schedule information, hot water usage history information, and hot water storage amount information, it displays the received schedule information, hot water usage information, and hot water storage amount information on the display unit 504 (step S28). At this time, the terminal device 5 displays on the display unit 504 an operation screen image GA11 including a message M111 indicating the updated operation schedule as shown in FIG. 16, and a message M112 indicating the average amount of hot water used and the current amount of hot water stored, which are calculated based on the hot water usage history information. The operation screen image GA11 also includes a button image BU11, and when the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU11 while the terminal device 5 is displaying the operation screen image GA11 on the display unit 504, the terminal device 5 erases the operation screen image GA11 from the display unit 504.

Returning to FIG. 15, after step S15 described above, the water heater control device 1 reschedules the tentative operation schedules for all of the extracted homes [i] that can be rescheduled based on the calculated operation start times, and then determines that rescheduling is not possible for the remaining homes [i] (step S29). In this case, the water heater control device 1 updates the total power consumption threshold stored in the threshold storage unit 139 to the upper limit of the total power consumption when the water heaters 3 installed in each of the homes H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the operation schedule (step S30). Then, the processing from step S25 described above is executed.

Next, the operation schedule generation process executed by the water heater control device 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 17 to 19. This operation schedule generation process is started when the power supply to the water heater control device 1 is turned on. In parallel with this operation schedule generation process, the power amount acquisition unit 112 acquires the power amount information transmitted from the power measurement devices 22, 72 by transmitting power amount information request information to the power measurement devices 22, 72 requesting the transmission of power amount information to the power measurement devices 22, 72 each time the power consumption information acquisition time arrives, and stores the acquired power amount information in the power amount storage unit 131.

First, the weather information acquisition unit 111 determines whether or not the schedule generation time has arrived (step S101). As long as the weather information acquisition unit 111 determines that the schedule generation time has not yet arrived (step S101: No), the process of step S101 is repeatedly executed. On the other hand, when the weather information acquisition unit 111 determines that the schedule generation time has arrived (step S101: Yes), it transmits weather information request information to the weather server 8 (step S102). Then, the weather information acquisition unit 111 acquires the weather information transmitted from the weather server 8, and stores the actual weather information and weather forecast information included in the acquired weather information in the weather information storage unit 132 (step S103).

Next, the water heater information acquisition unit 113 transmits water heater information request information to the water heater 3 (step S104). As a result, the water heater information acquisition unit 113 acquires water heater information including hot water usage history information, hot water storage volume information, and hot water storage temperature information transmitted from the water heater control device 1 (step S105). At this time, the water heater information acquisition unit 113 stores the hot water usage history information included in the acquired water heater information in the hot water usage history memory unit 133, and stores the hot water storage volume information and the hot water storage temperature information in the hot water storage volume/temperature memory unit 134. Next, the power amount prediction unit 114 predicts the transition of the total appliance power consumption, which is the sum of the appliance power consumption consumed only by the electrical appliances 4 in the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], based on the past power consumption information of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the power amount prediction storage unit 136, the past power generation amount information of the power generation equipment 7, the past weather record information, and the weather forecast information (step S106). Here, the water heater control device 1 stores the total power consumption information indicating the predicted total appliance power consumption of the entire apartment building B1 in the power amount prediction storage unit 136.

Thereafter, the hot water usage prediction unit 115 predicts the amount of hot water usage at each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history memory unit 132, and the usage time prediction unit 122 predicts the amount of hot water usage and the start time of usage at each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information (step S107). Next, the boiling amount calculation unit 116 calculates the boiling amount of the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] by the next schedule generation time based on the hot water storage amount indicated by the hot water storage amount information and the hot water temperature indicated by the hot water storage temperature information of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the hot water storage amount/temperature storage unit 134 and the hot water usage forecast value indicated by the forecast hot water usage time forecast storage unit 137 (step S108). Next, the required power amount calculation unit 117 calculates the required power amount and required operation time of the water heaters 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] by the next schedule generation time based on the hot water usage forecast value, hot water storage amount, and hot water storage temperature (step S109).

Then, the schedule generating unit 118 generates a provisional operation schedule for the water heater 3 based on the usage start time, the required power amount, and the required operation time for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] so that the amount of hot water used is heated at the aforementioned usage start time, and stores the generated provisional operation schedule in the schedule storage unit 138 (step S110). Next, the schedule generating unit 118 determines whether there is an excess time period in which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold when the water heater 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] is operated according to the provisional operation schedule (step S111). Here, if the schedule generating unit 118 determines that there is no excess time period in which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold (step S111: No), the process of step S122 described later is executed.

On the other hand, when the schedule generation unit 118 determines that there is an overage time period in which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold (step S111: Yes), it extracts a house H[i] that is a candidate for rescheduling the provisional operation schedule (step S112). Here, the schedule generation unit 118 extracts a house [i] in which part of the operation time period of the provisional operation schedule of the water heater 3 is included in the overage time period. Next, the schedule generation unit 118 refers to the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 and determines the change priority order for executing rescheduling for the extracted house [i] (step S113). Here, the water heater control device 1 determines the priority order so that the lower the priority of the house [i] among the extracted houses [i], the higher the priority of the house [i] for rescheduling.

After that, as shown in FIG. 18, the schedule generating unit 118 calculates the operation start time when the provisional operation schedule for the extracted house [i] is rescheduled (step S114). Next, the schedule generating unit 118 determines whether or not the provisional operation schedule can be rescheduled based on the calculated operation start time (step S115). Here, the water heater control device 1 determines that the tentative operation schedule can be rescheduled if the operation start time is later than the schedule generation time. After the schedule generating unit 118 reschedules the provisional operation schedule for all of the extracted houses [i] that can be rescheduled based on the calculated operation start time, it is determined that the remaining houses [i] cannot be rescheduled (step S115: No). In this case, the schedule generating unit 118 updates the total power consumption threshold stored in the threshold storage unit 139 to the upper limit value of the total power consumption when the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the changed provisional operation schedule (step S116). Then, step S122, which will be described later, is executed.

On the other hand, if the schedule generation unit 118 determines that the provisional operation schedule can be rescheduled (step S115: Yes), the water cooling amount calculation unit 121 calculates the amount of water cooling between the operation end time and the use start time of the water heater 3 indicated in the provisional operation schedule (step S117). The water heater control device 1 then calculates a new required amount of electricity and required operation time from the amount of water boiled and the amount of water cooling calculated from the amount of hot water used (step S118).

Next, the schedule generating unit 118 generates a new operation schedule for the water heater 3 of the house H[i] based on the newly calculated required power amount and required operation time so as to reduce the total power consumption consumed by the entire apartment building B1 in each time period until the next schedule generation time (step S119). Next, the schedule generating unit 118 determines whether the total power consumption consumed by the entire apartment building B1 in each time period when the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the new operation schedule until the next schedule generation time is equal to or less than the above-mentioned power consumption threshold (step S120). Here, it is assumed that the schedule generating unit 118 determines that there is an excess time period in which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold until the next schedule generation time when the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the new operation schedule (step S120: No). For example, as shown in FIG. 19A, when the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the provisional operation schedule, there is an excess time zone A13 in which the total power consumption Pt exceeds the power consumption threshold Ptth. Here, it is assumed that the schedule generating unit 118 generates a new operation schedule by shifting the operation time zone forward as shown in FIG. 19B for the provisional operation schedule of the water heater 3 in the house H[i]. In this case, when the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the new operation schedule, there is still an excess time zone A14 in which the total power consumption Pt exceeds the power consumption threshold Ptth. In such a case, the schedule generating unit 118 determines that there is an excess time zone A14 in which the total power consumption Pt exceeds the power consumption threshold Ptth when the water heaters 3 are operated according to the new operation schedule. In this case, based on the determined change priority order, the schedule generation unit 118 selects the house H[i+1] with the next change priority order as the house for which the tentative operation schedule is to be changed, and the processing from step S114 onwards is executed again.

Returning to FIG. 18, on the other hand, in step S120, the schedule generation unit 118 determines that the total power consumption consumed by the entire apartment building B1 in each time period until the next schedule generation time will be equal to or less than the preset power consumption threshold (step S120: Yes). In this case, the schedule generation unit 118 updates the schedule information indicating the provisional operation schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 138 with the schedule information indicating the newly generated operation schedule, and the priority determination unit 123 updates the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 (step S121). Here, the priority determination unit 123 determines the priority based on information indicating the additional operation time, additional power amount, etc. of the water heater 3 included in the updated schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 138. In addition, the priority determination unit 123 updates the priority information in the updated operation schedule by increasing the priority corresponding to the house [i] that is the subject of the change in the provisional operation schedule by a preset number (for example, "1"). Meanwhile, the priority determination unit 123 updates the priority information in the updated operation schedule by decreasing the priority corresponding to the house that was not subject to the change in the tentative operation schedule by a preset number (for example, "1").

Then, the transmission unit 119 transmits the updated schedule information stored in the schedule memory unit 138 to the water heater 3 (step S122). At this time, when the water heater 3 receives the schedule information, it operates based on the received schedule information. Next, the transmission unit 119 transmits the updated schedule information stored in the schedule memory unit 138, the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history memory unit 133, and the hot water storage amount information stored in the hot water storage amount/temperature memory unit 134 to the terminal device 5 (step S123). At this time, when the terminal device 5 receives the schedule information, hot water usage history information, and hot water storage amount information, it displays the received schedule information, hot water usage information, and hot water storage amount information on the display unit 504. Then, the processing of step S101 is executed again.

As described above, according to the water heater control device 1 of this embodiment, the required power calculation unit 117 calculates the required power and required operation time of the water heater 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation time based on the amount of hot water used, the time period of use, the amount of hot water stored, the temperature of the stored hot water, and the amount of hot water cooled in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n]. Then, the schedule generation unit 118 generates an operation schedule for the water heater 3 at the schedule generation time based on the required power and the required operation time so that the total power consumption consumed by the entire apartment building B1 during each time period until the next schedule generation time is equal to or less than the above-mentioned power consumption threshold. This reduces the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1 in which the water heater 3 is installed, while suppressing the occurrence of hot water shortages caused by the hot water cooling that occurs between the time when the hot water is boiled by the water heater 3 and the time when the hot water is used.

Incidentally, the apartment complex B1 may have a contract with an electric power company to receive a bulk supply of high-voltage electricity. In such cases, the electricity bill for the apartment complex B1 is often determined by the peak value of the total annual power consumption. Therefore, in such an apartment complex B1, if the operation of the water heater 3 is concentrated, for example, in the night, the peak value of the total power consumption for the entire apartment complex B1 may become large, resulting in high electricity bills. In response to this, the water heater control device 1 of this embodiment generates an operation schedule for the water heater 3 so that the total power consumption consumed by the entire apartment complex B1 during each time period until the next schedule generation time is below the aforementioned power consumption threshold. This allows the peak value of the total power consumption for the entire apartment complex B1 to be below the power consumption threshold, thereby keeping electricity bills low.

In addition, the schedule generation unit 118 according to the present embodiment generates a provisional operation schedule for the water heater 3 based on the usage time zone, required power amount, and required operation time for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] so that the amount of hot water used is boiled at the usage start time. In addition, when there is an excess time zone in which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold when the water heater 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] is operated according to the provisional operation schedule, the schedule generation unit 118 regenerates the operation schedule for the water heater 3 installed in at least one house H[i] among the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] so that the amount of hot water used is boiled before the usage time zone. Then, the hot water cooling amount calculation unit 121 calculates the amount of hot water cooling based on the elapsed time from the operation end time indicated by the regenerated operation schedule to the start time of the usage time zone and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information. This reduces the total power consumption of the entire apartment complex B1 to below the power consumption threshold, while accurately calculating the amount of water that cools down and preventing hot water from running out, thereby increasing the satisfaction of the residents of each of the homes H[1], H[2], ..., H[n].

Furthermore, when the schedule generation unit 118 according to this embodiment regenerates the operation schedule by rescheduling the operation schedule for all houses for which the operation schedule can be rescheduled, it is assumed that there is an excess time period during which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold when the hot water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the regenerated operation schedule. In this case, the schedule generation unit 118 sets the power consumption threshold stored in the threshold storage unit 139 to the upper limit of the total power consumption during the excess time period. This allows the hot water heaters 3 in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] to operate smoothly, thereby increasing the satisfaction of the residents.

In addition, the priority determination unit 123 according to this embodiment determines the priority so that the priority of the water heater 3 to heat the amount of hot water used according to the provisional operation schedule is high based on the history of changes to the provisional operation schedule. Then, the schedule generation unit 119 generates the operation schedule of the water heater 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] based on the determined priority. This makes it possible to equalize the average value of the priority history of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], thereby reducing the bias of the priority of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], and ensuring fairness in the operation schedule of the water heater 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n]. In addition, the priority determination unit 123 determines the priority based on information indicating the additional operation time, additional power amount, etc. of the water heater 3 included in the updated schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 138. This allows the priority determination unit 123 to determine the above-mentioned priority in accordance with the changes in the time period for boiling water by the water heater 3 that occur in order to reduce the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1, i.e., the actual amount of water that cools down.

(Embodiment 2)
The water heater control device according to this embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that it includes a model generation unit that generates a water cooling amount calculation model for calculating the amount of water cooling from the elapsed time from the operation end time of the water heater to the start time of the usage time period and the air temperature indicated by the weather forecast information. The water cooling amount calculation unit uses the water cooling amount calculation model to calculate the amount of water cooling from the elapsed time from the operation end time to the usage time period indicated by the regenerated operation schedule and the air temperature indicated by the weather forecast information.

The hardware configuration of the hot water supply system according to this embodiment is the same as the hardware configuration described in the first embodiment. The functional configuration of the controller 33 and the terminal device 5 of the hot water supply device 3 according to this embodiment is also the same as that of the first embodiment. In the following description of this embodiment, the same components as those of the first embodiment are described using the same reference numerals as appropriate. As shown in FIG. 20, the CPU 101 of the hot water supply device control device 2001 reads out the program stored in the auxiliary storage device 103 into the main storage device 102 and executes it, thereby functioning as a weather information acquisition unit 2111, an electric power acquisition unit 112, a hot water supply device information acquisition unit 2113, an electric power prediction unit 114, a hot water usage prediction unit 115, a usage time prediction unit 122, a boiling amount calculation unit 116, a required electric power calculation unit 117, a hot water cooling amount calculation unit 2121, a schedule generation unit 118, a priority determination unit 123, a transmission unit 119, and a model generation unit 2124. Note that the same components as those of the first embodiment in FIG. 20 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those of FIG. 5. The auxiliary storage unit 103 also includes an electric energy storage unit 131, a weather information storage unit 132, a hot water usage storage unit 133, a hot water storage volume and temperature history storage unit 2134, an electric energy prediction storage unit 136, a hot water usage time prediction storage unit 137, a schedule storage unit 138, a threshold storage unit 139, and a hot water cooling amount calculation model storage unit 2140. The hot water storage volume and temperature history storage unit 2134 stores the history of the hot water storage volume indicated by the hot water storage volume information and the hot water storage temperature indicated by the hot water storage temperature information included in the hot water heater information corresponding to each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] acquired by the hot water heater information acquisition unit 2113, in association with the house identification information.

The hot water cooling amount calculation model storage unit 2140 stores model information indicating a hot water cooling amount calculation model for calculating the amount of hot water cooling from the time elapsed from the time the water heater stops operating to the time the usage time period starts and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information. As the hot water cooling amount calculation model, for example, a neural network having an input layer to which the time elapsed from the time the water heater stops operating to the time the usage time period starts and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information are input, and an output layer to which the amount of hot water cooling is output can be adopted. In this case, the model information includes information indicating various parameters such as the number of nodes of the hot water cooling amount calculation model, the number of hidden layers, and weighting coefficients. In addition, the hot water cooling amount calculation model storage unit 2140 stores model information corresponding to the hot water heaters 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] in association with the house identification information.

The weather information acquisition unit 2111 acquires weather information from the weather server 8 by sending weather information request information to the weather server 8 each time it determines that the aforementioned schedule generation time or the model update time for updating the preset bath cooling amount calculation model has arrived based on the date and time measured by the timing unit 108. Then, the weather information acquisition unit 2111 stores the acquired weather information in the weather information storage unit 132.

The water heater information acquisition unit 2113 periodically acquires water heater information from the water heater 3, including hot water usage history information indicating the history of hot water usage by the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], hot water storage volume information indicating the hot water storage volume of the water heater 3, and hot water storage temperature information indicating the hot water storage temperature of the water heater 3. When the water heater information acquisition unit 2113 determines that the pre-set time for acquiring water heater information has arrived based on the date and time measured by the timing unit 108, the water heater information acquisition unit 2113 acquires the water heater information transmitted from the water heater 3 by transmitting water heater information request information to the water heater 3 requesting the water heater 3 to transmit the water heater information. The water heater information acquisition unit 2113 then stores the hot water usage history information included in the acquired water heater information in the hot water usage history storage unit 133, and stores the hot water storage volume information and hot water storage temperature information included in the acquired water heater information in the hot water storage volume/temperature history storage unit 2134.

The model generation unit 2124 generates a hot water cooling amount calculation model for calculating the amount of hot water cooling from the elapsed time from the operation end time to the use start time of the hot water heater 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] in the past and the temperature indicated by the weather record information. The model generation unit 2124 identifies the operation end time of each hot water heater 3 in the past based on the history of the hot water heater power consumption, which is the power consumption of the hot water heater 3 of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the power consumption storage unit 131. In addition, the model generation unit 2124 acquires information indicating the past hot water use start time of each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] from the hot water consumption history storage unit 133, and acquires weather record information from the weather information storage unit 132. Next, the model generation unit 2124 calculates the elapsed time from the end of operation of the identified water heater 3 to the start of use of the acquired hot water for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n]. The model generation unit 2124 also calculates the past amount of hot water cooling based on the hot water storage volume information and hot water storage temperature information at the start of use of hot water stored in the hot water storage volume/temperature history storage unit 2134. The model generation unit 2124 then generates a trained hot water cooling amount calculation model using the calculated elapsed time, the temperature indicated by the acquired weather performance information, and the calculated past amount of hot water cooling. The model generation unit 2124 stores the trained hot water cooling amount calculation model that has been generated in the hot water cooling amount calculation model storage unit 2140. The model generation unit 2124 also repeats the generation of the hot water cooling amount calculation model every time a preset model update time arrives.

The hot water cooling amount calculation unit 2121 uses the hot water cooling amount calculation model stored in the hot water cooling amount calculation model storage unit 2140 to calculate the amount of hot water cooling from the elapsed time from the operation end time indicated by the regenerated operation schedule to the start time of the usage time period and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information.

Next, the hot water cooling amount calculation model generation process executed by the hot water heater control device 2001 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 21. This hot water cooling amount calculation model generation process is executed in parallel with the operation schedule generation process described in the first embodiment. First, the weather information acquisition unit 2111 judges whether or not the time for updating the model has arrived (step S2201). If the weather information acquisition unit 2111 judges that the time for generating the schedule has not yet arrived (step S2201: No), the process of step S2201 is repeatedly executed. On the other hand, if the weather information acquisition unit 2111 judges that the time for updating the model has arrived (step S2201: Yes), it transmits weather information request information to the weather server 8 (step S2202). Then, the weather information acquisition unit 2111 acquires the weather information transmitted from the weather server 8, and stores the weather performance information and weather forecast information included in the acquired weather information in the weather information storage unit 132 (step S2203).

Next, the model generation unit 2124 identifies the past operation end time of each water heater 3 based on the history of the power consumption of the water heater 3 of each house H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] stored in the power consumption storage unit 131 (step S2204). Next, the model generation unit 2124 acquires information indicating the past hot water use start time of each house H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] from the hot water usage history storage unit 133 (step S2205). After that, the model generation unit 2124 calculates the elapsed time from the identified operation end time of the water heater 3 to the acquired hot water use start time for each house H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] (step S2206). Next, the model generation unit 2124 calculates the past hot water cooling amount based on the hot water storage amount information and hot water storage temperature information at the hot water use start time stored in the hot water storage amount/temperature history storage unit 2134 (step S2207). Next, the model generation unit 2124 generates a trained hot water cooling amount calculation model using the calculated elapsed time, the temperature indicated by the acquired weather record information, and the calculated past hot water cooling amount (step S2208). Here, the model generation unit 2124 stores the trained hot water cooling amount calculation model that has been generated in the hot water cooling amount calculation model storage unit 2140. After that, the process of step S2201 is executed again.

As described above, according to the water heater control device 2001 of this embodiment, the model generation unit 2124 generates a water cooling amount calculation model for calculating the amount of water cooling from the elapsed time from the operation end time of the water heater 3 to the start time of the usage time period and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information. Then, the water cooling amount calculation unit 2121 uses the water cooling amount calculation model stored in the water cooling amount calculation model storage unit 2140 to calculate the amount of water cooling from the elapsed time from the operation end time to the usage time period indicated by the regenerated operation schedule and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information. This allows the amount of water cooling to be calculated with high accuracy, making it possible to prevent hot water shortages caused by water cooling.

(Embodiment 3)
The water heater control device of this embodiment differs from the water heater control device of embodiment 1 in that it includes a policy acquisition unit that acquires policy information indicating a policy for generating an operation schedule for the water heater. If the policy information indicates a water cooling amount reduction priority policy that prioritizes reducing the amount of water cooling, the priority determination unit increases the priority of the water heater corresponding to the policy information. If the policy information indicates a hot water shortage prevention priority policy that prioritizes preventing hot water shortage, the schedule generation unit generates an operation schedule for operating the water heater immediately after the end of the hot water usage period.

The hardware configuration of the hot water supply system according to this embodiment is the same as the hardware configuration described in the first embodiment. The functional configuration of the controller 33 of the hot water supply device 3 according to this embodiment is also the same as that of the first embodiment. In the following description of this embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are described using the same reference numerals as appropriate. As shown in FIG. 22, the CPU 501 of the terminal device 3005 reads the program stored in the auxiliary storage unit 503 into the main storage unit 502 and executes it, thereby functioning as a receiving unit 511, a display control unit 512, a receiving unit 513, a policy generating unit 3514, and a policy transmitting unit 3515. The auxiliary storage unit 503 also has an operation screen storage unit 531. It is assumed that the resident performs an operation to select a policy via the input unit 505 while the display control unit 512 displays an operation screen image for selecting a policy on the display unit 504. In this case, the policy generating unit 3514 generates policy information based on operation information indicating the operation content for selecting a policy received by the receiving unit 513. Then, the policy transmission unit 3515 transmits the generated policy information to the water heater control device 3001.

The CPU 101 of the water heater control device 3001 reads out the programs stored in the auxiliary memory unit 103 into the main memory unit 102 and executes them, thereby functioning as a weather information acquisition unit 111, an electric power acquisition unit 112, a water heater information acquisition unit 113, an electric power prediction unit 114, a hot water usage prediction unit 115, a usage time prediction unit 122, a boiling amount calculation unit 116, a required electric power calculation unit 117, a water cooling amount calculation unit 2121, a schedule generation unit 3118, a priority determination unit 3123, a transmission unit 119 and a policy acquisition unit 3125. Note that in Figure 22, components similar to those in embodiment 1 are given the same reference numerals as in Figure 5. The auxiliary memory unit 103 also includes an electric energy memory unit 131, a weather information memory unit 132, a hot water usage memory unit 133, a hot water storage volume and temperature memory unit 134, an electric energy prediction memory unit 136, a hot water usage time prediction memory unit 3137, a schedule memory unit 138, a threshold memory unit 139, and a policy memory unit 3141.

The policy storage unit 3141 stores policy information indicating the policy desired by each resident of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] when generating the operation schedule of the water heater 3, in association with the house identification information. Examples of policies indicated by the policy information include a water cooling amount reduction priority policy that prioritizes reducing the amount of water cooling, a hot water shortage prevention priority policy that prioritizes preventing hot water shortage, and a water heating completion time priority policy that sets the water heating completion time by the water heater 3, i.e., the operation end time of the water heater 3, to a preset time. When the policy information indicates a water heating completion time priority policy, it includes water heating completion time information indicating the water heating completion time specified by the resident. Another example of a policy is a priority reduction policy that contributes to reducing the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1 by lowering the priority as much as possible. The hot water usage time prediction storage unit 3137 stores the predicted hot water usage start time, end time, and hot water usage amount for each house H[i], H[i+1], ... in association with date information and house identification information, as shown in FIG. 23, for example.

The policy acquisition unit 3125 acquires policy information transmitted from the terminal device 5 and stores the acquired policy information in the policy storage unit 3141. When the policy information indicates a policy that prioritizes reducing the amount of water cooling, the priority determination unit 3123 sets a high priority for the water heater corresponding to the policy information. On the other hand, when the policy information indicates a policy that prioritizes reducing the priority, the priority determination unit 3123 sets a low priority for the water heater corresponding to the policy information.

When the policy information indicates a hot water shortage prevention priority policy that prioritizes preventing hot water shortage, the usage time prediction unit 3122 predicts the usage start time and usage end time for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation time based on the hot water usage history information. The usage time prediction unit 3122 stores information indicating the usage start time and usage end time in the hot water usage time storage unit 3137. Then, when the policy information indicates a hot water shortage prevention priority policy that prioritizes preventing hot water shortage, the schedule generation unit 3118 generates an operation schedule for operating the hot water heater 3 immediately after the end time of the hot water usage period. Furthermore, when the policy information indicates a hot water shortage prevention priority policy, the schedule generation unit 3118 generates an operation schedule for completing the heating of the hot water usage amount at the heating completion time indicated by the heating completion time information included in the policy information for the corresponding hot water heater 3.

Next, the operation schedule generation process executed by the water heater control device 3001 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 24 and 25. Note that in Figures 24 and 25, the same processes as those in embodiment 1 are given the same reference numerals as those in Figures 17 and 18. In addition, in parallel with this operation schedule generation process, the policy acquisition unit 3125 stores the acquired policy information in the policy storage unit 3141 each time it acquires policy information from the terminal device 3005.

First, as shown in FIG. 24, after a series of processes from step S101 to S106 are executed, the use time prediction unit 3122, the schedule generation unit 3118, and the priority determination unit 3123 acquire policy information from the policy storage unit 3141 (step S3101). Next, the use time prediction unit 3122 determines whether or not there is policy information indicating a hot water shortage prevention priority policy (step S3102). If the use time prediction unit 3122 determines that there is no policy information indicating a hot water shortage prevention priority policy (step S3102: No), the process from step S107 onwards is executed. On the other hand, when the use time prediction unit 3122 determines that there is policy information indicating a hot water shortage prevention priority policy (step S3102: Yes), it predicts the hot water usage end time for the house H[i] corresponding to the policy information indicating the hot water shortage prevention priority policy based on the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history storage unit 132, and predicts the usage start time and usage start time for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation time. Then, the hot water usage prediction unit 115 predicts the hot water usage for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] until the next schedule generation time based on the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history storage unit 132 (step S3103). Next, the processing of steps S108 and S109 is executed.

Then, the schedule generating unit 3118 determines whether there is policy information indicating the boiling end time priority policy (step S3104). If the schedule generating unit 3118 determines that there is no policy information indicating the boiling end time priority policy (step S3104: No), the process from step S110 onwards is executed as is. On the other hand, if the schedule generating unit 3118 determines that there is policy information indicating the boiling end time priority policy (step S3104: No), it identifies the house H[i] to which the boiling end time priority policy is applied when generating the operation schedule of the water heater 3 (step S3105). Next, the schedule generating unit 3118 generates provisional operation schedule information for the identified house H[i] so that the water heater 3 completes boiling the amount of hot water used at the time indicated by the boiling end time information included in the policy information, and stores the generated provisional operation schedule information in the schedule storage unit 138 (step S110). Next, steps S111 and S112 are executed as shown in FIG. 25.

Then, the priority determination unit 3123 determines whether or not there is policy information indicating a water cooling amount reduction policy or a priority reduction policy in the policy information corresponding to the house H[i] that is a candidate for rescheduling of the provisional operation schedule (step S3106). If the priority determination unit 3123 determines that there is neither policy information indicating a water cooling amount reduction policy nor policy information indicating a priority reduction policy in the policy information corresponding to the house H[i] that is a candidate for rescheduling (step S3106: No), the processing from step S113 onwards is executed as is. On the other hand, the priority determination unit 3123 determines that there is policy information indicating a water cooling amount reduction policy or a priority reduction policy in the policy information corresponding to the house H[i] that is a candidate for rescheduling (step S3106: Yes). In this case, if there is policy information indicating a hot water cooling amount reduction policy among the policy information corresponding to the house H[i] that is a candidate for rescheduling, the priority determination unit 3123 updates the priority information so that the priority of the corresponding house H[i] becomes the highest priority among the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], and if there is policy information indicating a priority reduction policy, the priority information is updated so that the priority of the corresponding house H[i] becomes the highest priority among the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] (step S3107). Here, if there are multiple policy information indicating a hot water cooling amount reduction policy, the priority determination unit 3123 updates the priority information by assigning the priority to each of the corresponding multiple houses H[i] in order from the highest priority among the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n]. On the other hand, when there are multiple pieces of policy information indicating priority reduction policies, the priority determination unit 3123 updates the priority information by assigning the priority to each of the corresponding multiple homes H[i] in order from the lowest priority among the homes H[1], H[2], ..., H[n]. Next, the process from step S113 onwards is executed.

As described above, according to the water heater control device 3001 of this embodiment, the policy acquisition unit 3118 acquires policy information indicating the policy used when generating the operation schedule of the water heater 3, and the priority determination unit 3123 updates the priority information based on the policy information. Then, the schedule generation unit generates the operation schedule of the water heater 3 based on the policy information. This makes it easier for the requests of the residents of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] to be reflected in the operation schedule of the water heater 3, thereby improving the convenience of the water heater 3 for the residents.

(Embodiment 4)
The water heater control device according to this embodiment differs from the water heater control device 1 according to embodiment 1 in that it includes a change request acquisition unit that acquires change request information requesting a change to the operation schedule transmitted from a terminal device. Here, the change request information includes information indicating the operation end time of the changed operation schedule, and the schedule generation unit changes the operation schedule of the water heater corresponding to the change request information based on the operation end time of the changed operation schedule indicated by the change request information.

The hardware configuration of the hot water supply system according to this embodiment is the same as the hardware configuration described in the first embodiment. The functional configuration of the controller 33 of the hot water supply unit 3 according to this embodiment is also the same as that of the first embodiment. In the following description of this embodiment, the same components as those of the first embodiment are described using the same reference numerals as appropriate. As shown in FIG. 26, the CPU 501 of the terminal device 4005 reads the program stored in the auxiliary storage unit 503 into the main storage unit 502 and executes it, thereby functioning as a receiving unit 511, a display control unit 512, a receiving unit 513, a change request generating unit 4514, and a change request transmitting unit 4515. Note that the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 5 are used for the components in FIG. 26 that are the same as those in the first embodiment. The auxiliary storage unit 503 also has an operation screen storage unit 531. It is assumed that the display control unit 512 has an operation screen image for requesting a change in the operation schedule of the hot water supply unit 3 displayed on the display unit 504, and the resident has performed an operation to input the operation end time and hot water usage amount of the changed operation schedule via the input unit 505. In this case, the change request generation unit 4514 generates change request information including operation end time information indicating the operation end time and hot water usage information indicating the hot water usage based on the operation end time and hot water usage received by the reception unit 513. Then, the change request transmission unit 4515 transmits the generated change request information to the water heater control device 4001.

The CPU 101 of the water heater control device 4001 reads out the programs stored in the auxiliary memory unit 103 into the main memory unit 102 and executes them, thereby functioning as a weather information acquisition unit 111, an electric power amount acquisition unit 112, a water heater information acquisition unit 113, an electric power amount prediction unit 114, a hot water usage prediction unit 115, a usage time prediction unit 122, a boiling amount calculation unit 116, a required electric power amount calculation unit 117, a water cooling amount calculation unit 121, a schedule generation unit 4118, a priority determination unit 123, a transmission unit 119 and a change request acquisition 4125. The auxiliary memory unit 103 also includes an electric energy memory unit 131, a weather information memory unit 132, a hot water usage memory unit 133, a hot water storage volume and temperature memory unit 134, an electric energy prediction memory unit 136, a hot water usage time prediction memory unit 137, a schedule memory unit 138, a threshold memory unit 139, and an operation end time memory unit 4142.

The operation end time memory unit 4142 stores the operation end time information included in the change request information in association with the house identification information corresponding to the change request information. The change request acquisition unit 4125 acquires the change request information transmitted from the terminal device 4005, and stores the operation end time information included in the acquired change request information in the operation end time memory unit 4142 in association with the house identification information corresponding to the change request information. The change request acquisition unit 4125 also notifies the predicted hot water usage information included in the acquired change request information to the predicted hot water usage update unit 4136. The predicted hot water usage update unit 4136 updates the predicted hot water usage of the house H[i] corresponding to the change request information stored in the hot water usage time prediction memory unit 137 with the hot water usage indicated by the hot water usage information notified from the change request acquisition unit 4125.

When the change request acquisition unit 4125 acquires change request information after updating the operation schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 138, the schedule generation unit 4118 changes the operation schedule of the water heater 3 of the house H[i] corresponding to the change request information, based on the operation end time of the operation schedule indicated by the operation end time information stored in the operation end time storage unit 4142. Here, the schedule generation unit 4118 may change the operation schedule only when the operation end time of the operation schedule indicated by the operation end time information is earlier than the operation end time of the operation schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 138.

Next, the operation of the hot water supply system according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 27. Note that in FIG. 27, the same processes as in embodiment 1 are given the same reference numerals as in FIG. 15. First, a series of processes from steps S1 to S22 shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 in embodiment 1 is executed, and then the process of step S23 shown in FIG. 27 is executed. Next, the hot water supply control device 1 updates the schedule information indicating the provisional operation schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 138 with schedule information indicating the newly generated operation schedule (step S41).

Next, the updated schedule information, hot water usage history information, and hot water storage information stored in the schedule memory unit 138 are transmitted from the water heater control device 1 to the terminal device 4005 (step S42). Meanwhile, when the terminal device 4005 receives the schedule information, hot water usage history information, and hot water storage information, it displays the received schedule information, hot water usage information, and hot water storage information on the display unit 504 (step S43). At this time, the terminal device 4005 displays on the display unit 504 an operation screen image GA41 including a message M111 indicating the updated operating schedule as shown in FIG. 28(A), for example, and a message M112 indicating the average hot water usage calculated based on the hot water usage history information and the current hot water storage amount. Furthermore, the operation screen image GA41 includes button images BU412 and BU411, and when the terminal device 4005 has the operation screen image GA41 displayed on the display unit 504 and the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU411, the terminal device 4005 erases the operation screen image GA41 from the display unit 504. On the other hand, when the terminal device 4005 has the operation screen image GA41 displayed on the display unit 504 and the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU412, the terminal device 4005 displays on the display unit 504 an operation screen image GA42 including an input field B421 for the operation end date and time and an input field B422 for the amount of hot water used, for example, as shown in FIG. Additionally, the operation screen image GA42 includes button images BU421 and BU422. When the terminal device 4005 displays the operation screen image GA42 on the display unit 504 and the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 that corresponds to the button image BU422, the terminal device 4005 causes the display unit 504 to display the operation screen image GA41 again.

The terminal device 4005 may display on the display unit 504 an operation screen image GA43 including a message M42 indicating the updated operation schedule and button images BU431 and BU432, as shown in FIG. 29(A), for example. When the terminal device 4005 displays the operation screen image GA43 on the display unit 504 and the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU432, the terminal device 4005 erases the operation screen image GA43 from the display unit 504. On the other hand, when the terminal device 4005 displays the operation screen image GA43 on the display unit 504 and the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU431, the terminal device 4005 displays on the display unit 504 an operation screen image GA44 including an input field B441 for the operation end date and time, as shown in FIG. 29(B), for example. Additionally, the operation screen image GA44 includes a button image BU442, and when the terminal device 4005 displays the operation screen image GA44 on the display unit 504 and the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 that corresponds to the button image BU442, the terminal device 4005 causes the display unit 504 to display the operation screen image GA43 again.

Alternatively, the terminal device 4005 displays on the display unit 504 an operation screen image GA45 including a message M45 indicating the updated operation schedule and hot water storage amount as shown in FIG. 30(A), and a graph image GR45 indicating the average hot water usage amount and the current hot water storage amount calculated based on the hot water usage history information. The operation screen image GA45 also includes button images BU451 and BU452, and when the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU452 while the terminal device 4005 is displaying the operation screen image GA45 on the display unit 504, the terminal device 4005 erases the operation screen image GA45 from the display unit 504. On the other hand, when the terminal device 4005 has the operation screen image GA45 displayed on the display unit 504 and the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU451, the terminal device 4005 displays an operation screen image GA46 on the display unit 504, which includes an input field B461 for the operation end date and time and a cursor image CAL for inputting the amount of hot water used, as shown in FIG. 30(B), for example. The operation screen image GA46 also includes button images BU461 and BU462, and when the terminal device 4005 has the operation screen image GA46 displayed on the display unit 504 and the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU462, the terminal device 4005 displays the operation screen image GA45 on the display unit 504 again. The resident can also select the amount of hot water used by moving the cursor image CAL on the operation screen image GA46.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 28B, in a state where the terminal device 4005 displays the operation screen image GA42 on the display unit 504, the resident performs an operation to input a date and time in the operation end date and time input field B421 in the operation screen image GA42 and input the amount of hot water used in the hot water use input field B422, and then touches the part corresponding to the button image BU421 in the input unit 505. In this case, the terminal device 4005 accepts a change request operation as shown in FIG. 27 (step S44). Then, the terminal device 4005 generates change request information including operation end time information indicating the operation end time input in the operation end date and time input field B421 and hot water usage information indicating the amount of hot water used input in the hot water usage input field B422 (step S45). Next, the generated change request information is transmitted from the terminal device 4005 to the water heater control device 4001 (step S46). On the other hand, when the water heater control device 4001 receives the change request information, it identifies the water heater 3 for which the operation end time corresponding to the received change request information is to be changed (step S47). Then, the processing from step S22 onwards is executed.

Next, the operation schedule generation process executed by the water heater control device 4001 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 31. Note that in FIG. 31, the same processes as those in embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18. First, as shown in FIG. 31, after a series of processes from step S101 to S121 are executed, the transmission unit 119 transmits the updated schedule information, hot water usage history information, and hot water storage information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 to the terminal device 4005 (step S401). At this time, when the terminal device 4005 receives the schedule information, hot water usage history information, and hot water storage information, it causes the display unit 504 to display the received schedule information, hot water usage information, and hot water storage information.

Next, the change request acquisition unit 4125 determines whether or not change request information has been acquired from the terminal device 4005 within a preset waiting period after the transmission unit 119 has transmitted the schedule information, hot water usage history information, and hot water storage information to the terminal device 4005 (step S402). If the change request acquisition unit 4125 determines that change request information has not been acquired from the terminal device 4005 within the aforementioned waiting period (step S402: No), it transmits the updated schedule information to the water heater 3 (step S403). Next, the processing of step S101 is executed again.

On the other hand, when the change request acquisition unit 4125 determines that the change request information has been acquired from the terminal device 4005 (step S402: Yes), it stores the operation end time information included in the acquired change request information in the operation end time storage unit 4142 in association with the house identification information corresponding to the change request information (step S404). The change request acquisition unit 4125 also notifies the predicted hot water usage information included in the acquired change request information to the predicted hot water usage update unit 4136. Then, the predicted hot water usage update unit 4136 updates the predicted hot water usage of the house H[i] corresponding to the change request information stored in the hot water usage time prediction storage unit 137 with the hot water usage indicated by the hot water usage information notified from the change request acquisition unit 4125 (step S405). After that, the schedule generation unit 118 generates a provisional operation schedule so that the water heater 3 of the house H[i] corresponding to the change request information boils the updated hot water usage amount at the operation end time stored in the operation end time storage unit 4142 (step S110). Next, the process from step S111 onwards is executed.

As described above, according to the water heater control device 4001 of this embodiment, the schedule generation unit 118 changes the operation schedule of the water heater 3 corresponding to the change request information based on the operation end time of the changed operation schedule indicated by the change request information. This makes it easier for the requests of the residents of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] to be reflected in the operation schedule of the water heater 3, thereby improving the convenience of the water heater 3 for the residents.

Although the embodiment of the present disclosure has been described above, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 32, the water heater control device 5001 may include an electricity charge calculation unit 5126 that calculates electricity charges for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] based on the priority indicated by the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138. In FIG. 32, the same components as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals as in FIG. 5. The water heater control device 5001 further includes a priority history storage unit 5144 that stores the history of the priority corresponding to each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], and an electricity charge storage unit 5143 that stores electricity charge information corresponding to each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n]. The water heater control device 5001 also includes a priority history acquisition unit 5128 that acquires priority information and stores the acquired priority information in the priority history storage unit 5144 each time the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 is updated, and an electricity rate transmission unit 5127 that transmits the electricity rate information stored in the electricity rate storage unit 5143 to the electricity rate management server 5009. Here, the electricity rate management server 5009 is, for example, a server owned by an electric power company, an electric power business operator, or the like.

The electricity fee calculation unit 5126 calculates the electricity fee corresponding to each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] based on the electricity fee calculation formula indicating the correlation between the average value of the past priority and the electricity fee. Here, the electricity fee calculation formula indicates a correlation such that the lower the average value of the past priority, the lower the electricity fee. The electricity fee calculation unit 5126 calculates the average value of the past priority based on the information indicating the history of the past priority stored in the priority history storage unit 5144, and calculates the electricity fee corresponding to each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] from the calculated average value using the electricity fee calculation formula. Then, the electricity fee calculation unit 5126 stores the electricity fee information indicating the calculated electricity fee corresponding to each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] in the electricity fee storage unit 5143. In addition, when the electricity fee calculation unit 5126 stores the electricity fee information in the electricity fee storage unit 5143, it notifies the priority determination unit 5123 of the electricity fee determination notification information.

The priority history storage unit 5144 may store not only priority information but also information indicating the history of the additional power amount and additional operation time of the water heater 3, which are included in the schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 138. In this case, the electricity fee calculation unit 5126 may calculate the electricity fee based on the information indicating the history of the additional power amount and additional operation time of the water heater 3 described above.

After the electricity fee determination notification information is notified from the electricity fee calculation unit 5126, the priority determination unit 5123 returns the priority indicated by the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 to the initial value at the timing of refunding the resident of the house H[i] with the electricity fee for operating the water heater 3 with a low priority. Here, when the priority information indicates a cumulative value of the priority corresponding to the operation schedule after multiple updates within a preset period, the priority determination unit 5123 updates the priority indicated by the priority information to the initial value (e.g., "0") and stores the rescheduling implementation date information indicating the date on which the operation schedule was updated in the schedule storage unit 138 as the date on which the electricity fee is refunded. Note that the priority determination unit 5123 may, for example, store in the schedule storage unit 138 the rescheduling implementation date information corresponding to the most recent priority used in calculating the electricity fee for refunding with the electricity fee from the information indicating the history of past priorities. This allows the resident of the house H[i] who operated the water heater 3 with a low priority to receive a refund in the electricity bill, eliminating the unfairness of priority between the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] and ensuring fairness in priority.

In addition, when the priority information stored in the schedule storage unit 138 indicates a priority based on the updated operation schedule when one operation schedule update is performed, the priority determination unit 5123 may store in the schedule storage unit 138 electricity fee calculation date information indicating the date on which the electricity fee calculation unit 5126 actually calculated the electricity fee. Here, the electricity fee calculation unit 5126 may calculate the electricity fee based on not only the information indicating the priority history stored in the priority history storage unit 5144 but also the history of the additional power amount, additional operation time, etc. included in the schedule information stored in the schedule storage unit 138. As a result, the electricity fee calculation unit 5126 can calculate the electricity fee to be returned to the resident of the house H[i] by calculating the average value or cumulative value of the priority or the additional power amount, additional operation time, etc. of the water heater 3 within a period set in advance from the previous electricity fee calculation date stored in the schedule storage unit 138. In this case, the priority determination unit 5123 can determine the priority of the water heater 3 by calculating the average or cumulative value of the priority or the additional power consumption, additional operating time, etc. of the water heater 3 within a preset period from the last electricity rate calculation date.

The system is not limited to the above-mentioned configuration of returning the benefit to the house H[i] that contributes to the reduction of the total power consumption in the form of electricity bills, but may also be configured to return the benefit in the form of discount points that can be used by the resident of the house [i] when purchasing products at a store affiliated with the electric power company, electric power supplier, etc. In this case, the electricity fee management server 5009 may be provided with a point calculation unit (not shown) that calculates discount points corresponding to each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] based on a discount point calculation formula that indicates the correlation between the average value of the past priority and the discount points that can be used at the above-mentioned store. Here, the discount point calculation formula indicates a correlation such that the lower the average value of the past priority, the higher the discount points. The electricity fee management server 5009 may also be provided with a point information transmission unit (not shown) that transmits point information indicating the discount points calculated by the point calculation unit to a store server (not shown) owned by the above-mentioned store.

When the operation schedule of the water heater 3 is generated taking into account the amount of water that cools down after being heated by the water heater 3, a house H[i] set to an operation schedule with a long time interval between the end time of the operation of the water heater 3 and the start time of the hot water use will consume a large amount of electricity because the water will be heated up by the amount of water that cools down. In other words, the more the house H[i] contributes to reducing the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1, the more the power consumption of the water heater 3 will increase. In contrast, according to this configuration, the electricity fee calculation unit 5126 calculates a lower electricity fee for the house H[i] with a lower average past priority of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], that is, the more frequently changes are made to the provisional operation schedule. As a result, the more the house H[i] contributes to reducing the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1, the more the electricity fee will be returned, so that the fairness of the electricity fees for each house H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] can be ensured.

The water heater control device 1 according to the first embodiment may include an evaluation information generation unit that generates evaluation information for evaluating the validity of the operation schedule of the water heater 3 based on the history of the total power consumption in the entire apartment building B1, the history of the hot water storage temperature of the water heater 3, and the power consumption threshold. This evaluation information is used, for example, by the manager of the apartment building B1 when monitoring or evaluating the generation status of the operation schedule of the water heater 3 by the water heater control device 1 based on the history of the total power consumption in the entire apartment building B1, the history of the hot water storage temperature of the water heaters 3 installed in each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], etc.

As shown in FIG. 33, the terminal device 6005 according to this modification includes an evaluation request generation unit 6516 and an evaluation request transmission unit 6517. Then, in a state in which the display control unit 512 displays an operation screen image for requesting the water heater control device 6001 to transmit evaluation information for evaluating the validity of the operation schedule of the water heater 3 on the display unit 504, for example, the manager of the apartment building B1 performs an operation to request transmission of evaluation result information via the input unit 505. In this case, the evaluation request generation unit 6516 generates evaluation request information based on operation information indicating the operation content received by the reception unit 513. Then, the evaluation request transmission unit 6517 transmits the generated evaluation request information to the water heater control device 6001. The reception unit 6511 receives the evaluation information transmitted by the water heater control device 6001 in response to the evaluation request information, and notifies the display control unit 512 of the received evaluation information.

The water heater control device 6001 according to this modified example also includes an evaluation request acquisition unit 6130, an evaluation information generation unit 6128, an evaluation information storage unit 6144, and an evaluation information transmission unit 6129. The evaluation information storage unit 6144 stores evaluation information corresponding to the evaluation request information transmitted from the terminal device 6005. The evaluation request acquisition unit 6130 acquires the evaluation request information transmitted from the terminal device 6005. The evaluation information generation unit 6128 generates evaluation information for evaluating the validity of the operation schedule of the water heater 3 based on the history of the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1, the history of the hot water storage temperature of the water heater 3, and the power consumption threshold. The evaluation information generation unit 6128 stores the generated evaluation information in the evaluation information storage unit 6144. The evaluation transmission unit 6129 transmits the evaluation information stored in the evaluation information storage unit 6144 to the terminal device 6005.

Here, the terminal device 6005 may display on the display unit 504 an operation screen image GA61 including a message M611 regarding the power consumption threshold and a graph image A611 showing the progress of the total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1, as shown in FIG. 34(A), for example, based on the evaluation information received from the water heater control device 6001. The terminal device 6005 may also display on the display unit 504 an operation screen image GA62 including graph images A621 and A622 showing the progress of the total power consumption of each of the houses H[i] and H[i+1], as shown in FIG. 34(B), for example, based on the evaluation information received from the water heater control device 6001.

Furthermore, as in the modified example described with reference to FIG. 32, when the water heater control device 6001 includes an electricity fee calculation unit, the water heater control device 6001 can generate evaluation information including information related to the electricity fee. In this case, the terminal device 6005 may display an operation screen image GA63 including a message M631 related to the electricity fee on the display unit 504 based on the evaluation information received from the water heater control device 6001, as shown in FIG. 35(A), for example.

Alternatively, the terminal device 6005 may display on the display unit 504 an operation screen image GA64 including information showing the occurrence of hot water surplus or shortage, for example as shown in FIG. 35(B), based on the evaluation information received from the hot water heater control device 6001.

This configuration has the advantage that, for example, the manager of apartment complex B1 can easily monitor or evaluate the status of the water heater 3 operation schedule generation by the water heater control device 1 based on the history of the total power consumption of the entire apartment complex B1, the history of the hot water storage temperature of the water heaters 3 installed in each of the residences H[1], H[2], ..., H[n], etc.

In the first embodiment, an example was described in which the power prediction unit 114 predicts the total appliance power consumption of the entire apartment building B1 using a total appliance power consumption calculation formula showing the correlation between temperature and past total appliance power consumption. However, this is not limited to this, and the power prediction unit may calculate the average value or maximum value of the total appliance power consumption predicted each time the schedule generation time arrives as the predicted value of the total appliance power consumption. In addition, the power prediction unit may calculate the average value of the total appliance power consumption in the same month or week as the schedule generation time in the previous year, the amount obtained by adding an integer multiple of the standard deviation indicating the variation of the total appliance power consumption to the average value, or the maximum value as the predicted value of the total appliance power consumption. Alternatively, the power prediction unit may calculate the average value of the total appliance power consumption in a preset period (e.g., two weeks) immediately before the schedule generation time, the amount obtained by adding an integer multiple of the standard deviation indicating the variation of the total appliance power consumption to the average value, or the maximum value as the predicted value of the total appliance power consumption. The power prediction unit may also calculate the average value of the total appliance power consumption on the same day of the week or weekday as the past schedule generation time, or on the same type of holiday as the past schedule generation time, or the average value plus an integer multiple of the standard deviation indicating the variation of the total appliance power consumption, as the predicted value of the total appliance power consumption. In this case, the power prediction unit may calculate the larger average value of the average value of the total appliance power consumption on weekdays or the average value of the total appliance power consumption on holidays, in each time period until the next schedule generation time, as the predicted value of the total appliance power consumption. The power prediction unit may also calculate the average value of the appliance power consumption per house obtained by dividing the predicted total power consumption of the entire apartment building B1 by the number of houses based on the number of houses belonging to the apartment building B1, and calculate the product of the calculated average value and the number of houses as the predicted value of the total appliance power consumption. In this case, the power prediction unit may calculate the total appliance power consumption by adding the power consumption in the common areas of the apartment building B1 to the product of the average value of the appliance power consumption per house and the number of houses, as the total appliance power consumption.

In the first embodiment, an example was described in which the hot water usage prediction unit 115 predicts the amount of hot water usage for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] using a hot water usage calculation formula that indicates the correlation between the extracted amount of hot water usage and the temperature indicated by the extracted weather record information. However, this is not limited to this, and the hot water usage prediction unit may calculate the average amount of hot water usage per day within the most recent preset period in the past, a value obtained by adding an integer multiple of the standard deviation indicating the variation in the amount of hot water usage to the average value, or the maximum value as the predicted value of the amount of hot water usage. Alternatively, the hot water usage prediction unit may calculate the average amount of hot water usage on the same day of the week or weekday as the past schedule generation period, or on the same type of holiday as the past schedule generation period, or the amount obtained by adding an integer multiple of the standard deviation indicating the variation in the amount of hot water usage to the average value as the predicted value of the amount of hot water usage.

In the first embodiment, an example has been described in which the use time prediction unit 122 predicts a time period in which hot water will be used for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] during the schedule generation period until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information stored in the hot water usage history storage unit 133. However, this is not limited to this, and for example, the use time prediction unit may predict multiple hot water usage time periods for each of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] during the schedule generation period until the next schedule generation period.

In embodiment 1, if the boiling amount calculation unit 116 performs boiling based on the calculated boiling amount and is unable to boil the amount of hot water used indicated by the predicted hot water use amount indicated by the predicted hot water use amount information stored in the hot water use amount time prediction memory unit 137, the boiling amount may be increased until it reaches the amount of hot water used indicated by the predicted hot water use amount.

In the first embodiment, if there is an excess time period during which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold when the water heaters 3 of the houses H[1], H[2], ..., H[n] are operated according to the operation schedules regenerated by rescheduling the operation schedules for all houses for which the operation schedules can be rescheduled, the schedule generation unit 118 may set the power consumption threshold stored in the threshold storage unit 139 to a value obtained by multiplying the power consumption threshold by a preset coefficient greater than 1. The coefficient is set to, for example, 1.2.

In the fourth embodiment, when the terminal device 4005 has an operation screen image GA43 as shown in FIG. 29(A) displayed on the display unit 504 and the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU431, the terminal device 4005 may display an operation screen image GA74 on the display unit 504, which includes an input field B741 for the operation end date and time and button images BU741, BU742, and BU743 for selecting the amount of hot water used as shown in FIG. 36. When any of the portions corresponding to the button images BU741, BU742, and BU743 on the input unit 505 is touched, the terminal device 4005 may generate change request information requesting that the amount of hot water used be changed to the amount of hot water used corresponding to the selected button image BU741, BU742, or BU743, and transmit the change request information to the water heater control device 4001. When a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to button image BU741 is touched, the terminal device 4005 generates change request information requesting an increase in the amount of hot water used and transmits it to the water heater control device 4001. When a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to button image BU742 is touched, the terminal device 4005 generates change request information requesting a decrease in the amount of hot water used and transmits it to the water heater control device 4001. When a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to button image BU743 is touched, the terminal device 4005 generates change request information requesting that the amount of hot water used be maintained as is and transmits it to the water heater control device 4001.

On the other hand, when the received change request information indicates a request to increase the amount of hot water used, the water heater control device 4001 increases the predicted amount of hot water used of the house H[i] corresponding to the change request information stored in the hot water use amount time prediction memory unit 137 by a preset amount of hot water. On the other hand, when the received change request information indicates a request to decrease the amount of hot water used, the water heater control device 4001 decreases the predicted amount of hot water used of the house H[i] corresponding to the change request information stored in the hot water use amount time prediction memory unit 137 by a preset amount of hot water. Note that the operation screen image GA74 shown in FIG. 36 includes a button image BU744, and when the resident touches a portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the button image BU744 while the terminal device 4005 is displaying the operation screen image GA74 on the display unit 504, the terminal device 4005 causes the display unit 504 to display the operation screen image GA43 again.

The various functions of the water heater control devices 1, 2001, 3001, 4001, 5001, and 6001 according to the present disclosure may be realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. In this case, the software or firmware may be written as a program, and the program may be stored and distributed on a computer-readable recording medium such as a flexible disk, a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or an MO (Magneto-Optical Disc), and the program may be read and installed on a computer to configure a computer capable of realizing each of the above-mentioned functions. In addition, when each function is realized by sharing the work between an OS (Operating System) and an application, or by cooperation between an OS and an application, only the parts other than the OS may be stored on the recording medium.

Furthermore, each program can be superimposed on a carrier wave and distributed over a network. For example, the program can be posted on a bulletin board (BBS, Bulletin Board System) on the network and distributed over the network. These programs can then be started and run under the control of the OS in the same way as other application programs, thereby enabling the above-mentioned processing to be performed.

This disclosure is suitable as a hot water supply system that determines the operation schedule of hot water heaters installed in each residence in an apartment complex that has a bulk power receiving contract with an electric power company.

1, 2001, 3001, 4001, 5001, 6001 Water heater control device, 3 Water heater, 4 Electrical equipment, 5, 2005, 4005 Terminal device, 6 Router, 7 Power generation equipment, 8 Weather server, 21 Distribution board, 22, 72 Power measurement device, 31 Hot water tank, 32 Heat pump unit, 33 Controller, 101, 301, 501 CPU, 102, 302, 502 Main memory unit, 103, 303, 503 Auxiliary memory unit, 106, 506 Wide area communication unit, 107, 307 Local communication unit, 108, 308 Timer unit, 109, 509 Bus, 111 Weather information acquisition unit, 112 Power amount acquisition unit, 113 Water heater information acquisition unit, 114 Power amount prediction unit, 115 Hot water usage prediction unit, 116 Boiling amount calculation unit, 117 Required power amount calculation unit, 118, 3118, 4118 Schedule generation unit, 119 Transmission unit, 121, 2121 Hot water cooling amount calculation unit, 122, 3122 Usage time prediction unit, 123, 5123 Priority determination unit, 131 Power amount memory unit, 132 Weather information memory unit, 133 Hot water usage amount history memory unit, 134, 2134 Hot water storage amount/temperature memory unit, 136 Power amount prediction memory unit, 137 Hot water usage amount time prediction memory unit, 138, 344 Schedule memory unit, 139 Threshold memory unit, 310 Communication interface, 311 Hot water usage amount measurement unit, 312 Hot water storage amount measurement unit, 313a, 313b, 313c, 313d, 313e Temperature sensor, 321 Evaporator, 322 Compressor, 323 Heat exchanger, 324 Expansion valve, 325 Control board, 331 Schedule receiving unit, 332 Heat pump control unit, 334 Water heater information transmission unit, 335 Hot water usage history generation unit, 336 Hot water usage acquisition unit, 337 Hot water storage acquisition unit, 338 Hot water storage temperature acquisition unit, 342 Hot water usage storage unit, 343 Hot water storage amount/temperature storage unit, 344 Schedule storage unit, 504 Display unit, 505 Input unit, 511, 6511 Receiving unit, 512, 2512 Display control unit, 513 Reception unit, 531 Operation screen storage unit, 2124 Model generation unit, 2140 Hot water cooling amount calculation model storage unit, 3125 Policy acquisition unit, 3141 Policy storage unit, 3514 Policy generation unit, 3515 Policy transmission unit, 4125 Change request acquisition unit, 4126 Predicted hot water usage update unit, 4142 Operation end time storage unit, 4514 Change request generation unit, 4515 Change request transmission unit, 5009 Electricity fee management server, 5126 Electricity fee calculation unit, 5127 Electricity fee transmission unit, 5128 Priority history acquisition unit, 5143 Electricity fee storage unit, 5144 Priority history storage unit, 6128 Evaluation information generation unit, 6129 Evaluation information transmission unit, 6130 Evaluation request acquisition unit, 6144 Evaluation information storage unit, 6516 Evaluation request generation unit, 6517 Evaluation request transmission unit, B1 Apartment building, B421, B422, B442, B461, B741 Input field, BU11, BU411, BU412, BU421, BU422, BU431, BU432, BU442, BU451, BU452, BU461, BU462, BU741, BU742, BU743 Button image, GA11, GA41, GA42, GA43, GA44, GA45, GA46, GA74 Operation screen image, H[1], H[2], H[i], H[i+1], H[i+2], H[i+3], H[i+4], H[i+5], H[n] House, M111, M112 Message, NW1 Wide area network, NW2 Local network, PS System power supply

Claims (17)

an electric power acquisition unit that acquires electric power consumption information indicating an amount of electric power consumed by the water heater and an amount of electric power consumed by the equipment in each of a plurality of houses in which the water heater and the equipment are installed;
a weather information acquisition unit that acquires weather information including at least weather forecast information indicating future temperatures in an area where the plurality of houses are present;
a water heater information acquisition unit that acquires water heater information including hot water usage history information indicating a history of hot water usage in each of the plurality of residences, hot water storage volume information indicating a current hot water storage volume of the water heater, and a current hot water storage temperature of the water heater;
a power prediction unit that predicts a total device power consumption to be consumed only by the devices throughout the entirety of the plurality of houses during each of a plurality of preset time periods until the next schedule generation time, based on past power consumption information of each of the plurality of houses, at a schedule generation time that occurs at each preset period and that generates an operation schedule for the water heater installed in each of the plurality of houses;
a hot water usage prediction unit that predicts the hot water usage in each of the plurality of residences until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information at the schedule generation period;
a usage time prediction unit that predicts a time period during which hot water will be used in each of the plurality of residences until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information at the schedule generation period;
A hot water cooling amount calculation unit calculates a hot water cooling amount indicating the amount of hot water required to heat up the hot water that has cooled down between the time when the hot water heater boiled the water and the time when the hot water heater boiled the water and the time when the hot water heater boiled the water to the temperature immediately after the hot water heater boiled the water, based on the weather information, the operation schedule, the amount of hot water used, and the time when the hot water is used.
a required power calculation unit that calculates the required power amount and the required operation time of the water heater of each of the plurality of houses until the next schedule generation time based on the amount of hot water used, the time period of use, the amount of hot water stored, the temperature of the stored hot water, and the amount of cooling of the hot water;
a schedule generating unit that generates an operation schedule for each of the water heaters of the plurality of houses based on the required power amount and the required operation time at the schedule generation time so that a total power consumption amount consumed by the entire plurality of houses is equal to or less than a preset power consumption amount threshold until the next schedule generation time.
Water heater control device. the schedule generation unit generates a tentative operation schedule for the water heater based on the usage time period, the required amount of power, and the required operation time so that the amount of hot water used is heated at the start time of the usage time period, and if there is an excess time period during which the total amount of power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold when the water heaters installed in each of the multiple residences are operated in accordance with the tentative operation schedule, regenerates an operation schedule for the water heater installed in at least one of the multiple residences so that the amount of hot water used is heated before the usage time period;
The hot water cooling amount calculation unit calculates the hot water cooling amount based on the elapsed time from the operation end time indicated by the regenerated operation schedule to the start time of the use time period and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information.
The water heater control device according to claim 1 . the schedule generation unit, when there is an overage time period during which the total power consumption exceeds the power consumption threshold when the hot water heaters installed in each of the plurality of houses are operated according to the regenerated operation schedule, sets the power consumption threshold to an upper limit value of the total power consumption during the overage time period.
The water heater control device according to claim 2. A priority determination unit determines a priority for the hot water heater to heat the hot water amount according to the tentative operation schedule based on a history of changes to the tentative operation schedule,
The schedule generation unit generates the operation schedule based on the priority.
The water heater control device according to claim 2 or 3. A policy acquisition unit that acquires policy information indicating a policy when generating the operation schedule of the water heater,
the priority determination unit determines the priority of the water heater corresponding to the policy information based on a history of changes to the tentative operation schedule and the policy information;
The water heater control device according to claim 4. When the policy information indicates a priority policy for reducing the amount of water cooling that prioritizes reducing the amount of water cooling, the priority determination unit increases the priority of the water heater corresponding to the policy information.
The water heater control device according to claim 5. When the policy information indicates a priority reduction policy for reducing the priority as much as possible, the priority determination unit reduces the priority of the water heater corresponding to the policy information.
The water heater control device according to claim 5 or 6. A policy acquisition unit that acquires policy information indicating a policy when generating the operation schedule of the water heater,
the schedule generation unit generates an operation schedule for operating the water heater immediately after the end time of the usage time period when the policy information indicates a hot water shortage prevention priority policy that prioritizes prevention of hot water shortage.
The water heater control device according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A model generation unit that generates a hot water cooling amount calculation model for calculating the hot water cooling amount from the elapsed time from the operation end time of the hot water heater to the start time of the use time period and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information,
The hot water cooling amount calculation unit calculates the hot water cooling amount from the elapsed time from the operation end time indicated by the regenerated operation schedule to the start time of the use time period and the temperature indicated by the weather forecast information, using the hot water cooling amount calculation model.
The water heater control device according to any one of claims 1 to 8. The meteorological information further includes meteorological record information indicating current and past temperatures in an area where the plurality of houses are located,
The power amount prediction unit generates a total device power consumption calculation formula indicating a correlation between temperature and the past total device power consumption, and a first standard deviation calculation formula indicating a relationship between temperature and a first standard deviation indicating a variation in the past total device power consumption, based on the weather record information, and calculates an amount obtained by adding N times (N is an integer equal to or greater than 1) the first standard deviation calculated using the first standard deviation calculation formula to the total device power consumption calculated using the total device power consumption calculation formula as a total device power consumption predicted value.
The water heater control device according to any one of claims 1 to 9. The use time prediction unit calculates, based on the hot water usage history information, an average time of the time when the amount of hot water usage first exceeds a preset threshold value during two schedule generation periods that are adjacent in time within a past preset use time calculation period, and a second standard deviation indicating the variation in the time when the amount of hot water usage exceeds the threshold value, and calculates a time at least M times the second standard deviation (M is an integer equal to or greater than 1) before the calculated average time as the start time of the use time period .
The water heater control device according to any one of claims 1 to 10. a transmission unit that transmits schedule information indicating the operation schedule to a terminal device carried by a resident of at least one of the plurality of residences;
a change request acquisition unit that acquires change request information that requests a change to the operation schedule transmitted from the terminal device,
the change request information includes information indicating an operation end time of the operation schedule after the change;
the schedule generation unit changes the operation schedule of the water heater corresponding to the change request information based on an operation end time of the changed operation schedule indicated by the change request information.
The water heater control device according to any one of claims 1 to 11. further comprising an electricity charge calculation unit that calculates an electricity charge for each of the plurality of residences based on the priority.
The water heater control device according to claim 4 or 5. and an evaluation information generating unit configured to generate evaluation information for evaluating the validity of the operation schedule based on the total power consumption history, the hot water storage temperature history, and the power consumption threshold.
The water heater control device according to any one of claims 1 to 13. A water heater installed in each of a plurality of residences in which the device is installed;
an electric power acquisition unit that acquires electric power consumption information indicating an amount of electric power consumed by the hot water heater and an amount of electric power consumed by the equipment in each of the plurality of houses;
a weather information acquisition unit that acquires weather information including at least weather forecast information indicating future temperatures in an area where the plurality of houses are present;
a water heater information acquisition unit that acquires water heater information including hot water usage history information indicating a history of hot water usage in each of the plurality of residences, hot water storage volume information indicating a current hot water storage volume of the water heater, and a current hot water storage temperature of the water heater;
a power prediction unit that predicts a total device power consumption to be consumed only by the devices throughout the entirety of the plurality of houses during each of a plurality of preset time periods until the next schedule generation time, based on past power consumption information of each of the plurality of houses, at a schedule generation time that occurs at each preset period and that generates an operation schedule for the water heater installed in each of the plurality of houses;
a hot water usage prediction unit that predicts the hot water usage in each of the plurality of residences until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information at the schedule generation period;
a usage time prediction unit that predicts a time period during which hot water will be used in each of the plurality of residences until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information at the schedule generation period;
A hot water cooling amount calculation unit calculates a hot water cooling amount indicating the amount of hot water required to heat up the hot water that has cooled down between the time when the hot water heater boiled the water and the time when the hot water heater boiled the water and the time when the hot water heater boiled the water to the temperature immediately after the hot water heater boiled the water, based on the weather information, the operation schedule, the amount of hot water used, and the time when the hot water is used.
a required power calculation unit that calculates the required power amount and the required operation time of the water heater of each of the plurality of houses until the next schedule generation time based on the amount of hot water used, the time period of use, the amount of hot water stored, the temperature of the stored hot water, and the amount of cooling of the hot water;
a schedule generating unit that generates, at the schedule generation time, an operation schedule for the water heater of each of the plurality of residences based on the required power amount and the required operation time, such that a total amount of power consumption consumed by the entire plurality of residences is equal to or less than a preset power consumption upper limit value until the next schedule generation time arrives.
Hot water system. A step in which the water heater control device acquires power consumption information indicating the amount of water heater power consumed by the water heater and the amount of equipment power consumed by the equipment in each of a plurality of residences in which the water heater and the equipment are installed;
The water heater control device acquires meteorological information including weather forecast information indicating at least future temperatures in an area where the plurality of houses are present;
The water heater control device acquires water heater information including hot water usage history information indicating a history of hot water usage in each of the plurality of houses, hot water storage volume information indicating a current hot water storage volume of the water heater, and a current hot water storage temperature of the water heater;
a step in which the water heater control device, at a schedule generation time that occurs at a preset time interval and that generates an operation schedule for the water heater installed in each of the plurality of residences, predicts a total equipment power consumption that will be consumed only by the equipment throughout the plurality of residences during each of a plurality of preset time periods until the next schedule generation time based on past power consumption information of each of the plurality of residences;
The hot water heater control device predicts the amount of hot water used in each of the plurality of houses until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information at the schedule generation period;
The hot water heater control device predicts, at the schedule generation time, a time period during which hot water will be used in each of the plurality of houses until the next schedule generation time based on the hot water usage history information;
A step in which the water heater control device calculates a water cooling amount indicating an amount of water required to heat up the water that has cooled down between the time when the water heater boiled the water and the time when the water is used, to the temperature immediately after boiling the water, based on the weather information, the operation schedule, the amount of hot water used, and the time period when the water is used;
The water heater control device calculates the required power amount and the required operation time of the water heater for each of the plurality of houses until the next schedule generation time based on the amount of hot water used, the time period of use, the amount of hot water stored, the temperature of the stored hot water, and the amount of hot water cooled down;
and a step in which the water heater control device generates, at the schedule generation time, an operation schedule for the water heater for each of the plurality of residences based on the required power amount and the required operation time, so that a total amount of power consumption consumed by the entire plurality of residences until the next schedule generation time is equal to or less than a preset power consumption upper limit value.
How to generate an operating schedule. Computer,
an electric power amount acquiring unit that acquires electric power consumption information indicating an amount of electric power consumed by the water heater and an amount of electric power consumed by the equipment in each of a plurality of residences in which the water heater and the equipment are installed;
a weather information acquisition unit that acquires weather information including at least weather forecast information indicating future temperatures in an area where the plurality of houses are located;
a water heater information acquisition unit that acquires water heater information including hot water usage history information indicating a history of hot water usage in each of the plurality of residences, hot water storage amount information indicating a current hot water storage amount in the water heater, and a current hot water storage temperature in the water heater;
a power prediction unit that predicts a total appliance power consumption to be consumed only by the appliances throughout the plurality of houses during each of a plurality of preset time periods until the next schedule generation time based on past power consumption information of each of the plurality of houses, at a schedule generation time that occurs at each preset period and that generates an operation schedule for the water heater installed in each of the plurality of houses;
a hot water usage prediction unit that predicts the hot water usage in each of the plurality of residences until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information at the schedule generation period;
a use time prediction unit that predicts a time period during which hot water will be used in each of the plurality of residences until the next schedule generation period based on the hot water usage history information at the schedule generation period;
a hot water cooling amount calculation unit that calculates a hot water cooling amount indicating the amount of hot water required to heat up the hot water that has cooled down between the time when the hot water heater boiled the water and the time when the hot water heater boiled the water and the time when the hot water heater boiled the water to the temperature immediately after the hot water heater boiled the water, based on the meteorological information, the operation schedule, the amount of hot water used, and the time when the hot water is used;
a required power calculation unit that calculates the required power amount and the required operation time of the water heater of each of the plurality of houses until the next schedule generation time based on the amount of hot water used, the time period of use, the amount of hot water stored, the temperature of the stored hot water, and the amount of cooling of the hot water;
a schedule generation unit that generates, at the schedule generation time, an operation schedule for the water heater of each of the plurality of residences based on the required power amount and the required operation time, so that a total amount of power consumption consumed by the entirety of the plurality of residences is equal to or less than a preset power consumption upper limit value until the next schedule generation time;
A program to function as a

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