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21 records · Page 2

Anomaly detection for MPC forecast in Fleet of Water Heaters

Among residential devices, water heaters consume 20% of home energy use in the United States. Water heaters possess the capability to store energy within their reservoirs, enabling the ability to decouple energy use from hot water use. This capability can be used to reduce energy usage and costs while also supporting grid services. This requires accurate forecasting of the parameters of the water heater such as upper and lower temperatures. In this study, we analyzed the performance and behavior of a water heater model used in the real-world to predict a control mechanism that is implemented in a smart residential neighborhood. The model forecasts are accurate in most cases but not all. In such scenarios, error correction of the model is necessary to further improve model predictive control accuracy. Anomaly detection is the first step of error correction. This study complements existing research by grouping time series data into two clusters one with anomalies and another without anomalies. To achieve this task, we explored and compared multiple unsupervised machine learning algorithms to perform clustering. Among these algorithms, Ward clustering has the lowest running time and identified the highest number of anomalies for the upper temperature limit. The proposed approach is tested based on the data collected in a neighborhood with 46 townhomes located in Atlanta, GA.

Lebakula, Viswadeep↗

Data Analysis Approach for Large Data Volumes in a Connected Community

Recent advancements within smart neighborhoods where utilities are enabling automatic control of appliances such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and water heater (WH) systems are providing new opportunities to minimize energy costs through reduced peak load. This requires systematic collection, storage, management, and in-memory processing of large volumes of streaming data for fast performance. In this paper, we propose a multi-tier layered IoT software framework that enables effective descriptive and predictive data analysis for understanding live operation of the neighborhood, fault identification, and future opportunities for further optimization of load curves. We then demonstrate how we achieve live situational awareness of the connected neighborhood through a suite of visualization components. Finally, we discuss a few analytic dashboards that address questions such as peak load reductions obtained due to optimization, customer preference for automatic control of appliances (do they override the automatic control of HVAC?, etc.). 1 1 This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

Chinthavali, Supriya↗

A Study of Cost-Saving Potential of Load Flexibility Measures in Grid-Interactive Multifamily Buildings

With recent advances in smart technologies, more and more smart devices are penetrating the residential and commercial buildings market. The introduction of these smart devices is also helping IoT companies emerge with load aggregator roles in the sector. With more utility companies on the track of supporting OpenADR protocols, the aggregators could play a significant role in providing load flexibilities by automatically responding to demand response (DR) events and coordinating load flexibility measures between customers. This would benefit utility companies by reducing stress on the grid during critical peak demand hours as well as customers by allowing them to utilize utility rate structures advantageous to those able to reduce electric usage during high-demand hours. This study evaluates cost and energy savings from adopting multiple load flexibility measures in multifamily buildings. Combinations of different load flexibility measures, including space temperature floating, light dimming, automatic window shading, and water heater temperature floating, are considered. The simulations are performed using OpenStudio®, an open-source U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) simulation platform. For the case study, we used a midrise apartment building with weather conditions from Denver, Colorado. To compare climate zone differences, simulations were also performed for Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois. Initial results indicate that the application of automated load flexibility measures without careful consideration of dispatching strategies and DR program enrollments could significantly affect the savings. To get meaningful cost savings, aggregators need to encourage tenant awareness to curtail energy usage through occupant behavior in addition to dispatching automatic load flexibility measures. The outcomes from this study are believed to help load aggregators understand the risks and benefits of load flexibility opportunities.

building energy modeling↗