International Business Machines Corporation

Utopus Insights, Inc.

Universiti Brunei Darussalam

Vikas Chandan

Shivkumar Kalyanaraman

Pankaj Satyanarayan Dayama

Krishnasuri Narayanam

Pratyush Kumar

Sukanya Randhawa

Zainul Mohammed Charbiwala

Sunil Ghai

Ashish Verma

Ravi Kothari

Vijay Arya

Tanuja Ganu

Devasenapathi P Seetharamakrish

Rohit Chintala

Saptarshi Bhattacharya

Sandeep Kalra

Harshad D Khadilkar

Ming Chee Lim

Methods, systems, and computer program products for user-preference driven control of electrical and thermal output from a photonic energy device are provided herein. A system includes a solar photovoltaic module, and a fluid positioned on the solar photovoltaic module. The system also includes configurable reflective surfaces that collect and distribute direct solar and diffuse solar radiation across multiple portions of the fluid and/or portions of the solar photovoltaic module. Additionally, the reflective surfaces is physically connected to the solar photovoltaic module at an angle that is variable in relation to the surface of the solar photovoltaic module. Further, the system includes a controller that modulates an amount of thermal output and/or electrical power output generated by the solar photovoltaic module by transmitting a signal to adjust at least one variable pertaining to the fluid, and transmitting a signal to adjust at least one variable pertaining to the reflective surfaces.

User-preference driven control of electrical and thermal output from a photonic energy device

Methods, apparatus and systems for tunable photonic harvesting for solar energy conversion and dynamic shading tolerance are provided herein. An apparatus includes a solar photovoltaic module; a sensor device operative to determine portions of the solar photovoltaic module that are underperforming in relation to separate portions; reflective surfaces of a first type, each physically connected to the solar photovoltaic module at a given angle in relation to the surface of the solar photovoltaic module; and reflective surfaces of a second type, each physically connected to a respective one of the reflective surfaces of the first type; wherein the reflective surfaces of the first type and second type are configurable based on a determination of the underperforming portions of the solar photovoltaic module to collect and distributed direct solar radiation and diffuse solar radiation across the solar photovoltaic module to offset the underperforming portions by a given amount.

Tunable photonic harvesting for solar energy conversion and dynamic shading tolerance

Methods, apparatus and systems for tunable photonic harvesting for solar energy conversion and dynamic shading tolerance are provided herein. A system includes a solar photovoltaic module; a sensor device operative to determine portions of the solar photovoltaic module that are underperforming; a plurality of configurable reflective surfaces, wherein: each of the configurable reflective surfaces is physically connected to the solar photovoltaic module at a given angle in relation to the surface of the solar photovoltaic module; and each of the configurable reflective surfaces is configurable based on a determination of the underperforming portions of the solar photovoltaic module to collect and distribute direct solar radiation and diffuse solar radiation across the solar photovoltaic module in a targeted manner to offset the underperforming portions by a given amount; and a heat transfer mechanism coupled to the solar photovoltaic module and operative to reduce the temperature of the solar photovoltaic module.

Methods, systems, and computer program products for user-preference driven control of electrical and thermal output from a photonic energy device are provided herein. A computer-implemented method includes automatically modulating an amount of thermal output and/or electrical power output generated by a solar photovoltaic module in response to an input of one or more user preferences by: adjusting at least one variable pertaining to a fluid positioned on the solar photovoltaic module based on the one or more user preferences; and adjusting at least one variable pertaining to one or more reflective surfaces physically connected to the solar photovoltaic module based on the one or more user preferences.

Methods, apparatus and systems for tunable photonic harvesting for solar energy conversion and dynamic shading tolerance are provided herein. A method includes determining one or more of multiple portions of a solar photovoltaic module that are underperforming in relation to separate portions of the solar photovoltaic module; configuring multiple reflective surfaces to produce a given configuration of the multiple reflective surfaces in relation to a surface of the solar photovoltaic module based on said determining; collecting (i) direct solar radiation and (ii) diffuse solar radiation incident on a plurality of the multiple reflective surfaces; and distributing (i) the collected direct solar radiation and (ii) the collected diffuse solar radiation across the multiple portions of the solar photovoltaic module in a targeted manner based on the given configuration of the multiple reflective surfaces to offset the underperforming portions of the solar photovoltaic module by a given amount.

Methods, systems, and computer program products for thermal management of buildings using intelligent and autonomous set-point adjustments are provided herein. A method includes capturing a user-selected setting that represents a desired balance between (i) energy usage and (ii) thermal comfort associated with a building; capturing, via a communication link with one or more hardware devices associated with thermal management of the building, one or more items of real-time information pertaining to the thermal management of the building; determining one or more set-point temperatures for the building based on (i) the user-selected setting, (ii) the items of real-time information pertaining to the thermal management of the building, and (iii) one or more constraints; and outputting the set-point temperatures to the hardware devices associated with the thermal management of the building for execution of a thermal management schedule to be carried out in accordance with the set-point temperatures.

Thermal management of buildings using intelligent and autonomous set-point adjustments

Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing peak power consumption for distributed assets are provided herein. A computer-implemented method includes segmenting the multiple distributed assets into groups based on energy demand behavior attributed to each of the assets and user-level constraints, wherein each of the assets is associated with one or more users, and wherein each of the users is associated with one or more organizations of the hierarchy, determining group-level constraints for each of the groups based on correlating the energy demand behavior across the users of the groups, generating a distinct battery charging schedule for each of the groups based on the determined group-level constraints, user-level objectives and organization-level objectives, and outputting the generated battery charging schedule to each of the multiple distributed assets within the hierarchy.

Managing peak power consumption for distributed assets using battery charging schedules

Methods, systems, and computer program products for preventing unauthorized movement of energy across grid networks due to portable storage devices are provided herein. A computer-implemented method includes dividing a portable energy storage device into multiple virtual energy storage sub-units, restricting each of one or more energy charging options to one or more distinct charging modes, restricting each of one or more energy discharging options to one or more distinct discharging modes, mapping, in accordance with one or more pre-defined rules, each respective one of the multiple virtual energy sub-units to at least one of one or more of the distinct charging modes and one or more of the distinct discharging modes, and automatically charging and automatically discharging the portable energy storage device based on the mapping and one or more contextual details.

Preventing unauthorized movement of energy across grid networks due to portable storage devices

Methods, systems, and computer program products for ensuring fairness in the operation of thermal grids are provided herein. A computer-implemented method includes generating one or more models derived from information pertaining to a heating and cooling network, wherein the heating and cooling network comprises multiple consumers; categorizing each of the multiple consumers into one of two groups based on (i) one or more objectives of the heating and cooling network, (ii) the one or more generated models, and (iii) one or more constraints; generating a signal to be sent to each of the consumers categorized within a first of the two groups, wherein the signal comprises a temperature set-point adjustment proposal; and outputting the signals to the consumers categorized within the first of the two groups.

Ensuring fairness in the operation of thermal grids

Methods and arrangements for computing a schedule for central air conditioning. Inputs are received, including: a monetary budget relative to a predetermined time period; an occupancy profile relative to the predetermined time period; and at least one of: electricity rates relative to the predetermined time period, and technical specifications of the central air conditioning. A target indoor temperature is determined based on the received inputs, with respect to different timepoints within the predetermined time period. An air conditioning schedule is determined for the different timepoints within the predetermined time period, wherein this determining includes reducing a quantitative measure relating to discomfort. Other variants and embodiments are broadly contemplated herein.

Scheduling for air conditioners and other appliances

Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing a picogrid with a computing device are provided herein. A method includes generating one or more power-related models based on (i) data pertaining to a given device battery, (ii) data pertaining to one or more context sources, and (iii) one or more items of power-related historical data; determining a charging schedule for the given device battery to provision power for a picogrid based on the one or more power-related models, wherein said picogrid comprises a set of one or more additional devices connected to (i) the given device and (ii) an energy storage component; and implementing the charging schedule on the given device.

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Bengaluru, India

Vikas Chandan