Hot-water supply system, water heater, and control method for water heater
AssigneeMitsubishi Electric Corporation
InventorKoji Yabe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hot-water supply system heats up water by power generated by power generation means. The hot water supply system includes a compressor and a water heat-up unit. In the hot-water supply system, the compressor compresses refrigerant and circulates the refrigerant through a refrigerant circuit. The water heat-up unit heats up water by changing, in accordance with the generated power, a rotation rate of an electric motor for driving the compressor.
Claims19
A hot-water supply system for heating up water by power generated by a power generation unit, the hot-water supply system comprising:
- a power conditioner;
- and
- a water heater,
- the power conditioner comprising:
- an instruction acquirer configured to acquire a suppression instruction that instructs the power conditioner to suppress supplying of the generated power to a commercial electrical power grid, wherein the suppression instruction designates a predefined period of suppressing reverse flow of power to the commercial electrical power grid;
- and
- a power outputter configured to output, from the power conditioner to a power-consuming area in which the water heater is installed, in the predefined period designated by the suppression instruction, power that is less than the generated power by suppressing output of the generated power from the power conditioner to the power-consuming area, and
- the water heater comprising:
- a compressor configured to compress refrigerant and circulate the refrigerant through a refrigerant circuit;
- and
- a water heating unit configured to heat up water by changing, in the predefined period, in accordance with a difference between the generated power and the power output from the power conditioner to the power-consuming area, a rotation rate of an electric motor for driving the compressor, wherein
- the power output from the power conditioner to the power-consuming area is supplied to the commercial electrical power grid when exceeding a total consumed power of the power-consuming area.
A control method for a water heater for heating up water by power generated by a power generation unit, the control method comprising:
- acquiring by a power conditioner a suppression instruction that instructs the power conditioner to suppress supplying of the generated power to a commercial electrical power grid, wherein the suppression instruction designates a predefined period of suppressing reverse flow of power to the commercial electrical power grid;
- outputting from the power conditioner to a power-consuming area in which the water heater is installed, in the predefined period designated by the suppression instruction, power that is less than the generated power by suppressing output of the generated power from the power conditioner to the power-consuming area;
- and
- heating up the water by changing, in the predefined period, in accordance with a difference between the generated power and the power output from the power conditioner to the power-consuming area, a rotation rate of an electric motor for driving a compressor of the water heater, wherein
- the power output from the power conditioner to the power-consuming area is supplied to the commercial electrical power grid when exceeding a total consumed power of the power-consuming area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.