# US 12,112,466 B2 · Systems and methods for automated electrical panel analysis

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- Number: US 12,112,466 B2
- Document ID: US12112466B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/470,255
- Filed: 2021-09-09
- Published: 2023-01-05
- Granted: 2024-10-08
- Earliest claimed: 2021-07-02
- Assignees: Bp Pulse Fleet North America Inc.
- Applicants: Bp Pulse Fleet North America Inc.
- Inventors: Ethan Shaotran; Bryan M. Chow
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12112466B2

## CPC

- G06T 7/0004: {Industrial image inspection}
- H02J 13/12: Monitoring network conditions, e.g. electrical magnitudes or operational status
- B60L 53/62: in response to charging parameters, e.g. current, voltage or electrical charge
- G06N 3/08: Learning methods
- G06Q 30/018: Certifying business or products
- G06V 10/82: using neural networks
- G06V 20/00: Scenes; Scene-specific elements (control of digital cameras H04N23/60)
- G06V 30/10: Character recognition
- G06N 3/0464: Convolutional networks [CNN, ConvNet]
- G06N 3/09: Supervised learning
- G06Q 50/26: Government or public services (business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40)
- G06T 2207/20081: Training; Learning
- G06T 2207/20084: Artificial neural networks [ANN]
- G06V 2201/06: Recognition of objects for industrial automation
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
- B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES
- G06N: COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING

## Abstract

A method of determining a capability of an electrical panel includes providing information relative to the electrical panel to a computer vision software, such as through an image captured by a camera. An attribute of the electrical panel may be analyzed, using the computer vision software, panel at least partially based on the information. An overall electrical power capacity of the electrical panel may be calculated based at least in part on the attribute of the electrical panel. An electrical load on the electrical panel may be calculated based at least in part on the attribute of the electrical panel. A report may be generated that includes an unused electrical power capacity of the electrical panel at least partially based on the electrical load and the overall electrical power capacity of the electrical panel.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of determining a functionality of an electrical panel, the method comprising:
providing information relative to an electrical panel to a computer vision software, wherein the information comprises a digital image of a set of circuit breaker slots of the electrical panel;
analyzing, using the computer vision software, attributes of the electrical panel at least partially based on the information, the attributes comprising an indication of empty circuit breaker slots of the set of circuit breaker slots and one or more symbols identifiable by the computer vision software;
calculating an overall electrical power capacity of the electrical panel based at least in part on the attributes of the electrical panel;
calculating an electrical load on the electrical panel based at least in part on the attributes of the electrical panel; and
generating a report comprising an unused electrical power capacity of the electrical panel at least partially based on the electrical load and the overall electrical power capacity of the electrical panel.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the attributes of the electrical panel comprises:
identifying characteristics of each electrical breaker electrically coupled to the electrical panel based on the one or more symbols, the characteristics of the electrical breaker comprising at least one of a voltage rating, an amperage rating, a single pole configuration, a double pole configuration, and a tandem breaker configuration.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the attributes of the electrical panel at least partially based on the information comprises at least one of:
identifying, using the computer vision software, operational characteristics of each circuit breaker based at least in part on the one or more symbols corresponding to each circuit breaker;
identifying, using the computer vision software, an amount of vacant breaker slots on the electrical panel;
identifying, using the computer vision software, a make and model of the electrical panel; and
identifying a geographic location at which the digital image was taken.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the electrical load on the electrical panel comprises estimating an average electrical power provided by the electrical panel to loads connected to the electrical panel.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the overall electrical power capacity of the electrical panel is at least partially based on operational characteristics of each circuit breaker and a number of vacant electrical breaker slots within the electrical panel.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the unused electrical power capacity comprises:
comparing the electrical load on the electrical panel to the overall electrical power capacity of the electrical panel.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the electrical load on the electrical panel comprises estimating an average electrical power provided by the electrical panel at least partially based on historical electrical power provided to the electrical panel.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting, automatically, the report to at least one of: an owner of the electrical panel, an energy management provider, a municipality, or a supplier of electric vehicle charging equipment.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
training the computer vision software to identify a type of an electrical panel or a type of an electrical breaker.

### Claim 10

A computing device for determining a functionality of an electrical panel, the computing device comprising:
a processor;
memory in electronic communication with the processor, wherein the memory stores computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of:
providing a digital image of an electrical panel to an image recognition module;
identifying, using the image recognition module, one or more symbols representing an amperage rating of each electrical breaker of a plurality of electrical breakers disposed within the electrical panel;
determining, using the image recognition module, an indication of empty circuit breaker slots of a set of circuit breaker slots of the electrical panel;
calculating a maximum electrical capacity of the entire electrical panel based at least in part on the amperage rating of each electrical breaker and the indication of empty circuit breaker slots; and
generating a report comprising the functionality of the electrical panel at least partially based on the maximum electrical capacity of the entire electrical panel.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The computing device of claim 10, wherein calculating the maximum electrical capacity of the electrical panel comprises:
determining a weighted amperage rating for each electrical breaker;
estimating an average power provided by each electrical breaker;
summing the average power provided by each electrical breaker to estimate a total average power provided by the electrical panel; and
comparing the total average power to a maximum power output value of the electrical panel, the maximum power output value being at least partially based on one or more vacant electrical breaker slots within the electrical panel.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The computing device of claim 11, wherein the memory stores computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to further perform the step of:
comparing the estimated total average power to historical power usage data of the electrical panel.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The computing device of claim 10, wherein the memory stores computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to further perform the step of:
identifying, using the image recognition module, a date the electrical panel was manufactured;
identifying, using the image recognition module, a manufacturer of the electrical panel;
identifying, using the image recognition module, a model of the electrical panel;
identifying a construction date of a building to which the electrical panel provides power; and
identifying a type of building in which the electrical panel is disposed.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to rotate a portion of the digital image depicting the electrical breaker prior to identifying the one or more symbols.

### Claim 15

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of:
providing information relative to an electrical panel to an image recognition software;
analyzing, using the image recognition software, attributes of a set of circuit breaker slots of the electrical panel at least partially based on the information, the attributes comprising at least one empty circuit breaker slot and one or more symbols identifiable by the image recognition software;
calculating a maximum electrical capacity of the electrical panel based at least in part on the attributes of the set of circuit breaker slots of the electrical panel; and
generating a report comprising a maximum capability of the electrical panel at least partially based on the maximum electrical capacity of the electrical panel;
wherein the information provided relative to the electrical panel comprises a digital image of the electrical panel, the digital image depicting the set of circuit breaker slots.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein analyzing the attributes of the electrical panel comprises:
identifying characteristics of each electrical breaker electrically coupled to the electrical panel based on the one or more symbols, the characteristics of each electrical breaker comprising at least one of a voltage rating, an amperage rating, a single pole configuration, and a double pole configuration.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the image recognition software comprises a deep learning convolutional neural network model.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein calculating the maximum electrical capacity of the electrical panel comprises:
determining a maximum electrical power output of the electrical panel based at least in part on the attributes of the electrical panel;
estimating an average electrical power output of the electrical panel based at least in part on the attributes of the electrical panel;
comparing the maximum electrical power output to the average electrical power output to determine the maximum electrical capacity.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein estimating the average electrical power output of the electrical panel is further based on an estimated seasonal load of an electrical breaker electrically coupled to the electrical panel.

### Claim 20 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the report comprises a recommendation for modifying the electrical panel to increase the maximum electrical capacity.