A Novel Priority-Based Load Management Method that Improves Comfort in Residential Demand Response

The problem addressed in this study is how users’ comfort can be improved by managing priorities assigned to home appliances in a residential demand response event in the houses that have an upper limit for their electricity demand. A novel prioritization-based load management method was developed to prevent loss of comfort and increase in consumption cost caused by the conventional load management approximations based on static priority. Static priorities were converted to dynamic priorities in real time. Comfort analysis methods were introduced that can be applied to home energy management systems in an easy way. Energy management of the prioritized loads in a house with a restricted power value was treated as a knapsack problem. Dynamic programming algorithms were used to solve the problem. Proposed methods were analyzed by different priority sequences of the four powers-intensive appliances. Greater user comfort with fewer consumption costs was accomplished through the use of thermal flexibilities.