Flexible Intelligent Power Systems (FLIPS)

Votes: 3
Views: 3961

Buy and store energy at the cheapest rates, and use it at anytime.

The Problem:
Power companies often provide different rates based on time of day. Rates are often the lowest during the night and early morning. But this is not always convenient for most people, such as doing the laundry at 1AM. How to take advantage of this situation?

The Solution:
The FLIPS solution provides an energy storage device that collects and stores energy during the lowest rate periods of the day or week. That stored energy is then used by the household off-grid at any time during the day.

How It Works:
The FLIPS device comprises of an energy storage unit, a CPU and direct attachment to the household power supply line. The energy storage unit can contain high capacity Li-ion batteries, fuel cells, capacitors or kinetic energy storage (such as a rotating flywheel). The energy storage unit is placed inside or outside the house and directly attached to the household power supply line. The CPU determines the power utilities rates along with the daily average household energy requirements. At this point, the FLIPS unit will automatically store power at the lowest rate periods during the day and then switch off the main power supply to the house. At higher rate periods, the energy requirements of the house are managed by the FLIPS unit. If more energy is required should the FLIPS unit be depleted, the main power will be switched back on and uninterrupted energy consumption will resume.

The Benefits:
The FLIPS unit can be programmed to store energy at any predetermined time period. The system can also update the home owners of the energy levels stored and used via smartphones or through a website.
FLIPS determines the best time to store energy from the power utility, and use it whenever you require it. Now you can easily budget your energy consumption and costs without the constraints of the power utility rate schedules.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Steve Roumeliotis
  • Type of entry:
    individual
  • Profession:
    Engineer/Designer
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    2
  • Steve's favorite design and analysis tools:
    Wildfire, Solidworks, Alibre Design, pencil and paper
  • For managing CAD data Steve's company uses:
    None
  • Steve's hobbies and activities:
    Running, karate, spending time with my family
  • Steve is inspired by:
    Making a difference with a new design. Rather than make just another product to replace another one, but actually offer a real solution.
  • Patent status:
    none