ITTO20120736A1 - "CONTROL DEVICE FOR A APPLIANCE" - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTION of the industrial invention entitled:

â € œControl device for a household applianceâ €

TEXT D

Field of invention

The present invention relates to the field of communication systems for domestic electrical users, in particular aimed at a more efficient management of electrical energy consumption in the domestic environment. The invention was developed with particular reference to a control device designed to make a household appliance communicating.

State of the art

The evolution of electricity generation and distribution systems, characterized by an increasing use of ICT technologies, is bringing out more and more the opportunity to have at home electricity users able to negotiate their consumption, through direct or mediated dialogue - that is through an appropriate energy manager - with the energy supplier or utility. Through this capacity for dialogue, consumption can be adapted to a certain extent to the needs of the electricity grid, which dynamically vary during the day and night and which are expressed, for the electric utility, in terms of the need to reduce consumption in moments of peak and disposal of excess production and, for the user, in terms of opportunities for low-cost exploitation of the situation of excess production of electricity.

The aforementioned dialogue between the electric utility and the household electric users, which obviously presupposes that the parties are able to communicate, is encouraging the producers of electric utilities to develop products with connectivity and, with particular reference to the case of household appliances, Three different approaches are emerging:

to. the use of a transceiver, commonly referred to as â € œcommunication nodeâ €, installed on the appliance;

b. the equipment of the appliance with a suitable connector that can be safely accessed from the outside, to which an optional communication node can be applied when desired by the user;

c. the use of external control devices or smart plugs which, interposed between the power cord of the appliance and the relative socket, are able to interrupt the power supply of the electric user on direct or mediated request by the utility.

In the first case (case a) there is the problem of the cost of the communication node, which makes the related products less competitive, and that of tying the electrical user to a specific communication technology that can undergo frequent changes and updates over time, which translate into non-negligible maintenance costs that tend to slow down the development of â € œsmart-grid readyâ € appliances, that is, natively designed to interact with new generation electrical grids (smart grids). These problems have led to the search for compromise solutions capable, on the one hand, of avoiding excessively penalizing the industrial cost of the product and, on the other, of making it independent of a specific communication technology. A known example of a compromise solution is described for example in the international patent application WO 02/21664, on which the preamble of claim 1 is based. In this solution a household appliance communicates bidirectionally using the same electronics associated with its control system. control - therefore without introducing additional costs - thanks to the aid of an appropriate external control device, placed between the product power supply cable and the relative power socket. This method has the advantage of proposing an extremely economical and effective way of transmitting information from the appliance to the outside, but it also has the disadvantage of requiring, at the level of the external control device, a circuitry for transmitting information. towards the household appliance which is rather complex, bulky and expensive.

In the second case (case b), the need to equip the appliance with an appropriate cavity, in which to allocate the optional communication node, introduces problems of de-standardization in the realization of the product cabinet, which translates into an increase in its industrial cost and in a potential disturbance to its aesthetic line.

In the third case (case c), the power supply of the domestic electrical users concerned would be managed through the aforementioned control device or smart plug, activating the user when the network has excess electrical power and deactivating it in moments of lack of said available power. Network. Such management by the utility would obviously be governed by an appropriate contract stipulated directly with the user. There is, however, a serious problem that makes the use of said external control devices as ON-OFF managers of household appliances inadequate and inadvisable in most cases: the fact that the ON-OFF management of the power supply of a ™ electrical consumer can severely affect its performance, cause inefficiencies and sometimes even cause damage to the product. For this reason, household appliance manufacturers and consumer organizations are strongly opposed to the use of external control devices which, in accordance with the needs of the electricity supplier, cut off the power supply of a domestic electrical user regardless of the operating phase in which it is operating at that moment.

Summary of the invention

In its general terms, the present invention proposes to realize a communication modality between an electric user and a relative control device that is simpler and cheaper than the known technique discussed above, with reference above all to the transmission of information towards a electrical user by a relative external control or monitoring device. In this general context, a particular purpose of the present invention is to indicate devices and control methods of particularly advantageous use in systems inspired by the first case described above (case a), aimed at managing the consumption of electricity in an environment domestic.

One or more of these purposes are achieved, according to the present invention, by a control device for an electrical user, particularly a household appliance, by a communication method and by a household appliance system having the characteristics indicated in the attached claims, which constitute integral part of the technical teaching provided herein in relation to the invention.

In summary, the invention provides for an external control device or smart plug (160, 191) characterized by the ability to communicate with a relative electrical user (100) through the power cable (150, 151) of the latter. . The control device (160, 191) sends the information - for example of a request for collaboration from the electricity network - through a short sequence of short interruptions of fixed duration, hereinafter also referred to as "mains failures", of the alternating voltage of network that supplies the electrical user (100), where two outages are separated or spaced by a respective period or interval of variable duration, during which the electrical user is regularly supplied. The aforesaid periods or intervals are likely to contain the transmitted information in coded form and the aforementioned network gaps are of such duration as not to cause any disturbance to the correct functioning of the control electronics of the electric user itself. The information that the control device (160) can provide are, for example, related to situations of the electricity network that require collaboration from the electric user (100) itself and the latter, in response, can modify its cycle. of operation, trying to meet the needs of that moment of the electricity network in compliance with the constraints of the work phase in which the user is to operate. The electrical user (100), in turn, in a preferred embodiment, can provide a feedback to the control device (160) indicating - for example - any changes it may make to its operating cycle in order to try to meet the needs of the electricity grid in compliance with the constraints of the current work phase. The communication methodology adopted preferably uses the same control electronics already supplied to common household electrical users, that is, without adding any specific hardware component, and allows the user to send initial information relating to the type of intervention. on the operating cycle that it can carry out based on the current work phase, without altering in any way the industrial cost of the product itself.

In a preferred embodiment, the technique of transmitting information from the electrical user to the control device is based on the fact that the digital control system (110) of a household appliance (100) is typically equipped with means (115, 120, 125) to manage the flows of the mains current that feeds its internal electrical loads (130) connected between line (140) and neutral (145) through relative controlled switches (125) - represented by solenoid valves, pumps, motors, lamps, fans and so on - and it consists in exploiting this feature to transmit, through its power cable (150), first information representative of the type of intervention deliberated in relation to the request received by the control device. This information is transmitted by means of controlled and appropriately coded variations of the aforementioned current flows and is acquired, decoded and eventually put into the network in reception through the aid of the control device (160) placed between a power source of the appliance, such as a power socket (190) in the home environment, to which the appliance itself is connected by means of its own power supply line, such as its power cable (150) with its plug (151).

The control device (160) is equipped with means (170, 171) for realizing the aforementioned short sequences of mains holes towards the household appliance (100). In the preferred embodiment, the control device (160) further includes means (165, 166, 167) for measuring the variations of the mains current that feeds the household appliance, means (170) for decoding the information encoded through the aforementioned variations of current made by the appliance. In one embodiment, the control device (160) also comprises means (175) for receiving information to be sent to the household appliance (100) and for communicating information on a local communication network (180) to which the control device ( 160) is connected, the latter information being for example relating to operational decisions taken by the appliance itself (100) in response to the requests of the control device (160).

In one embodiment, the information sent by the household appliance (100) in response to the requests of the control device (160) represents a feedback for an energy manager (185), or a domestic energy manager, who, in the face of said information it can update its control strategy. The response information may be positive (full acceptance of the request), compromise (partial acceptance of the request, i.e. partial variation in power consumption) and negative (non-acceptance of the request).

The control device (160), in addition to being able to receive information from the appliance (100) to reply to the requests made, can also receive from it, with the same technique, other types of information, such as for example the type of appliance ( refrigerator, fridge-freezer, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, oven, hob, extractor hood, and so on), its operating status, user interaction events, statistical data on frequency and mode use, the diagnostic data generated by any self-diagnosis system present within the appliance control system itself, as described in greater detail below. Similarly, the external control device, being able to capture and decode the aforementioned different types of information sent by the appliance connected to it, plays the role of enabler towards the provision of new services based on the contents of these different types of information.

The communication system provided according to the aforementioned embodiment of the invention differs clearly from known communication systems on powerline, because it does not require any specific transmission device but uses the same electronic means already present both on the appliance and on the control device, and therefore does not involve additional costs on said devices. Compared to a known communication system based on powerline, the one proposed in the context of the present invention is therefore characterized by a simpler and more elementary technology which, however, has the advantage of fully satisfying the needs of the applications to which it is addressed and of not burdening on the cost of neither the appliance nor the control device.

Brief description of the drawings

Further objects, characteristics and advantages of the invention will become clear from the detailed description that follows, made with reference to the attached figures, provided purely by way of non-limiting example, in which:

- figure 1a represents the general architecture of the system according to an embodiment of the invention, in which a control device external to a household appliance (100) is a mobile device (160) interposed between the power cable ( 150) of the appliance itself and the relative power socket (190);

- figure 1b represents the general architecture of the system according to another embodiment of the invention, in which the function performed by the control device (160) of figure 1a is integrated inside the socket (191) which powers the appliance;

Figure 2 is a schematic view of the known control system of a household appliance (100) in which the management mode of a generic electrical load (130) is highlighted;

Figure 3a describes a block diagram of the control device (160) of Figure 1a;

Figure 3b describes the block diagram of the socket (191) of Figure 1b, incorporating the function performed by the control device (160) of Figure 1a;

Figure 3c illustrates a method of transmitting information from the control device (160 or 191) to the household appliance (100) according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

- figure 3d illustrates in detail a portion with an amplified time scale of the transmission mode described in figure 3c according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 4 represents a flow chart describing the process of managing domestic energy consumption according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 5 describes an example of data transmission by the household appliance to the control device 160 or 191 according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 6 finally represents a flow diagram of the reception routine, by the device 160 or 191, of the data sent by the household appliance in the form of current absorption according to an embodiment of the invention.

Description of preferred embodiments of the invention

The following description illustrates various specific details aimed at an in-depth understanding of the embodiments. The embodiments can be implemented without one or more of the specific details, or by other methods. In other cases, known structures or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring various aspects of the embodiments. Reference to â € œan embodimentâ € in the context of this description indicates that a particular configuration, structure or feature described in relation to the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, phrases such as â € œin one embodimentâ € and the like, present in different places of this description, do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, particular conformations, structures or characteristics can be combined in an adequate way in one or more embodiments, even different from those described. The references used here are for convenience only and therefore do not define the scope of protection or the scope of the forms of implementation.

Figure 1a schematically shows a household appliance system according to an embodiment of the invention, comprising an electrical user, represented here by a generic household appliance 100, equipped with a digital control system 110, and a control device 160 , hereinafter also referred to as â € œsmart plugâ €, interposed here between the power cable 150 of the appliance and the relative power socket 190. The control device 160 is equipped with a power socket 152 or similar, to which it must be connected the plug 151 of the power supply cable of the appliance, or in any case the cable itself, and also has a plug 153 to connect in turn to the socket 190. The control device 160 is also equipped with interfacing means, here represented by a communication node 175, through which it can connect to a communication network 180, particularly a local network. An â € œenergy managerâ € 185 device, of any known type, may also be connected to the local network 180, which acts as a domestic energy manager.

The same figure 1a shows the bidirectional flow of information 105 which, in a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the invention, the household appliance 100 and the control device 160 exchange. As it will become clearer below, the information from the household appliance 100 to the device 160 is encoded in the form of impulsive current absorption that the control device 160 is able to measure and decode, while the information from the device 160 to the household appliances 100 are coded by the first by modulating the current or electrical power supplied to the second by means of short network holes suitably spaced apart, modulation that the latter is able to decode.

Preferably, the information in question relates to requests for modification of the power absorption made by the control device 160 to the household appliance 100 and, in response, the feedback from the control system 110 of the household appliance, describing the actions for modifying the absorption of power that the latter is able to perform in compliance with the constraints imposed by its current work phase.

In a different embodiment of the invention, in which the functions performed by the device 160 of figure 1a are integrated inside a socket 191 (which we will also call "smart plug" or â € œsmart plugâ €), Ã ̈ represented in figure 1b. The socket 191 is connected to the power source, here represented by the electrical system of the environment in which it is located, through a connector 154 and is able, according to an embodiment of the invention, to measure the consumption of electrical power of the household appliance 100 connected to it, to detect the impulsive current absorption sent in coded form by the control system 110 of the same household appliance 100, to decode the relative information and possibly to share said information with other devices through the local network 180 to which it is connected, preferably through the same interface represented by the communication node 175.

The control system 110 of the household appliance, shown in Figure 2, sends information to the control device 160 or to the "smart socket" 191 by exploiting, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the fact that the individual electrical loads of the household appliance 100 - one of which indicated with 130 - are managed by relative controllable switch means 125 which, on the basis of the command signal 120 managed by an actuator circuit 115 of the control system 110, receive or not the alternating mains power supply. In particular, and referring to the schematic example shown, the closure of the switch 125 causes the single-phase mains voltage associated with the cables 140 (Line) and 145 (Neutral) to be applied to the ends of the electrical load 130 and consequently, this electric load 130 absorbs current.

The coded transmission of information by the household appliance takes place, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, by acting in the ON-OFF mode on the switch 125, which can be represented by the contact of an electromechanical relay or by a triac (i.e. a solid state relay), so as to cause the passage or not of current on the electrical load 130 in correspondence with the closed or open state of the switch contact 125 respectively: these sequences of ON and OFF activations are acquired and decoded from an external device of type 160 or 191.

The devices 160 and 191, schematically described respectively by figures 3a and 3b, have the same means for measuring the current absorption of the relative household appliance, here comprising a power meter (i.e. an electric power meter) 165, assisted by a voltage sensor 166 and a current sensor 167. The devices 160 and 191 have the same control logic 170 to manage the closed or open state of the contact of a controllable switch 171, preferably a relay, have a analogous socket 152 or other connector to which the power cable 150-151 of the appliance is connected and interface in the same way (use of a communication node 175) to a local network 180. What differentiates the two devices is only the fact that the first, i.e. the control device 160, has means 153 (such as a three-pole power plug) for connecting to a st andard, while the second, namely the â € œintelligent socketâ € 191, is equipped with terminals or the like to connect to a standard or proprietary domestic electrical system, or the source of electrical current: in this perspective, the 191 device can be considered an advanced power outlet. In both cases, the communication node 175 can be based on radio frequency (for example: WiFi, ZigBee, Z-Wave, ...) or on powerline (KNX, LonTalk, Homeplug, ...), while, only in the case of device 191, it can interface directly with a bus system on an electric cable, both of the standard type and of the proprietary type.

The coded transmission of information by the control device 160 or 191 takes place, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, by acting in the ON-OFF mode on the switch 171, which can advantageously also be represented by the contact of an electromechanical relay, so as to create a short sequence of short interruptions of fixed duration, or "mains failures", of the alternating mains voltage that supplies the electrical user 100, spaced or separated by periods or power intervals of variable duration, where such periods or intervals are capable of containing the information transmitted in coded form and the interruptions are of such a duration as not to cause any disturbance to the correct functioning of the control electronics 110 of the electrical user itself.

Figure 3c describes the aforementioned ON / OFF communication, carried out by the control device 160 or 191 through the switch 171 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. A first short interruption SPF1 of the power supply voltage of the household appliance 100 - lasting â € œAâ € equal to a value included in a certain range that does not produce any disturbance to the control system 110 of the household appliance 100 - performs the function of start of transmission or header. This first short interruption is then followed by the â € œPause1â € interval, in which the appliance is regularly powered, whose duration â € œBâ € is associated, in an appropriately coded form, with the information to be transmitted . Then follows a second `` network hole '' SPF2, having the same duration `` A '' as the previous one, which acts as a delimiter at the end of the first interval `` Pause1 '' and the beginning of a second interval `` Pause2 '', having the same duration â € œBâ € as the previous one and whose end is delimited by a third and last hole in the SPF3 network of the same duration â € œAâ € as the previous ones.

The duration â € œAâ € of the power outages is short, that is, such that the DC low voltage power supply supplied to the control system 110 of the appliance does not suffer any disturbance. For example, this duration `` A '' can be between 40 and 60 mS, which represents a time interval that can also be managed with an electromechanical relay and such that the relative `` network hole '' does not cause disturbances to the control system of the € ™ household appliance. The â € œPause2â € interval, whose duration is preferably intentionally coincident with that of the first â € œPause1â € interval, determines the end of the transmission.

Figure 3d shows a representation with an amplified time scale of the part of figure 3c relating to the â € œPause1â € interval and highlights the method of coding, according to a preferred form of application of the invention, of the information transmitted by the device control 160 or 191.

In particular, figure 3d assumes, purely by way of non-limiting example, a duration of the â € œPause1â € interval between a minimum of 2 seconds (2000 mS) and a maximum of 3 seconds (3000 mS), where the final fraction of the interval â € œPause1â € “fraction assumed here to be equal to 1 second - is divided into a plurality of equal time sub-intervals (â € œslotsâ €) - here assumed to be 8 time slots of 125 milliseconds each - corresponding to as many types of information (requests, commands, other types of information) to be transmitted; in the specific case, the network hole SPF2 (whose duration is assumed to be B = 50 mS) which delimits the end of the interval associated with â € œPause1â €, falls inside slot n. 5, being the duration B of â € œPause1â € equal to 2537.5 mS (in fact B = 2000mS 4 * 125mS 37.5mS = 1527.5 mS, being 37.5 mS the interval between the start of the slot 5 and the beginning of the network hole SPF2, the latter assumed as already mentioned with duration A = 50mS and centered inside slot 5 itself).

It is evident that the same representation of figure 3d will be, according to the invention, used by the control system 110 of the household appliance 100 to decode the type of information (among the 8 possible hypothesized in the example shown) identified by duration of the time interval between the network gaps SPF1 and SPF2, validated by the next identical measurement of the interval between SPF2 and SPF3. These durations are determined by the control system 110 of the household appliance 100 by measuring the time interval between two successive zero crossings of the AC mains voltage, being said zero crossings of the mains voltage supplied by the zero crossing signal which is typically used, according to the known art, by the digital control systems of household appliances to synchronize the triac activation of their electrical loads or for other similar purposes.

There are many possibilities of coding information through ON / OFF actions, carried out by the control device 160 or 191 through short interruptions of the mains voltage, without however departing from the scope of the present invention. Similarly, there are many possibilities of coding information, again by means of ON-OFF actions, carried out by the control system 110 of a household appliance 100, on an electrical load 130 belonging to the same household appliance, without however departing from the scope of the present invention.

With regard to this last aspect relating to data transmission by the household appliance, in a first non-limiting embodiment, the coding can be associated with a sequence of closing and opening actions of the circuit breaker 125 associated with periods of fixed duration, which correspond respectively to a "logic zero" (circuit-breaker open during the aforementioned fixed period) or a "logic one" (circuit-breaker closed during the aforesaid fixed period), as for example is the case in which the circuit-breaker 125 is represented by a triac and the fixed duration of the opening and closing times coincides with the network period, equal to 20 or 16.67 milliseconds if the network frequency is respectively 50 or 60 Hz. A known example of this type transmission is described for example in the already cited international patent application WO 02/21664, whose teachings in this regard are incorporated herein.

In a second, a particularly advantageous embodiment, which advantageously also includes the case in which the switch 125 is represented by the contact of a common electromechanical relay, the system for coding the information sent by the household appliance 100 is represented by a sequence of operations for closing and opening the contact 125 associated with periods of variable duration, the useful information being contained in the duration of said periods. This coding mode can be implemented with extreme advantage in all those cases in which the appliance does not have an advanced control system, i.e. including means necessary to implement the communication technique described in the aforementioned international patent application WO 02/21664, which require high measurement accuracy, for example of time (in terms of microseconds).

The modalities for coding the data sent by the household appliance 100, based precisely on the durations of the ON and OFF impulses applied to the electrical load 130, can be manifold. A possible implementation of the data coding referred to in the aforementioned second embodiment is shown in figure 5, where a sequence of pulses of variable duration (duration dependent on the value of the data associated with each period) associated with the passage of current is represented. on the load 130 (corresponding to the closing of the contact 125), interspersed with fixed pauses associated with the opening of the contact 125. In particular, the first transmission start data (header) is represented by a current pulse - deriving from the application of the mains voltage across the load 130 by closing the contact 125 - lasting 1 second, corresponding to 50 mains cycles with a period of 20 milliseconds (mains frequency of 50 Hz), followed by, after a fixed pause of 1 second, the Data1 which indicates the type of data that will follow and which has been assumed to correspond to the decimal number 62 ("3E" in hexadecimal and "00111110" in binary) and then i with duration equal to 62x20 * 10 <-3> = 1.24 seconds. After another pause of 1 second follows the Data2 which represents the useful data to be transmitted, which in the hypothesized example is equal to 88 decimal ("58" hexadecimal and "01011000" binary), i.e. with a duration of 88x20 * 10 <-3> = 1.76 seconds. Then follows, after a further pause of 1 second, the Data3 which replicates the Data2 and concludes the transmission.

In general terms, therefore, the variable duration of the pulses depends on the value of the data to be transmitted and is preferably a multiple - not necessarily integer - of the network period. Previously an implementation was exemplified in relation to a network frequency of 50 Hz, but it is evident that the same concept is also applicable to the case of another network frequency, typically 60 Hz.

The meaning of Data1, Data2 and Data3 can be obtained by using their respective value as a pointer to an element of a corresponding table, common to both the household appliance 100 and the external control device 160 or 191, the content of which represents respectively for the € ™ household appliance the data sent to the external control device in coded form through suitable sequences of power absorption and, for the external control device, the decoding of the received value.

Data1 serves, as mentioned, to define the type of information or data that is sent; for example, in one form of implementation, Data1 may concern:

Case a. information relating to the response (feedback) of the household appliance 100 to a request for modification of its power consumption by the control device 160 or 191; this response describes the changes to its own power consumption that the control system 110 of the household appliance 100 is effectively able to implement in compliance with the constraints of the current work phase;

Case b. information relating to the current operating status (status) of the appliance, useful for example to inform the user about the progress of a specific program (washing program, if it is a washing machine or dishwasher, or cooking or other) through the communication means of a home automation system connected to the local network 180 which sees the appliance itself as a peripheral device associated with its system;

Case c. information relating to an interaction event (event) with the household appliance by the user, this information being useful for example in the case in which a telemedicine system is connected to the local network 180 which uses household appliances as a source of information on the daily behavior of a fragile user who needs assistance;

Case d. statistical data concerning the work cycles carried out by the appliance or other information deemed useful by the manufacturer of the appliance itself;

Case e. a diagnostic code elaborated by the appliance's self-diagnosis system, useful for remotely assisting the product;

Case f. the type of appliance (type) that is connected to the external device 160 or 191 (smart plug).

With reference to â € œCase aâ € (feedback), the control system 110 of the household appliance 100, once the communication from the control device 160 or 191 has been received and decoded the type of information received (which, purely by way of non-limiting example inspired by the preferential field of application of the present invention, it is hypothesized to concern a request for a change in the power absorbed by the appliance), sends as a feedback (feedback) to the control device information regarding the operational decisions taken in the compliance with the constraints of the work phase in which the appliance is operating at that moment. The aforementioned operational decisions taken by the household appliance represent a confirmation for the domestic energy manager (185) who, in the face of this information, will update his control strategy; this information may be positive (full acceptance of the request), compromise (partial acceptance of the request, ie partial variation in power consumption) and negative (non-acceptance of the request).

The request for modification of the power absorption, made to the appliance 100 by the energy manager 185 through the control device 160 or 191, may concern both a reduction in absorption, representing the most frequent case in which it is necessary avoiding peaks in electricity consumption, is, conversely, an invitation to increase consumption itself, since in the latter case there is a situation of overproduction of electricity that the utility intends to dispose of by dynamically lowering, for example, the cost of the same. Both cases fall within the application fields of the present invention, even if, in a preferential embodiment, reference is mainly made to the first of them, associated with situations in which the electrical network is unable to fully satisfy the power requests from the users.

On the basis of the criteria described above, the behavior of the household appliance 100 and of the relative device 160 or 191, in response to any requests for an energy management system, is represented by the flow chart in figure 4, where the starting block 200 transfers control to the test block 205, which verifies the presence or absence of a request, by the energy manager 185, to modify the power consumption of the household appliance 100, also indicated in the diagram with HA . If there is no request for a change in consumption, control passes to block 215, which confirms the regular supply of mains power to the appliance and returns to the initial block 200; otherwise, the control device 160 or 191, indicated in the diagram in figure 4 with the term smart plug or SP, sends the appliance a formal request for modification (reduction or increase, depending on the operational situation of the electrical network) of its own power consumption and passes the control to block 220, in correspondence with which the control system of the appliance verifies the possibility or not of satisfying the request, in relation to the constraints imposed by its current work phase, and passes the control at test block 225, which verifies whether or not the appliance can fully satisfy the request. If so, the appliance sends the smart plug a feedback of full acceptance of the request and the control returns to the initial block 200; otherwise, the control passes to test block 225, which verifies whether the appliance can at least partially satisfy the request to change its power consumption. If so, the appliance provides the smart plug with a feedback in which it describes the type of change in the power consumption it is able to carry out and which it is making operational, and the control returns to the initial block 200; otherwise, the appliance communicates to the smart plug that it is unable to accept the request from the energy manager of the house and the control returns again to the initial block 200.

With reference to the â € œCase bâ € (status), the appliance announces the operating status, which can be for example the stage of progress of a washing or cooking program or other, depending on the type of appliance. This information is renewed, in a preferred implementation, in correspondence with each change of state by the appliance. Status information is very useful especially when the appliance is part of a home automation system, as it allows said system to keep the user informed, through the means of interaction available ( for example a display device interfaced to the network 180), regarding the progress of a specific program associated with the appliance itself (of particular interest, for example, is the `` end of program '' status, which warns the user that the cooking is finished and the lunch is ready, or that the washing is finished and it is possible to iron the freshly washed clothes). In this case, the duration of the impulse (Data2) represents the new status assumed by the appliance in coded form.

With reference to the â € œCase câ € (event), the appliance announces the occurrence of an interaction event with the user (for example the opening of the refrigerator door, the activation of a washing program, the activation of a cooking program, and so on). This type of information is particularly useful if the appliance is also used as a `` vitality sensor '' in a telemedicine system: in this case, in fact, it can provide information on daily behavior of a frail user (for example an elderly person with Alzheimer's disease), contributing to the study of his behavioral habits and to the identification of any abnormal behaviors that may highlight the aggravation of a disease or the symptom of an incipient disease. In this case the duration of the impulse (Data2) expresses the type of event that occurred.

With reference to the â € œCase dâ € (statistic), the appliance provides information for example on the type of program in execution, this can be used by the manufacturer as statistical data that informs about the frequency and method of use of the product, useful information to make any improvements to the product and also to improve its assistance: thanks to this information it is possible, in fact, to estimate the â € œstate of wearâ € of the appliance and, if necessary, to intervene with preventive maintenance operations. In this case, the duration of the impulse (Data2) identifies the type of the current program performed by the appliance.

With reference to the â € œCase eâ € (diagnostic), the appliance sends a possible fault or warning code, detected by its internal self-diagnosis system. The fault code identifies a specific fault that requires immediate assistance, while the warning code indicates a less serious problem, which does not cause the interruption of the service offered by the product but which can degrade its performance: the all resulting very useful to offer the user a good remote assistance service. In this case the duration of the impulse (Data2) is associated with the code that identifies the detected diagnostic event (fault or warning).

Finally, with reference to the â € œCase fâ € (type), the appliance communicates its identity (refrigerator, fridge-freezer, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, oven, hob, extractor hood, and so on), in so that the device 160 or 191 can correctly interpret all the information that it will send to it. This operation can be carried out, for example, at each power on operation of the appliance. In this case, the duration of the impulse (Data2) is associated with the code that identifies the type of appliance.

Returning again to the example of figure 5, the useful data expressed by Data2 is associated with a current pulse with a duration of 1.76 seconds, corresponding to 88 network cycles ("58" hexadecimal, "01011000" binary) , and expresses a certain value whose meaning depends on the coding rules adopted and the meaning of Data1 (type of information transmitted). Finally, the duration of the last impulse (Data3) intentionally coincides with that of the previous impulse (Data2) and represents a way to verify the correct reception of the latter and also to signal the end of the transmission.

The advantages of the application example of the invention compared to a traditional smart plug system are evident. Assume the case where

- the appliance is represented by a washing machine that is washing at 60 ° C,

- that the forced interruption of the power supply must take place near the end of a washing water heating phase, for example when the water temperature has reached 59 ° C, and

- that the aforementioned interruption must last for a time such that the same temperature drops to 40 ° C.

In a traditional system, the electrical power supply to the machine would simply be interrupted and, when the power supply is reactivated, the machine control system would recover the 19 ° C lost, returning to activate the heating resistance to reach the target value of 60 ° C. The result is an evident inefficiency, due to the need to reheat the washing water, as well as an extension of the washing duration caused by the time required by the reheating. The user will therefore be at a disadvantage, while the utility will have obtained, on the other hand, the double advantage of reducing consumption at a peak time and billing the user for a greater amount of electricity.

In the system according to the invention, on the contrary, it is the same machine which, in response to a request for reduction of power absorption by the control device 160 or 191 - which in turn is the spokesperson for a request advanced by the energy manager 185 - deactivates the water heating resistance (which typically absorbs a power of 2 kW) but continues the washing operation, characterized only by the alternating rotation of the drum, which involves an absorption power ten times lower than that required during the previous heating phase and, therefore, completely satisfying the request of the energy manager 185.

Figure 6 shows a flow diagram of a non-limiting example of the reception routine, by the device 160 or 191, of the data transmitted by the household appliance in the form of current absorption according to an embodiment of the invention. Said routine uses variables, here exemplified in A, B, C, D, E, F and G, called "phase variables" being associated with the various phases of a transmission indicated in figure 5, and assigns the value 1 (blocks 475 and 520 for the variable A, block 375 for the variable B, block 345 for the variable C, block 425 for the variable D, block 405 for the variable E, block 440 for the variable F and block 515 for the variable G) to variable corresponding to the current phase of the transmission according to the scheme of figure 5, all the other variables being set to zero.

The routine is called by the control system of the device 160 or 191 at fixed time intervals, for example coinciding with the network period (20 milliseconds in the case of a frequency of 50 Hz, as shown in figure 5), and the measurement of the duration of the single transmission phases is obtained by adding the period of network associated with each call of the routine. The first operation carried out by the device 160 or 191 on the occasion of each call of the reception routine consists in comparing the PABS power, absorbed by the appliance in that network period, with a certain power threshold PTH taken as a reference. Based on the result of the comparison, the variable BIT is set to 1 if PABS> PTH or to zero if not (blocks 305, 310, 315, 320) and then the current phase of the transmission is identified (test blocks 315 , 325, 380, 385, 455, 460 and 465), characterized by the value 1 of the phase variable, in correspondence with which operations consistent with the value assumed by the aforementioned BIT variable are performed (test blocks 335, 330, 415, 390 , 445, 495 and 470). In particular, the "header" synchronism signal for the start of transmission by the appliance (phase A) is recognized by blocks 355-365-370-375, the duration of the first fixed pause (phase B) is verified by the blocks 330-335-340-345, the duration of Data1 (phase C) is identified by blocks 415-420-425, the duration of the second fixed pause (phase D) is verified by blocks 390-395-400-405, the duration of Data2 (phase E) is identified by blocks 445-435-440, the duration of the third fixed pause (phase F) is verified by blocks 495-505-510-515 and finally the duration of Data3 (phase G ) Is identified by blocks 470-475. If the value of Data3 coincides with the value of Data2 (test block 480), the transmission ends positively and the data received are contained in the variables Data1 and Data2; in all other situations, no data is received from device 160 or 191 and the variables in play are reset (blocks 360, 350, 485, 410 and 500).

Ultimately, in the application exemplified here, the device 160 or 191 performs the following functions:

- communicates data or information to the appliance, such as commands or requests, particularly requests for modification of its absorption;

- constantly measures the power consumption of the household appliance 100;

- identifies, acquires and decodes any information sent by the appliance through variations in power absorption carried out by means of ON / OFF operations on its electrical load 130 in any of the methods envisaged according to the invention;

- makes the content of the information sent by the appliance operational and, in the case of feedback to a request for a change in power consumption by the energy manager 185, transfers the information to this Last so that it can use it to update its strategy for managing the power absorbed by the entire home environment.

It is evident that numerous variants are possible for encoding information by acting on the switch 125 in the ON-OFF mode, for example by combining pulses of both fixed and variable duration, without however departing from the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the six different values associated with Data1 (feedback, status, event, statistic, diagnostic, type) are just some important examples of the possible types of information that a household appliance can communicate to the outside using the method described above, obviously being It is possible to send other types of information deemed useful by the same method without thereby departing from the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (15)

CLAIMS 1. A control device for an electric user, designed to be operationally interposed between an electric power supply line (150, 151) of the electric user (100) and a relative alternating voltage power source, the control (160; 191) having a digital control system (165-167, 170, 171, 175) which includes transmission means (170, 171) suitable for encoding information through controlled interruptions of the alternating voltage supply of the electrical user (100), the transmission means (170, 171) comprising a first controllable switch (171), adapted to manage in ON-OFF mode the alternating voltage from the power source to the electrical user (100), characterized by the fact that the transmission means (170, 171) are designed to carry out a coding of information through sequences of interruptions (SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) of fixed duration (A) of the alternating voltage supplying the electrical user (100) , two interruptions (SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) of fixed duration (A) being separated by a relative interval (Pause1, Pause2) of variable duration (B), in which the information to be transmitted is associated with the variable duration (B ) of the interval (Pause1, Pause2) and the fixed duration (A) of the interruptions (SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) is such as not to disturb the operation of the electrical user (100). The device according to claim 1, wherein the information coding comprises at least - a first interruption (SPF1) of the alternating voltage supplying the electrical user (100), - a first interval (Pause1), with the variable duration (B) of the first interval (Pause1) being associated with the information to be transmitted, - a second interruption (SPF2) of the AC power supply voltage of the electrical user (100), having the same duration (A) as the first interruption (SPF1), - a second interval (Pause2), preferably having the same duration (B) as the first interval (Pause1), - a third interruption (SPF3) of the AC power supply voltage of the electrical user (100), having the same duration (A) as the first interruption (SPF1) and the second interruption (SPF2). 3. The device according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the interval, or each interval (Pause1, Pause2), comprises a predefined time fraction divided into a plurality of equal time sub-intervals, to each sub-interval corresponding a respective type of information to be transmitted. 4. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which: - the fixed duration (A) of said interruptions (SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) is between 40 and 60 mS, and / or - the variable duration (B) of said intervals is between 2000 and 3000 mS. The device according to claim 1, wherein the digital control system (165-167, 170, 171, 175) comprises means (165-167) for receiving information (105) from the electrical user (100). 6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the means (165-167) for receiving information (105) from the electric user (100) comprise means (165, 166, 167) for measuring variations of the electric current absorbed by the Electrical user (100) and means (170) for decoding information encoded by a control system (110) of the electrical user (100) in the form of impulsive current absorption. 7. The device according to claim 6, in which the digital control system (165-167, 170, 171, 175) is configured to carry out the decoding of said information (105) from the electrical user (100) by detecting of a sequence of electrical power absorption pulses of variable duration by the electrical user (100), interspersed with fixed pauses. 8. The device according to claim 6, wherein the digital control system (165-167, 170, 171, 175) is configured to carry out the decoding of said information (105) from the electrical user (100) through detection of a sequence of electrical power absorption pulses of fixed duration by the electrical user (100). The device according to any one of claims 5-8, wherein the digital control system (165-167, 170, 171, 175) includes means for interfacing (175) to a communication network (180) and is arranged for: - communicate to the electric user (100) a request to change its electric power consumption, e - receive from the electric user (100) a reply to the said request for variation in electricity consumption, said acknowledgment including in particular information on operational decisions taken by a control system (110) of the electric user (100) in compliance the constraints inherent in the work phase in which the user himself finds himself operating at the time of the said variation request; - communicate said feedback on the communication network (180). 10. The device according to any one of claims 5-9, in which said information (105) from the electrical user (100) includes one or more information selected from: type of electrical user, operating status of the electrical user, interaction events of a user with the electrical user, statistical data on the frequency and mode of use of the electrical user, diagnostic data generated by a self-diagnosis system of the electrical user. The device according to any one of claims 5-10, wherein the digital control system (165-167, 170, 171, 175) includes means for interfacing (175) to a communication network (180) and is arranged for: - receive information available on the communication network (180), such as requests for changes in the electrical power consumption of the electric user (100), and / or - make said information (105) available on the communication network (180) from the electrical utility (100). 12. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising first connection means (152) for connection to said power supply line (105, 151) of the electrical user (100) and second connection means (153; 154) for connection to said power source. 13. The device according to claim 12, configured as a mobile device (160), connectable between a power supply cable (150, 151) of the electrical user (100) and a power socket (190), or integrated into a socket current (191). 14. A method of communication from a control device (160; 191) to an electrical consumer (100), comprising - providing a control device (160; 191) according to one or more of claims 1-13; - provide an electric utility (100); - place the control device (160; 191) between an electric power supply line (150, 151) of the electric user (100) and a relative alternating voltage power source; - transmit information from the control device (160; 191) to the electrical user (100), such as requests for changes in the electrical power consumption of the electrical user (100), by means of an information encoding which includes sequences of interruptions ( SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) of fixed duration (A) of the alternating voltage supplying the electrical user (100), in which two interruptions (SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) of fixed duration (A) are separated by a relative interval (Pause1, Pause2) of variable duration (B) and in which the information to be transmitted is associated with the variable duration ( B) of the interval (Pause1, Pause2) and the fixed duration (A) of the interruptions (SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) is such as not to disturb the operation of the electrical user (100). 15. Use of a control device (160; 191) in a household appliance system comprising - an electric user (100), having at least one electric load (130) and a digital control system (110) which includes means (115, 120, 125) to manage flows of electric current supplying the at least one electric load (130); - a control device (160; 191) according to one or more of claims 1-13; wherein the digital control system (165-167, 170, 171, 175) of the control device (160; 191) comprises transmission means (170, 171) arranged to carry out an information encoding by means of sequences of interruptions (SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) of fixed duration (A) of the AC power supply voltage of the electrical user (100), two interruptions (SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) of fixed duration (A) being separated by a relative interval (Pause1, Pause2) of variable duration (B), in which the information to be transmitted is associated with the variable duration (B) of the interval (Pause1, Pause2) and the fixed duration (A) of the interruptions (SPF1, SPF2, SPF3) Ã ̈ such as not to disturb the operation of the electrical user (100).