KR20100003285A - An apparatus and method for controlling electrical power usage - Google Patents

Abstract

A solution forcontrolling and managing the usage of domestic electrical power in order to avoid undesired interruption of the service. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a removable device is proposed which can be interposed between any appliance and the meter to prevent and manage power break down in a home electrical system. The device interacts with a server which monitors and controls the total electrical power usage of the system; the server authorisesnew requests of power consumption by any of the appliances only if such requests can be satisfied without exceeding a predetermined maximum allowed load of the system.

Description

Power usage control device and method {AN APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING ELECTRICAL POWER USAGE}

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of information technology, and more particularly, to the electric power metering systems.

The problem of controlling and managing the use of its own power to prevent unwanted service interruptions has long been raised. Today's integrated electrical systems provide some mechanisms and some protections to prevent and manage these accidents.

For example, co-pending European Patent 06127206.8, filed on December 27, 2006, utilizes the interaction between home appliances or electrical points and an electric meter to prevent and / or overload power. A method and system for an integrated system for managing are disclosed.

However, the method and system require some form of intelligence in the wiring system, and the method and system are controlled by this level of "intelligence." This is not a big problem if the power system is designed to communicate properly, but if similar protections and control systems are applied to existing systems, this can be a more difficult problem.

For this reason, a more flexible system that can adapt an existing power usage measurement system is desirable.

It is an object of the present invention to address the above mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.

According to the present invention, there is provided a power network system, the apparatus for controlling power usage configured to be connected to a power network system comprising a server element for monitoring the power usage of the system. The apparatus comprises first electrical connection means for connecting at least one power consumption element to the apparatus; Second electrical connection means for connecting a first power consumption means to the power network system; Means for detecting a start command for the at least one power consumption means when the at least one power consumption element is connected to the apparatus; Means for determining an amount of power required for the at least one power consumption element; Switching means for connecting the at least one power consumption element to the power network system in accordance with the authentication received by the server.

The invention and other features and advantages of the invention will be best understood with reference to the following detailed description, which is provided without limitation.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a data processing system to which a method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applicable.

2 (FIGS. 2A and 2B) illustrate an exemplary application method in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

3 shows possible interference between a server and clients in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a flow of operations associated with implementing a method in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a distributed data processing system 100 is shown. System 100 has a client / server architecture, where server 105 manages a plurality of clients 110. Multiple clients 110 are connected to server 105 (eg, client 110 may be coupled to a consumer or electronic device such as a washer, DVD recorder, computer). To this end, server 105 and client 110 communicate via a network that allows to convey the intent to turn on the device / switch associated with a given client. Typically, network 115 is a medium capable of transmitting electronic control signals, for example a conveyed wave (e.g., a common method of propagating low voltage control signals over ordinary electrical wiring). 220/110 volts and 50/60 hertz). This allows each client to access it even if the server 105 is remote. In addition to the propagated wave on the electrical wiring, other methods may also be used for exchanging control signals between the server and clients, e.g., a home-range (i.e. WiFi) or Bluetooth signal. .

In particular, server 105 consists of a computer formed of several units connected in parallel to system bus 120. In detail, one or more microprocessor (μP) 125 controls the operation of server 105, RAM 130 is used directly as working memory by microprocessor 125, and ROM 135 is server 105 Save the base code for the bootstrap. Some peripheral devices gather (by their respective interfaces) around the local bus 140. In particular, the mass memory consists of one or more hard disks 145. The server 105 also includes an input device 160 (eg, a keyboard) and an output device 165 (eg, a monitor). Adapter 170 is used to connect server 105 to network 115. The bridge device 175 connects the system bus 120 and the local bus 140. Each microprocessor 125 and bridge device 175 may operate as a master agent that requests access to the system bus 120 and transmits information. The arbiter 180 manages granting of access to the system bus 120 in a mutually exclusive manner.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the client 110 is a removable device that can be interposed between the power network and the corresponding devices without requiring any changes to the device itself or to the wiring system.

2A, a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. According to this embodiment, the client 110 is a removable device that may be interposed between an electrical device (eg, a home appliance) and the server 105 (not shown in FIG. 2A), for example, Female / male plug adapter. Hereinafter, the server 105 is referred to as a "power enabler device (PED)" and the client 110 is referred to as a "power request broker devices" (POD). Once the device is connected, it can be used to set and adjust the power estimates that the corresponding device will need, which value will be passed to the PED to obtain consensus on the newly requested power load. The simplest way to set up a POD is manual adjustment, but more advanced methods and systems can be implemented, as described below.

2B shows a schematic of the main components of the POD. Modules 203 and 205 are needed to communicate with server 105 over network 115. The CW sender 203 sends the <ID> and / or <necessary load> CW signals to the PED. The CW receiver 205 waits for a response from the PED 105. Transport wave is the best way to transfer information between POD and PED. The propagation wave can carry a low voltage control signal on the power line. However, other delivery methods may be implemented as described. Once the PED has gained the consistency, module 207 causes the circuit to close and provides the requested power to the associated device. As such, in the above-described embodiment, a relais module is used, but one skilled in the art will understand that other methods may be used instead. The sensor 209 is needed to detect that a new power load is required and triggers the request delivery to the PED. Optionally, the sensor 209 can be more sophisticated and resume automatic handshaking to handle situations where persistently connected devices need to be managed with devices that have power consumption levels that are turned on or varying. Such a sensor can detect that the devices are powered on, that is, a significant power change is required in the device in addition to the stand-by current. For example, measurements can be made using a current meter that can report changes in dynamic resistance. More complex embodiments of the POD, in which additional modules may be provided, are also possible, for example an internal memory may be provided that can track previous requests or store useful information about the associated device consumption requirements. More advanced embodiments of the POD may implement an introspection feature that can inspect the associated equipment to detect its factory load characteristics. This will prevent manual initial installation.

Another possible implementation is to embed the POD directly into the device. Many current electrical devices include electronic control logic (dishwashers, washing machines, microwave ovens, all electronic devices, etc.) and can therefore be easily extended to accommodate this additional POD logic. If the device has a POD built in, better interaction can be achieved between the POD and the device. For example, in addition to introspecting factory parameters regarding standard power requirements, it is also possible to introspect current instrument settings (eg, the amount of heat / cooling required) and to estimate more accurate power requirements based on these current settings. In this way, if the POD sends a power-on request to the PED, it can be much more accurate with respect to the actual device power requirements. A further possible feature is the ability to detect varying power requirements for devices with varying load demands. In such a case, the POD may exchange control signals with the PED for both power as well as for a significant amount of state change requirements. For example, during a normal 2-hour cycle of washing machines, it is added to connect to a time-delimited operation that requires intensive power loads (water heating, 1-1.3 KW for 5 to 10 minutes). The operation is repeated, requiring a moderate power load (300-500 watts during washing or dehydration time). Built-in PODs that can interact with both device internal states and PEDs for consensus, can act as a real-time broker and more often make accurate power requests to PEDs and see if devices can switch between their consumption states. Or you might find out if you have to wait for consensus.

If the POD can introspect the device state (eg, using a power request detection sensor), it can automatically interact with the PED without specific intervention. Thus, not only can the user interact directly via the instrument interface without having to interact with the switch of the electrical home system, but also the "time" or "event" is automatically (via timer / scheduler or thermostat). It even covers scenarios where you can control devices. For example, in an unmanned house at a given time, the thermostat will attempt to turn on the air conditioner because the dishwasher was running at the same time when the time / temperature threshold was reached. Also in this unattended house, the POD and PED will prevent an unmanned overload situation, load activation may be rejected or rejected, and a message may be logged. In addition, if the POD can optionally introspect or interact with device load characteristics and its power settings, the POD can send more accurate power load request requests when interacting with the PED. This would be beneficial in terms of the duration or maximum usage of the total available load between house devices and in terms of time adjustment of the load over time in dynamic devices.

Referring to FIG. 3, the POD 110 is connectable to one or more devices 301 on one side and to the PED via wires on the other. PED 105 is usually connected to meter / switch 303 and to one or more PODs 110. Today's home electrical system PED 105 provides functionality from simple modification of home power consumption to proper control and management. The PED may be located anywhere between a main meter / switch, usually provided by an electrical distribution company, and a home appliance or, more generally, a managed electrical device. However, its preferred location is inside the apartment, near the remainder of the main internal switch (usually used to split the electrical network between 10 to 16 loads, for example). Meter / switch 303 may be either an electromechanical model or an electronic model.

In any case, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the role of the PED is to provide consensus whenever a new device is turned on.

As disclosed in co-pending European application 06127206.8, there are several different scenarios in which the PED operates in different ways depending on the amount of logic. It can be assumed that there can be different PODs inside the house. (Not all PODs need to have the same logic level).

Example  One

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each POD may not only transmit an ID signal to the PED but also receive a consensus signal on the wire.

Once this concentrating signal (eg CW signal) is received, it will activate the power to the associated device and operate in "lere" mode as described with reference to FIG. 2B above. The advantage of this method is that a direct wire from the PED to the POD is required when the consensus signal is routed through the junctions to the appropriate switch (eg "<switchID> <ack>" or <switchID> <noack> "). It is not.

Also, in this case all relays to the POD are always powered (as in today's layout) and the POD is a switch that operates in the Lere mode to power the device once the consensus is received from the PED. In practice, the POD acts as a real power switch, with the only difference being that power-on occurs only when it receives consensus from the PED.

Example  2

According to a simpler embodiment, the POD can transmit on the wire, if this information is only a unique signal ID (e.g., a unique deviation outside the base CW frequency or intrinsic resistance), each time (turning on the light or enabling the device). The device or device is switched on.

The PED receives a signal ID from the POD and has a static table listing the associated known loads for each ID. Normally, a PED is connected to a power meter to instantly recognize the total load currently in use, and to predict whether a particular POD is providing power to the wire to which it is connected. It will not activate certain wire connections that connect them. In this scenario, all PODs (known to be detectable loads possibly connected) must have a direct wire connection connecting them to the PED. These wires are not normally powered (which only allows the exchange of ID signals) and are only powered at 220/110 volts when receiving consensus from the PED.

In the case of a POD powered from an intermediate relay and without direct wire connection to the master PED, a slave PED may be added to the intermediate relay. In such a scenario, the PED needs to know how much power the POD will absorb, and this information is self-updating with the optional time-based reset policy, provided it is provided with consensus (consumption statistics), but statistically defined in the PED configuration. May be

The limitation of this scenario is that the statistical load must be preconfigured and a direct PED-POD cabling or intermediate PED is required. The advantage is that only limited logic is required in the POD.

Example  3

In a more advanced embodiment, the POD may send its (sender) ID and receive a consensus signal from the PED (CW receiver), in addition to storing the last necessary load from the provided device.

In this case, the amount of power required from each POD may not be known in advance from the PED, and the POD may remember the last used load. In this case, the PED must respond to the given switch ID requesting that the requested load is possible unless the total load possible is exceeded.

For example, <ID> and <power required> are passed from the PD to the PED and do not need to look up the static table.

This "load-memory" function is available inside each POD, but does not need to be located within the PED itself (which tracks the final power usage associated with each ID and has the additional capability of time-based automatic or manual reset). An alert (horn) can be issued from the requesting switch if no consistency is provided.

Referring to FIG. 4, a logic flow of an exemplary process that can be implemented to manage power loads (or overloads) in a system described above within a plurality of home appliances is shown as method 400.

The method begins at start block 401 and goes to block 403, where a client (POD) 110 detects a new request for a power load. This request is then sent to server (PED) 105 at step 405. The PED requests the request according to a predetermined process as described in EP 06127206.8, for example, where the system can estimate the expected new request load by the PED or by a look-up table delivered directly by the POD 110. Process and respond to the POD (step 407). If the expected addition of a new load to the current load does not exceed the predetermined maximum allowable power of the meter / switch 303, it is granted to the POD 110 and the power supply is approved (step 409) and the control is step 411. The circuit is closed by Le Le. Otherwise, control returns to step 403 again. In this case, an alternative recovery method is implemented (not shown in the drawing) where the request is halted but the remainder of the system does not fail as in conventional systems. The range of possible recovery methods is very broad (e.g. by alert) and can be a simple transfer to a client (finally to a user) where a new request cannot be received, or more power load depending on logic included in POD 110. It can be a complex management. The control messages exchanged between the PED and the plurality of PODs 110 may be of several different types depending on the complexity level of each POD. If the POD 110 can only transmit its unique ID, then the PED will need to directly control the power that must be granted to the client switch when the client cannot receive the consensus signal. This means that star wiring is required from the PED to the POD in the wire connection. On the other hand, if the POD may also receive a consensus control signal (e.g., if a CW signal is implemented), the message set exchanged from the PED to the POD can be more complex, and the PED has direct control of the power supply to the POD. Will avoid and delegate to the POD the activation of the electrical load once the consensus signal is issued by the PED. In another example, the POD 110 may convey additional attributes to control the load such that in controlling the load it may report the expected load requirement according to the current load set point or the last / past power requirement. This information allows the PED to operate in a more dynamic manner without manual power usage settings for different control client loads. More complex recovery operations may be implemented and one of the currently connected devices or devices may be disconnected so that a new request can be satisfied according to the selected priority list.

The great advantage of the proposed method is that the POD is independent and can be interposed between any device and server (PED) without having to modify the device itself and the wiring connection system. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the POD may be adjusted to a power load selected to be delivered to the server PED when the corresponding device is switched on (or better, if an attempt / request to switch on is detected). This is not the most flexible method because it requires the intervention of the user in charge of setting the device to an appropriate threshold. On the other hand, it is easy to use and does not require any changes to the existing system. In existing systems, this is a real advantage. Of course, more " intelligence " can be provided to the POD if necessary. For example, the POD may be aware of the required maximum load of the associated equipment and maintain a memory of previously requested loads. In this respect, there is no big difference in the PED. In any case, what is received from the POD is a request for the correct power load and the response of the PED is adjusted to this value. The accuracy of the system depends heavily on the accuracy of the POD request. Another variable to consider is the information available to devices connected to the POD. Today's devices can provide a wider range of information to extend the possible operations of the POD.

Naturally, in order to meet local and specific requirements, those skilled in the art may modify and modify the method described above. In particular, while the invention has been specifically described with reference to its preferred embodiments, various omissions, substitutions and changes in form and detail will be possible and other embodiments will be possible. In addition, certain elements and / or method steps described in connection with the disclosed embodiment embodiments of the present invention may be included in any other embodiment depending on design choices. By way of example, the circuit closure by the Lehre module described with reference to step 411 above may be replaced by other power supply means once the PED provides its consensus.

In particular, similar configurations apply to systems having a different structure but including equivalent servers and / or clients. In some cases, the proposed method applies to scenarios in which additional information can be reported to the control PED, which can be considered if the POD 110 makes a decision. This may include load priorities for pre-emption of different active loads, introspection of load settings, and the like.

Similar arrangements apply if the program (which may be used to implement some features of the present invention) is structured in different ways, or if additional modules or functions are provided. Likewise, the memory structure may be of another type or may be replaced by equivalent entities (not necessarily consisting of physical storage media). In addition, the proposed method is implemented in an equivalent way (using similar steps or in a different order to delete some steps that are not required or add other optional steps). In any case, the program may have any form suitable for use by or in connection with any data processing device, such as external or resident software, firmware or microcode (object code or source code). In addition, the program may be provided on any computer usable medium, which medium may be a suitable element for storing, storing, delivering, disseminating or transmitting the program. For example, the medium may be of electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor type, examples of such medium are fixed disks (programs may be preloaded), removable disks, tapes, cards, wires, optical fibers , Wireless connections, networks, broadcast waves, and so on.

In some cases, the method according to the invention may be integrated into a chip of semiconductor material or implemented in a combination of software and hardware.

Alternatively, the proposed method may be implemented on a computer having a different structure or including equivalent units (e.g. cache memory that temporarily stores programs or parts that reduce access to large memory during execution). Can be. More generally, a computer may be replaced with any code execution entity (such as a PDA, mobile phone, etc.).

Claims (9)

An apparatus 110 for controlling power usage connected to a power network system, The system includes a server element 105 for monitoring its power usage, The power usage control device, First electrical connecting means for connecting at least one power consumption element to the power usage control device; Second electrical connecting means for connecting the apparatus for controlling the power usage to the power network system; Means (209) for detecting a start command for the at least one power consumption element when the at least one power consumption element is coupled to the power usage control device; Means for determining an amount of power required for the at least one power consumption element; Means (203) for sending a request for the required amount of power to the server; Means (205) for receiving a response from the server; Switching means (207) for connecting said at least one power consumption element to said power network system in accordance with authentication received by said server. The method of claim 1, And an input means (201) for setting a predefined required amount of power. The method of claim 1, And said necessary amount of power determining means comprises memory means for storing a lookup table containing past power usage data of said at least one power consumption element. The method of claim 1, And the necessary amount of power determining means comprises memory means for storing a unique identifier delivered to the server when a request for the required amount of power is delivered to the server. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, And means for transmitting the request for the required amount of power to the server comprises means for transmitting conveyed waves on a power line. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, Means for receiving a response from the server comprises a forwarded wave receiver. Electrical adapter plug, An electrical adapter plug comprising the power usage control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. In an electronic device, An electronic device comprising the power usage control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. In home appliances, A home appliance comprising the power usage control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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