Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R13/00—Details of coupling devices of the kinds covered by groups H01R12/70 or H01R24/00 - H01R33/00
  • H01R13/66—Structural association with built-in electrical component
  • H01R13/70—Structural association with built-in electrical component with built-in switch
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R13/00—Details of coupling devices of the kinds covered by groups H01R12/70 or H01R24/00 - H01R33/00
  • H01R13/66—Structural association with built-in electrical component
  • H01R13/665—Structural association with built-in electrical component with built-in electronic circuit
  • H01R13/6675—Structural association with built-in electrical component with built-in electronic circuit with built-in power supply
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R13/00—Details of coupling devices of the kinds covered by groups H01R12/70 or H01R24/00 - H01R33/00
  • H01R13/66—Structural association with built-in electrical component
  • H01R13/665—Structural association with built-in electrical component with built-in electronic circuit
  • H01R13/6683—Structural association with built-in electrical component with built-in electronic circuit with built-in sensor
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04B—TRANSMISSION
  • H04B5/00—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
  • H04B5/70—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems specially adapted for specific purposes
  • H04B5/77—Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems specially adapted for specific purposes for interrogation
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R13/00—Details of coupling devices of the kinds covered by groups H01R12/70 or H01R24/00 - H01R33/00
  • H01R13/46—Bases; Cases
  • H01R13/465—Identification means, e.g. labels, tags, markings

Definitions

• This invention relates broadly to an electrical outlet/socket device, to a system for smart electrical power supply within a building.
• the gateway device may have embedded software in it that acts as a CS in itself; or the gateway device may relay the information to a computing device which contains the SP-managing software.
• the SPs usually send their own connectivity status (available in the SP’s communication network or not) and the energy consumption values to the CS.
• the CS typically can send the desired ON/OFF status to the SPs. Since most SPs rely on conventional wall-socket for their powering, turning OFF the wall-socket would make the corresponding SP unavailable for the CS.
• This current system requires the consumer to place the purchased SPs strategically, manually assign each SP to a corresponding device via a software interface, and establish connection of SPs to the gateway. This task of assignment would be laborious if the number of outlets is many. Also, reassignments would be required when appliances get shifted to another electrical outlet. In a commercial building, multiple occupants could introduce different plug loads in an ad-hoc manner, which makes appliance-to-SP mapping impractical for such a building.
• the smart plugs described in Elzabadani et. al. have limited scope of identifying only the appliance-type corresponding to pre-existing java program the appliance carries as an OSGi bundle or the bundle’s URL, which means that e.g. two appliances of the same category/type are not differentiated.
• Elzabadani et. al. proposes operation across multiple buildings using a centralized control system for all.
• Elzabadani et. al. bases operation on costly Phidget RFID (Radio-frequency identification) which is capable of only one-way communication and hence constrained.
• the smart plugs in Elzabadani et. al. lack electrical measurements and power-quality estimation abilities. Also, the smart plugs in Elzabadani et. al. lack physical security necessary for reliable smart- grid operations.
• Gaiere et. al. uses ZigBee (meshed) protocol between plugs and requires a master- unit.
• Gaiere et. al. is a practical proposal only for a small space with a few nodes.
• the smart plugs described in Gaiere et. al. lack automated appliance identification.
• Electric energy management devices are described in Zipperer et. al. [Zipperer, Adam, Patricia A. Aloise- Young, Siddharth Suryanarayanan, Robin Roche, Lieko Earle, Dane Christensen, Pablo Bauleo, and Daniel Zimmerle. "Electric energy management in the smart home: Perspectives on enabling technologies and consumer behavior.” Proceedings of the IEEE 101, no. 11 (2013): 2397-2408]
• Embodiments of the present invention seek to address one or more of the above- mentioned problems.
• an electrical outlet/socket device comprising a sensor for detecting the presence of an identification tag associable with an electrical appliance or plug-load, the sensor being configured for extracting a unique identifier of the electrical appliance stored in the identification tag; one or more electrical conductors configured for coupling to the electrical appliance for supply of power to the electrical appliance; a measurement unit coupled to the one or more electrical conductors for performing electrical measurements; and a processor configured for associating the electrical measurements with the unique identifier for further processing.
• a system for smart electrical power supply within a building comprising an electrical outlet/socket device as defined in the first aspect; and a computing device configured for data communication with the electrical outlet/socket device; wherein the computing device is configured for processing data representing the unique identifier and the associated electrical measurements.
• a method for smart electrical power supply within a building comprising: detecting the presence of an identification tag that is associable with an electrical appliance, and extracting a unique identifier corresponding to the electrical appliance stored in the identification tag; performing electrical measurements; and associating the electrical measurements with the unique identifier for further processing.
• a new hardware-based digital mechanism is provided through an electrical socket that can uniquely identify each and every appliance connected to it using near-field communication chips, thus generating context-aware electrical measurements through such identification.
• the features that can be achieved according to example embodiments include identifying the nominal electrical behavior of a particular appliance, its current operational electrical behavior, its history of physical locations where it was used, latest known time of operation, its ownership details (if associated), its price, manufacturing date, depreciation, and even its unique history of performance/usage.
• Such abilities make embodiments of the present invention truly know and recognize the appliance uniquely.
• embodiments of the present invention enable any human or organization to enable such appliance identification.
• the electrical measurements analyzed through identification enable a building to perform online inventory management through corresponding software infrastructure.
• the scope of operations advantageously provided according to example embodiments include instantaneously knowing the list of appliances connected to the sockets of a building, their actual utilization rates/pattems, the safety testing and compliances certifications that the appliances have undergone, anomalous electrical behaviors or malfunctions, and even the genuineness of the appliances (counterfeit or not) - all in an automated fashion.
• Another aspect of embodiments of the present invention is the ability to allow/disallow electrical supply appliances in a building based on context-aware rules that depend on the features associated with the identity of the appliance - such as its design information, electrical operation, genuineness information, ownership information, and/or appropriateness during a time-span.
• Figure 1 shows an existing smart plug/socket inserted in a conventional socket for receiving a conventional plug.
• Figure 2 shows examples of existing smart plugs/sockets with different pin-types for different countries.
• Figure 3 illustrates the combined operation of existing smart plugs/sockets and associated computer system(s).
• Figures 4 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the low-power functional parts of a smart electrical outlet/socket according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the ecosystem of multiple smart electrical outlets/sockets according to example embodiments managed by supervisory software.
• Figure 6 shows a flowchart followed by a smart electrical outlet/socket according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 7 shows a flowchart followed by local server for a smart electrical outlet/socket according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 8 shows a flowchart followed by remote server for a smart electrical outlet/socket according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 9 shows a comparison of a prototype a portable smart electrical outlet/socket according to an example embodiment and different existing sockets.
• Figure 10A shows how an appliance tag is positioned with respect to a smart electrical wall-socket according to an example embodiment, with an NFC reader underneath in the body of the smart electrical wall- socket according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 10B shows a more compact smart electrical wall-socket according to an example embodiment with appliance tag placed on the plug itself.
• Figure 11A shows a database extract illustrating various data can be linked to any particular“ Appliance-Name” corresponding to a unique identifier, according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 11B shows another database extract illustrating various data can be linked to any particular“ Appliance-Name” corresponding to a unique identifier, according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 12 shows an extract from a database illustrating ratings and other information of multiple simultaneous appliances, and the real-time measurements of voltage, current, active power and energy, according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 13 shows a sample circuit diagram of a smart electrical outlet/socket according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 14A illustrates an example of the new functionality of customized electrical protection of plug-loads that example embodiments of the present invention can achieve as a sequence diagram.
• Figure 14B illustrates an example of physical placement of SEOS hardware modules according to example embodiments within a building-grid.
• Figure 14C illustrates an example of communication network corresponding to fig. 14B, according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 15 shows a schematic drawing illustrating an electrical outlet/socket device according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 16 shows a schematic drawing illustrating a system for smart electrical power supply within a building, according to an example embodiment.
• Figure 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a method for smart electrical power supply within a building, according to an example embodiment.
• appliances/plug-loads connected within e.g. a building are categories by themselves, even though they are referred by their appliance-types such as “refrigerator”, “dish-washer”, etc.
• appliance-types such as “refrigerator”, “dish-washer”, etc.
• R-load resistive load
• RL-load resistive-inductive load
• Embodiments of the present invention described herein entail electrical wall- socket and portable-socket hardware that are driven by corresponding software, the combination of which allows the socket to a) uniquely identify each and every electrical plug-load that gets plugged in to the socket hardware b) perform real-time voltage and current measurements c) perform active and reactive power, energy measurements d) identify power-quality events e) communicate digital data wirelessly to another machine with corresponding software f) perform on/off control of the electrical supply.
• the hardware abilities of the smart electrical outlet/socket (hereinafter SEOS) enable a higher level intelligence that is unprecedented.
• SEOS can operate in the field of smart building management systems - the intelligence, automations and control associated with it.
• Example embodiments described herein are suitable for smart-grid operations so as to have economic savings, with novel context awareness and detail.
• the scope of operation for example embodiments described herein includes managing home appliances and appliances in commercial buildings - anywhere electrical sockets are useful.
• SEOS can add new capabilities to the building management such as real-time appliance inventory, checking genuineness of appliances, location-finding of appliances, rule -based authentication for appliance usage at the socket (referred to hereinafter as Building Firewall ), real-time predictive analytics on appliance performance and behavior, preventing standby/vampire loads, optimized and scheduled use of appliances, and many new digitalized business opportunities that are important in the setting of digital transformation and smart-grid evolution.
• SEOS hardware can exist in two general physical configurations - as a wall-socket and as a portable-socket (or plug), both providing the same intelligent functionality. Such embodiments are equivalent in their operations, with the physical casing and external connectors being different.
• the wall-socket is considered immovable by the common user after its installation, while the portable-socket is physically movable.
• SEOS hardware according to example embodiments preferably has Near-Field Communication (NFC) abilities to read information from tagged appliances that are less than lOcm away from it.
• NFC Near-Field Communication
• Load identification of tagged appliances - SEOS can uniquely identify each and every appliance that are tagged using NFC tags/chips which provide different kinds of contactless communication methods and protocols at 13.56 MHz frequency. Since the tags can contain digital information that is uniquely different from one another, the corresponding appliances can also be uniquely identified when they are plugged into SEOS hardware according to example embodiments. As different kinds of information can be linked to the tag’s information, this can enable the SEOS according to example embodiments to have access to them.
• Examples of digital information that can be linked to form a Digital-Profile for the appliance include: a) Electrical Ratings and other specifications, b) Product description/price from manufacturer, c) Information on compliance certifications, safety tests, genuineness from relevant authority or manufacturer, d) Ownership information, e) Product’s historical information on usage and performance, and f) Special information for smart- grid operations.
• any generic digital data can be linked.
• SEOS can utilize the identified information to monitor, track and schedule the appliances with an unprecedented intelligent awareness of what the exact appliance is and what its history is.
• Appliance scheduling is one of the emerging schemes smart-grid operations where the appliances are expected to operate only at intended times. It often implies plug-loads/appliances being operated in an optimized manner against time-varying electricity prices such that the building can do demand-response or demand- shifting.
• the objectives can include reducing overall energy consumed, or overall cost incurred, and/or keeping carbon footprint within certain limits.
• SEOS according to example embodiments can produce intelligence which makes scheduling realistic even in large buildings. With SEOS according to example embodiments it is possible to also restrict energy consumption. For example, a particular machine in an office can be scheduled to operate only on alternate working days.
• the appliance can be scheduled to operate only when a human- user reserves it for a particular time-slot.
• SEOS can acquire real-time electrical measurements, it has access to present electrical state of the appliance and can log them digitally for future use. This can enable personalized billing as per consumption even in large buildings with multiple occupants.
• the wall-mounted version of SEOS according to example embodiments is immovable for regular use, it provides mechanism to authorize the operation of an appliance based on digital information linked to the appliance. This is addressed as SEOS Building Firewall according to example embodiments which, in analogy to the firewall in popular computer operating systems, enables to use rules to define socket-behavior, such as allowing/prohibiting certain appliances.
• a one time task of location assignment for wall-sockets can also be present in SEOS according to example embodiments. For a large building, it may be preferred to programmatically extract the location of its many (e.g. hundreds) sockets into a file and auto-generate location indicators using that configuration file.
• a geographic information system (GIS) interface of SEOS preferably operates in that manner.
• appliance operation can be monitored, certain anomalous appliance behavior of an already authenticated appliance can be contextually identified. For example, appliances which are exceeding their expected electrical currents could be reported to the building operator and/or the appliance’s owner. If an appliance has multiple modes of operation that draw different currents, like a washing-machine with wash, rinse, spin cycles - such an appliance can be suitably monitored and reported differently.
• SEOS hardware is an electrical outlet that can be packaged in two forms for a given pin-configuration followed in a country - wall- socket and portable- socket, as mentioned above.
• the low-power functional parts which provide the smartness to SEOS, 400 according to an example embodiment, are shown in fig. 4.
• Numeral 402 An apparatus for measurement of electrical parameters (voltage, current, their waveform characteristics, active power, reactive power, energy etc.) in real-time using an IC (integrated chip) that is fed by voltage and current sensors. Note that the voltages and current sensors sense instantaneous values of electrical parameters, which would include power-quality information too, according to example embodiments.
• Numeral 404 - A relay which allows turning ON and turning OFF of electrical power through the conductors.
• Numeral 406 A near-field communication (NFC) reader which can read near-field communication tags or chips that comes within 5-l0cm proximity of the reader. The communication takes place at 13.56 MHz.
• NFC near-field communication
• an NFC tag reader with the NFC controller PN532 for NFC ' tags that use NTAG213 chips can be used.
• Numeral 408 - A communication module which can transmit and receive data.
• Wi-Fi is used because it has become common in the indoor environment. It is noted that there are alternatives that are common in the IoT (Internet of Things) domain such as ZigBee, Bluetooth, ZWave etc.
• Numeral 410 - A processor or computing hardware which handles the operation of the IC, the relay, the near-field reader and the communication module. This part is the local brain of the SEOS hardware according to example embodiments which handles the digital identification of appliances through the other components.
• the ecosystem 500 of SEOS would have multiple SEOS hardware e.g. 502 managed by supervisory software, as depicted in fig. 5.
• an appliance e.g. 504 is plugged in to SEOS hardware e.g. 502, with its NFC tag/chip (not shown) being placed on or near the plug e.g. 506 of the appliance e.g. 504, the information in the tag is communicated to the near-field reader (not shown) of the SEOS hardware e.g. 502. That information is acquired by the processor through serial data transfer. The processor also acquires real-time contextual measurements through the metering IC. This data is sent to the local SEOS server 508 wirelessly.
• the appliance’s tag information helps the local SEOS server 508 to gather the context and instruct the SEOS hardware 502 regarding the parameters to be measured and computed. For example, an electrically sensitive appliance might require voltage to be measured more frequently and checked for a narrower band of voltage deviation.
• the local SEOS server 508 can instruct the SEOS hardware e.g. 502 to set that frequency and tolerance band, as and when the particular sensitive appliance is encountered. Since Wi-Fi is used in this example embodiment, a router 510 functioning as per IEEE 802.11 specifications is shown within fig. 5. [0057]
• a remote server 512 is shown which is capable of serving local servers such local SEOS server 508 of multiple buildings.
• the remote server 512 is a website that can resolve the digital-profiles of the appliances based on the querying that a local SEOS server 508 does using the tag information read by SEOS hardware e.g. 502. Such querying is done for example when the local SEOS server 508 does not have the digital-profile of the appliance stored in its own local database.
• the remote server 512 provides a website or web-service accessible to at least three kinds of users according to an example embodiment- manufacturers, individual appliance-owners and buildings - through mobile devices (smartphones/tablets) or computers (laptops/desktops) 514.
• remote server 512 acts primarily as a global registry of appliances.
• manufacturers can add all the details that they can provide towards the digital-profiles of the appliances that they manufacture. Ideally it includes serial numbers of each and every electrical appliance that they manufacture, coupled with the appliance details.
• the individual appliance- owners can claim a particular appliance and are free to link their ownership information to the digital-profile. Once claimed, they can make requests and queries regarding their appliances.
• Remote-server 512 allows the appliance-owners to set permissions/authorizations as to who can access their ownership information regarding their appliances. For example, an appliance- owner could allow own office building to access the list of that individual’ s personal appliances kept in the office so that the Building Firewall can allow those appliances.
• An organization or a building can use their local SEOS server 508 to interact with the remote server 512.
• the features of the tag along with the information in the tag can be used as a useful method to check genuineness of an appliance. That means, an appliance encountered by the local SEOS server 508 can be checked using remote server 512 whether the appliance is genuine and claimed by an owner. This process would provide more certainty if the retailer provides the information to the remote server 512 regarding the appliances that have already undergone the sale. It is important to note that the remote server 512 and its devices 514 connecting to it are optional. Alternatively, the remote server 512 could be used to perform the tasks of SEOS local server 508, in case the local server is absent.
• the local SEOS server 508 provides digitalized services to the building occupants and the building-operators through wired/wireless Local Area Networks (LAN) in example embodiments.
• LAN Local Area Networks
• web-applications that can run on mobile devices (smartphones/tablets) or computers (laptops/desktops) 516 act as clients for the local SEOS server 508. Examples for the services will be described in more detail below.
• local SEOS server 508 acts as server for SEOS hardware 502 and also the programs/applications in 516.
• Fig. 6 shows the flowchart 600 followed by SEOS hardware e.g. 502 according to example embodiments.
• the flowchart in fig.6 performs three tasks 602, 604, 606 in a multi threaded manner such that they happen in parallel on an average within a time-duration.
• the processor in the SEOS hardware 502 is preferably fast enough to execute the steps shown in fig. 6 within milliseconds. It polls the NFC reader 406 whether a tag is present or not 608. Meanwhile, it also checks 610 whether the electrical current measured is above a small threshold value (Io) so that it can ensure that some plug-load is drawing current. It is to be noted that the appliance could be physically connected but not drawing any current (i.e. it is in the OFF state).
• Io small threshold value
• the data is sent 612 to local SEOS server 508 to determine the appliance’s digital-profile, and the local SEOS server 508 commands/instructs the SEOS hardware 502 to switch ON after checking its database and the Building Firewall module.
• auxiliary commands can be sent 614 to SEOS hardware 502 by the local SEOS server 508 according to example embodiments, such as instructing the processing unit of the hardware to check for electrical current’ s violations from the expected value extracted from the digital-profile and toggle the power relay if a violation is determined 616, 618 resulting in OFF state of the electrical supply.
• the auxiliary instruction could be to obey the command of the local SEOS server 508 and toggle relay 616 to change relay state 618 so that the electrical supply is turned ON.
• the SEOS hardware’s 502’ s processing unit acquires the electrical measurements 620 that are determined as“required values” by the local SEOS server 508.
• Typical values are real-time root-mean- square voltage (V), corresponding current (I), active power (P) and energy (E). This is not an exhaustive list of measurements since the number of different measurements that a metering IC can do would run into dozens.
• local SEOS server 508 decides the parameters to be measured by SEOS hardware 502. For example, if an appliance is inductive or capacitive, there might arise a need to measure reactive power. But for the resistive plug- loads, that parameter can be avoided and the communication network will have fewer numbers of bytes to transfer to the server.
• the flowchart 700 of SEOS local server 508 is shown in fig. 7. It preferably uses multi-processing 702, 704 so as to decouple its reaction- speeds towards the two types of clients that it serves - the SEOS hardware 502 modules (say, total count of n) and the client programs in mobiles/computers 516 (say, total count of m).
• the threads under a process may be similar to each other, and are represented as one example T k under each of the two processes 702, 704.
• the local SEOS server 508 resolves 706 the digital information from the NFC tag, so as to ascertain the properties and data linked to the appliance e.g. 504.
• the local SEOS server 508 If it cannot locally resolve the appliance information, especially when that particular appliance is encountered for the first time by the local SEOS server 508, it queries 708 the remote server 512 in which data regarding the appliance e.g. 504 has been entered in advance.
• the NFC tags and the data (identifier) in them are generated independently from the appliances according to example embodiments, and hence any new NFC tag with a digital identifier is appliance- agnostic.
• the merit of this method is that any tag that is programmed to have a digital identifier do not have to have any particular appliance or appliance-category as the target to which it should be associated.
• the identifier gets assigned to a particular appliance typically after the NFC tag is placed on the appliance’s plug and connected to the SEOS hardware 502, after which local SEOS server 508 receives the identifier. But if required, appliance manufacturers are free to assign the digital identifier to an appliance before it is connected to SEOS hardware 502.
• local SEOS server 508 stores that assignment in its local database as a digital-profile which an authorized user can modify. If authorized, the digital-profile is stored in a remote server’s database too.
• the unique identity of the appliance e.g. 504
• EETID universally unique identifier
• the detailed information of the appliance e.g. 504 can be obtained from the databases.
• the local SEOS server 508 adds relevant data from the hardware to its local database and sends instruction/details 710 to the clients.
• the SEOS hardware 502 client this could imply change in its internal function or following a schedule given by an optimization algorithm.
• For the mobile/computer 516 client this could mean updating the energy consumption and carbon footprint.
• the client programs in mobiles/computers 516 need not be similar in appearance or function. This advantageously opens the opportunity to various functionalities, according to example embodiments.
• the relay-control 712 by authorized mobile/computer 516 clients is allowed. This can imply manual control by a human- user through an app, or automation using another program.
• Local SEOS server 508 can perform many auxiliary functions based on its local database, such as appliance location discovery (“last known location in the building” and“last time the appliance queried has been used”). A few examples are provided in the document in the Appendix.
• the remote server 512 is a Webserver according to some embodiments, which provides different webpages or web-services to different kind of users to use.
• the preliminary data to be linked to e.g. a UUID which is randomly generated is ideally decided by the manufacturer. But in absence of such a system, an authorized party who maintains the local database coupled to or incorporated at the remote server 512 can perform the linking of manufacturing details (model name, serial number, nameplate information etc.) of a known appliance, according to example embodiments.
• the owner or the consumer who purchased the appliance e.g. 504 can claim the appliance and link personal details to the appliance’s UUID, with options to configure privacy settings, according to example embodiments.
• “Claim” here implies the appliance-owner declaring to the server (either 508 or 512) that“This appliance with such UUID is mine”. That might require logging in securely on the server and entering the UUID information and attaching appliance details from certain drop-down menu.
• NAA National Environment Agency
• a simplistic version of how appliance details are kept by National Environment Agency (NEA) of Singapore can be seen here: https://e services.nea.gov.sg/eis/Pages/Search/PublicSearchProduet.aspx.
• the UUID registration can be done in a slightly easier way with an appropriate mobile app that can read the NFC tag of the appliance, noting that most smartphones these days have an in-built NFC tag-reader.
• Fig. 8 shows the flowchart 800 for the remote server 512. It preferably uses multi processing 802, 804. The threads under a process may be similar to each other, and are represented as one example T k . Since the remote server 512 maintains a global registry for each and every appliance according to example embodiments, it has the ability to resolve 806 UUIDs using its database. It accepts requests from authorized local SEOS servers 508s, and send back permitted details 808. Preferably under a different process 804, it accepts multiple clients - manufacturers, appliance-owners, buildings - who try to link UUIDs of appliances with appliance details, personal information or organizational information 810.
• a university can claim ownership of a set of desktops that it purchased through its project funds for exclusive use at sockets within a laboratory.
• the local and the remote servers can be implemented, with the set of functionalities they offer enabled because of the intrinsic capabilities of the SEOS hardware according to example embodiments.
• a remote server is optional for the SEOS according to example embodiments to operate.
• the remote server 512 is preferred for large scale and universal use of SEOS according to example embodiments, for example across multiple buildings in different countries.
• An organization can locally manage its own appliances and perform automated inventory management through local assignment of UETIDs in the tags of the appliances, according to example embodiments. For example, each“version 4 UETID” has 122 bits that are randomly generated, with the smallest number of UETID generation leading to repetition being
• FIG. 9 illustrates of the physical sizes of different types of plugs: (A) An extender plug without any smartness, (B) An existing SP with local display of certain parameters but without ability to communicate, (C) A Plugwise Circle SP, and (D) An SEOS portable- socket prototype according to an example embodiment.
• FIG. 10A shows how the appliance tag 1002 is positioned with respect to SEOS hardware 1000, with the NFC reader 1004 underneath in the body of the SEOS wall-socket 1000.
• the NFC tag 1002 is close enough to be readable by the NFC reader 1004 only when the appliance is plugged-in.
• Fig. 10B shows a more compact version of a SEOS wall-socket 1005 according to an example embodiment, with similar components: NFC tag 1006 on plug (here between the plug 1007 and the wall-socket 1005, NFC reader 1008 and main circuitry 1010.
• NFC tag 1006 on plug here between the plug 1007 and the wall-socket 1005
• NFC reader 1008 and main circuitry 1010.
• SEOS can be pre-configured according to example embodiments to not continue operating unless the electrical behavior (such as current drawn) matches the specifications in the resolved digital- profile. Also, such an instance can easily be identified and intelligently notified to the building- operator according to example embodiments.
• the ecosystem of SEOS according to example embodiments would have multiple SEOS hardware managed by supervisory software, as depicted in fig. 5.
• the ratings and other information of multiple simultaneous appliances are shown under column 1202, and the real-time measurements of voltage (column 1204), current (column 1206), active power (column 1208) and energy (column 1210) are displayed.
• the 'handphone' being“HIDDEN” under first row of the column 1202 in fig. 12 denotes the possibility of adding permissions to the data that is linked to the UETID, according to example embodiments. This is analogous to setting the visibility or choosing the audience of information linked to a Facebook profile.
• a sample circuit diagram of SEOS hardware 1300 is illustrated in fig. 13.
• the diagram contains SEOS main components such as AC/DC Converter 1302 as a power supply unit, energy Integrated Circuit (IC) 1304, microcontroller and communication module 1306 with antenna, load identifier IC and antenna (i.e. NFC reader) 1308, relay 1310 for switching on/off the supply to the load, and current and voltage sensing 1312 and 1314.
• AC/DC Converter 1302 as a power supply unit
• IC energy Integrated Circuit
• microcontroller and communication module 1306 with antenna load identifier IC and antenna (i.e. NFC reader) 1308, relay 1310 for switching on/off the supply to the load, and current and voltage sensing 1312 and 1314.
• the AC/DC converter 1302 converts AC electrical supply in the building to low voltage DC supply to be used by the electronic circuit.
• the energy IC 1304 gathers real-time current and voltage data from sensing parts 1312 and 1314. Then it computes values of real power, reactive power, apparent power, corresponding energy values, power factor, frequency, IC’s temperature, current/voltage waveforms in such a way that they are digitally available to the microcontroller module 1306.
• the identifier in a near-field tag is accessible through identifier IC and its antenna 1308 operating around 13.56 MHz in this example embodiment.
• the identifier IC makes identifier information digitally available to the microcontroller and communication module 1306, which is then used by the microcontroller and communication module 1306 and its antenna operating at e.g. Wi-Fi frequency to communicate to SEOS local server. Based on the intelligence provided by SEOS local server (compare fig. 12), the microcontroller and communication module 1306 contextually measures parameters provided by the energy IC 1304. They are then matched against the ad-hoc operating criteria to ensure safe operation of the plug-load connected through actuation of the relay 1310.
• FIG. 14 An example of the new functionality of customized electrical protection of plug loads that example embodiments of the present invention can achieve is shown as a sequence diagram 1400 in fig. 14.
• the exchange of voltage and current limits transfer based on digital- profile could include the power-quality requirements of the plug-loads connected. For example, if a sensitive plug-load should not be supplied a voltage above 240V, SEOS hardware 1402 according to an example embodiment acquires this information from the SEOS local server 1404 and reports of any over-voltage violations experienced by the plug-load.
• the resolved digital-profile from the identifier determines the contextual electrical parameter to be measured and processed locally at the SEOS hardware 1402.
• the digital-profile may have different criticality for different appliances even if they belong to the same appliance category.
• a television from X-manufacturer and a television from Y-manufacturer could have different electrical limits in their digital-profiles. Even ownership and power-rating of an appliance could be conditions to determine criticality of electrical violations.
• monitors/screens associated with security cameras in a building could be specifically reported for unusual variations in power drawn. Ideally, such monitors must be not dim or switch off.
• This new functionality enables SEOS mechanism according to example embodiments to intelligently tackle a wide variety of electrical scenarios involving over-currents, under currents, over-voltages and under-voltages in a context- specific manner. Additionally, this helps to evaluate quality of the electrical power supplied to each of the electrical appliances.
• the local SEOS server 1404 can instruct the SEOS hardware 1402 to measure voltages at different rates so as to determine power-quality problems such as voltage-flicker.
• FIG. 14B An example of physical placement of SEOS hardware modules according to example embodiments within a building-grid 1410, i.e. electrical network within a generic building, is shown in fig. 14B.
• a multi-floor or multi-level building typically receives incoming electrical supply at the main distribution board/panel 1412, and distributes it further to different levels through the corresponding distribution boards e.g. 1414 at each level. The electricity is further distributed to various loads e.g. plug-load 1418 at the terminals of the electrical network.
• SEOS hardware modules e.g. 1416 act as the mechanism of supplying electrical power to any plug-load e.g. 1418 that can be connected to the building-grid.
• FIG. 14C An example of communication network corresponding to fig. 14B is shown in fig. 14C.
• the SEOS firmware or embedded code 1424 obtains the identifier and the contextual plug-load measurements and then uses the local communication network infrastructure 1426 to send that information to a SEOS local-server 1428 according to an example embodiment.
• This enables the local-server 1428 to provide digital services to dedicated interfaces e.g. 1430 associated with a building management system or building operating system, and also provide information and control through mobile interfaces e.g. 1432.
• a cloud server or remote server 1434 is linked through the internet to the local communication infrastructure.
• a Smart Electrical Outlet/ Socket can uniquely identify appliances, associate digital-profiles of that appliance and also can perform electrical measurements to determine various electrical measurements such as voltage, current, power, energy, and also the power-quality.
• the features of the SEOS according to example embodiments, and the synergy of those features, have given rise to new results and functionalities over existing smart plug technology.
• having comprehensive digital-profiles for the appliances (refer e.g. figs. 11 A, 11B and 12) and/or a Building Firewall as described herein are some of the advantageous parts of the SEOS ecosystem according to example embodiments. Numerous commercial applications and digitalized building services are possible because of embodiments of the present invention.
• Intuitive and use-friendly interfaces, platforms and a fully-fledged SEOS management system according to different embodiments can further enhance embodiments described herein.
• Embodiments of the present invention can have one or more of the features and associated benefits/advantages in table 2.
• SEOS hardware can be a gateway technology with many possible applications. It can digitalize the appliance management and operation, thereby contributing to better energy management resulting in greener use of energy.
• a few non-limiting example applications are as follows:
• the appliances can be authorized based its electrical ratings, electrical operation, and also based on the user credentials or any other information linked to the appliance.
• This concept is named here as Building Firewall, where the electrical connections of the building’s electrical network with the appliances could be made rule -based, providing a new kind of security this way.
• Embodiments of the present invention can digitalize the appliance management and operation, thereby contributing to better energy management resulting in greener use of energy.
• a few applications of example embodiments are as described next in more detail, by way of example, not limitation.
• the electrical plug-load assets under an organization can be tracked and the consumption patterns can be monitored. Accurate location discovery of registered appliances, by the authorized personnel, such as“last seen location” and“last seen time” is also possible. This saves time and human effort. SEOS according to example embodiments can also provide information on under-utilization of assets (appliances) purchased in offices, since its can track appliances even when they are not turned‘on’. This would also help in automated energy auditing. Additionally, finding out asset depreciation and remaining useful life of appliances based on the extent of actual consumption, rather than the date of purchase, becomes viable.
• Embodiments of the present invention provide the option of allowing electrical supply to an appliance only if it meets predefined criteria.
• the appliances can be authorized based on electrical ratings, electrical operation, compliance certificates, and also based on the user credentials (i.e. access management) or any other information linked to the appliance.
• This provides electrical safety and also security in general, and even prevents unintentional violations of safety standards such as those set by Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (SPRING), Singapore.
• SPRING Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board
• the building firewall similar to a firewall in computer operating systems, enables an administrator to use rules to define socket-behavior, such as allowing/prohibiting certain appliances. This can provide a new kind of security which is cyber-physical in nature.
• a rule could be set that“no big printers in an office will be supplied electricity if the number of desktop monitors that are‘on’ are below a certain number”. In large offices, this rule could help allocate their resources proportionate to the employees to be catered to.
• SEOS can inform regarding nominal harmonic currents expected from an appliance, and through its metering IC it can directly determine voltage sags and disturbances as experienced by the appliances. It could happen that individually the electrical devices pose no power-quality issue. But collectively when they draw nonlinear currents, a large part of the electrical network could get affected.
• SEOS according to example embodiments not only detects certain power-quality events, but also holds the information as to the list of appliances connected to the building-grid during the respective power-quality events. The monitoring by SEOS according to example embodiments would help isolate problems and take well-informed remedial decisions.
• the benefits of SEOS include value gained through disaggregated appliance data. This can help perform appliance-itemized billing and also personalized billing for the users of a building-grid, especially in large commercial buildings. Providing any user of the building the service to track location, energy consumption, C0 2 e impact etc. of their own electrical appliances is possible. These feedbacks on energy and carbon footprint could be designed to positively affect the behavior or psychology of the end users. Also, the cumulative data could be used to know the realistic carbon impact of the buildings over a large period of time.
• New commands by a building-user that become possible with the inception of SEOS include:
• New commands by a building-operator to BOS that become possible with the inception of SEOS include:
• FIG. 15 shows a schematic drawing illustrating an electrical outlet/socket device 1500 according to an example embodiment.
• the electrical outlet/socket device 1500 comprises a sensor 1502 for detecting the presence of an identification tag associable with an electrical appliance, the sensor 1502 being configured for extracting a unique identifier of the electrical appliance stored in the identification tag; one or more electrical conductors e.g. 1504 configured for coupling to the electrical appliance for supply of power to the electrical appliance; a measurement unit 1506 coupled to the one or more electrical conductors e.g. 1504 for performing electrical measurements; and a processor 1508 configured for associating the electrical measurements with the unique identifier for further processing.
• the unique identifier may be resolvable into a digital profile of the electrical appliance.
• the sensor 1502 may be based on near-field communication.
• the electrical outlet/socket device 1500 may further comprise a communication unit 1510 for data communication with a computing device.
• the processor 1508 may be configured for communicating data representing the unique identifier and the associated electrical measurements to the computing device via the communication unit 1510.
• the electrical outlet/socket device 1500 may further comprise a power switch/relay 1512 configured for selectively enabling the power supply to the electrical appliance.
• the power switch/relay 1512 may be configured for control based on an external control signal received by the electrical outlet/socket device 1500 and/or based on an internal control signal.
• the power switch/relay 1512 may be configured for selectively enabling the power supply to the electrical appliance based on the unique identifier of the electrical appliance, wherein the power switch/relay 1512 may be configured for selectively enabling the power supply to the electrical appliance based on a digital profile resolved from the unique identifier of the electrical appliance.
• the unique identifier may comprise a randomly generated universal unique identifier, UUID.
• the electrical outlet/socket device 1500 may be in the form of a wall socket or a portable socket/plug.
• Figure 16 shows a schematic drawing illustrating a system 1600 for smart electrical power supply within a building, according to an example embodiment.
• the system 1600 comprises an electrical outlet/socket device 1602, for example in the form of the electrical outlet/socket device 1500 shown in Figure 15; and a computing device 1604 configured for data communication with the electrical outlet/socket device 1602; wherein the computing device 1604 is configured for processing data representing the unique identifier and the associated electrical measurements.
• the computing device 1604 may be further configured for generating control signals for the electrical outlet/socket device 1602 based on the processing of the data.
• the system 1600 may further comprise a user interface 1606 for displaying of information based on the processed data and/or for user input of data for association with the unique identifier of the electrical appliance.
• the system 1600 may further comprise a remote server 1608 configured for data communication with the computing device 1604 and with other systems for smart electrical power supply.
• the computing device 1604 may comprise a local server for the building.
• the system 1600 may be configured for implementing one or more of a group consisting of fuse-based protection, energy consumption measurement, real-time voltage measurement, real-time current measurement, real-time active power measurement, real-time reactive power measurement, recording of the electrical measurements, displaying of the electrical measurements, power-quality information monitoring, power-quality anomalies monitoring, automated identification of appliances, automated locating of appliances, automated appliance authentication, automated appliance list generation, scheduling applications, optimization applications, billing applications, and auditing applications.
• a method for smart electrical power supply within a building is provided, the method being performed using an electrical outlet/socket device, and the method comprising, at step 1702, detecting the presence of an identification tag associable with an electrical appliance, and extracting a unique identifier of the electrical appliance stored in the identification tag; at step 1704, performing electrical measurements; and at step 1706 associating the electrical measurements with the unique identifier for further processing.
• the unique identifier may be resolvable into a digital profile of the electrical appliance.
• the detecting step 1702 may be based on near-field communication.
• the method may further comprise data communication between the electrical outlet/socket device and a computing device.
• the method may comprise communicating data representing the unique identifier and the associated electrical measurements to the computing device.
• the method may further comprise selectively enabling the power supply to the electrical appliance.
• the method may comprise control of the power supply based on an external control signal received by the electrical outlet/socket device and/or based on an internal control signal.
• the method may comprise selectively enabling the power supply to the electrical appliance based on the unique identifier of the electrical appliance, wherein the selectively enabling the power supply to the electrical appliance may be based on a digital profile resolved from the unique identifier of the electrical appliance.
• the unique identifier may comprise a randomly generated universal unique identifier, UUID.
• the electrical outlet/socket device may be in the form of a wall socket or a portable socket/plug.
• the method may comprise processing data representing the unique identifier and the associated electrical measurements using a computing device.
• the method may further comprise displaying of information using a user interface based on the processed data using a user interface and/or user input of data for association with the unique identifier of the electrical appliance using the user interface.
• the method may comprise using a computing device and/or a remote server for the further processing.
• the method may further comprise using the remote server for communication with other systems for smart electrical power supply.
• the computing device may comprise a local server for the building.
• the method may be performed for implementing one or more of a group consisting of fuse-based protection, energy consumption measurement, real-time voltage measurement, real-time current measurement, real-time active power measurement, real-time reactive power measurement, recording of the electrical measurements, displaying of the electrical measurements, power-quality information monitoring, power-quality anomalies monitoring, automated identification of appliances, automated locating of appliances, automated appliance authentication, automated appliance list generation, scheduling applications, optimization applications, billing applications, and auditing applications.
• interfacing website for manufacturers and end users to register their appliances can be developed and provided for different embodiments.
• the mobile and desktop interfaces for demonstrating the function of SEOS according to example embodiments described herein can be improved.
• a fully-fledged platform with applications, e.g. meant for the buildings, being showcased in a similar fashion as a modern app-store may be provided in different embodiments.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Remote Monitoring And Control Of Power-Distribution Networks (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=67479078

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Cited By (1)

Citations (6)

Family Cites Families (13)

• 2019
  • 2019-02-04 SG SG11202007477TA patent/SG11202007477TA/en unknown
  • 2019-02-04 WO PCT/SG2019/050066 patent/WO2019151955A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2019-02-04 CN CN201980010563.XA patent/CN111903011B/zh active Active

Patent Citations (6)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events