Power Monitoring and Analysis System for Identifying and Tracking Individual Electrical Devices
First Claim
1. A process for separately determining and monitoring the power use and status of a plurality of different electrical devices supplied by a common alternating current service, said process for monitoring comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a data set representing electrical parameters of the electrical service, said electrical parameters measured with sufficient resolution in value and time and for a sufficient duration of time to determine said power use and status,(b) providing a process for extracting instance structures representing complete on-off cycles of said devices from said data set, and for using said instance structures to create and characterize device structures representing said devices, and for associating said instance structures with corresponding said device structures,(c) providing a process for using said instance structures and said device structures to determine and monitor said power use and status.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is a method for measuring and processing a plurality of electrical parameters of a common alternating current (AC) service that supplies multiple different electrical devices such that the power use rate and total power used by each of multiple devices is determined. Sensors provide high resolution signals corresponding to the current and voltage of the AC power supplied to the service panel typical of those used in residential construction. Analog-to-digital conversion and processing circuits determine multiple electrical parameters with high resolution at a sampling rate sufficient to determine the electrical parameters for approximately each AC cycle. The electrical parameters are stored as a large data set in a memory with sufficient capacity to store several months of electrical parameters representing each AC cycle. The data set is processed to extract complete on-off cycles of the devices. The on-off cycles are represented by instance structures. The characteristics of the instance structures are used to determine device structures. Each device structure characterizes one of the multiple devices. The contributions associated with the extracted instance structures are subtracted from the data set, making is possible to extract additional instance structures from the residual information in the data set. Information from the device structures are used to help extract instances structures that are partially obscured by overlapping instance structures. The newly extracted instances structures are subtracted from the data set and processing continues until no more instance structures can be extracted. Information from the extracted instance structures and device structures are further grouped and processed to provide useful information reports to a consumer. As the electrical parameters are determined and added to the data set, they can be incrementally processed so that near real time information can be provided to the consumer. The cost of operating each device and other information enables the consumer to make informed decision regarding energy use and conservation.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A process for separately determining and monitoring the power use and status of a plurality of different electrical devices supplied by a common alternating current service, said process for monitoring comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a data set representing electrical parameters of the electrical service, said electrical parameters measured with sufficient resolution in value and time and for a sufficient duration of time to determine said power use and status, (b) providing a process for extracting instance structures representing complete on-off cycles of said devices from said data set, and for using said instance structures to create and characterize device structures representing said devices, and for associating said instance structures with corresponding said device structures, (c) providing a process for using said instance structures and said device structures to determine and monitor said power use and status. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A process for separately determining the power use of a plurality of different electrical devices supplied by a common alternating current service, the determining process comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a data set representing electrical parameters of the electrical service, said electrical parameters measured with sufficient resolution in value and time and for a sufficient duration of time to determine said power use, (b) providing a process for extracting instance structures representing complete on-off cycles of said devices from said data set, and for using said instance structures to create and characterize device structures representing said devices, and for associating said instance structures with corresponding said device structures, (c) providing a process for using said instance structures and said device structures to determine said power use. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification