DEMAND RESPONSE APPLIANCE POWER CONSUMPTION FEEDBACK

• US 20110153100A1
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Venkatakrishnan, Natarajah, Finch, Michael F., Besore, John K., Drake, Jeff Donald, Worthington, Timothy Dale
• Application Number:
  US12/644,552
• Publication Number:
  US 20110153100A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

A system is provided for determining and displaying the cost of consuming power comprising an appliance including one or more power consuming functions wherein each of the one or more power consuming functions includes an associated power consumption amount. The system further provides a home energy management system (HEM) including a controller in communication with the appliance and configured to provide the HEM with the associated power consumption amount of each of the one or more power consuming functions. The controller is in signal communication with an associated utility, wherein the controller receives and processes a signal from the associated utility indicative of current cost of supplied energy. The controller being configured to convert the current cost of supplied energy into a power consumption cost of the associated power consumption amount of the one or more power consuming functions.

Claims

1. A system for determining and displaying the cost of consuming power comprising:

an appliance including one or more power consuming functions wherein each of the one or more power consuming functions includes an associated power consumption amount;

a home energy management system (HEM) including a controller in communication with the appliance and configured to provide the (HEM) with the associated power consumption amount of each of the one or more power consuming functions;

the controller in signal communication with an associated utility, wherein the controller receiving and processing a signal from the associated utility indicative of current cost of supplied energy; and

,

the controller being configured to convert the current cost of supplied energy into a power consumption cost of the associated power consumption amount of the one or more power consuming functions.

2. The appliance according to claim 1, wherein the associated power consumption amount is determined from a current transformer.

3. The appliance according to claim 2, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is tracked and recorded by the home energy management system.

4. The appliance according to claim 3, wherein each of the one or more power consuming functions is selected from the group consisting of power on, idle, wash cycle, rinse cycle, fill cycle, pump out cycle, spin cycle, cool, defrost, bake, broil, self-clean cycle, microwave, exhaust(fan) and dry cycle.

5. The appliance according to claim 3, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is multiplied by a respective cycle time to calculate the energy cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions.

6. The appliance according to claim 5, wherein the energy cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is summed by the home energy management system to provide a total energy cost of one or more power consuming appliances.

7. The appliance according to claim 2, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is communicated in real time.

8. The appliance according to claim 1, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is summed and reported as a total for the appliance.

9. The appliance according to claim 1, wherein the power consumption cost is estimated by the appliance using the associated power consumption of one or more power consuming functions.

10. The appliance according to claim 1, wherein the associated power consumption amount of each of the one more power consuming functions is determined by using a table of power load values pre-loaded into a memory of the HEM and the amount of time the respective load was in the “

ON”

state.

11. A method of determining the cost of consuming power comprising:

associating one or more power consuming functions of an appliance with a corresponding power consumption amount;

connecting one or more power consuming functions with a home energy management system (HEM);

sending a signal from an associated utility to the HEM, wherein the HEM includes a controller in signal communication with the associated utility;

the controller receiving and processing a signal from the associated utility indicative of current cost of supplied energy;

operating the appliance in the one or more power consuming functions; and

,

converting, through the controller, the current cost of supplied energy into a power consumption cost of the one or more power consuming functions wherein the power consumption cost is communicated to the home energy management system.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the appliance includes a current transformer for measuring the power consumption amount of the one or more power consuming functions.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is tracked and recorded by the home energy management system.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein each of the one or more power consuming functions is selected from the group consisting of power on, idle, wash cycle, rinse cycle, spin cycle, fill cycle, pump out cycle, cool, defrost, bake, broil, self-clean cycle, microwave, exhaust fan, and dry cycle,

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is multiplied by a respective cycle time to calculate the energy cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the energy cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is summed by the home energy management system to provide a total energy cost of one or more power consuming appliances.

17. The method according to claim 11, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is communicated in real time.

18. The method according to claim 11, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is summed and reported as a total for the appliance.

19. The appliance according to claim 11, wherein the power consumption cost is estimated by the appliance using information supplied to the HEM regarding the associated power consumption amount of one or more power consuming functions.

20. The appliance according to claim 11, wherein the associated power consumption amount of each of the one more power consuming functions is determined by using a table of power load values pre-loaded into a memory of the HEM and the amount of time the respective load was in the “

ON”

state.

21. A method of computing power consumption cost of an appliance comprising:

connecting one or more power consuming functions with a home energy management system (HEM); and

,

sending a signal from an associated utility to the HEM, wherein the HEM includes a controller in signal communication with the associated utility;

the controller receiving and processing a signal from the associated utility indicative of current cost of supplied energy;

operating the appliance in the one or more power consuming functions;

converting, through the controller, the current cost of supplied energy into a power consumption cost of the one or more power consuming functions wherein the power consumption cost is communicated to the home energy management system; and

,

multiplying the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions by a respective cycle time to calculate the energy cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions.

22. The appliance according to claim 21, wherein the power consumption function includes a current transformer for measuring the power consumption.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is tracked and recorded by the home energy management system.

24. The method according to claim 22, wherein each of the one or more power consuming functions is selected from the group consisting of power on, idle, wash cycle, rinse cycle, spin cycle, fill cycle, pump out cycle, cool, defrost, bake, broil, self-clean cycle, microwave, exhaust fan, and dry cycle.

25. The method according to claim 22, wherein the energy cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is summed by the home energy management system to provide a total energy cost of one or more power consuming appliances.

26. The method according to claim 22, wherein the power consumption cost of each of the one or more power consuming functions is communicated in real time.

27. The method according to claim 22, wherein each of the one or more power consuming functions is selected from function idle and function on.

28. The appliance according to claim 22, wherein the power consumption cost is estimated by the appliance using information supplied to the HEM regarding the associated power consumption amount of one or more power consuming functions.

29. The appliance according to claim 21, wherein the associated power consumption amount of each of the one more power consuming functions is determined by using a table of power load values pre-loaded into a memory of the HEM and the amount of time the respective load was in the “

ON”

state.