ENERGY MANAGEMENT UNIT WITH DIAGNOSTIC CAPABILITIES

• US 20120259476A1
• Filed: 09/29/2011
• Published: 10/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Transform Sr Brands, LLC (ESL Investments, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sears Brands LLC (Sears Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Borras, Jaime Andres, Trieb, Gunther, Owens, Elizabeth
• Granted Patent: US 9,971,388 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision

Abstract

An example energy management unit (EMU) with diagnostic capabilities is provided. The EMU with diagnostic capabilities can identify a potential failure or end-of-life condition by detecting a higher power consumption, an abnormal power waveform or by receiving a signal from an appliance or piece of equipment itself generated by the appliance'"'"'s or piece of equipment'"'"'s self diagnostic system. The EMU can be incorporated into a system that permits various power consumption and time-current information to be transmitted to a variety of devices and parties via a communication.

Claims

1. An energy management unit (EMU) device for receiving information representative of the power consumption of a device comprising:

a line interface which is coupled to a power source to provide power to a microcontroller, a memory, an analog-to-digital converter, a communicator, and a user interface; and

a load switch coupled to a load sensing circuit that controls the power applied to the device through a load interface circuit, the load sensing circuit providing a stepped-down current signal that is within the operating range of the analog-to-digital converter, for subsequent sampling by the microcontroller.

2. The EMU of claim 1, wherein the load switch comprises a solid state relay;

3. The EMU of claim 1, wherein the user interface further comprises a screen on which data is displayed and one or more controls through which various EMU features may be toggled on or off or customized.

4. A computer-readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions perform steps for detecting a potential malfunction, end-of-life warning or diagnostic information and correcting failure modes for a device, comprising:

hosting a database of information;

providing a user interface comprising user interface elements for allowing a user to input identifying information for the device plugged into an energy management unit (EMU);

receiving the identifying information from the user interface;

receiving energy use data collected by the EMU;

matching the identifying information with information in the database;

analyzing the energy use data; and

providing the results of the analysis of the energy use data.

5. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein the database of information comprises original power consumption and respective degradation curves and the energy use data comprises power consumption information.

6. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 5, wherein the power consumption information collected by the EMU is transmitted via a wireless network connection using a local area network.

7. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 6, wherein the identifying information comprises the brand and model for the device plugged into the EMU.

8. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, wherein analyzing the power consumption data comprises calculating the end-of-life for the device.

9. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein providing the results of the analysis comprises providing the user the status of the operation of the device.

10. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein providing the resulting of the analysis comprises transmitting the results of the analysis to a remote computer center through an Internet connection.

11. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein the database of information comprises one or more failure time-current envelopes and their corresponding waveforms and the energy use data comprises a time-current envelope associated with the device.

12. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 11, wherein the device'"'"'s time-current envelope collected by the EMU is transmitted via a wireless network connection using a local area network.

13. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 12, wherein the identifying information comprises the brand and model for the device plugged into the EMU.

14. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein analyzing the device'"'"'s time-current envelope comprises determining whether the device is at least one of operating within normal limits, is likely to fail, or is currently failing.

15. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein providing the results of the analysis comprises providing the user the status of the operation of the device.

16. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein providing the results of the analysis comprises transmitting the results of the analysis to a remote computer center through an Internet connection.

17. A computer-readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions perform steps for detecting a potential malfunction, end-of-life warning or diagnostic information and correcting failure modes for an appliance or piece of equipment, comprising:

hosting a database of information;

providing a user interface comprising user interface elements for allowing a user to input identifying information for an appliance or piece of equipment plugged into an energy management unit (EMU);

receiving the identifying information from the user interface;

receiving appliance or equipment operating data collected by the EMU;

transmitting the appliance or equipment operating data collected by the EMU to a remote computer center through an Internet connection.

18. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the identifying information comprises the brand and model for the appliance or piece of equipment plugged into the EMU.

19. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein

the appliance or equipment operating data collected by the EMU comprises diagnostic information for the appliance or piece of equipment and

receiving diagnostic information for the appliance or piece of equipment collected by the EMU comprises the appliance or piece of equipment emitting an audible tone corresponding to the diagnostic information for the appliance or piece of equipment, the EMU detecting and interpreting the audible tone, and the EMU transmitting the diagnostic information for the appliance or piece of equipment for receipt by the computer-readable media.

20. A system for detecting a potential malfunction, end-of-life warning or diagnostic information and correcting failure modes for an appliance or piece of equipment, comprising:

an appliance or piece of equipment;

an energy management unit (EMU) into which the appliance or piece of equipment is plugged;

a power source transmitting power to the EMU and the appliance or piece of equipment;

a home hub connected to the EMU; and

a remote computer center connected to the home hub through an Internet connection.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the home hub is personal computer or tablet device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the remote computer center is a cloud service.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the remote computer center is a proxy server.

24. The system of claim 22, further comprising a service contractor that provides ongoing service to consumers on a contract or subscription basis to monitor, collect, host, and analyze the appliance'"'"'s or piece of equipment'"'"'s performance, warning signs, and energy consumption data.

25. The system of claim 23, further comprising a service contractor that provides ongoing service to consumers on a contract or subscription basis to monitor, collect, host, and analyze the appliance'"'"'s or piece of equipment'"'"'s performance, warning signs, and energy consumption data.