POWER TRANSFORMATION SYSTEM WITH CHARACTERIZATION

• US 20150002165A1
• Filed: 06/10/2014
• Published: 01/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Juntunen, Robert D., Diedrich, Devin, Frenz, Jonathan P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,983,244 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/537
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/2513 Arrangements for monitoring electric power systems, e.g. power lines or loads; Logging
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 27/16 Measuring impedance of element or network through which a current is passing from another source, e.g. cable, power line
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/00 Circuit arrangements or systems for wireless supply or distribution of electric power
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/001 Energy harvesting or scavenging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/345 using capacitors as storage or buffering devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving

Abstract

A power transformation system having a power stealing mode for powering a device indirectly through an electrical load connected to a power source and also has a characterization mode. The transfer of energy from the power source via the load may go undetected. The system may store energy from the load in an ultra or super capacitor. This energy may be used to power Wi-Fi and various thermostat applications, among other things, associated with HVAC and building automation and management systems. Energy from the load may be supplemented or substituted with energy from a battery and/or a buck converter. In the characterization mode, the system may obtain data relative to power usage of a load and determine a profile to identify one or more components and their operating conditions.

Claims

1. A power transformation module of a thermostat, comprising:

a power harvesting mode; and

a characterization mode; and

wherein;

the power harvesting mode comprises;

pulling electrical power from a line carrying power for a load related to a thermostatic system; and

storing the electrical power from the line available for use by the thermostatic system; and

the characterization mode comprises;

providing an electrical power to the load;

measuring a waveform of the electrical power to the load in terms of magnitude and time to obtain a profile of the waveform;

obtaining a signature from the profile of the waveform to identify one or more components of the load; and

determining a condition of the one or more components from the signature.

2. The module of claim 1, further comprising obtaining installation configuration information corresponding to the thermostat related to the load to anticipate a general form of a waveform of the load to better identify the one or more components.

3. The module of claim 1, wherein:

the load is connected in series with the power transformation module; and

the power transformation module can be in a characterization mode or a power harvesting mode.

4. The module of claim 3, wherein the signature obtained by the characterization mode can indicate an identification of one or more components selected from a group consisting of a current interrupting wax coil valve, a hot surface igniter, high voltage spark ignition source, combustion blower, purge blower, and gas valves.

5. The module of claim 4, wherein the signature of an identified component can reveal one or more activities of one or more components, selected from a group consisting of light off main flame, flame out, no light off, and general operation.

6. The module of claim 5, wherein the activities of the one or more components that affect flame quality of a heating system controlled by the thermostat are improved by items from a group consisting of entering and exiting the power transformation and less aggressively harvesting power.

7. A mechanism for characterization of a load related to a thermostat, comprising:

an instrument for measuring load current versus time;

a plotter connected to the instrument for graphing a waveform of the load current versus time;

an analyzer connected to the plotter for analyzing the waveform to identify one or more components of the load; and

a diagnostics evaluator connected to the analyzer to determine a health of the one or more components.

8. The mechanism of claim 7, further comprising:

a connection between the instrument and a cloud; and

wherein the cloud comprises one or more items selected from a group consisting of analysis, signatures, extraction, diagnostics, general processing, monitoring, and storage.

9. The mechanism of claim 7, wherein:

the instrument for measuring load current versus time is an integral portion of a power transformation device; and

the instrument measures load current versus time when the power transformation is not harvesting power.

10. The mechanism of claim 7, wherein:

a load current versus time measurement reveals a sequence of activity by the one or more components;

the sequence of activity can exhibit whether an operation of the one or more components is normal; and

if the one or more components have non-normal operation, then the load current versus time is analyzed to determine a basis or cause of the non-normal operation.

11. The mechanism of claim 7, wherein:

a load current versus time measurement reveals what type of equipment is being monitored by the measurement according to a catalog or table of measurements, or signatures as indicated by the measurements, that are correlated with types of equipment;

revealing a type of equipment is a capability of a power transformation system that can instead divert energy from a load for at least partially operating a thermostat; and

a learning by the thermostat of the equipment enables the power transformation system to deal with an operation of a heating system relative to affecting flame quality.

12. A method of a characterization mode of a power transformation system comprising:

providing an electrical waveform of power to a load related to a thermostat;

measuring a profile of the electrical waveform in terms of magnitude and time;

analyzing the magnitude versus time; and

identifying one or more components of the load from analyzing the magnitude versus time of the current waveform.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising inferring a signature of the current from analyzing the magnitude versus time of the current waveform.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending the current waveform to a cloud for further analysis.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending the current waveform to a cloud for diagnosis of any apparent malfunction of the one or more components.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the current waveform is a current through a load of one or more components in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising developing a characterization of equipment contributing to the load of a heating system.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising inferring a scenario of equipment from an analysis of the magnitude and time of the current waveform.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

diagnosing the one or more components of the load from analyzing the magnitude and time of the current waveform; and

wherein if there is an issue of the one or more components of the load, there are identifying the issue from the magnitude and time of the current waveform, and searching for a solution to resolve the issue.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

providing a warning of a problem with the equipment from indications of a scenario; and

facilitating a call for service to fix the problem with the equipment.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein:

the problem is indicated by the current waveform as there being no light off of a flame of one or more components of a furnace; and

the warning of the problem is provided before an extended or complete failure of a light off of the flame occurs.