WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK FOR MEASUREMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION

• US 20150123654A1
• Filed: 04/29/2013
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Socovar S.E.C.
• Original Assignee: Socovar S.E.C.
• Inventors: Dallaire, Michel, Gagnon, Ghyslain, Jomphe, Sebastien, Sicard, Daniel, Arbour, Dominic
• Granted Patent: US 10,191,095 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/251
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 1/04 Housings; Supporting members; Arrangements of terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 1/18 Screening arrangements against electric or magnetic fields, e.g. against earth's field
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 15/202 using Hall-effect devices Hall elements in arrangements for measuring electrical power G01R21/08
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 21/08 by using galvanomagnetic-effect devices, e.g. Hall-effect devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 21/133 by using digital technique
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 35/005 Calibrating; Standards or reference devices, e.g. voltage or resistance standards, "golden" references G01R33/0035, G01R35/002 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00017 using optical fiber
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00026 involving a local wireless network, e.g. Wi-Fi, ZigBee or Bluetooth
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 End-user application control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/124 using wired telecommunication networks or data transmission busses
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/126 using wireless data transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

There is described a system to measure the electrical consumption of a household. This system consists of a network of measuring devices that are attached to wires between electrical appliances and circuit breakers and of a communication and processing unit that receives measurement data from the measuring devices. Low precision sensors based on the Hall effect may be used for obtaining precise measurements of energy consumption by providing a casing for the measuring devices that ensures a fixed, known, and precise alignment with respect to the wire to which it is attached. Low precision sensors based on the Hall effect may also be used by performing a correction calibration of measured data.

Claims

1. A system for measuring electricity consumption of an environment having a plurality of electrical appliances, the system comprising:

a plurality of measuring devices for connection to a wire between one of the plurality of electrical appliances and one of a plurality of corresponding circuit breakers, each one of the measuring devices comprising;

a Hall effect sensor configured to measure a current flowing through the wire; and

a casing defining an enclosure for receiving the Hall effect sensor and comprising an attachment member for engaging with the wire and fixing a position of the Hall effect sensor with respect to the wire to a known relative position; and

a communication and processing unit in communication with the measuring devices and configured for receiving individual consumption measurement data representative of the electricity consumption of the plurality of electrical appliances.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one precision sensor is connected between the plurality of corresponding circuit breakers and a main circuit breaker for the environment, and wherein the communication and processing unit is adapted to receive overall consumption measurement data from the at least one precision sensor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one additional measuring device is connected between the plurality of corresponding circuit breakers and a main circuit breaker for the environment, and wherein the communication and processing unit is adapted to receive overall consumption measurement data from the at least one additional measuring device.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the communication and processing unit is adapted to apply a calibration algorithm to the individual consumption measurement data to increase precision thereof using the overall consumption measurement data received from the at least one precision sensor.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising a calibration signal generator for generating a calibration signal having a known amplitude for calibrating at least one of the overall consumption measurement data and the individual consumption measurement data.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication and processing unit is configured to analyze the individual consumption measurement data and provide electricity consumption measurements.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the measuring devices each further comprise an integrated circuit comprising the Hall effect sensor, a microcontroller, a power source, and a transmitter, operatively mounted to a printed circuit board.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the casing provides a first known and fixed distance from an outer surface of the wire to a substantially central point along a length of the Hall effect sensor, and a second known and fixed distance from a substantially central point of the wire to a substantially central point along a width of the Hall effect sensor.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the casing comprises an attachment guide for engaging and disengaging the attachment member to the wire.

21. The system of claim 4, wherein the calibration algorithm comprises attributing a portion of the overall consumption measurement data to each one of the plurality of electrical appliances proportionally to a corresponding measure of the individual consumption measurement data.

22. The system of claim 4, wherein calibration algorithm comprises summing waveforms provided by each one of the measuring devices for a given time window and minimizing a difference between a computed sum and the overall consumption measurement data.

23. The system of claim 4, wherein calibration algorithm comprises calculating a correlation between the individual consumption measurement data for each one of the plurality of electrical appliances and isolated signal components from the overall consumption measurement data.

24. The system of claim 5, wherein the calibration signal is used to calibrate the overall consumption measurement data, and calibrated overall consumption data is used to calibrate the individual consumption measurement data to increase precision thereof.

25. The system of claim 1, further comprising a calibration signal generator for generating a calibration signal having a known amplitude for calibrating the individual consumption measurement data of at least one of the plurality of measuring devices.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the calibration signal generator is connected in an electrical outlet of the environment.

10. A measuring device for measuring individual electricity consumption of electrical appliances comprising:

a Hall effect sensor configured to measure a current flowing through a wire connected between the individual appliance and a circuit breaker and transmit individual consumption measurement data; and

a casing defining an enclosure for receiving the Hall effect sensor and comprising an attachment member for engaging with the wire and fixing a position of the Hall effect sensor with respect to the wire to a known relative position.

11. The measuring device of claim 10, further comprising an integrated circuit comprising the Hall effect sensor, a microcontroller, a power source, and a transmitter, operatively mounted to a printed circuit board.

12. The measuring device of claim 11, wherein the casing provides a first known and fixed distance from an outer surface of the wire to a substantially central point along a length of the Hall effect sensor, and a second known and fixed distance from a substantially central point of the wire to a substantially central point along a width of the Hall effect sensor.

13. The measuring device of claim 10, wherein the casing comprises positioning guides inside the enclosure for retaining the Hall effect sensor therein and ensuring that the known relative position remains constant.

14. The measuring device of claim 10, wherein the enclosure defined by the casing is rectangular.

15. The measuring device of claim 10, wherein the enclosure defined by the casing is tapered and has at least one rounded end sized to mate with a battery.

16. The measuring device of claim 10, wherein the casing comprises at least one magnetic shielding surface to block interference signals generated by magnetic fields.

17. The measuring device of claim 10, wherein the attachment member comprises a twist and clip mechanism.

18. The measuring device of claim 17, wherein the casing comprises an attachment guide shaped for manual rotation of the casing.

19. The measuring device of claim 10, wherein the attachment member comprises a clipping mechanism.

20. The measuring device of claim 19, wherein the casing comprises an attachment guide having a pair of flexible members for engaging and disengaging the attachment member to the wire.