SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR MONITORING AND REDUCING THE CONSUMPTION OF ELECTRICITY WITH A NETWORK OF SMART SENSORS

• US 20160033985A1
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Published: 02/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Antonino Gulli, Aurora Gulli, Gulli', Leonardo Alessandro, Lorenzo Gulli
• Original Assignee: Antonino Gulli, Aurora Gulli, Gulli', Leonardo Alessandro, Lorenzo Gulli
• Inventors: Gulli', Antonino, Gulli', Lorenzo, Gulli', Leonardo Alessandro, Gulli', Aurora
• Granted Patent: US 9,811,102 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for monitoring and reducing consumption of electricity with a network of smart sensors connected to either electrical devices and/or lights.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring and reducing the consumption of electricity with a network of smart sensors, the system comprising:

a network of sensors used to monitor consumption of electricity over a window of time for a plurality of appliances selected from the group comprising, large appliances and small appliances, heating appliances, boilers, hair dryers, irons, refrigerators, laundry machines, lights,

wherein the plurality of appliances are all controlled smart electrical and/or electronic devices.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more sensors can be placed into power outlets, power plugs, light adapters, bulb sockets, or directly embedded in one or more of the appliances of the plurality of appliances.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more sensors are connected via a network connection to a control server where periodic power consumption monitoring occurs and data therefrom is stored in a database.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein Internet protocols, phone networks or satellite networks are used to localize a geographical position of the network of sensors.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising:

an intelligent system running on the control server, wherein the intelligent system analyses consumption data and provides suggestions for reducing consumption of electricity,

wherein machine learning based optimization criteria is used to reduce said consumption of electricity,

wherein said criteria are selected from the group comprising, geographical location of each sensor, power consumption observed over an interval of time, time of the day, external light conditions, presence and/or the movement of people in the area monitored by the sensor, cost of electricity in a particular location, cost of electricity in a particular moment of the time, the consume registered by that particular sensor, consumption registered by sensors in the network of sensors, consumption monitored by all sensors exceeding a desired total maximum, range of optimal voltage or amperage supported by an appliance, temperature registered by a sensor, smoke condition registered by a sensor, user-defined rules for each sensor, preferences expressed by users for specific machine learning optimization criteria, other user defined or algorithmically computed criteria.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the suggestions for reducing the consumption of electricity is sent to each sensor device by the control server.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein sensors apply the suggestions for reducing the consumption of electricity by turning off one or more appliances.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein sensors are configured to reduce voltage or amperage of one or more appliances.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein sensors can dim light produced by one or more appliances.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein sensors can delay operation of one or more appliances by a given temporal interval.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein sensors can switch off one or more appliances in response to temperature monitored by the sensors.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein sensors are configured to switch off all of the appliances in the plurality of appliances upon detection of smoke.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein sensors are configured to switch off all of the appliances in the plurality of appliances in accordance to a user defined rule.

14. The system of claim 6, wherein sensor status, controller server status and all suggestion recommendations can be accessed via a network system through the use of a smart browser or a web browser for reporting statistical information, metrics and other information.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the network system utilizes one or more protocols selected from the group comprising HTTP, HTTPS, Atom and RSS.

16. The system of claim 6, wherein the sensors are configured to alter one or more of said plurality of appliances, such that the appliances enter a reduced consumption state where one or more non-critical function is suspended.

17. A method for monitoring and reducing the consumption of electricity with a network of smart sensors, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving consumption information from a plurality of sensors, wherein each sensor is associated with an appliance, electrical device or electronic device;

analysing consumption information received from said plurality of sensors;

reviewing consumption data in light of criteria, wherein said criteria are selected from the group comprising, geographical location of each sensor, power consumption observed over an interval of time, time of the day, external light conditions, presence and/or the movement of people in the area monitored by the sensor, cost of electricity in a particular location, cost of electricity in a particular moment of the time, the consume registered by that particular sensor, consumption registered by sensors in the network of sensors, consumption monitored by all sensors exceeding a desired total maximum, range of optimal voltage or amperage supported by an appliance, temperature registered by a sensor, smoke condition registered by a sensor, user-defined rules for each sensor, preferences expressed by users for specific machine learning optimization criteria, other user defined or algorithmically computed criteria;

generating optimized parameters for each sensor based on said consumption data and said criteria; and

providing said optimized parameters to said plurality of sensors, wherein said optimized parameters cause each sensor to alter control of said appliance, electrical device or electronic device associated with the sensor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one sensor of said plurality of sensors are configured to reduce voltage or amperage of one or more appliances, electrical devices or electronic devices.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one sensor of said plurality of sensors can dim light produced by one or more appliances, electrical devices or electronic devices.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one sensor of said plurality of sensors can delay operation of one or more appliances, electrical devices or electronic devices by a given temporal interval.

21. A method for providing sensor query information in a system for monitoring and reducing the consumption of electricity with a network of smart sensors, the method comprising:

receiving a request for sensor information;

determining if direct querying of a plurality of sensors is required;

identifying one or more sensors to be queried;

receiving current sensor information from said one or more sensors;

retrieving stored sensor information from a database;

generating reporting information based on said stored sensor information and said current information;

generating metric and statistical information based on said stored sensor information and said current sensor information;

generating curated sensor information from said reporting information and said metric and statistical information; and

transmitting said curated sensor information.