Non-intrusive appliance monitor apparatus
First Claim
1. Apparatus for non-intrusive measurement of energy usage and operating characteristics of each of a plurality of individual electric units, said units each contributing to a portion of a total electric load of a circuit of a facility, comprising:
- (a) sensor means for measuring electrical characteristics of the total load of said circuit and producing an analog signal proportional thereto, said sensor means being coupled to said circuit at a location external to said facility;
(b) analog-to-digital conversion means for converting said analog signal into a digital signal; and
(c) signal processor means responsive to said digital signal for separating out said portion of the total load contributed by each of the plurality of units.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A non-intrusive monitor of energy consumption of residential appliances is described in which sensors, coupled to the power circuits entering a residence, supply analog voltage and current signals which are converted to digital format and processed to detect changes in certain residential load parameters, i.e., admittance. Cluster analysis techniques are employed to group change measurements into certain categories, and logic is applied to identify individual appliances and the energy consumed by each.
228 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. Apparatus for non-intrusive measurement of energy usage and operating characteristics of each of a plurality of individual electric units, said units each contributing to a portion of a total electric load of a circuit of a facility, comprising:
-
(a) sensor means for measuring electrical characteristics of the total load of said circuit and producing an analog signal proportional thereto, said sensor means being coupled to said circuit at a location external to said facility; (b) analog-to-digital conversion means for converting said analog signal into a digital signal; and (c) signal processor means responsive to said digital signal for separating out said portion of the total load contributed by each of the plurality of units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. Apparatus for non-intrusive measurement of load characteristics of each of a plurality of individual electric units in a facility, based on voltage and/or current sensing of the aggregate loads on a power circuit to which said units are connected, comprising:
-
(a) monitor means coupled to said power circuit at a location external to said facility for sampling the aggregate load and converting the sampled load into digital signals representing at least one of the load characteristics from a group comprising;
real power, reactive power, current, admittance, harmonics, sub-harmonics, dc current, starting-transient peak;
starting-transient duration, starting-transient time-constant, or starting-transient shape;(b) net change detector means for determining from said signals changes in the load characteristics between periods of steady operation, by computing and generating a net change signal proportional to the net change in load characteristics from one steady period to a next steady period and; (c) cluster logic means responsive to said net change signal for; (i) determining which changes can be associated with a given unit having individual specific load characteristics; (ii) determining energy consumed by said unit between successive ON and OFF changes in load characteristics; and (iii) from the determinations in (i-ii) determining energy consumption and usage characteristics for each unit. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method for non-intrusive measurement of energy usage and operating circuit load characteristics of each of a plurality of individual electric units coupled to an electrical power circuit in a facility, which power circuit receives electrical power from an external electrical power line comprising:
-
(a) sampling the electrical power at the electrical power line and converting the sampled power into digital format to provide digital signals proportional to at least one of the circuit load characteristics from a group comprising;
real power, reactive power, current, admittance, harmonics, sub-harmonics, dc current, starting-transient peak;
starting-transient duration, starting-transient time-constant, or starting-transient shape;(b) determining changes in the circuit load characteristics between period of steady operation, by computing a net change in characteristics from one steady period to a next steady period; (c) determining which changes can be associated with the same unit; (d) determining the energy usage by a unit between successive ON and OFF changes in load characteristics; (e) from the determinations in steps (b) - (d) determining energy usage characteristics for each appliance. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification