Electric appliance monitoring device

• US 8,760,307 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2006
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool EMEA SpA (Whirlpool Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Indesit Company SPA (Whirlpool Corporation)
• Inventors: Santonicola, Paolo, Falcioni, Paolo, Orienti, Irene
• Primary Examiner(s): Ghayour, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): TUN, NAY L
• Application Number:
  US10/585,711
• Publication Number:
  US 20090009287A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,906 Days
• Field of Search: 340657-664, 340/585, 340/679, 340/539.1, 340/539.24, 340/539.22, 340/545.6, 340/3.1, 340/3.3, 340/3.32, 340 342- 344, 340/3.9, 379/106.01, 702182-185, 702187-189, 621/27
• US Class Current: 340/657
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/0063 using remote monitoring or controlling of the dishwasher operation, e.g. networking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/46 Devices for the automatic control of the different phases of cleaning ; Controlling devices A47L15/449 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/05 for wireless communication between components, e.g. for remote monitoring or control
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/32 characterised by graphical features, e.g. touchscreens
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 29/00 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0227 Qualitative history assessment, whereby the type of data acted upon, e.g. waveforms, images or patterns, is not relevant, e.g. rule based assessment; if-then decisions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2825 Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators

Abstract

The present invention relates to a monitoring device (9) for an electric appliance (1), comprising electronic control means and data and/or information storage means. Said monitoring device (9) is typically connected to a first communication network (70A, 70B) through first interface means (7) and to a second communication network (80) through second interface means (8). Said first communication network (70A, 70B) is adapted to connect at least one sensing device (93, 94, 95, 96), being capable of measuring at least one value of at least one physical quantity related to the monitored electric appliance (1), to the monitoring device (9). According to the present invention, the monitoring device (9) receives the value of at least one physical quantity through the first interface means (7), and the electronic control means use said value of at least one physical quantity in order to obtain at least one piece of information related to the monitored electric appliance (1).

Claims

1. A monitoring system for monitoring a household electric appliance, the monitoring system, that is interposed between the household electric appliance and a power outlet, comprising:

i. a read and write memory storing a plurality of measurements of a plurality of physical quantities relating to the household electric appliance within a predetermined time period during a treatment cycle;

ii. a first interface means to connect to one or more sensors located on the household electric appliance for measuring said plurality of physical quantities of the household electric appliance, including one or more internal sensors for measuring internal physical quantities and one or more external sensors for measuring external physical quantities;

iii. a means for measuring at least one electric quantity by measuring an electric current running from the power outlet through the monitoring system that is external to the household electric appliance;

iv. a storage means containing one or more predefined values of at least one of said plurality of physical quantities;

v. a microcontroller to process a particular combination of at least one of said plurality of physical quantities associated with at least one sensor of the one or more sensors located on the household electric appliance and the at least one electric quantity to determine values of an actual combination at an instant in time, the microcontroller being further configured to compare said values of an actual combination to one or more respective predefined values contained in the storage means to determine at least one piece of information, each predefined value being a threshold value against which one of the actual values is compared to determine a proper operation of a particular component of the appliance at that instant in time;

vi. said microcontroller being further configured to adapt the operation of the household appliance; and

vii. a second interface means to send the at least one piece of information to a remote center for storage.

2. The monitoring system as in claim 1, further comprising:

a wireless communication device within the first interface means, the wireless communication device communicating with the one or more internal sensors within the household electric appliance where the one or more internal sensors measure a physical quantity of an internal part of the household electric appliance, said wireless communication device also adapted to function as a dedicated communication network that couples the one or more external sensors that sense the external physical quantities to said first interface means, and further adapted to report electrical measurements; and

the microcontroller being adapted to further process the electrical measurements received from the wireless communication device.

3. The monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising:

a timing unit, where the timing unit determines a time to be associated with the measurements of the plurality of physical quantities and the at least one electric quantity.

4. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one electric quantity includes at least one of:

momentary electric current drawn by the household electric appliance, line voltage applied to the household electric appliance, momentary electric power drawn by the household electric appliance, electric energy consumption of the household electric appliance within a predefined time period, a power factor of a load represented by the household electric appliance, cos(Φ

) of the load represented by the household electric appliance, and type of reactive power of the load represented by the household electric appliance.

5. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the first interface is connected to the one or more sensors through a wireless connection.

6. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the second interface means is connected to the remote center through a wireless connection.

7. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein at least one physical quantity of the plurality of physical quantities includes at least one of:

temperature, flow rate, conductivity, weight, absolute humidity, relative humidity, pressure, linear displacement, linear velocity, linear acceleration, angular displacement, angular velocity, angular acceleration, chemical concentration, sound pressure, sound intensity, light intensity, oscillation frequency, and oscillation amplitude.

8. The monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising:

an information storage means for storing the at least one piece of information in the read and write memory.

9. The monitoring system in claim 1, wherein the household electric appliance is one of a laundry washing machine and a washing/drying machine adapted to perform at least one wash treatment on textile items, said at least one physical quantity being preferably at least one of the following:

weight of the textile items being present in a basket of the washing machine or the washing/drying machine, flow rate of water supplied to the washing machine or the washing/drying machine, temperature of washing liquid contained in a tub of the washing machine or the washing/drying machine, and conductivity of the washing liquid drained by the washing machine or the washing/drying machine, where the washing liquid comprises water and at least one washing agent.

10. The monitoring system as defined in claim 1 wherein the external sensors comprise:

a flow sensor positioned along an associated inlet pipe and adapted to measure water flow rate supplied to the household electric appliance; and

a conductivity sensor positioned along a drain pipe adapted to measure the conductivity of washing liquid drained from the household electric appliance.

11. A monitoring system for use with a household electric appliance, the monitoring system, that is interposed between the household electric appliance and a power outlet, comprising:

i. a read and write memory storing a plurality of measurements of a plurality of internal physical quantities, a plurality of external physical quantities and a plurality of electrical quantities that are related to the household electric appliance, said measurements being taken within a predetermined time period during a treatment cycle,;

ii. a first interface means to connect a dedicated external communications network to a plurality of external physical sensors, which measure said plurality of external physical quantities, and further having means for coupling a plurality of internal physical sensors for measuring said plurality of internal physical quantities, where the plurality of internal physical sensors are connected to the monitoring system by way of an electronic control means and the first interface means;

iii. a means for measuring at least one electric quantity by measuring an electric current running from the power outlet through the monitoring system that is external the household electric appliance;

iv. a microcontroller configured to;

a) process measurements of a combination of the least one electric quantity and one or more of said plurality of external physical quantities and plurality of said internal physical quantities to determine at least one piece of information relating to or being employed in said treatment cycle during operation of the household electric appliance,

b) compare the combination to a predefined value associated with the operation of the household electric appliance, and

c) drive the electronic control means which functions to adapt the operation of the household electric appliance, and

v. an information storage means for storing the at least one piece of information in the read and write memory.

12. The monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the household electric appliance includes one of:

a clothes dryer, a washing/drying machine, a dishwasher, a refrigerator, a freezer, a refrigerator/freezer, an electric oven, a gas oven, a microwave oven, a gas cooking top, an electric cooking top, a magnetic induction cooking top, a kitchen hood, a conditioner, a gas boiler, an electric water heater, an air conditioner, a hair dryer, an iron, a Hi-Fi system, a mixer or any other electric kitchenware, a lighting device, an alarm device.

13. The monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the first interface means is an electric cable to the plurality of external physical sensors.

14. The monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the first interface means is wirelessly connected to the plurality of external physical sensors.

15. The monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the first interface means is connected to the plurality of external physical sensors.

16. The monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of internal physical sensors are connected through the electronic control means, where the electronic control means collects, stores, and processes measurements from the plurality of internal physical quantities of the plurality of internal physical sensors.