Household electrical appliance and household electrical system

• US 9,791,162 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2013
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Takayuki, Nitta, Takehiko, Kamoda, Hirokazu, Akiyama, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Karim, Ziaul
• Application Number:
  US14/419,636
• Publication Number:
  US 20150219352A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,538 Days
• Field of Search: 700276-286
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/50 Load
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/60 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 3/065 with a plurality of evaporators or condensers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 5/0096 combined with domestic apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/048 Monitoring; Safety
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/93 Remote control using other portable devices, e.g. mobile phone, PDA, laptop
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• 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 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 : End-user application control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 : Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 : Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/244 : the home appliances being or involving heating ventilating and air conditioning [HVAC] units

Abstract

A household electric appliance and a household electric system are provided which are capable of quickly responding to the electric power demand in which the peak cut of the power consumption is requested. The household electric appliance comprises: a receiving unit that receives a request for a peak cut of power consumption at a predetermined rate from a remote controller and a mobile terminal; a drive unit that drives a power-consuming object to be driven; and a control unit that controls an action of the drive unit. The control unit, in the case of reception of the peak cut request from the remote controller or the mobile terminal, controls the action of the drive unit so as to cut a maximum value of the power consumption within the appliance based on the requested rate.

Claims

1. A household electric appliance comprising:

a receiving unit that receives a request for a peak cut of power consumption at a predetermined rate from a remote controller and a mobile terminal;

a drive unit that drives a power-consuming object to be driven;

a control unit that controls an action of the drive unit; and

a detecting unit that detects an electric current flowing through a predetermined electric current path within the appliance and transmits a detected electric current value to the control unit,

wherein the control unit, in the case of reception of the peak cut request from the remote controller or the mobile terminal, controls the action of the drive unit to cut a maximum value of the power consumption within the appliance based on the requested rate to respond to the peak cut request,

wherein the control unit compares the electric current value detected by the detecting unit and an electric current value set according to the predetermined rate requested by the remote controller or the mobile terminal and, if the electric current value detected by the detecting unit is greater than the electric current value set according to the predetermined rate, controls the drive unit to cut the maximum value of the power consumption within the appliance, according to the predetermined rate, and

wherein the control unit, in the case of reception of the peak cut request from the remote controller or the mobile terminal, causes the number of rotations of a compressor driven by the drive unit to be decreased based on the requested rate.

2. The household electric appliance of claim 1, wherein setting of the peak cut of the power consumption can be made in a plurality of steps in the remote controller and the mobile terminal.

3. The household electric appliance of claim 2, wherein

the receiving unit receives an operation signal from the remote controller and transmits the signal to the control unit, and wherein

the control unit in reception of the operation signal causes the number of rotations of the compressor driven by the drive unit to be decreased based on the requested rate.

4. A household electric system to which the household electric appliance of claim 3 is applied, the system comprising:

a communication device that communicates with the mobile terminal; and

a server device that manages application programs installed in the mobile terminal by way of a communication line and intended for the operation of the household electric appliance, wherein

an instruction from the mobile terminal to perform the peak cut of the power consumption is executed by being transmitted by the started application program by way of the communication line and the communication device to the control unit, and by the control unit in reception thereof controlling the drive unit.