Energy management unit with diagnostic capabilities

• US 9,971,388 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2011
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Transform Sr Brands, LLC (ESL Investments, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sears Brands LLC (Sears Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Trieb, Gunther, Owens, Elizabeth, Borras, Jaime Andres
• Primary Examiner(s): Everett, Christopher E
• Application Number:
  US13/248,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20120259476A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,420 Days
• Field of Search: 700298
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision

Abstract

An example energy management unit (EMU) with diagnostic capabilities is provided. The EMU with diagnostic capabilities can identify a potential failure or end-of-life condition by detecting a higher power consumption, an abnormal power waveform or by receiving a signal from an appliance or piece of equipment itself generated by the appliance'"'"'s or piece of equipment'"'"'s self diagnostic system. The EMU can be incorporated into a system that permits various power consumption and time-current information to be transmitted to a variety of devices and parties via a communication.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions for operating an energy management unit (EMU), wherein the instructions perform steps for detecting a potential malfunction, end-of-life warning or diagnostic information and correcting failure modes for an electrical device connected to and receiving power for operation from the EMU, the steps comprising:

hosting a database of information representative of electrical current flow waveforms for each of a plurality of modes of operation for each of a plurality of electrical devices having corresponding identifying information, the plurality of modes of operation comprising information representative of both a normal mode of operation and one or more abnormal modes of operation;

providing a user interface comprising user interface elements for allowing a user to input identifying information for the electrical device connected to the EMU;

receiving the identifying information for the electrical device connected to the EMU, from the user interface;

receiving energy use data representative of an electrical current flow waveform for the electrical device connected to the EMU, collected by the EMU;

matching the received identifying information for the electrical device connected to the EMU with the identifying information for the plurality of electrical devices in the database to identify the waveform information corresponding to the plurality of modes of operation for the electrical device connected to the EMU;

analyzing the energy use data representative of the electrical current flow waveform for the electrical device connected to the EMU to identify one of the plurality of modes of operation;

comparing a power consumption of the electrical device connected to the EMU with a power consumption model for that type of electrical device, wherein the power consumption for that type of electrical device increases over a lifetime of that type of electrical device according to the power consumption model;

interrupting electrical power to the electrical device connected to the EMU, if the analysis identifies an abnormal mode of operation of the electrical device connected to the EMU; and

transmitting the energy use data from the EMU to storage in a power utility electric meter that records consumption of electric energy and that is configured to enable access to the recorded consumption information and the energy use data by a power utility company.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the database of information comprises original power consumption and respective degradation curves and the energy use data comprises power consumption information.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 2, wherein the power consumption information collected by the EMU is transmitted via a wireless network connection using a local area network.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the identifying information comprises the brand and model for the electrical device connected to the EMU.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein analyzing the energy use data comprises calculating the end-of-life for the device.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein providing the results of the analysis comprises providing the user a status of the operation of the electrical device connected to the EMU.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the steps comprise:

providing the results of the analysis of the energy use data by transmitting the results of the analysis to a remote computer center through an Internet connection.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the database of information comprises one or more failure time-current envelopes and their corresponding waveforms and the energy use data comprises a time-current envelope associated with the electrical device connected to the EMU, and comprising:

comparing the time-current envelope associated with the electrical device connected to the EMU with the one or more failure time-current envelopes to predict a type of failure mode of the electrical device connected to the EMU.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the time-current envelope of the electrical device connected to the EMU that is collected by the EMU is transmitted via a wireless network connection using a local area network.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 9, wherein the identifying information comprises the brand and model for the electrical device connected to the EMU.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein analyzing the energy use data comprises analyzing the time-current envelope of the electrical device connect to the EMU by determining whether the electrical device connected to the EMU is at least one of operating within normal limits, is likely to fail, or is currently failing.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the steps comprise providing the results of the analysis by providing the user a status of the operation of the electrical device connected to the EMU.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the steps comprise providing the results of the analysis by transmitting the results of the analysis to a remote computer center through an Internet connection.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the steps comprise determining a remaining lifetime of the electrical device connected to the EMU based on the comparison of the power consumption of the electrical device connected to the EMU with the power consumption as set forth in the power consumption model for that type of electrical device, wherein the power consumption for that type of electrical device increases over the lifetime of that type of electrical device according to the power consumption model.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions for operating an EMU, wherein the instructions perform steps for detecting a potential malfunction, end-of-life warning or diagnostic information and correcting failure modes for an appliance or piece of equipment connected to and receiving power for operation from the EMU, the steps comprising:

hosting a database of information representative of energy use data for each of a plurality of modes of operation for each of a plurality of appliances or pieces of equipment having corresponding identifying information, the plurality of modes of operation comprising information representative of both a normal mode of operation and one or more abnormal modes of operation of each appliance or piece of equipment;

providing a user interface comprising user interface elements for allowing a user to input identifying information for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU;

receiving the identifying information for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU, from the user interface;

receiving energy use data for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU, collected by the EMU;

analyzing the energy use data for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU;

identifying one of the plurality of modes of operation of the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU as a current mode of operation of the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU, based upon the analysis and the database of information;

comparing a power consumption of the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU with a lifetime power consumption model for that type of appliance or piece of equipment, wherein the power consumption for that type of appliance or piece of equipment linearly increases as that type of appliance or piece of equipment ages according to the lifetime power consumption model;

interrupting electrical power to the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU, if the current mode of operation of the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU is an abnormal mode of operation in a portion of the database corresponding to the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU; and

transmitting the energy use data from the EMU to storage in a power utility electric meter that records consumption of electric energy and that is configured to enable access to the recorded consumption information and the energy use data by a power utility company.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the identifying information comprises the brand and model for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 16, wherein the energy use data of the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU that is collected by the EMU comprises diagnostic information for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU and receiving diagnostic information for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU collected by the EMU comprises the appliance or piece of equipment emitting an audible tone corresponding to the diagnostic information for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU, the EMU detecting and interpreting the audible tone, and the EMU transmitting the diagnostic information for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU for receipt by the computer-readable media.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the audible tone is transmitted from the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU, to the EMU via an electrical power connection of the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein an audible signal representative of self-diagnostic information identifying a failure mode of the appliance or piece of equipment connect to the EMU is received from the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU, by the EMU.

20. The non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the EMU transmits a signal representative of instructions for how to overcome the failure mode to the appliance or piece of equipment that transmitted the audible signal.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the database of information comprises one or more failure time-current envelopes and their corresponding waveforms and the energy use data comprises a time-current envelope associated with the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU, and comprising:

comparing the time-current envelope associated with the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU with the one or more failure time-current envelopes to predict a type of failure mode of the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU, at a component level.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the steps comprise providing recommendations for cost savings and usage optimization for the appliance or piece of equipment connected to the EMU based upon the analysis and the database of information.