Submetering Power Consumption of Appliances

• US 20110282504A1
• Filed: 05/17/2010
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Spicer, Lucas B., Worthington, Timothy D., Drake, Jeff D., Finch, Michael F., Besore, John K., Kobraei, Henry
• Granted Patent: US 8,606,419 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/70 Load identification
• 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 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 Home appliances

Abstract

A system and methods are provided for monitoring the power consumption of a particular energy consuming device of a plurality of energy consuming device devices and particular components thereof in real time. An energy management system can enable components of a device within a home network to power to different operational modes in order to determine different power consumption levels. The system can sort out anomalies and extract them from a power consumption profile created.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring power consumption of at least one energy consuming device with a plurality of components within a home network which network includes a power meter for measuring total power consumed by the network, and a controller communicatively linked to the power meter and the at least one device, the controller including at least one memory for storing data and for storing executable instructions, the method comprising:

sending communication commands from the controller to a device controller of the energy consuming device within the home network;

commanding the device controller of the energy consuming device to operate the energy consuming device in a first operational mode and a second different operational mode by the communication commands sent;

recording a first power level of the power meter during the first operational mode and recording a second power level of the power meter during the second operational mode; and

determining a consumption profile based on the first and second power levels recorded for the energy consuming device and a plurality of other sensed parameters affecting power consumption of the energy consuming device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumption profile comprises a difference of averages of first power levels received and second power levels received without accounting for outliers of a predetermined threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensed parameters comprise at least one of indoor temperature, outdoor temperature, elapsed time after the start of an operating cycle, on/off cycle lengths.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a consumption profile includes accounting for outliers by developing a chart of running averages and standard deviations either side of a mean value of first and second power levels for the energy consuming device as a function of time and based on parameters comprising at least one of indoor temperature, outdoor temperature, a period of time after the start of an operating cycle, time of day, previous cycle lengths and/or power consumption in real time and identifying outliers beyond the standard deviation limits and extracting those points.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the consumption profile comprises determining a baseline power at a predetermined time for the energy consuming device and determining a difference based on the baseline power, the first and the second power levels.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operational mode comprises a different power consumption than the second different operational mode.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operational mode comprises a complete powering of the device with all components powered on and the second operational mode comprises a minimal power consumption of the device with all components of the device powered inactive except a master control board.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the energy consumption profile of a first home with the energy consumption profile of a second home.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operational mode comprises at least one component of the energy consuming device powering on while maintaining at least one different component of the energy consuming device off, or at least one component of the energy consuming device powering off while maintaining at least one different component of the energy consuming device on.

10. A method for monitoring power consumption of a particular one energy consuming device of a plurality of energy consuming devices within a home network which network includes an energy management system comprising a controller with at least one memory storing executable instructions for the method, and a power/energy measuring device for measuring the total power consumed by the devices, the method executed via the controller comprising:

sending a first communication command via the controller to a device controller of the particular one energy consuming device within the home network;

commanding the device controller of the particular one energy consuming device to communicate with a particular one component of a plurality of components of the particular one energy consuming device to power on via the first communication command sent while concurrently maintaining different components of the particular one energy consuming device without power, or commanding the device controller of the particular one energy consuming device to communicate with the particular one component to power off via the first communication command sent while concurrently maintaining different components of the particular one energy consuming device with power;

recording a first power level of a power/energy measuring device in the memory;

sending a second different communication command via the controller to the device controller of the particular one energy consuming device within the home network;

commanding the device controller of the particular one energy consuming device to communicate with the particular one component to power off via the second different communication command sent while concurrently maintaining different components of the particular one energy consuming device without power, or commanding the device controller of the particular one energy consuming device to communicate with the particular one component to power on via the second different communication command sent while concurrently maintaining different components of the particular one energy consuming device with power;

recording a second power level of the power/energy measuring device; and

determining a power consumption profile of the energy consuming device comprising the first and second power levels recorded for the energy consuming device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first and second different communication commands comprise wireless radio frequency signals transmitted wirelessly, and wherein the device controller powers on the particular one component via a processor of the device controller without a breaker or a transducer and obtains the first and second power levels from the power/energy measuring device by a wireless radio frequency transmission, the power/energy measuring device comprising a smart utility meter that is wirelessly coupled to the controller.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the energy consuming device comprises a demand response appliance configured to manage power consumption by responding to communication commands from the device controller, and wherein the plurality of energy consuming devices comprises an HVAC, a refrigerator, a dishwasher, a dryer and any other power consuming device configured to operate at power levels detected by the power/energy measuring device.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing feedback information to a user display device via the controller which comprises power consumption and cost saving options calculated by the controller based on data variables stored in a dynamic table of the memory.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

storing the data variables of the dynamic table comprising averages of first power levels received and second power levels received while identifying and extracting outliers beyond a standard deviation limit or predetermined threshold, wherein the outliers are determined by a dynamic chart.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

building the chart comprising storing averages of first and second power consumption levels and cycling rates along with standard deviations either side of a mean value as a function of time and based on parameters comprising an amount of shade covering the home network, time of day, indoor temperature, outdoor temperature and instantaneous weather conditions impacting the home network.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the power consumption profile comprises determining a difference of power consumption levels in a predetermined time interval and selecting a power consumption level when a specified minimal change occurs within the predetermined time interval to be stored as an average power consumption level.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the power consumption profile comprises:

determining a time interval between recording the first power level and the second power level as a first cycle;

recording a third power level at a first time that is after a start period of the time interval of a second cycle;

recording a fourth power level at a midpoint time of the second cycle;

recording a fifth power level at a period after the midpoint time of the second cycle; and

averaging the third power level, the fourth power level and the fifth power level to determine an average power consumption level.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a power consumption profile comprises:

determining a time interval between recording the first power level and the second power level as a first cycle;

curvefitting an exponential curve using a third power level that is after a start period of the time interval of a second cycle, a fourth power level recorded at a midpoint time of the second cycle, and a fifth power level at a time after the midpoint time, and integrating an area under the curve divided by a time elapsed as an average integrated load.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the power consumption profile comprises:

determining a time interval between recording the first power level and the second power level as a first cycle;

determining an approximate midpoint time of the first cycle and recording a third power consumption level at a midpoint of a second cycle as an average power consumption.

20. An energy management system for a home network comprising a plurality of managed appliances respectively having a plurality of components drawing different amounts of power, the system, comprising:

a controller in communication with the managed appliances, the indoor and outdoor temperature sensor, and a device controller of each of the managed appliances;

a power/energy measuring device in communication with the controller and the managed appliances;

the controller having a memory, a processor and a transceiver, operative to monitor and control energy consumption of each of the managed appliances and respective components thereof;

wherein the transceiver and controller are configured to send communications to each of the managed appliances that powers a component of the respective appliance on or off via the communication sent and to receive information from the power/energy measuring device and each of the managed appliances;

wherein the memory comprises a dynamic table with dynamic variables and is configured to determine a power consumption profile of each of the managed appliances based on information received from the power/energy measuring device and updated in the memory.

21. The energy management system of claim 20, comprising a user display device configured to provide and receive instruction from a user for modifying the controller and/or any appliance in communication with the controller.

22. The energy management system of claim 20, wherein the controller comprises a home energy manager configured to communicate through a wired or wireless connection to the device controller of each of the appliances for sending and receiving programmable instructions.

23. The energy management system of claim 20, wherein the controller is configured to receive communication from the power/energy measuring device comprising a smart meter configured to communicate within or outside the home network, and the appliance comprises a demand response appliance configured to manage power consumption by responding to a communication from the controller, and wherein the plurality of appliances comprises an HVAC, a refrigerator, a dishwasher, a dryer and any other appliance or power switch or energy consuming device configured to operate at power levels detected by the power/energy measuring device.

24. The energy management system of claim 20, further comprising an outdoor temperature sensor, an indoor temperature sensor, a time of day clock, and wherein the dynamic variables of the dynamic table comprise variable updateable power consumption readings based on parameters comprising one or more of indoor temperature, outdoor temperature, elapsed time after the start of an operating cycle, time of day, and power consumption in real time.

25. The energy management system of claim 24, further comprising a user display device configured to display information for a user for diagnostic analysis, load shedding tradeoffs or decisions, and/or modification input.