Submetering power consumption of appliances

• US 8,606,419 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2010
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• 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: Besore, John K., Worthington, Timothy D., Finch, Michael F., Spicer, Lucas B., Drake, Jeff D., Kobraei, Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): KASENGE, CHARLES R
• Application Number:
  US12/781,191
• Publication Number:
  US 20110282504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,303 Days
• Field of Search: 700/9, 700/11, 700/12, 700/14, 700/16, 700/19, 700/20, 700/275, 700/276, 700/286, 700/291, 700/295, 700/296
• 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 comprising a power meter for measuring total power consumed by the network including power consumed by at least one of the plurality of components, and a controller communicatively linked to the power meter and the at least one energy consuming 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 at least one energy consuming device within the home network;

commanding the device controller of the at least one energy consuming device to operate the at least one energy consuming device in a first operational mode and a second different operational mode by the communication commands sent, wherein commanding the device controller includes powering up or down at least one of the plurality of components of the at least one energy consuming device in at least one of the first operational mode and the second operational mode;

recording a first power level of at least one of the plurality of components of the at least one energy consuming device by the power meter during the first operational mode and recording a second power level of at least one of the plurality of components of the at least one energy consuming device by the power meter during the second operational mode; and

determining, from at least the first and second recorded power levels, a power consumption profile for the at least one energy consuming device and for the at least one of the plurality of components affecting power consumption of the at least one energy consuming device;

wherein (i) 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;

or (ii) 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 at least one energy consuming device as a function of time and based on parameters comprising at least one of (a) indoor temperature, (b) outdoor temperature, (c) a period of time after the start of an operating cycle, (d) time of day, (e) previous cycle lengths, and (f) power consumption in real time, and identifying outliers beyond standard deviation limits and extracting those points.

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. A method for monitoring power consumption of a particular one energy consuming device of a plurality of energy consuming devices within a home network comprising 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 particular one energy consuming device, 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 at least one memory of the particular one energy consuming device and at least one component of the plurality of components of the particular one energy consuming device;

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 in the at least one memory of the particular one energy consuming device and at least one component of the plurality of components of the particular one energy consuming device; and

determining, from at least the first and second recorded power levels, a power consumption profile of the particular one energy consuming device including the power consumption profile of at least one component of the plurality of components.

7. The method of claim 6, 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.

8. The method of claim 6, 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 at least one memory.

9. The method of claim 6, 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.

10. The method of claim 6, 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.

11. The method of claim 6, 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;

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.

12. The method of claim 6, 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.