Load power device, system and method of load control and management employing load identification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016164288-A1
Application number	US-201414564796-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 9, 2014
Priority date	Dec 9, 2014
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A load power device includes a power input, at least one power output for at least one load, a plurality of sensors structured to sense voltage and current at the at least one power output, and a processor. The processor provides: (a) load identification based upon the sensed voltage and current, and (b) load control and management based upon the load identification.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A load power device comprising:
a power input; at least one power output for at least one load; a plurality of sensors structured to sense voltage and current at said at least one power output; and a processor structured to provide: (a) load identification based upon said sensed voltage and current, and (b) load control and management based upon the load identification.

2 . The load power device of claim 1 wherein said at least one power output for the at least one load includes a first power outlet and a second power outlet; and wherein the first power outlet is always on for an uncontrolled load device and the second power outlet is controllable by said processor for a controlled load device.

3 . The load power device of claim 1 wherein said processor is further structured to provide in real-time an energy or power consumption profile for each of said at least one power output.

4 . The load power device of claim 1 wherein said processor is further structured to identify a load device type or a banned load device powered by one of said at least one power outlet.

5 . The load power device of claim 2 wherein the load control and management includes load management compliance verification, local occupancy estimation and automatic control of the second power outlet.

6 . A method of providing load control and management based upon load identification, said method comprising:
employing a load power device comprising: a power input, at least one power output for at least one load, a plurality of sensors structured to sense voltage and current at said at least one power output, and a processor; providing load identification based upon said sensed voltage and current; and providing load control and management by said processor based upon the load identification.

7 . The method of claim 6 further comprising providing a remote device remote from said load power devices including an on-line learning mechanism to recognize contextual electric activities that can be adaptively tuned for individual use scenarios; communicating between the load power devices and the remote device; and recognizing a user's behavioral pattern and providing occupancy estimation based upon different use scenarios.

8 . The method of claim 6 further comprising enabling configuration of load management and control policies.

9 . The method of claim 6 further comprising providing sensorless occupancy estimation.

10 . The method of claim 6 further comprising:
detecting activation of an input member of one of said load power devices of greater than a first predetermined time and responsively changing an on or off state of one of the at least one power output; and
detecting activation of said input member of smaller than a smaller second predetermined time and responsively turning off said one of the at least one power output after a third predetermined time.

11 . The method of claim 6 further comprising providing a device including an on-line learning mechanism to recognize contextual electric activities that can be adaptively tuned for individual use scenarios; communicating between the load power devices and the device including the on-line learning mechanism; and recognizing a user's behavioral pattern and providing occupancy estimation based upon different use scenarios.

12 . A system providing load control and management based upon load identification, said system comprising:
a plurality of load power devices, each of said load power devices comprising:
a power input,
at least one power output for at least one load,
a plurality of sensors structured to sense voltage and current at said at least one power output, and
a processor structured to provide: (a) load identification based upon said sensed voltage and current, and (b) load control and management based upon the load identification; and
a remote energy management system remote from and in communication with said load power devices.

13 . The system of claim 12 wherein the load control and management is based upon a first set of load control policies and a second set of load management policies; wherein the first set includes outlet local automatic control strategies and outlet remote automatic control strategies; and wherein the second set includes a plurality of load management policies to regulate use of loads in buildings and verify user compliance with the load management policies.

14 . The system of claim 13 wherein the load management policies include a plurality of levels each of which associates a plurality of loads or load types with the load management policies.

15 . The system of claim 14 wherein a load management policy association table defines the association of the loads or the load types with the load management policies.

16 . The system of claim 14 wherein the levels include at least a first level and a second level; wherein one of a plurality of load device classes is assigned to only one of the load management policies in the first level; and wherein each of the load device classes is assigned by one of the load management policies in the first level.

17 . The system of claim 16 wherein one of the load types is assigned to a plurality of the load management policies in the second level.

18 . The system of claim 13 wherein said processor includes a management compliance verification function structured to provide automatic verification of user compliance with the load management policies.

19 . The system of claim 18 wherein one of said at least one power outlet is controllable by said processor for a controlled load device; wherein said processor is further structured to output a user compliance status of the user compliance and of the controlled load device and a disable command to control said one of said at least one power outlet.

20 . The system of claim 13 wherein the load control policies include: (1) local or remote manual control; (2) local automatic control based on a user's occupancy; and (3) remote automatic control.

21 . The system of claim 20 wherein the remote automatic control is responsive to at least one of a building load management policy and building load shedding/demand response considerations.

22 . The system of claim 12 wherein the user's occupancy is determined based upon at least one of: (1) real-time scheduling; (2) manual turn-ON of one of the at least one power output; (3) a user occupancy sensor; and (4) load sensing for a master-device operating mode, a power-cycling-sensitive operating mode and a power-cycling-insensitive operating mode.

23 . The system of claim 20 wherein the local automatic control provides an automatic turn-OFF of one of the at least one power output as a function of a confidence level of a user's absence.

24 . The system of claim 12 wherein said remote energy management system enables configuration of the load control and management from a webpage that configures a plurality of load management and control policies.

25 . The system of claim 12 wherein said load power devices and said remote energy management system form a zonal communication network; and wherein each of said load power devices has a unique identifier to associate a corresponding workspace with a specific occupant for selecting load management and control policies.

Assignees

• Eaton Corp

Inventors

• Yang Yi
• Luebke Charles John
• Schoepf Thomas J

Classifications

• H02J2105/42

  Home appliances · CPC title

• Y04S20/222

  Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving · CPC title

• G05B19/042 Primary

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• Y02B70/3225

  Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving · CPC title

• G01R19/2513

  Arrangements for monitoring electric power systems, e.g. power lines or loads; Logging · CPC title