System And Methods For Adaptive Power Consumption Based On Source Impedance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017192041-A1
Application number	US-201514984934-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2015
Priority date	Dec 30, 2015
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for determining power consumption levels of an appliance includes reducing a power consumption of the appliance to a minimum value; measuring a first voltage value at an internal terminal of the appliance; increasing the power consumption of the appliance to a factory default value; measuring a second voltage value at the internal terminal of the appliance; computing a supply wire resistance based on the measured first and second voltage values; and determining a maximum allowable power consumption value of the appliance based on the computed supply wire resistance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for determining a power consumption of an appliance, said method comprising the steps of:
reducing a power consumption of the appliance to a minimum value; measuring a first voltage value at an internal terminal of the appliance; increasing the power consumption of the appliance to a factory default value; measuring a second voltage value at the internal terminal of the appliance; computing a supply wire resistance based on the measured first and second voltage values; and determining a maximum allowable power consumption value of the appliance based on the computed supply wire resistance.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the maximum allowable power consumption value.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the first and second measured voltage values.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first measured voltage value is substantially equal to a supply voltage.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the second measured voltage value is a difference between the supply voltage and a voltage loss across external resistance, internal resistance and appliance resistance.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the second measured voltage value is less than the first measured voltage value.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
computing a difference between the first and second measured voltage values.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
decreasing the maximum allowable power consumption value if the difference is greater than a pre-determined value.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
decreasing the maximum allowable power consumption value if the difference exceeds a pre-determined percentage value.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the supply wire resistance includes an external wire resistance and an internal wire resistance.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the maximum allowable power consumption of the appliance each time the appliance is plugged in after being plugged out.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the maximum allowable power consumption of the appliance at a pre-determined frequency.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the frequency is once a day or once a week.

14 . A system for determining a power consumption of an appliance, the system comprising:
a measuring unit for measuring voltage at internal terminals of the appliance; a memory unit for storing the measured values and for storing a pre-set power consumption value of the appliance; a processor for
computing a supply wire resistance based on the measured voltage values,
determining a maximum allowable power consumption value of the appliance based on the computed supply wire resistance, and
a communication bus for facilitating communication between the measuring unit, the memory unit and the processor.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the processor further
instructs the appliance to increase a power consumption to a factory default value.

16 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the processor further
decreases the maximum allowable power consumption value if a difference between the first and second measured voltage value exceeds a pre-determined threshold value.

17 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the processor further
decreases the maximum allowable power consumption value if a difference between the first and second measured voltage value exceeds a pre-determined percentage threshold value.

18 . An appliance comprising:
a measuring unit for measuring voltage at internal terminals of the appliance; a memory unit for storing the measured values and for storing a pre-set power consumption value of the appliance; a processor for
computing a supply wire resistance based on the measured voltage values,
determining a maximum allowable power consumption value of the appliance based on the computed supply wire resistance, and
a communication bus for facilitating communication between the measuring unit, the memory unit and the processor.

19 . The applicant of claim 18 , wherein the appliance is at least one of a water heater, a clothes dryer, a kettle, a dishwasher and an induction stove.

Assignees

• Advanced Digital Broadcast Sa

Inventors

• Cichonski Dariusz

Classifications

• G06F13/20 Primary

  for access to input/output bus · CPC title

• G01R27/14

  Measuring resistance by measuring current or voltage obtained from a reference source (G01R27/16, G01R27/20, G01R27/22 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01R21/133 Primary

  by using digital technique · CPC title

• G01R21/1338

  Measuring maximum demand · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title