Controllable electrical outlet with a controlled wired output

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9912152-B2
Application number	US-201715604621-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2017
Priority date	Feb 28, 2014
Publication date	Mar 6, 2018
Grant date	Mar 6, 2018

Abstract

A controllable electrical outlet may be used to control one or more standard electrical outlets. The controllable electrical outlet may include a first connection configured to be electrically coupled to a hot connection, a second connection configured to be electrically coupled to a standard electrical outlet, and a third connection configured to be electrically coupled to a neutral connection. The controllable electrical outlet may also include a load control circuit, a communication circuit, and a control circuit. The load control circuit may be electrically coupled in series between the first and second screw terminals to control power delivered to the standard electrical outlet, and the control circuit may be coupled to the load control circuit and the communication circuit. The control circuit may be configured to control power delivered to the standard electrical outlet in response to a wireless signal received via the communication circuit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A controllable electrical outlet comprising:
a first electrical receptacle and a second electrical receptacle each configured to receive a respective plug of a plug-in electrical load;
a first screw terminal configured to be electrically coupled to a hot connection;
a second screw terminal configured to be electrically coupled to a downstream electrical outlet;
a third screw terminal configured to be electrically coupled to a neutral connection;
a load control circuit electrically coupled between the first and second screw terminals and configured to control power delivered to the downstream electrical outlet and to the second electrical receptacle, wherein the load control circuit is not configured to control power delivered to the first electrical outlet;
a communication circuit;
an actuator configured to be actuated; and
a control circuit coupled to the actuator, the load control circuit, and the communication circuit, the control circuit configured to:
based at least in part of an actuation of the actuator, associate the controllable electrical outlet with a device such that the controllable electrical outlet is responsive to messages transmitted by the device;
receive one or more messages via the communication circuit transmitted by the device; and
control the load control circuit to connect power to or disconnect power from the downstream electrical outlet and the second electrical receptacle in response to the one or more messages received via the communication circuit.

2. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 1 , wherein the controllable electrical outlet is configured to be mounted in an electrical wallbox.

3. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to receive the one or more messages from the device in response to a detected occupancy or vacancy condition.

4. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 1 , wherein the load control circuit includes a relay.

5. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 2 ,
wherein the actuator is located on an outside of the controllable electrical outlet such that the actuator is accessible to a user when the controllable electrical outlet is mounted in the electrical wallbox.

6. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 5 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
based at least in part on an actuation of the actuator, control the load control circuit to connect power to or disconnect power from the downstream electrical outlet and the second electrical receptacle.

7. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
store a type of the device when the control circuit receives the one or more messages transmitted by the device, and
transmit one or more messages including the type of the device and how the control circuit controlled the plug-in electrical load plugged into the second electrical receptacle in response to the received one or more messages.

8. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 1 , wherein the communication circuit is configured to receive the one or more messages as RF signals in accordance with a predefined RF communication protocol.

9. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 8 , wherein the predefined RF communication protocol comprises one of Clear Connect, WiFi, Bluetooth, ZIGBEE, Z-wave, Wireless M Bus, KNX-RF, and EnOcean Radio protocols.

10. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 1 , wherein the communication circuit is configured to receive the one or more messages via one of a plurality of wireless mediums, the wireless medium comprising one of radio-frequency signals, infrared signals, and sound.

11. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 1 , wherein the communication circuit comprises an RF receiver configured to receive RF signals.

12. A controllable electrical outlet comprising:
at least one electrical receptacle configured to receive a plug of a plug-in electrical load;
a first screw terminal configured to be electrically coupled to a hot connection to power the plug-in electrical load;
a second screw terminal configured to be electrically coupled to a downstream electrical outlet;
a load control circuit electrically coupled between the first and second screw terminals and configured to control power delivered to the plug-in electrical load and the downstream electrical outlet;
at least one actuator configured to be actuated;
a communication circuit; and
a control circuit coupled to the at least one actuator, the load control circuit, and the communication circuit, the control circuit configured to:
based at least in part on an actuation of the at least one actuator, associate the controllable electrical outlet with a device such that the controllable electrical outlet is responsive to messages transmitted by the device;
receive one or more messages via the communication circuit transmitted by the device;
control the load control circuit to connect power to or disconnect power from the plug-in electrical load and the downstream electrical outlet in response to the one or more messages received via the communication circuit; and
based at least in part on an actuation of the at least one actuator, control the load control circuit to connect power to or disconnect power from the plug-in electrical load and the downstream electrical outlet.

13. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 12 , wherein the load control circuit comprises a relay.

14. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 12 ,
wherein the controllable electrical outlet is configured to be mounted in an electrical wallbox, and wherein the at least one actuator is located on an outside of the controllable electrical outlet such that the at least one actuator is accessible to a user when the controllable electrical outlet is mounted in the electrical wallbox.

15. A controllable electrical outlet comprising:
an electrical receptacle configured to receive a plug of a plug-in electrical load;
a first connection configured to be electrically coupled to a hot connection;
a second connection configured to be electrically coupled to a downstream electrical outlet;
a load control circuit electrically coupled between the first and second connections to control power delivered to the downstream electrical outlet;
at least one actuator configured to be actuated;
a communication circuit; and
a control circuit coupled to the at least one actuator, the load control circuit, and the communication circuit, the control circuit configured to:
receive one or more messages via the communication circuit;
control the load control circuit to connect power to or disconnect power from the downstream electrical outlet in response to the one or more messages received via the communication circuit; and
based at least in part on an actuation of the at least one actuator, control the load control circuit to connect power to or disconnect power from the downstream electrical outlet.

16. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 15 , wherein the load control circuit comprises a relay.

17. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 15 , wherein the communication circuit comprises an RF transceiver.

18. The controllable electrical outlet of claim 15 ,
wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
responsive at least in part on an actuation of the at least one actuator, associate the controllable electrical outlet with a device such that the controllable electrical outlet is responsive to messages transmitted by the device; a

Assignees

• Lutron Electronics Co

Inventors

• Raneri Daniel Curtis
• Guellnitz Joseph C
• Spira Joel S

Classifications

• H01R24/78

  with additional earth or shield contacts · CPC title

• H01R25/006

  the coupling part being secured to apparatus or structure, e.g. duplex wall receptacle · CPC title

• H01R31/065

  with built-in electric apparatus · CPC title

• H01R13/6683 Primary

  with built-in sensor · CPC title

• Y10T307/352

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic