Patent Application
20150288221
Not applicable.
This invention relates to an electrical appliance, specifically to an energy efficient electrical appliance without consuming phantom power.
For various reasons, energy consumption is being increasingly scrutinized by residential and business consumers. Much effort has been made in recent years to provide electrical appliances of all types that consume reduced amount of electrical power. Such appliances have been well received in the market place and are highly desirable. While great strides have been made in providing energy efficient electrical appliances, more improvements are desired in particularly in areas of eliminating phantom power.
The so called phantom power or energy vampire is caused by standby power of electrical appliances such as, for example, televisions, digital video recorders, air conditioners, home audio systems and microwave ovens. The electrical appliances require the standby power to receive control signals from remote control devices to restart operations of the appliance from standby mode. Many billions of dollars have been wasted because of the phantom power that provides little or no desired functionalities of the electrical appliances. Therefore, it is desirable to provide energy efficient electrical appliances without consuming phantom power.
It is an object of the present invention for providing an energy efficient electrical appliance that does not consume phantom power.
It is another object of the present invention for providing an energy efficient electrical appliance that receives power from a remote control device to restart the appliance that was switched off completely from a power grid.
It is yet another object of the present invention for providing an energy efficient electrical appliance that receives power from an energy harvest device to restart the appliance that was switched off completely from a power grid, wherein the energy harvest device receives and stores power from environment.
It is still another object of the present invention for providing an energy efficient electrical appliance that receives power from an energy storage device to restart the appliance that was switched off completely from a power grid, wherein the energy storage device further includes a replaceable or rechargeable battery.
The electrical appliances include but are not limited to a television system, a digital video recorder, an audio system, an air conditioner, a lighting system and a microwave oven. The inventive concept can also be extended to a door opening system using a remote control device including but is not limited to a door opening system for a home, an office and a vehicle such as, for example, an automobile.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and its various embodiments, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:
The present invention will now be described in detail with references to a few preferred embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process steps have not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.
In an exemplary case, main power supply 106 is connected to a power grid (not shown in
Appliance 102 further includes appliance functional blocks 108 pertaining to perform designed functionalities of the appliance. A remote control signal receiver 110 is pertaining to receiving remote control signals from remote control device 104. As well known in the art, infrared (IR) signals are used to transmit control signals from remote control device 104 to appliance 102. Other wireless communication protocols including but are not limited to Bluetooth and ZigBee can also be used for the communication link. In a conventional implementation, remote control signal receiver 110 continues to be powered by main power supply 106 after functional blocks 108 is switched off from the main power supply.
Operations of appliance 102 are controlled by controller 112. In an exemplary case, controller 112 is a microcontroller or a microprocessor. Controller 112 may also include a special purpose processor such as, for example, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) or a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU).
In present invention, appliance 102 further includes a switch 114. Switch 114 is an electrical signal controlled switch. In one implementation, switch 114 is a relay. In another implementation, switch 114 is a transistor. When switch 114 is switched on by an electrical signal, electrical power flows from main power supply 106 to appliance 102. When switch 114 is switched off by another electrical signal, electrical power is ceased to flow into appliance 102.
Appliance 102 further includes an auxiliary power supply 116. In accordance with the first embodiment as shown in
In the “switched off” mode, remote control signal receiver 110 receives power from auxiliary power supply 116. Upon receiving a restarting signal, triggered by remote control controller 118, transmitted from a wireless signal transmitter 120 in the remote control device, the signal receiver 110 sends a control signal to the appliance controller 112. Controller 112 powered by auxiliary power supply 116 generates an electrical signal to switch on switch 114. Appliance 102 is subsequently connected to main power supply 106. After main power supply 106 is connected to appliance 102, auxiliary power supply 116 is ceased to provide power to appliance 102. When the energy storage device 116A is used according to the first embodiment, controller 112 may decide to charge the energy storage unit. Remote control 104 is powered by a power supply 122. Power supply 122 is a battery in an exemplary case.
In accordance with the second embodiment as shown in
In one implementation, the wirelessly transmitted power may be in a form of radio frequency electromagnetic wave. The transmitted power may be un-coded and carry no data. The wireless power receiver 116B includes a radio frequency power receiver in such an implementation. In another implementation, the wirelessly transmitted power may be in a form of visible or invisible light. The wireless power receiver 116B then includes an optical power receiver.
In accordance with the third embodiment as shown in
In one implementation, the energy harvest device 116C receives and stores radio frequency power. In another implementation, the energy harvest device 116C receives and stores optical energy. In yet another implementation, the energy harvest device 116C includes a solar cell or a solar panel for receiving optical energy from the environment. The solar cell or the solar panel may be installed on surfaces of the appliance 102.
