Patent Grant
8085010
This invention relates to energy control savings devices and systems, more particularly, a triode alternating current switch/silicone controlled rectifier (TRIAC/SCR) based energy control savings device, system and method for use wherein a predetermined amount of voltage below a nominal line voltage and/or below a nominal appliance voltage is saved, thereby conserving energy.
Since the industrial revolution, the world's consumption of energy has grown at a steady rate. Most power generated and energy consumed is from the combustion of fossil fuels, a nonrenewable, natural resource that is rapidly becoming depleted. As the depletion of Earth's natural resources continues, power generation and energy conservation has become an increasingly important issue with governments in both this country and abroad. In addition, not only are governments concerned with power generation and energy conservation, but businesses and consumers are also concerned as the costs for such resources are rapidly increasing.
Not only do there exist worldwide concerns with power generation and energy conservation, but there also exist concerns with power distribution as well, especially in emerging economies. Although power generation and energy conservation are of great importance, the problem of power distribution is also of great concern as it involves existing infrastructure that is usually inadequate for properly distributing power and not readily suitable to be improved upon. This problematical situation is manifested by “brown outs” wherein a nominal AC voltage cannot be maintained in the face of a grid/generation overload.
Currently, governmental entities and power companies attempt to remedy brown out occurrences by elevating the AC voltage or adding power shedding generation at appropriate locations on the power grid. This method usually results in a wide disparity of voltages available to consumers in homes and/or business. The voltage increases may range from ten percent to fifteen percent (10%-15%) and, since power is calculated by Voltage2/load, the result of the governmental entities' and power companies' “remedy” can result in increased charges to the consumer of up to twenty-five percent (25%). Thus, rather than conserving energy, governmental entities and power companies are expending energy.
Furthermore, although most appliances and equipment used in businesses and homes are capable of performing, exactly to specification, at the nominal voltage minus ten percent (10%), most energy savings devices do not exploit this feature. Thus, a further potential for energy savings is oftentimes ignored.
Therefore, a need exists for a TRIAC/SCR-based energy savings device, system and method wherein a predetermined amount of voltage below a nominal line voltage and/or below a nominal appliance voltage is saved, thereby conserving energy.
The relevant prior art includes the following references:
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method wherein a predetermined amount of voltage below a nominal line voltage is saved, thereby conserving energy.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method wherein a predetermined amount of voltage below a nominal appliance voltage is saved, thereby conserving energy.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that may be used for a variety of applications, including, but not limited to, whole house energy savings devices, motor controllers, small appliance regulators and any application wherein the measurement of AC current is required.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that may be used for the following: controllers for refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, AC electric motors and AC voltage; single, bi- and poly-phase whole house energy savings devices; commercial and industrial energy savings devices; and AC voltage controllers and regulators.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that virtually eliminates brown outs caused by energy overload on a power grid.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that reduces a load on a power grid.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that may be used to reduce the load imposed on a power grid during peak load times.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that permits governmental entities and/or power companies to manage power from a demand perspective as opposed to a production and/or delivery perspective.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that is low in costs after the initial cost of the equipment utilized in the system is amortized.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method provides accurate power control and regulation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method wherein the device may be programmed by a user for activation for a specific time and/or date period.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method wherein a user may program individual and/or multiple energy savings percentage reductions.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that is adaptable to a plurality of powers and/or frequencies.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that may be small in size.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that is preferably affordable to an end user.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that allows a user to manage peak demand at point of consumption rather than at point of generation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that provides a true root-mean-square (RMS) value of an alternating current.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that permits effective control of direct current (DC) offset.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that is adaptable to a range of cyclic frequencies.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that accurately determines output voltage.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that avoids having to determine the true RMS value of a chopped sine wave.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method that avoids jitter and stability problems.
The present invention fulfills the above and other objects by providing a TRIAC/SCR-based device, system and method wherein a predetermined amount of voltage below a nominal line voltage and/or below a nominal appliance voltage is saved, thereby conserving energy. Phase input connections are provided for inputting analog signals into the device and system. A magnetic flux concentrator senses the incoming analog signal and a volts zero crossing point detector determines the zero volts crossing point of the signal. The signal is routed to a digital signal processor for processing. The signal is reduced by a driver control via pulse width modulation and the reduced amount of electricity is outputted, thereby yielding an energy savings for an end user.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention should become even more readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention.
In the following detailed description, reference will be made to the attached drawings in which:
For purposes of describing the preferred embodiment, the terminology used in reference to the numbered components in the drawings is as follows:
With reference to
A predetermined amount of incoming energy 19 having at least one analog signal 20 therein is inputted into the device and system 1 via an inputting means, which is preferably at least one phase input connection 2. A neutral 18 line is also provided in the device and system 1. As shown in
At least one phase input connection 2 is connected to at least one sensing means, which is preferably at least one magnetic flux concentrator 3, that senses the predetermined amount of incoming energy 19. The magnetic flux concentrator 3 galvanically isolates the current of the incoming energy 19 and reports any over-current conditions to a processing means, which is preferably at least one digital signal processor 10. If there are any over-current conditions, the digital signal processor 10 immediately shuts down the device and system 1 so as to safeguard the device and system 1 itself, as well as the terminal equipment used in conjunction with the device and system 1 in the event of a short circuit or overload. Thus, the digital signal processor 10 provides total protection of the power control devices in the event of a software/firmware glitch and/or power line glitch or surge in real-time as the reaction time of the digital signal processor 10 is preferably 5 μs. The digital signal processor 10 preferably includes at least one A/D converter 11.
Prior to reporting the analog value of the phase current from the phase input connection 2 to the digital signal processor 10, the magnetic flux concentrator 3 first transmits the incoming energy 19 through at least one signal conditioning means, which is preferably at least one analog signal conditioning device 4. After the signal(s) have been conditioned, a method which is described below, the conditioned signals are then sent to a volts zero crossing point determining means, which is preferably at least one volts zero crossing point detector 5, for detecting the point where the AC voltage goes through zero volts relative to neutral 18, which is commonly referred to as a volts zero crossing point 21.
After the volts zero crossing point 21 is detected and if using a three-phase electrical system, the conditioned signal then enters at least one loss detecting means, which is preferably at least one lost phase detection device 6 and at least one rotating means, which is preferably at least one phase rotation device 7, so as to prepare the signal for proper inputting into the digital signal processor 10.
The power control is executed via at least one voltage reducing means, which preferably includes at least one TRIAC/SCR drive control 15, in electrical connection with the digital signal processor 10 to reduce the energy a predetermined amount. Prior to the processed signals entering the reducing means, however, the signals may once again be conditioned through at least one analog signal conditioning device 4 so as to clean a signal to remove any spurious signals or transient signals. The command signals to exercise control of the TRIAC/SCR drive control 15 of the voltage reducing means are determined by the digital signal processor 10.
The reduced energy 24 then enters at least one outputting means, which is preferably at least one phase output connection 17, and is outputted to an electrically-operated device for consumption.
The system and device 1 is powered via a powering means, which is preferably at least one power supply unit 12 in electrical connection with the digital signal processor 10. A resetting means, which is preferably a reset switch 13, is preferably provided to permit a user to reset the device and system 1 as desired. In addition, an indicator means, such as a light emitting diode 14, may be in electrical connection with reset switch 13 so as to alert a user if the device and system 1 needs to be reset.
The device and system 1 may optionally include at least one digital electricity meter 50 and at least one communication means, such as a USB communications interface 25, capable of interfacing with at least one computing device 16 having at least one USB port 70 and at least one window interface 40 via wired or wireless transmission. The USB communications interface 25 permits a user to monitor, display and/or configure the device and system 1 via his/her computing device 16. However, inclusion of the USB communications interface 25 is not necessary in the implementation of the device and system 1. In addition, a real time clock 49 may optionally be incorporated within the digital signal processor 10 of or otherwise connected to the energy savings device and system 1.
A user may determine the operational manner in which to use the energy savings device and system 1 of the present invention, e.g., a user may select how he/she would like to save energy by either inputting the desired RMS value, inputting the desired percentage voltage or inputting the desired percentage savings reduction into a computing device 16. For example, if a user chooses to reduce the incoming voltage by a fixed percentage, the energy savings device and system 1 permits such voltage percentage reduction and automatically lowers the voltage so as to be consistent with a maximum allowed harmonic content by establishing a lower voltage threshold. The lower voltage threshold assures that in lower or brown-out conditions, the system and device 1 does not continue to attempt to reduce the available voltage by the percentage reduction specified.
The housing 27 snaps together and bears on the conductor 28, which is preferably a cable, to ensure that the conductor 28 is held firmly against the housing 27. The housing top half 29 may be formed in various sizes so as to accommodate differing wire gauges. A plurality of apertures 38 of various sizes may be formed when the halves 29 and 30 are snapped together so as to accommodate conductors 28 of various widths. The magnetic flux concentrator 3 provides galvanic isolation of the incoming energy 19, performs accurate current measurement, is adaptable to any range of currents through multiple cable passages located within the housing 27, provides high voltage galvanic isolation, has zero harmonic distortion and superb linearity. In addition, since the current measurement range is determined by mechanical means, no changes are necessary to the printed circuit board 26.
The following equation determines the approximate sensitivity:
Vout=0.06*I/(D+0.3mm)
where I=current in the conductor 28 and D=the distance in mm from the top surface of the magnetic flux concentrator chip 37 to the center of the conductor 28.
Since no electrical connection is made to the measurement target, full galvanic isolation is achieved. Moreover, there is zero insertion loss and, therefore, no heat is dissipated nor energy lost as there is no electrical connection made nor is a shunt or a transformer used.
With reference to
To properly condition the sine wave signal, operational amplifiers 71 are utilized. An operational amplifier 71 is configured as an active, second order, low pass filter to remove or reduce harmonics and any transients or interfering signals that may be present. When utilizing such filter, however, group delay occurs wherein the group delay offsets, in time, the zero crossing of the filtered signal from the actual zero crossing point of the incoming sine wave 39. To remedy the delay, operational amplifiers 71 are provided to allow the phase change necessary to correct the zero crossing point accurately in time as required. The output of the operational amplifiers 71 is the fully conditioned 50/60 Hz sine wave signal that is connected to the A/D converter 11 of the digital signal processor 10 (see
Additional conditioning of the zero cross signal is further performed by a Schmidt buffer 35. Subsequent to the additional signal processing, a very accurate square wave 66 accurate to a few millivolts of the actual volts zero crossing point 21 of the sine wave is produced.
In a three-phase electrical system, the phase rotation may be either A-B-C or A-C-B. To enable the digital signal processor 10 to properly function, the phase rotation must first be ascertained. The comparators 34 are used to detect the volts zero crossing point(s) 21 and report the point(s) 21 to the digital signal processor 10. The digital signal processor 10, in turn, makes the rotational timing through timing logic. Each of the operational amplifiers 71 act as a simple comparator 34 with the input signal, in each case provided by the inverse parallel pairs of diodes 53 in conjunction with the series resistors 63.
The voltage reducing means, which preferably includes at least one TRIAC/SCR drive control 15, reduces the analog signals of the incoming sine wave 39, which is the amount of energy inputted into the energy savings device and system 1, by pulse width modulation wherein at least one slice per half cycle is removed from an area under the curve of the modulating sine wave 39, thereby reducing energy. The present invention works in conjunction with the inherent characteristics common to TRIAC's and SCR's that allow the turn on-point 54 to be determined by an end-user and the turn-off point 55 to be determined when the current of the incoming sine wave 39 passes through or falls close to zero. All of the potential energy is contained in each half cycle 22 and 23 and, in the case of a complete half cycle, has the greatest area under the curve if the TRIAC or SCR is triggered after the volts zero crossing point 21 as it can be seen that this area is reduced and, as a result, the energy is reduced. Modulation can be made high, at a rate at 120 Hz during 60 Hz operation and 100 Hz during 50 Hz operation. The overall effect is realized when the root-mean-square (RMS) value, which is the square root of the time average of the square of a quantity or, for a periodic quantity, the average is taken over one complete cycle and which is also referred to as the effective value, is correctly measured and the output voltage is seen to be reduced by a percentage similar to the area under the curve. Reduced voltage results in reduced current, thereby resulting in reduced power consumed by an end user.
The oscillogram of
TRIAC's and SCR's are suitable for use in single appliance controls and where the current harmonics are not considered to be a problem or when feeding a load that is inductive since the inductive component of the load has a self-filtering action.
When the drive control 15 is a TRIAC implementation, as shown in
When the drive control 15 is a SCR implementation, as shown in
Rather than measuring a chopped-up sine wave as performed by current energy savings devices, systems and methods, the present invention measures only the AC sine wave voltage applied and mathematically determines the firing angle required for the appropriate output true RMS value. The technique may be implemented on a cyclic basis using single or multiple cycles as appropriate. Depending upon the application, the math may be performed in real-time or via “lookup tables” having the firing angle associated with an RMS value already calculated.
The RMS value of the reduced sine wave is, essentially, a “sliced” piece of the incoming sine wave 39. In other words, the output waveform true RMS value is a portion of the incoming sine wave 39. In the case of powerline control, the incoming sine wave 39 is a sinusoid and the frequency of the sine wave 39 are constant over time. In a sampled data system, the number of samples needed to accurately measure the sliced output waveform RMS value would be prohibitively large as the sample points are not synchronized with the beginning of the sliced output waveform, thereby possibly missing a large portion of the waveform area that would be used in each calculation of the RMS value. Rather than directly sampling the output waveform to obtain the RMS in order to use a reasonably small number of samples per period of output waveform frequency, the present invention mathematically predicts where the slicing of the output sinusoid should begin relative to the input sinusoid. This calculation of area under the slice is a non-linear function that results in a high-order polynomial equation.
In a real-time controlled environment, this calculation would be too time-consuming to perform. Therefore, a table of values is provided that corresponds to the ratio of the input to output waveform table of RMS values of area under the slice for different positions within the sinusoid.
For example, the RMS value of a slice of a sinusoid at a fixed frequency where variable ‘a’ is the position of the beginning of the slice:
which reduces to the following equation:
The ratio of the desired output RMS value to the input RMS value is calculated by dividing the output equation above by the RMS value of the input equation. In the case of a sinusoidal input, as is here, the RMS value of the input is a fixed value. Thus, the resulting, normalized equation is:
The curve associated with the resulting, normalized equation is shown as
The inverse of the curve of
The curve in
a_degrees(area)=a_position(area)×180
As opposed to determining the area under ‘a’ in a variable system, in a control system, the position of variable ‘a’ is desired. In this instance, the inverse of the equation is utilized to result in a high-order polynomial non-linear equation. The inverse for a range of values for ‘a’ is used to construct a lookup table. The table is then used to find the position of ‘a’ that generates a particular RMS value of the sliced waveform.
With reference to
The power supply unit 12 is fully-isolated and double-regulated in design. At the input, a rectifier 68 composed of diodes 53 accepts single, bi- and three-phase power. The power is applied to a switching regulator 73 and integrated circuit 62 via a transformer 57. In view of the large voltages existing across the DC terminals, the switching regulator and integrated circuit 62 is supplemented by a transistor 69 employed in a StackFET configuration in order to raise its working voltage. The secondary transformer 57 has a diode 53 and a reservoir capacitor 56. The DC voltage across capacitor 56 is passed via the network resistors 63 and a diode 53 and a Zener diode 74 to an optical isolator 72 and finally to the feedback terminals. Use of the optical isolator 72 guarantees galvanic isolation between the main rectifier and the supply output (6.4V DC). Finally, the output of the linear voltage regulators 75 (3.3VA DC) is passed to an operational amplifier 71, which is configured as a unity gain buffer with two resistors 63 that set the split rail voltage. The main neutral is connected to this split rail point and also a zero Ohm resistor. An inductor 78 isolates the supply rail digital (+3.3V) from the analog (3.3VA) and reduce noise.
Next,
The circuitry of a USB communications interface 25 is shown in
Since the main printed circuit board is not isolated from neutral, it is necessary to galvanically isolate the USB communications interface 25. Use is made of the built-in serial communications feature of the digital signal processor 10 to serially communicate with the communication means. Signals, on the user side of the isolation barrier, are applied to an integrated circuit 62, which is a device that takes serial data and translates it to USB data for direct connection to a computing device 16 via a host USB port 70. The host USB 5V power is used to power the communication means and voids the necessity of providing isolated power from the unit. Preferably, there are two activity light emitting diodes 14, that indicate activity on the TX (transmit) and RX (receive) channels. Communications preferably operates at 9600 Baud, which is adequate in view of the small amount of data passed.
Although the inclusion of a communications means is not necessary in the performance of the energy savings device and system 1, it is a feature that permits easier use of the device and system 1.
Finally, with reference to
In the operational field 43, a user may select the manner in which he/she/it desires to conserve energy. The manners include voltage reduction percentage wherein the output volts is adjusted by a fixed percentage, savings reduction percentage wherein the output volts is aimed at achieving a savings percentage and voltage regulation wherein the root-mean-square value output is a pre-set value.
The phase field 44 permits a user to select the phase type used in connection with the energy savings device and system 1, i.e., single phase, bi-phase or three phase.
The startup field 45 permits a user to configure the system and device 1 to randomly start or to have a delayed or “soft start” wherein the user input the delay time in seconds in which the system and device will start.
The calibration field 46 permits a user to input the precise calibrations desired and/or to rotate the phases.
The setpoints field 47 displays the settings selected by the user and shows the amount of energy saved by utilizing the energy savings device and system 1 as voltage regulation, voltage reduction percentage or power savings reduction percentage. With respect to percentage voltage reduction, the lower limit RMS is set below the incoming voltage passed therethrough to permit the incoming voltage to be passed through when it is less than or equal to the lower limit voltage. With respect to the percentage savings reduction, the lower limit RMS is set below the incoming voltage passed therethrough.
Indicators 48 are provided on the windows interface 40 and display operating current, operating voltage, line frequency, calculated power savings and phase rotation.
A real time clock 49 may be incorporated into the windows interface 40 to allow programming of additional voltage reduction for a predetermined time and a predetermined operational time, e.g., for seasons, days of the week, hours of the day, for a predetermined operational time. In addition, a user may program the energy savings device and system 1 to operate during various times of the day. The real time clock 49 is set through a communications port or fixed to allow the selection of defined seasonal dates and time when, through experience, are known to exhibit power grid overload. During these times, the system allows further reduction of the regulated AC voltage, thereby reducing the load on the grid. Multiple time can be defined each with its own additional percentage reduction or voltage drop.
A digital electricity meter 50 provides a means to log statistical data on power usage, power factor and surges. The digital electricity meter 50 also provides the ability to include capacitors for power factor correction, operates on single, bi and three-phase systems and operates on all world wide voltages. It may be used remotely or locally to disable or enable the user's power supply at will by the provider. In addition, the digital electricity meter 50 may detect when the energy savings device and system 1 has been bridged by an end user attempting to avoid paying for energy consumption wherein the provider is alerted to such abuse. Finally, use of a real time clock 49 permits a user and/or provider to reduce the consumption of power at selected times of a day or for a selected time period, thereby relieving and/or eliminating brown-out conditions.
It is to be understood that while a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, it is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement of parts herein described and shown. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention and the invention is not be considered limited to what is shown and described in the specification and drawings.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/966,124 filed Aug. 24, 2007; 61/009,844 filed Jan. 3, 2008; 61/009,846 filed Jan. 3, 2008; and 61/009,806 filed Jan. 3, 2008.
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