Patent Application
20110077788
The monitoring and control of power delivered to electricity consuming apparatuses presents problems for both industrial and residential use. This problem is of increasing importance due to environmental and economic concerns. To address these problems, devices which deliver power to such apparatuses have been provided with the ability to monitor the voltage, current, and power which have been delivered to one or more electric devices. Examples of such power delivery devices include power strips, power distribution unit, power cables, and any other device for delivering electricity from a source to an electric apparatus. Typically, this data has been displayed on a local display on the power delivery device such as, an LED, LCD or other display. Some power delivery devices allow this monitoring data to be transmitted by a wired data connection from the device using such protocols such as Ethernet, SNMP, or other wired protocols. Such devices may also have a switch under the control of the wired data connection. This relay (defined as a switch under the control of another electronic circuit). This allows for a limited control of power (on/off).
Such power monitoring is more useful if the data collection and control of many appliances are centralized. For example, in a household, the collection of power data from many appliances would allow determination of what the most profligate energy user is. In an industrial setting the opportunities for the collection of power data are extraordinarily numerous. For one example, a data center, the collection of the energy usage of many different electronic devices, including servers, is very useful in determining which servers are being utilized in an energy inefficient manner. Such information is useful in saving power and as such energy in a data center. However, in these and other such applications, where the collection of monitoring of power data into a central source is required, there exists a well-known cabling problem. Each and every power delivery device capable of power monitoring must be wired by cable to send the data back to the central data collection source. Such cabling represents a significant problem and expense. First, the installation of such cabling is a significant expense in the startup of any data center. Further, the installation of any server in a data center includes the additional expense of cabling, which is a significant fraction of the installation cost. Therefore, there remains in the field a need for a system and method of collecting data from numerous power delivery devices and for controlling numerous power delivery devices without the necessity of extensive cabling.
The invention pertains to a system for monitoring and controlling power distribution. It includes a power distribution device which has a module, a input line, and a output line. The input and output lines carry electrical power into an out of the module. The module has a switch in an open or closed position and a relay that controls the switch, a sensor that senses certain electrical characteristics of the input or output electric power, and a device wireless unit for obtaining a wireless connection that includes a device intended for transmitting and receiving signals and a device microcontroller that controls the relay, the sensor and the device wireless unit. The sensor sends information regarding the electrical characteristics of the electric power being carried to the device microcontroller which causes data to be sent wirelessly to the base unit. The base unit or base station has a base microcontroller for controlling its functions, a base wireless unit for maintaining a wireless connection, a network port, an interface to a computer, and an antenna for transmitting and receiving RF signals. The base unit receives the information regarding the electrical characteristics and sends it to a computer over a network. The base microcontroller may issue instructions to the device microcontroller over the wireless connection to have the relay service with an open or closed position.
The invention further pertains to methods of power monitoring and control, which include the sensing of electrical characteristics, sending said electrical characteristics through a device microcontroller to a device wireless unit, transmitting said electrical characteristics over a wireless connection to said device wireless unit, receiving the electrical characteristics over the wireless connection. The electrical characteristics are received by a base station which then processes the electrical characteristics and as appropriate sends the electric characteristics to a network port or a direct interface to computer. Alternatively, the base station may receive and send to the power distribution device switch commands that causes the relay to open or close a switch power distribution device.
The invention further pertains to the formation of a mesh network of power distribution devices and a base station, such that interference between a power distribution device and the base station is routed around by sending the information to other power distribution devices that do not have such interference.
In operation, AC current travels through AC power input line 104 and into module 112. If switch 114 is closed, AC flows through module 112 and out AC power output line 110. When the switch is open the circuit is cut and there no flow of electrical current and, as such power. Sensor 117 detects either or both of the current and the voltage passing through the closed switch 114. Sensor 117 communicates this data to the microcontroller 146. Microcontroller 146 has a limited buffer memory in which to store said data. The relay 116 is controlled by microcontroller 118, and in turn controls the switch 118.
A wireless connection 160 exists between base station 140 and power distribution device 102. This wireless connection is maintained by base wireless unit 144 through antennae 142 and device wireless unit 120. The power data from sensor 117 can be wirelessly communicated to base station 140. From there, it may be transferred to either a network via network port 150, or directly to a computer or specialized terminal or other piece of equipment via interface 148. The network port 150 or interface 148 could utilize a number of protocols for communication, including either individually or in combination, Ethernet, TCP/IP, SNMP. MODBUS, IPMI, or other well-known protocols. Instructions for the device microcontroller 114 to cause the relay 116 to open or close the switch 112 from a user passes through either the network port 150 or the interface 148 through the base station 140 and over the wireless connection.
This wireless connection can be implemented in a number of different radio frequencies and communication protocols. In one embodiment the wireless connection 160 is a WLAN (Wi-Fi) connection. In another embodiment of the present invention the wireless connection 160 is implemented using a Bluetooth standard. In another embodiment of the present invention the wireless connection 160 is implemented using Wireless USB standard. In another embodiment of the present invention the wireless connection 160 is implemented using the Zigbee standard. In yet another embodiment of the present invention the wireless connection is implemented using a Z-Wave protocol.
Z-Wave is a low-power wireless technology designed specifically for remote control applications. Unlike Wi-Fi and other IEEE 802.11-based wireless LAN systems that are designed primarily for high-bandwidth data flow, the Z-Wave RF system operates in the sub Gigahertz frequency range and is optimized for low-overhead commands such as on-off (as in a light switch or an appliance) and raise-lower (as in a thermostat or volume control), with the ability to include device metadata in the communications. Because Z-Wave operates apart from the 2.4 GHz frequency of 802.11 based wireless systems, it is largely impervious to interference from common household wireless electronics, such as Wi-Fi routers, cordless telephones and Bluetooth devices that work in the same frequency range.
Z-wave uses an intelligent mesh network topology and has no master node. Devices can communicate to another around obstacles or radio dead spots that might occur. A message from node A to node C can be successfully delivered even if the two nodes are not within range, providing that a third node B can communicate with nodes A and C. If the preferred route is unavailable, the message originator will attempt other routes until a path is found to the “C” node. Therefore a Z-Wave network can span much further than the radio range of a single unit, however with several of these hops a delay may be introduced between the control command and the desired result. In order for Z-Wave units to be able to route unsolicited messages, they cannot be in sleep mode. Therefore, most battery-operated devices are not designed as repeater units. A Z-wave network can consist of up to 232 devices with the option of bridging networks if more devices are required. Z-Wave protocol uses the 900 MHz ISM band with an effective one hop range of 100 feet in open air.
Power distribution devices may take on a number of different forms with little change in functionality.
As will be appreciated, numerous variations and combinations of the features discussed above can be utilized without departing from present invention as defined by the claims. Accordingly, the foregoing description of the preferred embodiments should be taken by way of illustration rather than by way of limitation of the present invention.
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/185,094 filed Jun. 6, 2009, entitled “Wireless Power Distribution System and Device” which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61185094 | Jun 2009 | US |
