Plug-in type wireless adapter for energy monitoring amp; appliance control for demand side energy management

摘要

Plug-in Type Wireless Adapter for Energy Monitoring & Appliance Control for Demand Side Energy Management Increasing demand of electrical energy and its rising prices have enforced the need of managing usage of electrical energy more efficiently. Concepts of demand-side energy management (DSM) programs are becoming popular for efficient energy management in context to smart grid implementation. One of the possible solutions for such implementation at consumer premises is Home Energy Management System (HEMS). However, this requires home appliances to have capability of monitoring and controlling its own energy flow as well as capability of connecting to a network for communicating information. Such features are missing in the current setup at consumer premises. The purpose of the invention is to design a plug-in type adapter that when interfaced with any single phase home appliance gives capability of accurately measuring energy and related parameters in real time, communicating measured values to central unit over wireless link and controlling ON/OFF action of the appliance on command from central unit. The- inventions also demonstrates that such plug-in type adapters when used in plurality along with central unit forms a home area network that can be used to implement DSM programs for efficient energy management. The invention is aimed to be low cost and easy to use. The plug-in type adapter is primarily a microcontroller based module interfaced with IEC 687/1036 international standards compliant power/energy monitoring module. A wireless link between adapter and central unit is established using a Bluetooth module. Serial EEPROM is also included in the design to store data locally at device level. A normal Desktop PC interfaced with a Bluetooth module acts as a Central unit. Central unit hosts a graphical user interface (GUI) based application that allows user to monitor and control appliances as well as record information received from them. Similar applications can also be designed for laptops and smart phones as most of them" inherently support Bluetooth communication.