Sensor-based energy management enclosure and distributed energy resource management based on sensor data
AssigneeApparent Labs, LLC
InventorsStefan Matan, Fred C. Horton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A power system of a consumer premises includes a circuit breaker to provide power to an electrical circuit and a current sensor mounted proximate a connection of the circuit breaker. The current sensor generates data that a controller uses to compute current draw for the circuit fed by the circuit breaker. Based on the current draw information, the controller can determine how much real and reactive power is being drawn by individual circuits. The controller can use that information to trigger a power converter to adjust operation to change the quadrant of operation of the current vector.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising:
- a circuit breaker enclosure;
- a conducting plate mounted in the circuit breaker enclosure, the conducting plate having multiple contacts to connect to a grid-tied electrical supply including a contact to receive a circuit breaker to provide power to an electrical circuit;
- an insulator layer mounted over the conducting plate;
- and
- an integrated circuit (I/C) sensor mounted on the insulator layer proximate the contact to generate current sense data for the electrical circuit when the circuit breaker is connected, including data to indicate real and reactive power draw of the electrical circuit, the I/C sensor to be mounted above the conducting plate and below the circuit breaker.
A method comprising:
- providing an electrical connection for an electrical circuit in a circuit breaker enclosure through a conducting plate from a grid-tied electrical supply to a circuit breaker mounted to a contact of multiple contacts of the conducting plate;
- and
- generating current sense data for the electrical circuit with an integrated circuit (I/C) sensor mounted proximate the contact, above the conducting plate and below the circuit breaker, the I/C sensor mounted on an insulator layer between the conducting plate and the circuit breaker, including data to indicate real and reactive power draw of the electrical circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.