Electric power consumption measuring mechanism

A home appliance comprising:

• an electrical characteristic sensor configured to detect an instantaneous electrical characteristic component of a power signal;
• a signal processor coupled to the electrical characteristic sensor, the signal processor configured process the instantaneous electrical characteristic component of the power signal;
• and
• a controller coupled to the signal processor, the controller configured to determine an electrical characteristic offset based on an average value of a plurality of electrical characteristic components over a predetermined time interval, determine a difference between the instantaneous electrical characteristic component detected at the electrical characteristic sensor and the electrical characteristic offset determined, and calculate power consumption of the appliance based on the difference between the instantaneous electrical characteristic component and the electrical characteristic offset.

A home appliance comprising:

• a voltage signal sensor configured to detect an instantaneous voltage component of a power signal;
• a current signal sensor configured to detect an instantaneous current component of the power signal;
• a signal processor coupled to the voltage signal sensor and the current signal sensor, the signal processor configured to process the instantaneous voltage component and the instantaneous current component of the power signal;
• and
• a controller coupled to the signal processor, the controller configured to determine a voltage offset based on an average value or a median value of a plurality of voltage components of the power signal, determine a current offset based on an average value or a median value of a plurality of current components of the power signal, determine a difference between the instantaneous voltage component of the power signal and the voltage offset, determine a difference between the instantaneous current component of the power signal, and calculate power consumption of the appliance based on the difference between the instantaneous voltage component and the voltage offset and the difference between the instantaneous current component and the current offset.