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US 4,064,485 AGranted
Digital load control circuit and method for power monitoring and limiting system
AssigneePacific Technology, Inc.
InventorWarren L. Leyde
Life of this patent
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AssigneePacific Technology, Inc.
InventorWarren L. Leyde
Estimating the term…
To maintain power consumption within predetermined limits, the ON/OFF states of a plurality of electrical loads are controlled by a digital load control circuit that forms part of a closed-loop control system. The power consumed by the ON loads is monitored and compared with a reference and in response to such comparison command signals are produced that instruct the digital circuit to add or shed loads as required, to increase or decrease, respectively, the power consumption. Inputs to the load-control circuit are in the form of one or more add or shed command pulses wherein the former instructs the circuit to add a load, and the latter instructs the circuit to shed a load. To execute these commands, the load-control circuit includes a reversible, recycling address generator that successively addresses a bank of addressable latches, one for controlling the ON/OFF state of each load. As the latches are successively addressed, logic circuitry operates to detect a concurrence of an add command and an OFF load state at the addressed latch, or a concurrence of a shed command and an ON load state at the addressed latch. Detection of the former set of conditions causes the then addressed latch to be switched from its load OFF state to its ON state and detection of the latter set of conditions causes the then addressed latch to be switched from its load ON state to its OFF state. Various embodiments of the foregoing are disclosed including circuitry for selectively dividing the plurality of loads into two different groups, one of which is a fixed priority group wherein the loads thereof are added and shed in a fixed order, and the other of which is a rotate group wherein the order that the loads are added and shed is rotated so that all of the loads of such group equally share the available ON time; and circuitry for selecting a limit to the total number of rotate loads that can be ON at any given time and a limit to the number of such loads that can be OFF at any given time.
A circuit for controlling the the "on/off" states of each of a plurality of electrical loads in response to power monitoring and signal generating circuit means that monitors the electrical power delivered to the "on" loads and produces an add control signal commanding the addition of one or more of the loads when power consumption is to be increased and produces a shed control signal commanding the shedding of one or more of said plurality of loads when such power consumption is to be decreased, comprising:
A method of automatically controlling the "on/off" states of each of a plurality of electrical loads in response to the steps of monitoring the level of the electrical power delivered to the "on" loads, producing an add control signal for commanding the addition of one of the plurality of loads when power consumption is to be increased, and producing a shed control signal for commanding the shedding of one of the plurality of loads when power consumption is to be decreased, comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.