Identifying the operation of a specified type of appliance

A method of identifying the operation of a specified type of appliance, the operation of said specified type of appliance being dependent on a supply of at least one utility including electricity, natural gas or water, the method comprising:

• electronically receiving, via a computing apparatus, data from a sensor coupled to the computing apparatus, the data including measurements of electrical consumption by a plurality of appliances;
• analyzing, via the computing apparatus, the data to characterize the electrical consumption by the plurality of appliances;
• providing feedback from the computing apparatus that a specified type of appliance is in operation when a path traced by data points in an n-dimensional space substantially corresponds to a predetermined path type associated with that specified type of appliance based on the analysis;
• wherein each dimension of the n-dimensional space represents a respective utility variable derived from the total supply of that utility to the plurality of appliances;
• wherein the data points in the n-dimensional space represent values of the utility variables;
• and
• wherein n>1.

An apparatus for identifying the operation of an electrical appliance comprising an induction motor, the apparatus comprising:

• an input section arranged to receive data representative of the total supply of electrical power to a plurality of appliances as a function of time;
• and
• a processing section arranged to identify the operation of an electrical appliance comprising an induction motor when a path traced by real power values against corresponding reactive power values over a time period of interest comprises one or more substantially circular arcs;
• wherein the real power values are related to the total real power supplied to the plurality of appliances as a function of time and the reactive power values are related to the total reactive power supplied to the plurality of appliances as a function of time.

An apparatus for identifying the operation of a specified type of appliance, the operation of said specified type of appliance being dependent on a supply of at least one utility including electricity, natural gas or water, the apparatus comprising:

• an input section arranged to receive data representative of the total supply of at least one utility to a plurality of appliances as a function of time;
• an analysis section arranged to analyse the received data and to determine a time series of data points in an n-dimensional space, each dimension of the n-dimensional space representing a respective utility variable derived from the total supply of that utility to the plurality of appliances, the data points representing the received data, wherein n>1;
• and
• a processing section arranged to identify the operation of a specified type of appliance when a path traced by the data points in the n-dimensional space substantially corresponds to a predetermined path type associated with that specified type of appliance.