Square D Company

Other

Teletimer International, Inc.

Associated Data Consultants, Inc.

Robert J Brown, Jr

Bahattin Erturk

Jon W Hauser, Ii

Charles W Staples

James D Romanowiz

An energy management and home automation system includes one or more controllers in each facility being managed and one or more energy consuming devices attached to each controller. Each controller responds to digital paging signals from a central command center which establish a schedule of event effecting the operation of each device and the controller schedules each device to be operated pursuant to the programmed schedule. The user of the system, by appropriate communication with the command center, may cause a paging message to be provided at any time changing the pre-programmed schedule. The heating/cooling system is controlled by set-point temperatures. for each of a plurality of different modes of occupancy, whereby the most energy is consumed when the facility is occupied and lesser amounts of energy are consumed when the facility is empty. Intermediate amounts of energy are consumed when the facility is not fully operational because people are asleep or maintenance or cleaning is being done. Prior to a mode change which demands more energy, the controller calculates the time required to bring the facility to the set-points for the new mode and operates the heating/cooling unit at the calculated time prior to the scheduled mode change. The calculation is based upon the time required for the heating/cooling being controlled to change the temperature in the facility being managed. The energy consumption of the facility may also be reduced by paging messages from the utility company as a part of an emergency load reduction program.

Energy management and home automation system

An energy management and home automation system includes one or more controllers in each facility being managed and one or more energy consuming devices attached to each controller. Each controller responds to digital paging signals from a central command center which establish a schedule of event effecting the operation of each device and the controller schedules each device to be operated pursuant to the programmed schedule. The user of the system, by appropriate communication with the command center, may cause a paging message to be provided at any time changing the pre-programmed schedule. The heating/cooling system is controlled by setpoint temperatures for each of a plurality of different modes of occupancy, whereby the most energy is consumed when the facility is occupied and lesser amounts of energy are consumed when the facility is empty. Intermediate amounts of energy are consumed when the facility is not fully operational because people are asleep or maintenance or cleaning is being done. Prior to a mode change which demands more energy, the controller calculates the time required to bring the facility to the setpoints for the new mode and operates the heating/cooling unit at the calculated time prior to the scheduled mode change. The calculation is based upon the time required for the heating/cooling being controlled to change the temperature in the facility being managed. The energy consumption of the facility may also be reduced by paging messages from the utility company as a part of an emergency load reduction program.

Load center power module

Load center control module

A motor and manual actuated switch includes a motor control circuit for controlling the motor to rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction to actuate a mechanical switch between the open circuit and short circuit states. The control circuit includes a capacitor coupled in series with the motor winding to form a series circuit and a control switch for connecting a source of d.c. power across said serial circuit when in a first position and a short circuit across said series circuit when in a second position. When the control switch is moved to the first position, the capacitor charges, causing a current to flow through the motor winding during the charge time, thereby causing rotation in one direction. When the control switch is moved to the second position, the capacitor discharges through the winding, thereby causing opposite current flow and shaft rotation. The mechanical switch may be made to change states by actuation of a manual button or by rotation of the motor and includes a pin which rotates upon a change of states of the mechanical switch. The motor is interconnected with the pin by an extension and offset extending from the pin and an open center triangular shaped connector affixed to the motor shaft, with the offset extending into the open center. The extension acts as a spring to reduce the impact of the connector against the offset when the motor shaft rotates.

Switch actuation circuit and arrangement

Module for selective signal response

Remotely activated switch module for controlling power usage of an

An automation and energy management system includes an automation panel box which may be positioned adjacent to a circuit breaker panel box. The automation panel box includes one or more circuit breaker control modules, one or more device control modules and a power module for providing power to the control modules. The circuit breaker control module provides signals to operate motorized circuit breakers, so as to turn on or off the power to a device being managed and the device control module provides signals to control individual appliances. Each of the two control modules is capable of controlling up to eight different circuit breakers or eight different individual devices and each includes a manual override button for each breaker or device controlled, which override button can be manually pressed by a person desiring to override the automation and energy management control. In addition, each of the modules includes status terminals for receiving status signals from the devices being controlled to indicate whether control is to occur or to be overridden. A facility computer generally communicates with the modules over a bus and issues commands to cause certain automatic functions or energy management to occur. The signals on the status lines can override the facility computer signals and the actuation of one of the reset buttons can override either the status signals or the facility controller.

Power management and automation system

Motor controlled switch mechanism

An energy management system provides energy managing signals over a medium, such as TV cables, power lines, telephone lines or free space radio frequency transmissions, to a plurality of subscriber units. A transponder in each unit responds to the signals and provides corresponding signals onto the power lines within the subscribing unit. Each appliances to be managed has associated therewith a responder unit coupled to the electric grid to receive the transponder signals. The signals are encoded to manifest the energy managing dictates of a particular one of a plurality of different schedules and are only provided in conformance with the dictates of the schedule it manifests. Typically, where an appliance is to be turned off as part of the energy management scheme, the encoded signals are provided only when the schedule manifested thereby indicate that a particular applicance is to be turned off. The responder units each have associated subscriber settable encoding devices and the subscriber sets the code of a particular schedule for each responder after referring to series of schedules which is supplied to each user of the energy management system. The responder then responds to only the codes applied thereto conforming to the code set on the settable encoding devices and the appliance with which that responder is associated is then managed in accordance with the selected schedule. A reset switch is provided to override the response to the energy management signals.

Growing community of inventors

Boca Raton, FL, United States of America

Robert J Brown, Jr