AU2008101289A4 - Remote energy switching device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for controlling power supply in a building to an appliance or device. The method including the step of fitting a power supply restriction device in between a mains electrical meter and 5 an appliance. Mains power is supplied to both a first fuse box and a second fuse box, with the power supply restriction device being fitted between the electrical meter and the Second fuse box so that activating the power supply restriction device results in restricting or removing power from those devises connected to the second fuse box but not the first fuse box. Fig 1

Description

58574 DIA:JO P/00/011 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT ORIGINAL Name of Applicant: SANN CHAO Actual Inventor: SANN CHAOS Address for Service: COLLISON & CO.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: REMOTE ENERGY SWITCHING DEVICE Details of Associated Provislonal Application: Australian Patent Application No. 2007905928 dated 23 October 2007 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 2 REMOTE ENERGY SWITCHING DEVICE The present invention relates to energy saving devices and in particular to energy saving devices that can be remotely operated. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 5 Presently many households take advantage of modern appliances, such as computers, home theatre systems, TVs, VCRs and so on. Each of these appliances typically have three states of operation: off, standby and on. In the "on" position typically the appliance is running at full capacity in terms of its power intake. In the "standby" position typically some of the features of the 10 appliance have been turned off, such as the screen, but the appliance is still ready to quickly return to the "on" position without the requirement for the system as a whole to start from a completely unpowered state. This is often seen as being desirable as not only does the appliance quickly come in to operation but also then auxiliary components of the appliance can still be 15 working, such as clocks or alarms. However, in the "standby" position the actual power use of the appliance may drop from 100% to, in the worst case, 80% although predominately most of the appliances drop down to 30-20% of maximum power usage. The "off" position in fact can refer to two separate power states, that is the 20 machine being turned off on the machine itself, which again may only be a reduce power state, or "off" at the power point in which case the actual usage of the appliance drops down to 0%. Given that the majority of appliances are typically in a standby state for a substantial part of the life of the appliance then this can result in significant 25 energy consumption over the life time of the appliance and given that the appliance in not actually being used in the standby state then most people 3 consider this to be a waste of power. With the importance of issues such as households energy consumption, there is a continual drive to encourage households to reduce their power consumption, such as by advising people to switching appliances off at the wall plug when not in use so as to reduce the 5 amount of energy used by the appliance to 0. Whilst turning the appliance off at the wall plug is relatively simple it is impractical in so much as it as homeowner would need to switch off all appliances at their respective wall plugs when they, for example, left the house. This would entail the homeowner going from room to room manually turning all 10 appliances off. Upon returning home the user would then have to manually turn on their appliances throughout the house at each respective wall plug. The amount of effort required to turn each separate appliance on and off through the house would require the significant effort on behalf of the user and most likely result in low compliance, 15 What is required is a way of being able to control power supply to appliances so as to dramatically reduce their power consumption when they are not required. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for controlling power supply in a building to an appliance. 20 It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for controlling power supply in a building to an appliance. It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus for controlling power supply in a building to an appliance that is straightforward to fit to an existing switchboard. 25 Another object of the invention is to reduce the consumption of electrical energy in a domestic dwelling.

4 It is an object of the present invention to overcome, or at least substantially ameliorate, the disadvantages and shortcomings of the prior art. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taking in connection with the accompanying 5 drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Definitions The term "mains power" as used herein refers to the primary electrical power 10 supply wires entering a building, sometimes referred to as 'line power", can be domestic or industrial power supply. According to the present invention, although this should not be seen as limiting the invention in any way, there is provided a method of controlling power supply in a building to an appliance, the method including the steps of fitting a power 15 supply restriction device in between a mains electrical meter and an appliance, the power supply restriction device having an "off" position and an "on" position, the "off" position preventing the flow of power through the power supply restriction device, the "on" position allowing the flow of power through the power supply restriction device, then activating the power supply restriction device 20 remotely to control the supply of power to the appliance as required. In preference, the power supply restriction device is fitted between a mains electrical meter and the main fuse system. In preference, the power supply restriction device is operated by remote control. In preference, the power supply restriction device has a means for receiving a 25 remote activating signal to operate the device in and "on" or "off" position.

5 In preference, the power supply restriction device is operatively connected to an alarm system so that activation of the alarm system activates the power supply restriction device to disconnect power to the appliance. In preference, the power supply restriction device is switched to an "off" position 5 at the same time as an alarm system is activated. In this manner the power supply restriction device would only be preventing the flow of energy or power to appliances when the user was not in their home. In preference, the power supply restriction device is fitted between a wall outlet and an appliance. This then allows the power supply restriction device to be 10 placed preferentially to only activate or de-activate certain appliances. In a further embodiment of the invention there is a provided a method of controlling power supply in a building to a set of appliances, the method including the steps of: a directing mains power to a first fuse box and a power supply restriction 15 device; b the power supply restriction device being connected to a second fuse box; c the power supply restriction device having in that is has an "off" position and an "on" position, the "off" position preventing the flow of power 20 through the power supply restriction device, the "on" position allowing the flow of power through the power supply restriction device to the second fuse box d then activating the power supply restriction device remotely to control the supply of power to the second fuse box and any appliances attached 25 thereto so that the power supply directed to the first fuse box is uninterrupted.

6 The invention can also reside in a power supply restriction device including a power input and a power output, the power input connected to a Source of incoming mains power, a gate or switch positioned between the power input and the power output, the gate having an "on" and "off" position so as to control 5 the flow of power from the power input to the power output, the gate being operated by a gate operating means, wherein said means is capable of receiving a remote signal to operate the gate. In preference, the power supply restriction device is positioned in line with and after a mains switch. 10 In preference, the power supply restriction device directs power to a first fuse box. In preference, the power supply restriction device is electrically isolated from a second fuse box. In preference, the second fuse box is directly connected to the mains switch. 15 In preference, the second fuse box is electrically isolated from the first fuse box. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS By way of example, an employment of the invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the present invention in a building; 20 Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the power supply restriction device; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the present invention connected to an alarm system; 7 Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the present invention showing a first and second fuse box. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present disclosure describes a method for controlling power supply in a 5 building to an appliance. The power supply restriction device 5 may be installed in a domestic switchboard or electrical board 8, positioned between the mains power meter 10 and the main fuses 12. The power supply restriction device 5 should of course be fitted by a suitable qualified electrical technician in accordance with local regulations and requirements as would be apparent to 10 those skilled in the art. It should be noted that the positioning of the power supply restriction device 5 as shown in Figure 1 is only for illustrated purposes, and as explained further in, the power supply restriction device 5 may be placed at other locations around the building 14 between the switchboard 8 and the appliance 16 without Is necessarily departing from the scope of the invention. The power supply restriction device 5 includes a power input 20 for receiving mains power after it has passed through the power meter 10, and a power output 22 that then provides power to the appliance 16. Located in the body 24 of the power supply restriction device 5 is a gate or switch 26 positioned 20 between the power input 20 and the power output 22. The gate 26 controls the flow of power through the device 5 and ultimately hence to the appliance 16. To operate gate 26 there is a gate operating means 28 that receives a signal to operate the gate 26 from to either an "on" position, to allow power from the input 20 to the output 22 or in an "off" position to restrict or stop the flow of power 25 from input 20 to output 22.

8 The gate operating means 28 is preferably remotely operated by a remote operating means 30, which may be, for example, an RF generating device capable of generating the gate operating means 28. Alternatively, the gate operating means 28 may be hardwired to an appliance s such as a powered alarm system that can be remotely activated so that when a user activates an alarm by remote control then an additional signal is sent from the alarm 32 to the power supply restriction device 5 to operate the gate operating means 28 to switch the gate 26 to on "off' position. In this way then when a user exits their house and activates the alarm this then automatically 10 operates the power supply restriction device 5, turning it to the "off" position thus preventing the supply to any appliances 16 connected thereto. The apparatus or device and method described above now clearly provides for a quick and economical way to remotely activate or de-activate appliances within a building. 15 The present invention may also be utilized preferentially with appliances in that the power supply restriction device may be in the form of a unit adapted to insert into a wall socket or outlet 40 so that it can be used to control only specific appliances that are directly connected thereto, such as, for example, computers connected to a wall socket or home entertainment systems, both of 20 which are appliances that typically use substantial amounts of power in their respective "standby" power states. In addition to the above, the power supply restriction device 5 may be placed after the main fuse section 12 so that it is electrically isolated from the main fuse section or box 12 so that only certain zones of a household are controlled by the 25 power supply restriction device 5 so that zones that do not require switching on and off, such as those circuits having refrigerators or other such devices that need to be maintained in an "on" position, are not affected and a user can still enjoy the benefit of knowing that the remainder of the house, such as 9 bedrooms, living rooms, play rooms, have no power being available to them, see Figure 4. The power supply restriction device 5 is thus positioned after the ma in switch 44 so that mains power 40 entering the building passes through the power meter 5 42 then along active line 43 into the main switch 44. This allows power to be removed manually from the entire building as is normal by switching the mains switch 44 as needed. After the mains switch 44 the power enters to both a first fuse box 46 and to the power supply restriction device 5, and via junction 45 subsequently to a second fuse box 48. 50 is the RCD protected bar. 10 In this arrangement, the first fuse box 46 is electrically isolated from the second fuse box 48, so that electrical appliances that are considered to be essential, as they need to be on all the time (such as fridges, freezers, etc connected via switchbox 46), are connected to a set of general power outlets (GPO's) the power supply of which is not controlled by the power supply restriction device 5. 15 The power supply restriction device 5 can then be activated as required, by remote control from, for example, the activation of the buildings alarm system, to switch the power on or off to those appliances connected via the second fuse box 48, which can allow power to devices such as lights, air conditioning, stove etc that are not considered essential. 20 As such, a person can leave a building with a system as shown in Figure 4 fitted and by activation of the alarm system the power supply restriction device 5 then opens the switches 51 to stop the flow of power into the second fuse box 48 thus rendering those appliances or devices connected to the second fuse box 48 powerless. Those appliances connected to the first fuse box 46, which is 25 electrically isolated from the second fuse box 48, are thus still receiving power. From the above then it is clear that the invention provides a unique way of controlling power to an appliance in a way that is simple for a user to operate 10 and therefore highly compliant. This then leads to a greater reduction in energy consumption by the user, thus impacting the negative effects on the environment and reduction in energy bills, by installing a device that is both easy to install and easy to operate. 5 An additional effect of the present invention is that by reducing the amount of electricity being used in a household there is then a reduced chance of fires resulting from overloaded electrical circuits. Although the invention has been herein shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized 10 that departures can be made within the scope of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details described herein but it is to be accorded the full scope of the appended claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.

Claims (10)

1. A method of controlling power supply in a building to an appliance, the method including the steps of fitting a power supply restriction device in between a mains electrical meter and an appliance, the device having an 5 "off" position and an "on" position. the "off" position preventing the flow of power through the power supply restriction device, the "on" position allowing the flow of power through the power supply restriction device, then activating the power supply restriction device remotely to control the supply of power to the appliance as required. 10

2. A power supply restriction device including a power input and a power output the power input connected to a source of incoming power, at a gate positioned between the power input and the power output, the gate having an "on" and "off" position so as to control the flow of power from the power input to the power output, the gate being operated by a gate operating 15 means, wherein said means is capable of receiving a remote signal to operate the gate

3. A method of controlling power supply in a building to a set of appliances, the method including the steps of: a. directing mains power to a first fuse box and a power supply 20 restriction device; b. the power supply restriction device being connected to a second fuse box; c. the power supply restriction device having in that is has an "off" position and an "on" position, the "off" position preventing the flow 25 of power through the power supply restriction device, the "on" 12 position allowing the flow of power through the power supply restriction device to the second fuse box d. then activating the power supply restriction device remotely to control the supply of power to the second fuse box and any 5 appliances attached thereto so that the power supply directed to the first fuse box is uninterrupted.

4. A power supply restriction device including a power input and a power output, the power input connected to a source of incoming mains power, a gate or switch positioned between the power input and the power output, -10 the gate having an "on" and "off" position so as to control the flow of power from the power input to the power output, the gate being operated by a gate operating means, wherein said means is capable of receiving a remote signal to operate the gate.

5. The power supply restriction device of any one of claims 1-4, wherein the 15 power supply restriction device is positioned in line with and after a mains switch.

6. The power supply restriction device of claim 5, wherein the power supply restriction device directs power to a first fuse box.

7. The power supply restriction device of claim 6, wherein the power supply 20 restriction device is electrically isolated from a second fuse box.

8. The power supply restriction device of claim 9, wherein the second fuse box is directly connected to the mains switch.

9. The power supply restriction device of claim 8, wherein the second fuse box is electrically isolated from the first fuse box. 13

10. A power supply restriction device substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.