FR3032277A1 - METHOD FOR ESTIMATING ELECTRICAL CONSUMPTION OF EQUIPMENT - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for estimating an electrical consumption of a device (2), characterized in that it comprises the implementation of steps of: (a) Detection by a magnetic probe (11) d a device (1) disposed near the equipment (2) of a magnetic field generated by the equipment (2) when in operation; (b) transmitting to a data processing means (12) connected to said magnetic probe (11) a signal representative of the operating character of the equipment (2) when detecting said magnetic field, (c) Estimation by the data processing means (12) of said power consumption of the equipment (2) as a function of said signal and a nominal power of the equipment (2).

Description

GENERAL TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for estimating an electrical consumption of a device.

STATE OF THE ART Today, the various domestic electrical equipment, and in particular the heating systems (water heaters, convectors, radiators, etc.) commonly sold commercially, do not include a dedicated means for measuring electricity. their electricity consumption. If one wishes to know it, especially for questions of optimization of the electric consumption of the hearth, it is necessary to install metering devices, either near the equipment or 15 at the electrical panel. In the first case (close to the equipment), there are known "meter sockets" with a plug and a socket (see the application FR2780207) which fit between the wall socket and the power cord of the equipment whose consumption is to be monitored. However, if the equipment is not powered by a standard socket 230, such a device can not be used. The only solution is to involve an electrician who will permanently integrate the metering device in the electrical circuit of the home. In the second case (at the level of the electrical panel), a difficulty appears: it must be ensured that several uses do not coexist on the same circuit (for example an electrical socket of a chamber which would be connected to a radiator) which could interfere and introduce errors. Experience shows that this case is very common in old installations. In any case, the intervention of an electrician 30 remains necessary. Depending on the implementation difficulties, the cost of this type of measurement can be significant compared to the cost of the equipment to be monitored.

To solve these difficulties, it has been proposed less invasive devices for measuring the consumption of equipment. Application EP2680015 proposes for example a sensor comprising a magnetoresistive probe which measures a magnetic field in the vicinity of a power cable of the equipment. Thanks to a microprocessor, the intensity and voltage are calculated, hence the knowledge of the power consumed. This sensor effectively avoids opening the circuit to insert the counting device. However, it seems necessary that the latter be powered by the same power supply as the equipment itself, which remains limiting. In addition, this device remains complex and expensive because it must implement an evolved treatment of magnetic data measured. It remains desirable to have an even simpler solution, even less invasive that allows, through an inexpensive device and easy to use for any equipment, to know its consumption. PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION The invention proposes to overcome these disadvantages by proposing, according to a first aspect, a method of estimating an electrical consumption of an equipment, characterized in that it comprises the implementation of steps of (a) Detection by a magnetic probe of a device disposed near the equipment of a magnetic field generated by the equipment when in operation; (b) transmitting to data processing means connected to said magnetic probe a signal representative of the operating character of the equipment when it detects said magnetic field, (c) Estimate by the data processing means said power consumption of the equipment according to said signal and a nominal power of the equipment.

The method according to the invention is advantageously completed by the following characteristics, taken alone or in any of their technically possible combination: the data processing means are integrated in the device, the method comprising a transmission step at destination of a receiver 10 of said estimated consumption via wireless communication means of the device; the method comprises the prior reception by the data processing means via the wireless communication means of said nominal power of the equipment; The receiver is chosen from a mobile terminal, a communicating electricity meter and an access box to the Internet; the device is fixed to the equipment via adhesive or magnetic fixing means; the method comprises a step (d ') of displaying on an interface of the device said estimated consumption; step (c) is also a function of a degraded power of the equipment; step (c) comprises the determination by the data processing means of an operating time of said equipment from a reference time as a function of said signal; step (c) comprises multiplying said operating time of said equipment with the nominal power of the equipment. According to a second aspect, the invention relates to a counting device comprising a magnetic probe and data processing means configured to, when the device is placed near equipment, implement modules of: - Reception from said magnetic probe of a signal representative of the detection by the magnetic probe of a magnetic field generated by the equipment when in operation; - Estimation of an electrical consumption of the equipment according to said signal and a nominal power of the equipment.

According to advantageous characteristics: the device comprises adhesive or magnetic fastening means to the equipment; - The device comprises electrical generating means adapted to, when the device is disposed near equipment, power the device from a magnetic field or a temperature gradient generated by the equipment. PRESENTATION OF THE FIGURES Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows, which is purely illustrative and nonlimiting, and which should be read with reference to the appended drawings, in which: FIG. diagram of an embodiment of a counting device used in the method according to the invention; - Figures 2a-2c are diagrams of three embodiments of facilities for carrying out the method according to the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION General Architecture FIG. 1 represents a preferred embodiment of a counting device 1 for implementing the present method of estimating the electrical consumption of a device 2 (which appears in FIGS. 2a-2c which will be described in detail later). This equipment can be any electrical equipment, in particular a domestic equipment powered by an electrical network 200, typically a large-scale network that connects a plurality of electrical sources, including energy sources of non-renewable origin ( nuclear and / or fossil) and renewable sources of energy (solar, wind, etc.).

The equipment 2 is preferably equipment having a nominal power such as heating equipment, in particular "off-the-air" heating equipment (a convector, a water heater, etc.) for which the estimation is optimal, but it will be understood that it can be any equipment of a dwelling operating intermittently (for example means of ventilation, a refrigerator, a television, etc.). FIGS. 2a-2c show, for example, as equipment 2, a heating system comprising an electric heating element 20 (typically a resistor, so that the equipment is Joule effect) controlled and powered by a module 21.

The nominal power corresponds to the instantaneous power consumed by the equipment 2 when it is in normal operation (for example 2500W for a radiator being heated). The device 1 is located near the equipment 2, particularly in the vicinity of an element subject to strong currents (a power cable, a main resistance, etc.). It may comprise fastening means 15 to the equipment 2, in particular a sticky or magnetic surface so as to "adhere" to an external surface of the equipment 2, in particular reversibly and removably: it is thus possible to change the equipment 2 which is simply monitored by moving the device 1. In all cases, the installation of the device 1 is easy, without risk, and requires no cost.

The device 1 comprises at least one magnetic probe 11. By magnetic probe is meant a sensor capable of detecting a magnetic field generated by the equipment 2 when it is in operation. Indeed, any conductive element in which circulates an electric current generates a magnetic field. In the context of the present method, it is unnecessary to be able to quantify this magnetic field, it is only important to differentiate a reference situation in which the equipment 2 is not in operation of a situation in which the equipment 2 is in operation. operation.

The concept of equipment 2 which "is not in operation" must be interpreted widely and corresponds either to a situation in which the equipment 2 is completely stopped, or in degraded operation, that is to say in which it has a consumption substantially lower than its nominal power.

For example a radiator can be running, without its resistance 20 is heated (if a temperature threshold is reached). Only its control module 21 will be powered, for a consumption of the order of 1`) / 0 of its nominal power (generally, it will be understood that the standby consumption of a device 2 is much less than 20% of its nominal power). It will then be considered, under such conditions, that it is not in operation. When not in operation, the equipment 2 generates a substantially lower magnetic field than when it is operating in view of the differences in intensity of the current flowing there. It should be noted that even when completely stopped, the equipment 2 can continue to generate a weak magnetic field either because of massive metal elements, permanent magnets, or even for example because of batteries allowing for example to maintain a backup power of memories or communication modules. Those skilled in the art will be able to distinguish between the magnetic field measured by the probe 11 when the equipment 2 is in operation and that measured by the probe 11 when the equipment 2 is not in operation. It will be understood that it is not necessary that the magnetic probe 11 is particularly accurate, it is important that it is cheap and low consumption. It can for example be wound type 10 (as in Figure 1), Hall effect, magnetoresistive, etc. It should be noted that the probe 11 may be offset outside the device 1, for example so as to be as close to the equipment 2. In a preferred embodiment which will be described later, the device 1 further comprises data processing means 12 such as a processor or a microcontroller, possibly associated with a memory adapted to store information such as the value of the nominal power of the equipment 2. Advantageously, it may also comprise a communication module wireless 13 (typically WiFi, bluetooth, etc.) and / or an interface 14, which may be an output interface (for example a display, a speaker, etc.) and / or an input interface ( for example a keyboard). The device 1 may also comprise a battery (typically 25 batteries) to power its components, or even (if the consumption of the device 1 is sufficiently low) to be powered by induction by the magnetic field generated by the equipment 2, by a thermoelectric module in the case of a heat generating equipment 2 (using the Seebeck effect to produce electricity thanks to the temperature gradient between the equipment 2 and the ambient air), or by a mini-photoelectric panel. Preferably, the device 1 is autonomous, and in particular only powered via the magnetic field or the temperature gradient generated by the equipment 2, i.e. without battery or additional power supply. It may further include a housing protecting its components.

Method The present method begins with a step (a) of detection by the magnetic probe 11 of the device 1 disposed near the equipment 2 of a magnetic field generated by the equipment 2 when in operation. In a step (b) is sent to the data processing means 12 connected to said magnetic probe 11, a signal representative of the operating character of the equipment 2 when it detects said magnetic field. As explained, these processing means 12 are advantageously those of the device 1 (and thus the connection between the probe 11 and these is direct via a wire), but it will be understood that these means 12 can be deported and this signal can, if appropriate be conveyed by dedicated means of communication. In the preferred case of the integrated means 12, this signal can be reduced to its simplest expression, with a reference signal (value "0") when the detected magnetic field is characteristic of the equipment 2 not in operation, and a alternating signal (value "1") when the detected magnetic field is characteristic of the equipment 2 in operation. Alternatively, the probe 11 continuously sends a raw signal depending on the intensity of the measured magnetic field, and it is the data processing means that process this signal (electronic or digital processing) so as to identify the periods during which the Equipment 2 is in operation of those during which the equipment 2 is not in operation (it may be a simple comparison with a predetermined threshold).

In all cases, the objective is to identify at the level of the data processing means 12 the time intervals of operation, or not, of the equipment 2. For this, the means 12 can detect the transitions (setting into operation / interruption of operation), while measuring by a counter the duration between two transitions. Thus, for example, "2h12 of operation, then 18 minutes of non-operation, then 58 minutes of operation, then 7h20 of non-operation, then 6h50 of operation, etc.. ". In a step (c), the data processing means 12 estimate said power consumption of the equipment 2 as a function of said signal and a nominal power of the equipment 2. It is simply a question of determining, for an interval given time (in particular a day, or since the last consultation of the device 1) the actual time during which the equipment 2 was in operation and multiply this time by the nominal power. In other words, the step (c) comprises the determination by the data processing means 12 of an operating time of said equipment 2 from a reference time (ie the moment from which the consumption is measured by example when the last time the device 1 was interrogated, the instant 24h before if one makes a rolling measurement, 0h00 in the day, etc.) according to said signal. It is important to note that magnetic field measurement is used only to distinguish when equipment 1 is in operation from where it is not. No intensity or voltage value in the equipment 2 is determined by the data processing means 12 from the signal emitted by the probe 11. And advantageously, the emitted signal is only representative of the character in operation. or not equipment 2, that is to say, it is not precise enough to determine such values of intensity or voltage, because it would be an unnecessary cost.

Thus, if the example above described the operating intervals on a day, we get 2h12 + 0h58 + 6h50 of operation or 10h. For a nominal power of 2500W, this makes an estimated consumption of 25kWh. As shown in FIG. 1, a display step (d ') on the interface 14 of the device 1 can be implemented so as to display said estimated consumption (here 25kWh). In the case of such a display, the device can for example permanently display, or following a button press, consumption previously measured on the day (which, as explained, can start from the moment reference, for example 00h00 or for example 07h00), or the rolling consumption over the last 24h (in this case the reference time is the moment 24h before the present moment). The measurement of 24-hour rolling consumption is practical because it makes it possible to detect abnormal situations: in theory, such rolling consumption should be constant, unless the equipment starts to under- or over-operate, either because of a normal factor (weather, etc.) or a problem (faulty thermostat, etc.). It should be noted that in the previous example, the periods of "non-functioning" were ignored whereas, as explained, they can be associated with a consumption that is certainly small but non-zero. For this, the estimate can also be a function of a degraded power corresponding to a mean "non-operating" power, substantially less than the nominal power. Alternatively, a coefficient can be fixed (for example 10%, or even 1 or 2%), coefficient setting a ratio power degraded / power rating. Thus, the consumption is estimated as the sum of: - the product of the operating time since the reference time by the nominal power; and - the product of the non-operating time (i.e. the total time from the reference time minus the operating time) from the reference time by the degraded power. To resume the example before, assuming a degraded power of 100W on the remaining 14 hours of the day, we obtain a total estimated consumption of 26.4 kWh (over the range of 24 hours). Use of the consumption Preferably, the device 1 comprises, as explained, a wireless communication module 13. This advantageously allows the implementation of a step (d) (where appropriate in addition to or in replacement of the step (d ') display mentioned before) transmission to a receiver 3 of said consumption This receiver can be of many types, from which different types of steps (d) illustrated in FIGS. 2a-2c can be estimated via wireless means of communication of the device 1. In a first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2a, the receiver 3 is a mobile terminal (for example a smartphone or a touch pad) communicating directly with the device 1, for example via a short-range communication (Bluetooth, NFC, etc.). , or via a mobile network (GSM, 3G, 4G, etc.). In such a mode, an application on the mobile terminal 3 makes it possible to interact with the device 1, which can thus be devoid of an interface 14 in favor of that of the terminal 3. Thus, the terminal 3 can make it possible to consult the consumption , but also to enter parameters such as the nominal power and / or the degraded power. Furthermore, the terminal 3 can store consumption histories (the intervals) stored temporarily by the device 1 and transmitted to each connection between the communication module 13 and the terminal 3.

In a second embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2b, the receiver 3 is a communicating electric meter (for example LINKY) having a built-in Tele-Information Transmitter (TIC) transmitter or not. Depending on this received consumption, the smart meter can (possibly automatically for the user) send instructions to the control module 21 of the equipment 2 to modify this consumption (if for example it is abnormally high). The counter 3 can also send information representative of the "voltage quality" to the module 21 to correct the estimated consumption. Indeed the nominal power of a device is given for a nominal voltage (230V). If the voltage at the focus is slightly different because of the distance to the power sources (one is at the "end of the network") a correction coefficient can be applied. In a third embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2c, the receiver 3 is a "box" internet access box of an Internet access provider. This box 3 can generate a Wi-Fi network for connecting the device 1, and possibly several devices 1a, 1b 20 each associated with a device 2a, 2b. The box 3 is itself connected to the Internet 31. It can send on this network the consumption data for example to the energy operator for studies, and / or retrieve additional data (for example meteorological) so as to make statistical processing 25 aimed at optimizing overall consumption. It will be understood that whatever the receiver 3 (and even without receiver 3), it is advantageous to multiply the devices 1 to have the most comprehensive monitoring of the consumption of the home. According to a second aspect, the invention also relates to the counting device 1 for implementing the present method.

The device 1 comprises a magnetic probe 11 and data processing means 12. The latter are configured for, when the device 1 is disposed near a device 2 (in particular when it is attached to the equipment 2 by the fixing means 15), to implement modules of: - Reception from said magnetic probe (11) of a signal representative of the detection by the magnetic probe (11) of a magnetic field generated by the equipment (2) when in operation; - Estimation of an electrical consumption of the equipment (2) according to said signal and a nominal power of the equipment (2).

Claims (11)

REVENDICATIONS1. A method for estimating an electrical consumption of a device (2), characterized in that it comprises the implementation of steps 5 of: (a) Detection by a magnetic probe (11) of a device ( 1) disposed near the equipment (2) of a magnetic field generated by the equipment (2) when in operation; (b) transmitting to a data processing means (12) connected to said magnetic probe (11) a signal representative of the operating character of the equipment (2) when detecting said magnetic field, (c) ) Estimation by the data processing means (12) of said power consumption of the equipment (2) as a function of said signal and a nominal power of the equipment (2). 2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the data processing means (12) are integrated in the device (1), the method comprising a step (d) of transmission to a receiver (3) of said estimated consumption via wireless communication means (13) of the device (1). 3. The method of claim 2, comprising pre-receiving by the data processing means (12) via the wireless communication means (13) of said nominal power of the equipment (2). 4. Method according to one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the receiver (3) is selected from a mobile terminal, a communicating electricity meter 30 and an internet access box. 5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, comprising a step (d ') of display on an interface (14) of the device (1) of said estimated consumption. 6. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein step (c) is also a function of a degraded power of the equipment (2). 7. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, wherein step (c) comprises the determination by the data processing means (12) of an operating time of said equipment (2) since a moment of reference according to said signal. The method of claim 7, wherein step (c) comprises multiplying said operating time of said equipment (2) with the rated power of the equipment (2). 9. Counting device (1) comprising a magnetic probe (11) and data processing means (12) configured for, when the device (1) is arranged near an equipment (2), to implement modules of: - receiving from said magnetic probe (11) a signal representative of the detection by the magnetic probe (11) of a magnetic field generated by the equipment (2) when in operation; - Estimation of an electrical consumption of the equipment (2) according to said signal and a nominal power of the equipment (2). 30 10. Device according to claim 9, comprising fixing means (15) adhesive or magnetic equipment (2). 11. Device according to one of claims 9 and 10, comprising electrical generating means adapted for, when the device (1) is disposed near a device (2), supplying the device (1) from a magnetic field or a temperature gradient generated by the equipment (2).