Power distribution units, power distribution systems, and related methods for controlling relay switches of electrical cords are disclosed herein. According to an aspect, an electronic device includes a power input for receipt of electrical power. Further, the electronic device includes a communications module configured to individually route signals to switching relays of a plurality of electrical cords for individually controlling transmission of power via the electrical cords. The communications module is also configured to individually route control signals to power monitoring circuits of the electrical cords for individually monitoring power levels of the electrical cords.

A smart circuit breaker includes a communication interface, separable contacts, a processing unit having a memory with a routine stored therein which, when executed by the processing unit causes the processing unit to: sense a power outage in an electrical grid, control a meter to open contacts to disconnect from the electrical grid, sense power restoration to the electrical grid, control contacts corresponding to a secondary power source to open, control the meter to close contacts to reconnect to the electrical grid, sense that a frequency of power from the electrical grid matches a frequency of power from the secondary power source, and control the contacts corresponding to the secondary power source to close.

Electric vehicle charging management methods and systems are provided. First, a server receives a candidate charging request respectively from each of candidate charging stations or candidate mobile devices via a network. According to the candidate charging requests, at least one first charging station is selected from the candidate charging stations, and the first charging station is instructed to perform a first charging operation with an upper power limit value. The server sets the candidate charging requests of the candidate charging stations other than that of the first charging station to a pending state. When the first charging status information corresponding to the first charging operation meets an energy management condition, the server selects at least one second charging station from the candidate charging stations according to the candidate charging requests, and instructs the second charging station to perform a second charging operation with the upper power limit value.

A system with multiple functions of energy storage, Internet of things (IoT) and disaster communication is disclosed. The system includes an energy management controller connected to a power input, a digital meter, an energy storage battery pack, a power inverter, an automatic transfer switch system and a communication device with IoT and wireless communication function, and is used to control the energy storage battery pack into a charge/discharge mode or a protection mode according to a charge/discharge algorithm for the energy storage battery pack and to receive frequency conversion, voice or text messages from the communication device with IoT and wireless communication function. The energy management controller also controls the automatic transfer switch system to enable an emergency power supply control procedure when a utility power grid tripping occurs during a typhoon, an earthquake or any other emergency condition. A control method of the system is also disclosed.

A circuit breaker includes an electromechanical switch, a current sensor, a voltage sensor, and a processor. The electromechanical switch is serially connected between a line input terminal and a load output terminal of the circuit breaker, and configured to be placed in a switched-closed state or a switched-open state. The current sensor is configured to sense a magnitude of current flowing in a path between the line input and load output terminals and generate a current sense signal. The voltage sensor is configured to sense a magnitude of voltage at a point on the path between the line input and load output terminals and generate a voltage sense signal. The processor is configured to receive and process the current sense signal and the voltage sense signal to determine operational status information of the circuit breaker and determine power usage information of a load connected to the load output terminal.

Power outages and restorations at customer premises can be automatically detected and reported. A method may include receiving, from a network terminal, a first notification associated with a power outage; retrieving location information associated with the network terminal; sending a second notification indicating that the outage has occurred and that includes the location information associated with the network terminal; retrieving prior outage information that corresponds to a set of network terminals associated with a group of set top boxes; determining that an outage event is triggered, when a quantity of outages is greater than a threshold, where the quantity of outages is based on the outage and other outages obtained from the prior outage information; and sending a third notification based on the determination that the outage event is triggered.

Systems and methods dynamically assess energy efficiency by obtaining a minimum energy consumption of a system, receiving in a substantially continuous way a measurement of actual energy consumption of the system, and comparing the minimum energy consumption to the measurement of actual energy consumption to calculate a substantially continuous energy performance assessment. The system further provides at least one of a theoretical minimum energy consumption based at least in part on theoretical performance limits of system components, an achievable minimum energy consumption based at least in part on specifications for high energy efficient equivalents of the system components, and the designed minimum energy consumption based at least in part on specifications for the system components.

Systems and methods for the creation of a centrally controlled DC and AC power rail system within a structure. The rails utilize a centralized controller along with a plurality of distributed controllers to allow for power in the rails to be selectively distributed or not distributed to outlets attached to the rails. This allows for power to be distributed without the need for users to utilize hardwired switches, but to instead utilize generally wireless switch modules, which may be implemented in hardware and/or software to control the outlets. It also allows for devices designed to utilize DC power to be directly supplied with such power from the DC power rail without the need to include onboard AC-DC converters with each device.

A controllable electrical outlet may comprise a resonant loop antenna. The resonant loop antenna may comprise a feed loop electrically coupled to a radio-frequency (RF) communication circuit and a main loop magnetically coupled to the feed loop. The controllable electrical outlet may comprise one or more electrical receptacles configured to receive a plug of a plug-in electrical load and may be configured to control power delivered to the plug-in electrical load in response to an RF signal received via the RF communication circuit. The RF performance of the controllable electrical outlet may be substantially immune to devices plugged into the receptacles (e.g., plugs, power supplies, etc.) due to the operation of the resonant loop antenna. For example, degradation of the RF performance of the controllable electrical outlet may be less when the controllable electrical outlet includes the resonant loop antenna rather than other types of antennas.

A power management apparatus includes a receiver configured to receive measurement information obtained by measuring a power of a facility connected to a power grid; and a transmitter configured to transmit a power control message. The transmitter transmits the power control message based on an output power amount of a distributed power supply provided in the facility, in addition to the measurement information. The measurement information is information indicating a total power flow amount from the power grid to the facility or a total reverse power flow amount from the facility to the power grid. The distributed power supply is a power supply that allows a reverse power flow from the facility to the power grid.