METHOD FOR RECORDING POWER CONSUMPTION DATA OF A RESIDENTIAL UNIT AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A RESIDENTIAL UNIT

Abstract

A method for recording power consumption data of a residential unit, the residential unit having a distributor (4) with at least one load circuit (7), wherein at least one load (9) is arranged in each load circuit (7), at least one load (9) can be individually actuated and at least one load circuit (7) has mechanism (6) for measuring the power consumed in the load circuit (7). The residential unit has a control unit (10), which actuates the load or loads (9) on the basis of predetermined or predeterminable scenes. The power consumption of the load circuits (7) is measured individually and recorded by the control unit (10) and the control unit (10) assigns the power consumption to the set scenes.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A method for recording power consumption data of a residential unit, the residential unit having a distributor with a plurality of load circuits, at least one load being arranged in each load circuit, each load circuit having a means for measuring the power consumed in the load circuit, the residential unit having a monitoring unit which controls the loads on the basis of predetermined or predeterminable scenes, at least one load being individually controllable, a scene being a circuit state of at least one, preferably a plurality of or all controllable loads of the residential unit or sections of the residential unit on the basis of predefined or predefinable situations or activities, wherein the power consumption of the load circuits is individually measured by the means for measuring and recorded by the monitoring unit, and the monitoring unit assigning the thus determined power consumption to the scenes which have been set.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein a change in the power consumption is assigned to a change in the scene.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the scenes can be set across the load circuits.

19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the power consumption of the individual scenes and/or their sum is/are represented graphically and/or in the form of text.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein a change in the power consumption is graphically represented with a message relating to the changed scene.

21. The method according to claim 16, wherein the power consumption of the individual loads is recorded.

22. The method according to claim 16, wherein consumption data of the residential unit, in particular the power consumption of the individual load circuits and/or of the individual loads and/or of the individual scenes, are transmitted from the monitoring unit to an external device, in particular via the Internet.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the consumption data are represented graphically and/or in the form of text on the external device.

24. The method according to claim 16, wherein the monitoring unit is connected, or is able to be connected to a control device, in particular via the Internet, and is controlled or is able to be controlled by said control device, individual scenes being selected and the loads in the residential unit being controlled or being able to be controlled accordingly.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein consumption data of the residential unit, in particular the power consumption of the individual load circuits and/or of the individual loads and/or of the individual scenes, are transmitted from the monitoring unit to the control device.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the consumption data are represented graphically and/or in the form of text on the control device.

27. The method according to claim 24, wherein at least one scene is configured using the control device.

28. A computer program product which can be loaded directly into the internal memory of a digital computer and comprises software sections which are used to carry out the steps according to claim 16 when the product runs on a computer.

29. The method for equipping or retrofitting residential units, with the result that the method according to claim 16 can be carried out, comprising one or more of the following steps in any desired combination: installing controllable switching means in one or more loads and/or installing controllable loads, installing means for measuring consumed power in one or more load circuits, installing a monitoring unit which is configured in such a manner that the monitoring unit controls the loads on the basis of predetermined or predeterminable scenes and records the power consumption of the load circuits and assigns it to the scenes which have been set.

Description

[0044] The invention is explained in more detail below using figures which illustrate only exemplary embodiments. In the drawing:

[0045] FIG. 1: shows a building power supply system for carrying out the method according to the invention,

[0046] FIG. 2: shows a time/power diagram of the instantaneous power consumption of the building power supply system,

[0047] FIG. 3: shows a bar chart of the consumed energy per scene used, and

[0048] FIG. 4: shows an illustration of the instantaneous power consumption in a spherical diagram on a control device.

[0049] FIG. 1 illustrates a building power supply system 1 for carrying out the method according to the invention. Starting from a system access 2 with an electricity meter 3, a distributor 4 is situated in the building. In this distributor 4, the AC voltage network is divided among the individual load circuits 7, each load circuit 7 having its own fuse 5 and a measuring means 6 in the form of an electricity meter for measuring the power consumed in the load circuit 7. In conventional building cabling, each load circuit 7 corresponds approximately to one room, in which case individual devices, for example an oven, a washing machine or an electrical heating system, usually have their own load circuit. In each load circuit, loads 9 are connected either directly or via a controllable switching means 8.

[0050] The measuring means 6 are connected to one another via an RS-485 bus. A monitoring unit 10 is also additionally arranged in the distributor 4 and is likewise connected to the individual measuring means 6 of the load circuits 7. Each measuring means 6 transmits the measured power consumption in its load circuit 7 to the monitoring unit 10 in real time via the RS-485 bus. It goes without saying that, instead of an RS-485 bus, another data connection can also be used. The monitoring unit 10 has a connection for an Ethernet or to the Internet, with the result that the monitoring unit 10 can be connected to external devices. The individual controllable switching means 8 and/or the loads 9 themselves are equipped in such a manner that they can determine their power consumption themselves and can transmit it to the measuring means 6 of their load circuit 7. The measuring means 6 therefore has the possibility of transmitting the self-measured value of the power consumption to the monitoring unit 10 and/or of forwarding the sum of the individual values and/or the individual values which have been transmitted from the loads 9 or controllable switching means 8.

[0051] So-called scenes are now stored in the monitoring unit 10 or in the individual measuring means 6. These scenes can be selected by a control device or by a pushbutton and can then be called by the monitoring unit. For example, the monitoring unit 10 can call a first television scene which switches on the TV, dims background lighting to 50% and dims the ceiling lighting in the living room to 80%. In this case, not all loads 9 have to be arranged in the same load circuit 7. For example, the TV and the background lighting can be assigned to a first load circuit 7, whereas the ceiling lighting is assigned to a second load circuit. Accordingly, the measuring means 6 of the first and second load circuits record the power consumption of the television scene with 160 W in the first load circuit and with 100 W in the second load circuit. These two values are transmitted to the monitoring unit 10 which sums the power consumption and assigns 260 W to the first television scene. Further scenes, for example reading on the sofa, reading in bed, cooking. eating, romantic dinner, working in the office, etc., can now be defined in a similar manner. Each individual scene call will then switch the corresponding loads 9 in the individual load circuits 7 on or off or, in the case of a luminaire, will dim it to a particular brightness. The power consumption is respectively recorded for each load circuit 7 independently of the individual loads 9 and is transmitted to the monitoring unit 10 which assigns it to the individual scenes which have been set. Alternatively or additionally, the power consumption for each load 9 can also be recorded and can be transmitted to the monitoring unit 10. The power consumptions can be considered individually and/or in summed form, that is to say for each load 9, for each load circuit 7, for each scene or for each residential unit 1, and can be represented on a display, for example.

[0052] FIG. 2 shows a time/power diagram of the instantaneous power consumption 12 of the building power supply system 1. In this case, the ongoing time is plotted on the x axis and the power consumption is plotted on the y axis. The curve of the power consumption 12 is continuously updated in real time and each change in the power consumption is commented on using a status message 13. The user therefore immediately knows the cause of the changed power consumption. It goes without saying that the consumption curve illustrated is only one example of the countless representation possibilities and other types of representation are also conceivable. In particular, other status messages are also conceivable; for example, it is possible not only to reveal a change in the power consumption but also to respectively represent all activated scenes. In this case, the text in the status messages can be configured in any desired manner and the individual scenes can be arbitrarily named.

[0053] The time/power diagram shown can be represented on a permanently installed device directly in the residential unit, for example in the living room. For this purpose, this device is directly connected to the monitoring unit 10 (see FIG. 1) or the monitoring unit 10 directly has a display for displaying the time/power diagram. Alternatively, the time/power diagram shown can also be displayed on a portable device, for example on a smartphone, a tablet PC or a notebook. The connection to the monitoring unit is then preferably carried out via the Internet.

[0054] FIG. 3 illustrates a bar chart of the energy 14, 14 consumed per scene used and per year. This is a further form of representation for visualizing the power consumption. It goes without saying that the individual scenes can be individually labeled. The user immediately discerns which scene consumes most energy 14 over the year. This energy consumption results, on the one hand, from the period of time in which the corresponding scene is used and from the power consumption of the scene. The user can therefore consider whether the usage duration of the corresponding scene is actually required or whether the power consumption of the scene can be optimized. For example, the power consumption of a scene can be reduced by skillfully switching off individual loads or by replacing a halogen lamp with an LED luminaire. A change in the scene may be represented directly in the bar chart by means of a projected energy consumption 14, for example. For example, scene7 exhibits a reduction in the annually consumed energy from 1050 kWh to 350 kWh only by replacing halogen luminous means with new LED luminous means.

[0055] FIG. 4 shows an illustration of the instantaneous power consumption of a residential unit in a circle diagram on a control device 11. The control device is a smartphone, a tablet PC or a notebook computer, for example. The instantaneous power consumption of the scenes used is represented directly by the size of the circles 15. The user immediately discerns which scenes are active in the residential unit and accordingly contribute to the total power consumption of the residential unit. The actual value may additionally also be entered. The user also discerns at a glance which scene causes the greatest power consumption and can have an influence if necessary. In the example shown, scene4 consumes 990 W. It goes without saying that the individual scenes can be individually labeled. For example, instead of Scene4, scene4 can also be labeled working in the office. Detailed information relating to this scene, such as the individual loads 9 (see FIG. 1) with the corresponding power consumption, can be represented by selecting the corresponding scene, for example. Loads which are not required can be excluded from the scene or their consumption can be reduced. For example, luminaires could be dimmed. It therefore becomes possible to efficiently monitor and directly influence the power consumption of the individual scene and of the entire residential unit.