Smart Circuit Monitoring for Automated Home Fault Mitigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing home electrical systems lack integrated, field-serviceable components for monitoring and controlling electrical loads, energy storage, and generation sources to manage power consumption and respond to faults effectively.
Innovation Solution
An integrated system with field-serviceable components that monitor and control electrical circuits, including smart appliances, and respond to faults by interrupting current, generating notifications, and actuating secondary devices, utilizing sensors and communication with smart devices to manage power consumption and mitigate faults.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional breaker-based circuit protection is used, then circuit protection is provided, but integrated monitoring and control of electrical loads, energy storage, and generation sources cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines traditional circuit breaker protection functionality with integrated monitoring and control capabilities into a unified system. The breaker incorporates sensors, communication interfaces, and control logic that enable it to monitor electrical loads, energy storage devices, and generation sources while maintaining its protective function, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The circuit breaker is designed to perform multiple functions: traditional overcurrent protection, real-time monitoring of electrical parameters, control of connected loads, and communication with external systems. This multi-functionality allows the same device to provide both reliable circuit protection and integrated system management capabilities.
2Loss of information
If monitoring is performed at the load device or total current flow at the electrical meter, then some monitoring capability is provided, but effective fault identification and automated response cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous monitoring with feedback loops that detect faults and automatically trigger appropriate responses. Sensors monitor electrical parameters, the controller analyzes the data to identify faults, and automated actions are executed based on pre-programmed response logic, enabling effective automated fault response while maintaining comprehensive monitoring capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-programs fault response actions and thresholds before faults occur. When monitoring detects abnormal conditions, the pre-configured automated responses are immediately executed, enabling rapid fault mitigation without waiting for manual intervention or complex real-time decision-making.
3Reliability
If breakers are tripped over current or manual action, then circuit protection is provided, but integrated fault mitigation with notifications and control signals cannot be implemented
Solution Approach 1:
The circuit breaker system performs self-diagnosis and self-action by automatically detecting faults, determining appropriate responses, and executing mitigation actions without external intervention. The system also provides automated notifications to users, reducing the need for manual monitoring and intervention while maintaining reliable protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller acts as an intermediary between the monitoring sensors and the actuation mechanisms. It processes sensor data, determines fault conditions, and generates appropriate control signals for breakers, notifications, and other actuators, thereby coordinating the integrated fault mitigation system while maintaining clear functional separation.
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes control circuitry configured to manage faults of an electrical system. The system is configured to monitor consumption for a plurality of electrical circuits, such as branch circuits, and generate device information about a device based on an electrical current measurement from at least one electrical circuit of the plurality of electrical circuits to which the device is coupled. The system is also configured to determining that an event has occurred based on the device information and interrupt current of the at least one electrical circuit, generate a notification, communicate a control signal to the device in response to the event occurring to mitigate the event, actuate a second device in response to the event, or a combination thereof.