Smart Socket Power Control Using AI Occupancy Prediction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Smart sockets often remain powered on unnecessarily, leading to energy wastage due to unknown device connections and reliance on manual interactions or costly detection hardware, without considering individual user schedules or preferences.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a supervisor configured with an AI model to predict occupancy schedules based on user access events, automatically controlling smart sockets to power on/off according to predicted user presence, optionally with user notifications and acknowledgments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If smart sockets remain powered on at all times to ensure availability, then reliability of power supply is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The smart socket system dynamically adjusts its power state between on and off based on real-time occupancy detection and predicted schedules, rather than maintaining a fixed state. This allows the system to be reliable when needed (occupied) while conserving energy when not needed (unoccupied), resolving the contradiction between availability and energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses occupancy sensors and AI models to automatically determine when power is needed, eliminating the need for manual user intervention. The smart socket self-regulates its power state based on detected occupancy and predicted schedules, maintaining reliability autonomously while reducing energy waste.
2Loss of energy
If occupancy detection hardware is installed to control smart sockets based on user presence, then energy efficiency is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system leverages the building access control system that already exists for its primary function of controlling building access. This access control system is then repurposed to provide occupancy detection functionality for smart socket control, eliminating the need for separate detection hardware and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining energy efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The building access control system serves as an intermediary that bridges the gap between user presence information and smart socket control. Instead of requiring direct occupancy detection hardware at each socket, the access control system mediates by providing occupancy data to the supervisor, which then controls the sockets, simplifying the overall architecture.
3Ease of operation
If fixed power schedules are used to control smart sockets, then ease of operation is improved, but adaptability to individual user needs deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by predicting occupancy schedules in advance using AI models and historical access data. This allows the smart sockets to be proactively controlled based on predicted user presence rather than reacting to current state only, providing both ease of operation and adaptability to individual user patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where occupancy data from access control events is continuously fed into AI models that refine predicted schedules. These refined predictions then feed back into the control logic, allowing the system to adapt to individual user patterns over time while maintaining simple automated operation without manual configuration.
Data Source
AI summary
An example system for controlling energy consumption of a region of a building comprises a building access control system that manages access of a user to the region of the building and detects an occurrence of user access events associated with one or more access control devices for the region in the building; one or more smart sockets located in the region of the building, a controller configured to: query an artificial intelligence model to predict an occupancy schedule of the at least one user in the region of the building based the detected occurrences of the one or more user access events; and send a control signal to automatically switch power off or switch power on for the one or more smart sockets in the region of the building based on the predicted occupancy schedule of the at least one user in the region of the building.