Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100070099 | DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT MODULE - A household appliance system and method include an appliance control system having a common appliance interface provided on an appliance and a demand side management module connected to the common appliance interface. The module corresponds to one select utility of a plurality of utilities and is adapted to communicate with the one select utility of the plurality of utilities. The appliance control system operates the appliance based on communications with the one select utility through the module. | 03-18-2010 |
20100090806 | MANAGEMENT CONTROL OF HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES USING RFID COMMUNICATION - A method and system for communicating with an associated home appliance having a micro-controller includes providing a master device that emits a signal in response to data indicative of energy operational costs. One or more RFID tags receive the master device signal. The RFID tag(s) are connected to the associated home appliance micro-controller to control the operational mode of the home appliance. Preferably, four RFID tags are responsive to four distinct frequency signal emitted by the master device and are representative of different modes of operation for the associated home appliance. | 04-15-2010 |
20100200565 | CONTROL SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC HEATING ELEMENTS - A cooking appliance including two or more independently controllable heating elements disposed on a cooktop of the cooking appliance; and a control circuit including two or more switches and configured to be operative in a first mode to enable each switch to independently control a respective one of the two or more independently controllable heating elements, and operative in a second mode to disable independent control of the two or more independently controllable heating elements, and enable one of the switches to simultaneously control the respective ones of the two or more independently controllable heating elements as a single unit. | 08-12-2010 |
20100207728 | ENERGY MANAGEMENT - An energy management system includes a module for an energy consuming device. The module has a module main controller including a computer processor in communication with a module computer readable storage medium containing computer executable code. When the computer executable code is executed by the computer processor, it performs a method including determining whether a demand state is a peak demand state, employing a reduced operational mode of the energy consuming device during a peak demand state, and employing a normal operational mode of the energy consuming device during a demand state other than a peak demand state. In an embodiment, the system also includes a system main controller in communication with the module. | 08-19-2010 |
20110002810 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISINFECTING AND/OR DEODORIZING AN ARTICLE - An apparatus for disinfecting and/or deodorizing an article comprises a cabinet defining a compartment configured to receive the article. A regenerative dryer is positioned with respect to the compartment and is configured to dehydrate air flowing into an ozone generator. The ozone generator is in communication with the dryer and is positioned with respect to the compartment. The ozone generator is configured to selectively generate ozone. The generated ozone is introduced into the compartment. An ozone conversion device is positioned with respect to the compartment and is configured to selectively convert ozone back to oxygen. A controller is configured to selectively activate the dryer, ozone generator and ozone conversion device. | 01-06-2011 |
20120024240 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REGULATING TEMPERATURE IN A HOT WATER HEATER - A hot water heater, and method of regulating the same, which includes a PID control. The PID control is responsive to inputs such as water temperature in the hot water heater and the flow rate of water such as through inlets and outlets coupled to the hot water heater. In one embodiment, the PID control generates an output that modifies the operating parameters of a heating device to accommodate changes in the temperature of the fluid in the hot water heater. The output results from one or more modules of a three-term control structure, wherein the modules comprise one or more of a proportional control module, an integral control module, and a derivative control module. Each of the modules is assigned at least one term, wherein the term is defined in accordance with gain parameters such as a proportional gain, an integral gain, and a derivative gain. | 02-02-2012 |
20120060525 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MONITORING SUPER-HEATING OF REFRIGERANT TO IMPROVE COMPRESSOR EFFICIENCY AND LOWER ENERGY USAGE - Apparatus and methodologies are provided to monitor temperature from at least two locations on an evaporator in a refrigeration system. Operational characteristics of one or more of the compressor, condenser and evaporator cooling fans are adjusted based on the difference in temperature between the two locations on the evaporator. In some systems a second evaporator may be provided along with a refrigerant control valve. Cooling air flow across the second evaporator and refrigerant distribution between the plural evaporators may also be control. | 03-15-2012 |
20120060526 | REFRIGERATOR ENERGY AND TEMPERATURE CONTROL - Apparatus and methodologies are provided to improve the refrigeration system by precisely controlling refrigerator compartment and heat exchanger temperatures through continuous modulation of device speeds or positions to match capacity with instantaneous load. A controller in a refrigerator is configured to provide a plurality of control loops to control various operational aspects of selected components in the refrigerator. A first loop controls the operating speed of a compressor based on temperature of the evaporator or based on the desired speed of an evaporator fan. A second control loop controls speed of an evaporator fan to maintain a prescribed freezer compartment temperature. A third control loop maintains a prescribed temperature in a fresh food compartment. In certain embodiments selected of the control loops may be thermodynamically coupled by way of thermal interaction between the various cooled compartments rather than being electrically coupled. The control loops may be individually configured as one of a proportional, proportional-integral, or proportional-integral-derivative control loop. | 03-15-2012 |
20120090595 | GAS BURNER ASSEMBLY - An gas burner assembly for a cooking appliance includes a main burner assembly, a simmer burner assembly positioned in a stacked relationship with and located below the main burner assembly, a venturi assembly for delivering a gas flow to the main burner assembly, a gas boost pump configured to control a pressurization of the gas flow, a gas valve assembly for controlling a rate of the gas flow, and an encoder coupled to the gas valve assembly, the encoder configured to track a position of the gas valve assembly and provide a signal to the gas boost pump for pressurization of the gas flow. | 04-19-2012 |
20120119660 | LIGHTING COMPENSATION FOR APPLIANCES - Apparatus and methodology is provided to control lighting associated with an appliance. Ambient light proximate the appliance and/or light from one or more lighting devices associated with the appliance is monitored and used to control the energization of the appliance lighting devices. Lighting device may include illumination devices as well as indicia display devices. The controller is configured to compensate lighting levels over the lifetime of the lighting devices to provide consistent lighting from the appliance lighting under all operating conditions. | 05-17-2012 |
20120175365 | LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR USE WITH A MICROWAVE OVEN - A microwave oven includes a top wall, side walls, and a bottom wall at least partially defining a cavity of the microwave oven, and a table coupled to the bottom wall. The table has a top surface and an opposing bottom surface. The top surface is configured to support an item within the cavity. A light source directs light to the table. The table is configured to diffuse light emitted from the light source into the cavity. | 07-12-2012 |
20130030552 | OPTICALLY-PROJECTED USER INTERFACE FOR APPLIANCES - An apparatus comprises a front projection system operatively mounted as part of an appliance and configured to optically project a virtual user interface; an optics system operatively mounted as part of the appliance and configured to direct the virtual user interface optically projected by the front projection system onto a given surface; a user input system operatively mounted as part of the appliance and configured to receive one or more input selections made by a user in correspondence with one or more features that are part of the virtual user interface optically projected by the front projection system on the given surface via the optics system; and a controller operatively coupled to the front projection system and the user input system, and configured to control operation of one or more components of the appliance in response to the one or more input selections made by the user in correspondence with the one or more features that are part of the virtual user interface. | 01-31-2013 |
20130103222 | DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT MODULE - A household appliance system comprising an appliance control system having a common appliance interface provided on an appliance and a demand side management module connected to the common appliance interface. The module corresponds to one select utility of a plurality of utilities and is configured to communicate with the one select utility of the plurality of utilities. The appliance control system operates the appliance based on communications with the one select utility through the module. | 04-25-2013 |
20130110413 | ESTIMATING GAS USAGE IN A GAS BURNING DEVICE | 05-02-2013 |
20130197827 | MONITORING HOT WATER USAGE IN A GAS WATER HEATER - An apparatus and method for determining the volume of hot water dispensed during a given timeframe from a hydrocarbon fueled water heater based on the volume of fuel consumed by the water heater during the timeframe and the average temperature difference between the inlet water temperature and the outlet water temperature during the timeframe. | 08-01-2013 |
20140161430 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A WATER HEATER USING AN AUXILIARY POWER SOURCE - The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for connecting to an auxiliary power source and operating a water heater. One exemplary aspect is directed to a water heater configured to heat a volume of water. The water heater can include a first heating system configured to operate at a first power and a second heating system configured to operate at a second power. The second power can be less than the first power. The water heater can further include a first AC connection configured to receive externally supplied AC power at a first voltage and a second AC connection configured to receive externally supplied AC power at a second voltage. The second voltage can be less than the first voltage. The water heater can use only the second heating system when the second AC connection receives the externally supplied AC power at the second voltage. | 06-12-2014 |