APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE ENERGY USAGE OF AN APPLIANCE

摘要

A system and method for controlling an appliance with respect to the appliance's energy usage, in which a signal relating to the energy used by the appliance is received, and a determination of whether to continue or interrupt a cycle of operation being conducted by the appliance is made based at least on part upon the receipt of the signal.

主权项

1. An appliance configured to perform a cycle of operation comprising:
a treating chamber for receiving an article for treatment according to the cycle of operation; and a controller configured to implement the cycle of operation on the article in the treating chamber, the controller comprising:
a processor; anda non-transitory storage medium storing machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor causes the controller to at least:
determine a recovery cost for the appliance as the energy cost of interrupting the cycle of operation and completing the cycle of operation at a later time, determine a continued operation cost as the energy cost needed to continue the cycle of operation without interruption, including determining a normal operation cost, which is the cost of continuing the cycle of operation without interruption in a normal mode, and determining a reduced power operation cost, which is the cost of continuing the cycle of operation without interruption in a reduced power mode;compare the recovery cost to the continued operation cost, including comparing the recovery cost to the normal operation cost and comparing the recovery cost to the reduced power operation cost; andset a time in the cycle of operation to interrupt the cycle of operation so long as the recovery cost is less than the continued operation cost.