ENERGY MONITORING AND CONTROL SYSTEM USING REVERSE TRANSMISSION ON AC LINE

摘要

An energy monitoring and control system (10) for use with a conventional AC source (12) having a hot wire and a neutral wire (28). The energy monitoring and control system (10) includes a control station (14) and a number of controllable loads (20). The control station (14) is coupled in series with the hot wire of the AC source and is physically located between the AC source (12) and the loads (20). The individual loads are connected in parallel with each other and are coupled to the AC surce (12) and the control station (14). The control station (14) can communicate with the loads in various ways, a preferred scheme being a power-line communication method. Each of the loads is equipped with circuitry for receiving and executing commands sent by the control station (14). The control station (14) can receive information from the loads (20) by observing the AC supply current drawn by the loads (20).