I-Corps: Circuit-Level Electricity Meters

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力集中在利用电路级用电数据来识别设备故障、分配能源成本以及提高住宅和商业建筑部门的运营效率的实质性机会上。 通过在电路级监测电力，可以检测设备何时即将发生故障。 通过在多租户设施中对电力进行分计量，可以公平地向每个占用者收费。 通过审计能源使用和与其他建筑物的基准比较，可以确定提高运营效率或设备效率的投资机会。 所有这些好处，以及其他许多好处，都源于对用电情况的更大可视性。I-Corps的这个项目涉及一种新型的电力分表，它大大降低了安装成本和复杂性，这是更广泛采用该技术的主要障碍。这些结果今天是可能的，因为大量的超低功耗能量收集电路的研究。 这些电路实现了自供电传感器操作、降低安装成本并消除电气关闭的需要的夹式安装、可以联合校准传感器和前端电子器件以获得更好的整体精度和更低成本的新校准方法、以及允许真实功率测量而没有传统电压传感器的高安装成本和安全风险的非接触式电压感测的新方法。 当这些新型电能分表产生的数据通过算法进行分析和处理时，可以识别设备故障，分配能源成本，检测低效操作，并减少高电网需求。 该解决方案解决了关键的准确性、成本和部署挑战，填补了电力分表行业的重要空白。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is focused on the substantial opportunity to utilize circuit-level electricity usage data to identify equipment faults, allocate energy costs, and increase operating efficiency in the residential and commercial building sectors. By monitoring electricity at the circuit level, it is possible to detect when equipment is about to malfunction. By sub-metering electricity in multi-tenant facilities, it is possible to fairly charge each occupant. By auditing energy use and benchmarking against other buildings, it is possible to identify investment opportunities that increase operating efficiency or equipment inefficiencies. All of these benefits, as well as many others, stem from greater visibility into electricity usage.This I-Corps project concerns a new type of electricity sub-meter that dramatically reduces installation cost and complexity, the main impediments to greater adoption of the technology. These results are possible today because of substantial prior research into ultra-low power energy-harvesting circuits. These circuits enable self-powered sensor operation, clip-on installation that reduces installation cost and eliminates the need for electrical shutdowns, new calibration methods that can jointly calibrate the sensors and front-end electronics for better overall accuracy and lower cost, and a novel method of non-contact voltage sensing that allows true power measurement without high installation cost and safety risks of conventional voltage sensors. When the data that these new types of electricity sub-meters generate are analyzed and processed by algorithms, it is possible to identify equipment faults, allocate energy costs, detect inefficient operations, and reduce high grid demand. This solution addresses key accuracy, cost, and deployment challenges, filling an important gap in the electricity sub-metering industry.