Abstract:
An appliance is disclosed that includes operation unit that is mounted in a case of the appliance that is supplied power by an external power supply and that includes at least one of a motor and a heating member. The appliance further includes a control circuit mounted in the case of the appliance and configured to control the operation unit to perform appliance functionality that is different than measuring power. The appliance further includes a power meter coupled to the control circuit, built into the case, and configured to measure power consumed by the appliance in performing the appliance functionality.

Description:
[0001]    Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a), this application claims the benefit of earlier filing date and right of priority to Korean Application No.10-2012-0062579 filed on Jun. 12, 2012, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 
       FIELD 
       [0002]    The present disclosure relates to a home appliance having a built-in power meter configured to measure and observe power consumption of the home appliance. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    There are various electric home appliances that operate on supplied power including refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, air conditioners, cooking apparatuses, televisions, vacuum cleaners, electric pads and electric rice cookers. 
         [0004]    Such electric home appliances are supplied alternating current power supply from an external power supply when put into operation. A watt-hour meter is installed in every house to measure watts consumed in the house. 
         [0005]    Recently, there is a growing interest and demand for power-saving, for example, using power-saving products or using relatively low-priced off-peak electricity. 
         [0006]    Some electric home appliances have power or wattage consumption determined during the manufacturing process and noted on the appliance. 
         [0007]    However, to measure the power or wattage substantially consumed by a specific home appliance, an auxiliary watt-hour meter (namely, a power meter) is typically connected to the specific home appliance. 
       SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0008]    An innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be embodied in an appliance that includes an operation unit that is mounted in a case of the appliance that is supplied power by an external power supply and that includes at least one of a motor and a heating member; a control circuit mounted in the case of the appliance and configured to control the operation unit to perform appliance functionality that is different than measuring power; and a power meter coupled to the control circuit, built into the case, and configured to measure power consumed by the appliance in performing the appliance functionality. 
         [0009]    These and other embodiments can each optionally include one or more of the following features. The power meter includes a voltage-current measuring unit connected to an external power supply and configured to measure voltage and current supplied by the external power supply; and an electric power calculation unit configured to calculate an amount of power based on the voltage and current measured by the voltage-current measuring unit and configured to output the calculated amount of power to the control circuit. The external power supply is an alternating current power supply, and the control circuit includes a rectifier configured to rectify alternating current power received from the alternating current power supply into direct current power; a transformer configured to lower voltage of the direct current power; a first regulator configured to regulate voltage of the direct current power lowered by the transformer; and a microcomputer configured to control the appliance and configured to receive the direct current power regulated by the first regulator. 
         [0010]    The electric power calculation circuit is connected to the microcomputer and configured to transmit data on the calculated amount of power to the microcomputer, and the electric power calculation circuit determines to calculate the amount of power based on a control of the microcomputer. A photocoupler is between the electric power calculation circuit and the microcomputer. The electric power calculation circuit is configured to be supplied the direct current power lowered by the transformer. The control circuit further includes a rectifier circuit connected to the transformer to rectify the power lowered by the transformer, and the electric power calculation circuit is connected to the rectifier circuit and is supplied rectified power from the rectifier circuit. The power meter further includes a second regulator connected between the rectifier circuit and the electric power calculation circuit and configured to lower voltage of the power rectified by the rectifier circuit. The second regulator is a Low Drop-Out (LDO) regulator. 
         [0011]    The electric power calculation circuit is supplied power from a power supply circuit for the electric power calculation circuit. The power supply circuit is connected to the alternating current power supply. The appliance further includes a display configured to display control and operational states of the appliance. The control circuit controls the display to display the amount of power consumed by the appliance. The appliance is a refrigerator, a washing machine, an air conditioner, or a cooking apparatus. The external power supply and the energy calculation circuit are connected to a first ground and the microcomputer is connected to a second ground that is different from the first ground. The appliance further includes a photocoupler between the energy calculation circuit and the microcomputer, wherein the photocoupler is connected to both the first ground and the second ground. 
         [0012]    Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be embodied in an appliance that includes an operation unit that is mounted in a case of the appliance that is supplied power by an external power supply and that includes at least one of a motor and a heating member; a control circuit mounted in the case of the appliance and configured to control the operation unit to perform appliance functionality that is different than measuring power; and power meter means for measuring power consumed by the appliance in performing the appliance functionality. 
         [0013]    These and other embodiments can each optionally include one or more of the following features. The power meter means is connected to the control circuit, is built into the case, and includes a voltage-current measuring unit connected to an external power supply and configured to measure voltage and current supplied by the external power supply; and an electric power calculation unit configured to calculate an amount of power based on the voltage and current measured by the voltage-current measuring unit and configured to output the calculated amount of power to the control circuit. 
         [0014]    The external power supply is an alternating current power supply, and the control circuit includes a rectifier configured to rectify alternating current power received from the alternating current power supply into direct current power; a transformer configured to lower voltage of the direct current power; a first regulator configured to regulate voltage of the direct current power lowered by the transformer; and a microcomputer configured to control the appliance and configured to receive the direct current power regulated by the first regulator. The electric power calculation circuit is connected to the microcomputer and configured to transmit data on the calculated amount of power to the microcomputer, and the electric power calculation circuit determines to calculate the amount of power based on a control of the microcomputer. A photocoupler is between the electric power calculation circuit and the microcomputer. 
         [0015]    Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be embodied in a method that includes receiving, at an operation unit that is mounted in a case of an appliance, power that is supplied by an external power supply, the operation unit including at least one of a motor and a heating member; controlling, by a control circuit mounted in the case of the appliance, the operation unit to perform appliance functionality that is different than measuring power; and measuring, by a power meter connected to the control circuit and built into the case, power consumed by the appliance in performing the appliance functionality. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  illustrates a structure of an example home appliance; 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  illustrates a structure of an example power meter built in the home appliance and an example connection between a control circuit and the power meter; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  illustrates a structure of an example power meter built in the home appliance and an example connection between a control circuit and the power meter. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0019]      FIG. 1  illustrates a structure of an example home appliance  10 . 
         [0020]    The home appliance  10  includes a control circuit  20  mounted in a case thereof to be supplied the external power and a power meter  100  mounted in the case to measure the consumption of the external power in a state of being connected with the control circuit board. 
         [0021]    The home appliance  10  is an electric appliance operated by electricity. Examples of the home appliance may include a refrigerator, a washing machine, a dishwasher, an air conditioner, a cooking apparatus, a television, a vacuum cleaner, an electric pad, an electric rice cooker and the like. 
         [0022]    The electric home appliance  10  may use alternating current power supply supplied to houses. 
         [0023]    Accordingly, a plug  11  is connected to the case of the home appliance  10  to supply the external power to the home appliance. 
         [0024]    The plug  11  is put into an outlet installed in a house to allow the home appliance  10  to draw power. 
         [0025]    The home appliance  10  is configured to be controlled automatically, and it includes a control circuit  20  for the automatic control. 
         [0026]    The control circuit  20  controls an operation unit including a motor or a heating member according to the type of the home appliance  10 . The external power is supplied to the operation unit of the home appliance and to the control circuit  20 . 
         [0027]    The rated currents and rated voltages supplied to the control circuit  20  can be different from the rated currents and rated voltages supplied to the operation unit of the home appliance. Accordingly, the electricity supplied to the control circuit  20  may be appropriately converted before supplied to the control circuit  20 , which will be described in more detail later. 
         [0028]    The power meter  100  is connected with the control circuit  20  that is supplied the external power supply. The power meter  100  measures the consumption of the power drawn from the external power supply (the amount of the consumed electricity). 
         [0029]    Multiplying voltages and currents results in the electricity. Multiplying the electricity by the time results in the amount of electricity. 
         [0030]    Accordingly, the power meter  100  measures voltages and currents consumed from the external power supply. The power meter  100  multiplies the measured voltages and currents and then multiplies the result by the time to compute the amount of electricity. 
         [0031]    The home appliance  10  may further include a display  40  configured to display the operational state of the home appliance  10  and the display  40  may have an input unit to control an operation of the home appliance  10 . 
         [0032]    The home appliance  10  may further include a wireless communication module  50  configured to communicate with a computer or a smart device  70 , such as a smart phone, via a web server  60 . The wireless communication module  50  may be connected to the display  40  or the control circuit  20 . 
         [0033]    The wireless communication module  50  may use Wi-Fi or Zigbee. 
         [0034]    With this configuration, the user can check the operational state of the home appliance remotely via the smart device  70  and input a command to control the home appliance. 
         [0035]      FIG. 2  illustrates an example structure of a power meter built in the home appliance and an example connection between a control circuit and the power meter. 
         [0036]    The power meter  100  may include a voltage-current measuring unit  110  connected to the external power supply to measure voltages and currents of the external power supply and an electric power calculation circuit  150  configured to calculate the amount of electricity based on the voltages and currents measured by the voltage-current measuring unit so as to output the calculated amount to the control circuit  20 . 
         [0037]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the voltage-current measuring unit  110  is directly connected to the external power supply  21  for measuring the voltages and currents of the external power supply  21  that operate the home appliance  10 . 
         [0038]    Accordingly, the voltage-current measuring unit  110  includes a voltage measuring part  112  connected with the external power supply  21  in parallel and a current measuring part  114  connected with the external power supply  21  in series. 
         [0039]    The voltage measuring part  112  is connected with the external power supply  21  in parallel and may include two resistances connected in series. 
         [0040]    The current measuring part  114  is connected with the external power supply  21  in series and may include a shunt resistance. 
         [0041]    The values of the voltages and currents measured by the voltage-current measuring unit  110  are transmitted to the electric power calculation circuit  150  and the electric power calculation circuit  150  calculates the amount of the electricity consumed by multiplying the measured voltages and the currents and then multiplying the result by the time. 
         [0042]    The control circuit  20  may include a rectifier  22  configured to rectify the alternating current (AC) power into a direct current (DC) power, a transformer  23  configured to lower the voltage of the direct current power rectified by the rectifier  22 , a regulator  26  configured to regulate the voltages of the DC power having passed the transformer  23 , and a microcomputer  28  configured to control the operation of the home appliance by using the electric power supplied from the regulator  26 . 
         [0043]    The rectifier  22  rectifies the external power supply that is supplied as sine-wave alternating current power supply and converts the external power into DC power. 
         [0044]    The transformer  23  lowers the voltages of the external power supply  21  into appropriate voltages usable by the microcomputer  28 . 
         [0045]    The regulator  26  regulates the voltages of the power having passed the transformer  23  and supplies the regulated DC power to the microcomputer  28 . 
         [0046]    The microcomputer  28  is operated by the voltage-lowered DC power and controls the operation of the home appliance  20 . The microcomputer  28  may control the display  40  to display an operational state of the home appliance  20  and implement a control command input by the user. 
         [0047]    The electric power calculation circuit  150  is connected with the microcomputer  28  and transmits data of the measured electric energy to the microcomputer  28 . Also, the electric power calculation circuit  150  may determine whether to measure the amount of the electricity based on the control of the microcomputer  28 . 
         [0048]    To determine whether to measure the amount of electricity, a device for wired or wireless communication may be connected between the electric power calculation circuit  150  and the microcomputer  28 . 
         [0049]    Examples of such a communication device include a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter). 
         [0050]    The UART is a hardware device configured to automatically perform serial-parallel data conversion necessary for asynchronous communication. 
         [0051]    A photocoupler  160  is disposed before the electric power calculation circuit  150  is connected to the microcomputer  28  via the communication device, to electrically isolate a transmitter and a receiver with respect to a signal. 
         [0052]    The electric power calculation circuit  150  may receive the electricity that passes through the transformer  23  of the control circuit  20 . 
         [0053]    The electric energy circulation unit  150  is the circuit configured to calculate the amount of the electricity from the voltage value and the current value input from the voltage-current measuring unit  110 . Typically, the power for operating the electric energy circulation unit  150  can be the electric power having lower voltages, compared with voltages of the external power supply. 
         [0054]    If the electric power calculation circuit  150  receives the electric power having passed the transformer  23 , the electric power calculation circuit  150  may be supplied the lowered voltage power, with no auxiliary transformer. 
         [0055]    The control circuit  20  may further include a rectifier circuit  25  connected to the transformer  23  to rectify the power having passed through the transformer. The electricity energy calculation circuit  150  is connected to the rectifier circuit  25  to be supplied the rectified electricity. 
         [0056]    The electricity having passed through the transformer  23  is typically rectified via the rectifier  22 . However, the rectifier  22  is composed of one rectifier element such as a diode and it flows negative or positive electricity there to perform half wave rectification. 
         [0057]    The rectifier circuit  25  reverses the negative or positive electricity into the other and performs full wave rectification. Also, the rectifier circuit  25  includes a condenser and can smooth out electricity. 
         [0058]    The power meter  100  may further include a regulator  130  connected between the rectifier circuit  25  and the electric power calculation circuit  150  to lower voltages of the electricity having passed through the rectifier circuit  25  into properly lowered voltages. 
         [0059]    The transformer  23  is configured to lower the voltages of the electricity supplied to the microcomputer  28  into properly lowered voltages. The voltages of the electricity used for the microcomputer  28  may be different from rated voltages of the electricity used for the electric power calculation circuit  150 . 
         [0060]    Accordingly, the regulator  130  may regulate the DC power having the voltages lowered by the rectifier circuit  25  into DC power having more properly lowered voltages. 
         [0061]    The regulator  130  may be a Low Drop-out (LDO) regulator, different from the regulator  26  connected to the microcomputer  28 . 
         [0062]    For example, the electricity having 5V lowered by the rectifier circuit  25  is regulated into the electricity having 3.3V that will be supplied to the electric power calculation circuit  150 . 
         [0063]    Numeral references of “ 1 ” and “ 2 ” refer to grounds and a first ground  1  and a second ground  2  are different from each other. 
         [0064]    In  FIG. 2 , the first ground  1  and the second ground  2  are shown differently. 
         [0065]    For example, the external power supply  21  and the electric power calculation circuit  150  are grounded to the first ground  1 . The regulator  26  and the microcomputer  28  are grounded to the second ground  2 . 
         [0066]    The photocoupler  160  is grounded to the first ground  1  and the second ground  2 . 
         [0067]      FIG. 3  illustrates an example structure of a power meter built in the home appliance and an example connection between a control circuit and the power meter. 
         [0068]    In  FIG. 3 , the electric power calculation circuit  150  is directly connected to the external power supply  21  to be supplied the electricity and a power supply circuit  140  is connected between the external power supply  21  and the electric power calculation circuit  150 . 
         [0069]    The electric power calculation circuit  150  may be supplied the electricity via the power supply circuit  140  for the electric power calculation circuit  150  that is directly connected to the external power supply  21 . 
         [0070]    The rectifier circuit  25  of  FIG. 2 , which is disposed between the transformer  23  and the regulator  130  of  FIG. 2 , is omitted in  FIG. 3 . However, the power supply circuit  140  for the electric power calculation circuit rectifies the external power supply  21  and converts (or lowers) voltages of the external power supply  21  to regulate the external power supply. After that, the regulated external power supply is supplied to the electric power calculation circuit  150 . 
         [0071]    Data of the electric energy calculated by the electric power calculation circuit  150  is transmitted to the microcomputer  28  via the photocoupler  160  and a UART. 
         [0072]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , the microcomputer  28  of the control circuit  20  controls the display  40  to display the received data on the amount of the electricity, such that the user can be notified of the electricity consumed by the home appliance. 
         [0073]    In addition, the display  40  is connected to the wireless communication module  50  such that the user can check the power consumption displayed on the user&#39;s smart phone or smart TV or the smart device  70 , such as a computer, via the web server  60 . 
         [0074]    The user can input a control command of controlling the home appliance via the input unit provided in the display according to a control or operational state of the home appliance displayed on the display  40 . Also, the user can command to selectively measure the power consumption of the home appliance or the display to selectively display the measured power consumption. 
         [0075]    The home appliance having the built-in power meter may be a refrigerator, a washing machine, an air conditioner, or a cooking apparatus. 
         [0076]    The power meter may be built in a home appliance having relatively high power consumption. Those electric home appliances mentioned above belong to the home appliances having high power consumption. Accordingly, the power meter may be built in one of those home appliances and can measure the power consumption such that the home appliance can save power. 
         [0077]    Although implementations have been described with reference to a number of illustrative examples thereof, it should be understood that numerous other modifications and implementations can be devised by those skilled in the art that will fall within the spirit and scope of the principles of this disclosure. More particularly, various variations and modifications are possible in the component parts and/or arrangements and fall within the scope of the disclosure, the drawings and the appended claims. In addition to variations and modifications in the component parts and/or arrangements, alternative uses will also be apparent to those skilled in the art.