Abstract:
A line-in power is connectable to the disclosed outlet housing similar to any known power outlet. This provided power is used to drive an AC/DC converter to create a DC bus internal to the outlet housing. This DC bus powers the electronics, including, for example, a wireless transceiver incorporated within the outlet housing. In at least one instance, the wireless transceiver will receive a command from another wireless device to turn power ON or OFF to the local outlet and the downstream (e.g. daisychained, etc.) outlets. These outlets can be wired to the output terminations (push-in and/or other) on the back of the local outlet and/or outlet housing, or may be connected through any other suitable electrical connection

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application is a non-provisional application claiming priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/812,070, filed Apr. 15, 2013, entitled “Electrical Outlet Having Wireless Control Capabilities” and from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/812,548, filed Apr. 16, 2013, entitled “Electrical Outlet Having Wireless Control Capabilities,” each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
         [0002]    This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/591,371 entitled “Connector Having Wireless Control Capabilities,” filed Aug. 22, 2012, which is a non-provisional application claiming priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/606,129 filed on Mar. 2, 2012 each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0003]    The subject disclosure is generally related to electrical connectors and/or outlets, and more particularly, to an electrical outlet wireless control capabilities for use in connection with an AC power system. 
       BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART 
       [0004]    U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/591,371, incorporated herein in its entirety, describes an improved connector which, among other advantages, has the advantage of allowing for wireless control of the bringing of power to a low-voltage DC powered device that is coupled via use of the connector to a low-voltage DC power source. The disclosed connectors may be used to couple a low-voltage DC powered device to any one of a low-voltage DC power grid systems, to low-voltage DC power cables, and/or to other disconnection/connection points in a DC power system. When utilized in connection with a low-voltage DC power system, the subject connectors may be provided with one or more mechanical structures, such as those described in the above-noted patents, to thereby allow the subject connectors to be releasably attached thereto. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    The present disclosed examples generally provide a 120 Volt AC outlet that includes a wireless receiver/transmitter to switch power ON and OFF to the outlet locally and, at least in one example, also switch power to outlets that are daisychained and/or otherwise connected to the local outlet. 
         [0006]    As described herein, the line-in power is connectable to the disclosed outlet housing similar to any known power outlet. This provided power is used to drive an AC/DC converter to create a DC bus internal to the outlet housing. This DC bus powers the electronics, including, for example, a wireless transceiver incorporated within the outlet housing. In at least one instance, the wireless transceiver will receive a command from another wireless device to turn power ON or OFF to the local outlet and the downstream (e.g. daisychained, etc.) outlets. These outlets can be wired to the output terminations (push-in and/or other) on the back of the local outlet and/or outlet housing, or may be connected through any other suitable electrical connection. 
         [0007]    In still other examples, the housing and arrangement of the internal and/or external components of the present device may vary as desired. For example, in one instance, the device may be provided with a first housing comprising any and/or all of the wireless components and DC bus components, while a second housing may include the electrical outlet itself, with electrical connectivity to the wireless component housing and/or any downstream outlets. 
         [0008]    While the foregoing provides a general description of the subject outlet, a better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, properties, and relationships of the subject outlet will be obtained from the following detailed description and accompanying drawing which set forth illustrative examples and which are indicative of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    For a better understanding of the present disclosure, reference may be had to the following drawings in which: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of example components of an outlet having wireless communication capabilities; and 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  illustrates another example schematic diagram of the example outlet of  FIG. 1 , showing various components in various housing arrangements. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0012]    The following description of example methods and apparatus is not intended to limit the scope of the description to the precise form or forms detailed herein. Instead the following description is intended to be illustrative so that others may follow its teachings. 
         [0013]    Turning now to the  FIG. 1 , a schematic diagram of an example outlet component  10  for use in bringing remotely switchable power from an AC power source  12  to an AC powered electrical outlet  14 , and providing an AC power interface  16  to supply other AC powered devices  15   a,    15   b  . . .  15   n,  such as other AC outlets, light fixtures, or the like, is illustrated. 
         [0014]    For allowing the outlet component  10  to be coupled to the AC power source  12 , the outlet component  10  includes a line-side connection  13  comprised of one or more electrical contacts arranged to allow engagement with corresponding electrical conductors or surfaces associated with the AC power source  12 . The electrical contacts of the line-side connection  13  may be incorporated into a housing  11  having mechanical structures as needed to allow the outlet component  10  to be releasably attached to an AC power system, AC power wires, and/or to other disconnection/connection points in an AC power system. While not limiting, the wireless outlet component  10  may also be attached to wires associated with the source of AC power through use of insulation piercing type contacts (IPC type contacts), insulation displacing type contacts (IDC type contacts), push-in type contacts, crimp type contacts, weld type contacts, screw type contacts, etc. 
         [0015]    For providing electrical power to an external device, the electrical outlet  14  is mounted within the housing  11 . The electrical outlet  14  may be any suitable electrical outlet, including, for example, an AC power plug that uses the standards set by the U.S. National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), such as a NEMA 5-15R, which is the standard electricity outlet typically found in modern household and buildings in the United States. For allowing the outlet component  10  to be coupled to the AC powered devices  15   a,    15   b,  the electrical outlet  14  includes a load-side interface comprises of one or more electrical contacts (not shown) (which one or more electrical contacts may be incorporated into the same or a further housing having mechanical structures as needed) adapted to be engaged with the AC power interface  16 , plugs, or the like. Thus, without limitation, the electrical contacts of the electrical outlet  14  may also be push-in type contacts, IDC type contacts, IPC type contacts, crimp type contacts, weld type contacts, screw type, etc. 
         [0016]    To control the bringing of power from the line-side connection  13  to the electrical outlet  14  and, in turn, to the AC power interface  16 , and thus to the devices  15   a,    15   b  . . .  15   n  coupled to the AC power interface  16 , the outlet component  10  further includes a power controller  17 . As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the power controller  17  is electrically coupled to the line-side connection  13  via an electrical connection  18  and is electrically coupled to the electrical outlet  14  via an electrical connection  19 . It will be appreciated that the electrical connection  19  may be directly electrically coupled to the AC power interface  16  or may be indirectly electrically coupled through the electrical outlet  14  as desired. 
         [0017]    By way of example only, the power controller  17  may comprise a mechanical relay, or a semiconductor based electronic device such as an Opto-isolator, FET, transistor, and/or the like. The power controller  17  is further coupled to a wireless receiver or transceiver  20  which, as described hereinafter, functions to provide a control signal, such as a DC control signal to the power controller  17  via an electrical connection  22 . While described in the present disclosure as a wireless receiver, such as, for example a 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, etc. wireless receiver, the transceiver  20  may be any suitable receiver and/or addressable component as desired. Power is provided to the wireless receiver or transceiver  20  by any suitable electrical connections including, for instance by means of an optional DC-DC converter  24  which is electrically coupled to the wireless receiver or transceiver  20  via an electrical connection  26  and to the line-side connection  14  via a rectifier  28  and an electrical connection  29 . It will be understood that other means for providing power to the wireless receiver or transceiver  20  could also be employed, such as by providing power through use of a battery, through use of ambient RF power harvesting, or the like. It will also be understood that the electrical connections between the various components illustrated in  FIG. 1  may be traces formed on a PCB, wires, or the like without limitation. 
         [0018]    More particularly, for controlling the bringing of power to electrical outlet  14 , the wireless receiver or transceiver  20  is adapted to transmit a control signal to the power controller  17  via the electrical connection  22  in response to the wireless receiver or transceiver  20  receiving a control signal from a remotely located device, e.g., a switch, sensor, remote, controller, gateway, command center, or the like. Preferably, the remotely located device and the wireless receiver or transceiver  20  are adapted to communicate via use of wireless RF transmissions, such as for instance, via 900 MHz wireless transmissions. The power controller  17  is, in turn, adapted to respond to the control signal transmitted thereto via the electrical connection  22  to control the bringing of power to the electrical outlet  14  from the line-side connection  13  via the electrical connections  18  and  19 . In this regard, the control signal provided to the power controller  17  by the wireless receiver or transceiver  20  may be used to simply turn on or turn off the power connection between the electrical outlet  14  and the line-side connection  13 . It is contemplated that the control signal provided to the power controller  17  by the wireless receiver or transceiver  20  may also be used to limit the amount of power that is provided to the electrical outlet  14  from the line-side connection  13 , e.g., to provide for a dimming effect. It will also be appreciated that, in the case when a transceiver  20  is utilized, the outlet component  10  may allow for state data associated with the power controller  17 , and according the outlet  14 , and/or other data to be communicated to other remotely located devices as needed. 
         [0019]    While not illustrated, the outlet component  10  may additionally include a mechanism or other means to allow a user to set (or for pre-setting at a time of manufacture) an address to thereby allow communications to the outlet component  10 , via the receiver or transceiver  20 , to be specifically targeted thereto—which would be particularly useful in an instance where multiple connectors are intended to be used in a confined area. Still further, while not illustrated, the outlet component  10  may include a memory or other storage means to store operational data as desired. In addition, the power controller  17  may have a sensor and/or other suitable device to measure and monitor current draw and/or other measurement of consumption. This data may be stored locally and/or transmitted remotely to a command controller, etc. In this manner, the data may be utilized to obtain the status of power usage in a specific outlet  14 ,  14   a,    14   b  . . .  14   n,  or to the entire combination of a subset thereto. 
         [0020]    Turning to  FIG. 2 , another example outlet component  10 ′ is illustrated. In this example, the outlet component  10 ′ includes multiple housings,  11   a ,  11   b , which in his instance, house different individual components. For example, as illustrated, the example housing  11   a  includes each of the components from the line-side connection  1  to the power controller  17 . Additionally, the housing  11   a  includes the electrical outlet  14  and the associated electrical connections. In this manner, the housing  11   a  may be used with any suitable electrical outlet, sensor, and/or other suitable electrical device, including other types of electrical outlets, to adapt, retrofit, and/or enable modification of existing or new outlets as desired. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the housings  11 ,  11   a ,  11   b , may include any other of the component elements described herein and/or any additional or substitute elements as desired. 
         [0021]    While specific examples of the subject invention have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of this disclosure. It will therefore be appreciated that features described are not to be limited to any particular example but may be freely used across examples where applicable. Additionally, it will be appreciated that the size, shape, arrangement, integration, and/or number of components illustrated and described can be changed as necessary to meet a given need. Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any equivalents thereof