Patent ID: 8761950

Claim:
A power control system comprising: an induction heating (IH) cooker heater connected wirelessly or via cable through a communication network section; and a power control device, wherein the IH cooker heater comprises: a power detecting section configured to measure or obtain power consumption of the IH cooker heater, wherein the power control device comprises: a current detecting section configured to detect a current flowing through one or more electrical systems of a commercial power supply; a voltage detecting section configured to detect a voltage of the commercial power supply; a power calculating section configured to calculate electric power from detection information of the current detecting section and the voltage detecting section; a transceiver section configured to communicate with the IH cooker heater; an upper limit setting section configured to set an upper limit of a current flowing through the current detecting section; a priority setting section configured to set a use priority of the IH cooker heater; and a power control instructing section configured to output alarm notification or a power control instruction to the IH cooker heater when it is detected that the current flowing through the current detecting section is equal to or larger than a current value set by the upper limit setting section, wherein during operation of the IH cooker heater, an inquiry about whether the IH cooker heater is usable is transmitted to the power control device, and an operation of the IH cooker heater is controlled according to an inquiry result, and wherein the power control device outputs a power control instruction to a device which has a lower priority set by the priority setting section than the IH cooker heater which has transmitted the inquiry, based on a content of the inquiry and the detection information of the current detecting section; and during operation of transitioning the IH cooker heater to a mode of increased output power, an inquiry is transmitted to the power control device together with information including an amount of required power, wherein the amount of required power is added to a present state of power, and a current flow exceeds the upper limit set by the high limit setting section is expected to flow, the power control device tries to secure the required power by performing a control to reduce electric power of a device with a lower priority than the IH cooking heater to use the IH cooker heater at a maximum capability, and when the required power cannot be secured with control of the device with the lower priority than the IH cooking heater, a device output power deciding section of the IH cooking heater is configured to decide to operate the IH cooking heater in a mode within usable power of the inquiry result.