Qpower: Home Energy Monitoring System using Inductively Harvested Wireless Power

1. Qpower: Home Energy Monitoring System using Inductively Harvested Wireless Power Kyle Nakano, Nomin Oyun, Long Thai, Genevieve Vigil Abstract The Qpower system uses wirelessly harvested energy from circuit breaker boxes to monitor home energy usage. The goal is to change the user’s energy consumption behavior by providing them with real-time update on their household consumption. The system requires zero maintenance once installed. Our project focuses on research and development of the Qpower system and to prepare it to be presented at the UW Environmental Innovation Challenge in March 2012. Intro Proposed System How it works Future Technology • These days, everyone wants to save energy. One way is to promote conscious power consumption in their homes. There already exists system which lets users monitor their power usage, however they are constrained by battery life and difficult user interfaces. • A home energy monitoring system utilizing inductively harvested wireless power • Present at University of Washington Environmental Innovation Challenge • Battery free • Promotes power economy Our proposed system will be composed of an energy harvesting and power storage element which will deliver power to a microcontroller. This device will upload periodic updates of the home energy consumption to the Google power meter, which can be accessed from any internet capable device. When current travels through a conductor, such as a power line going into a house, an electromagnetic field is induced around the wire by the right-hand rule. Most households are supplied by AC power, ergo any power line carrying current into a household will have an oscillating magnetic field around it. The same technology that drives the Qpower system can be applied to future wireless power technology. Wireless power technology offers the promise of cutting the last cord, allowing users to seamlessly recharge mobile devices as easily as data is transmitted through the air. UW: Leader in Sustainable Technology We Propose Qpower: The Pacific North West is at the forefront of sustainability and technological advances as well. This resonates in the UW innovation community and Qpower is the epitome of a product that embodies both spirits of sustainability and technological innovation. Motivation Fig.2 The proposed Qpower design in which the inductive harvester gathers energy to power the MCU which transmits data to PC Future Work Fig.4 Magnetic Field is induced as current travels through a conductor We intend to present our system, Qpower, at the UW Environmental Innovation Challenge which will allow us the opportunity to expose our system to a broader audience. An inductor placed close to the conductor can start to induce alternating current. Using this alternating current, we can use power electronics to power the rest of the system. Fig.5 Alternating current is induced by inductive-coupling Fig. 1 Example analysis of home electricity use with an energy monitoring system Fig. 3 Comparison between actual power usage and projected power usages in monitored households UW Environmental Innovation Challenge University of Washington