Akinori Iwakawa

Smart power strip network and visualization server to motivate energy conservation in office

This paper describes an electric power visualization system that is developed to reduce electric power consumption in a large-scale office. A small, simple, and smart power strip is developed for practical use with a newly designed built-in contactless current sensor for each outlet. Electric power visualization server used for data acquisition from each outlet of the smart power strip and for the detection of wasted electric power is also developed. Trial service is done with the developed system in an in-house office with 93 persons and 372 outlets. A 15% reduction in power consumption is measured.

Contactless power sensor for smart power strip networked to visualize energy conservation

There is a growing need for energy conservation through energy consumption in offices that have increased 40% from 1990 in Japan. Previously reported electric-power-consumption measurement systems are small for homes [1-3]. We have developed a practical system for a large-scale office. Simple and low power consumption smart power strip having a fail-free power measurement sensor was developed. System software on a server that collects power consumption data from smart power strip makes these visible to motivate user about energy conservation. A block diagram of the developed system is shown in Fig. 1.