Household power outlet overload protection and monitoring using cost effective embedded solution

With the widespread use of smart house systems monitoring power consumption in household applications is becoming a standard. In this scope a concept of a smart house or a home automation system is often characterized by the ability to control and monitor various household appliances to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security. In recent years costs of smart house systems are being reduced, however even for smaller systems they can be substantial (costs of installation, ongoing costs etc.). In this paper we propose a basic architecture for a smart house system targeted at increased safety and user awareness on power consumption. The main goal here is the design of cost effective solution used for monitoring power consumption at power outlets with the ability of user notification. The system has the ability to report instantaneous power consumption levels and issue a warning of a possible power overload. Communication component was realized using Power Line Communication (PLC) proposed communication protocol. Main advantages of the proposed system include low cost, overload protection and power consumption estimation at each power outlet, increasing user awareness resulting in more effective power consumption.