Electric load control: smart management for continuity in domestic installations

An obvious benefit of a load control device for inhabitants of the home is that they no longer need to go to the meter (which is often outside or in hard to reach places) in order to reset it. In addition, it prevents overloads, helps to avoid damage to household appliances, and generally increases living comfort.
 

Whenever an overload situation is detected, this will be indicated by an acoustic signal, for basic load management, or via the app, for more advanced management. 
 

Collected consumption information helps to identify the consumption of individual electrical appliances and the most advantageous hourly rate according to the household’s use. It also contributes to containing costs by automatically lowering the energy consumption of an electric heating or cooling system.
 

As we will see shortly, the management of priority and non-priority loads makes it possible to optimise every aspect of a household’s requirements, deciding which devices are essential should the system detect an excessive load curve.

 

Specifically, it acts a relay for controlling power consumption to prevent overloads. It deactivates the non-priority loads connected to it via wired connection (or wireless system technology) and re-activates them after a set period of time (configurable).
 

The device’s monitoring and measuring functions are perfectly interconnected with the smart home system, enabling real-time data collection by the system and consumption monitoring by the user. 

This category of relays makes it possible to visualise the instantaneous active power (absorbed and delivered) and the active energy (absorbed and delivered) on screen, in order to have a clearer picture of which devices require more energy and the overall needs of the household.

 

One of the most useful functions is, without a doubt, the ability to create priority and non-priority loads, distinguishing the devices that are more important and must not lose power, and those that are less crucial and can be interrupted.
 

In other words, the system deactivates the non-priority loads to prevent the priority devices from undergoing the same fate.
 

For example, the washing machine and dishwasher can be configured as non-priority, while other household appliances and devices are set to priority, to establish which services to maintain and which to suspend should the need arise, based on the user’s specific requirements. 
 

In this way, if the threshold is exceeded without the user being immediately aware of it, the priority devices will continue to function, while the washing machine and dishwasher will be restarted at the point their programme was interrupted, without any serious consequences and without needing to go outside to reset the energy supplier meter.