Development of a smart home energy saving system combining multiple smart devices

In this paper, a smart home electric energy saving system is built up by combining smart devices (smart meter and smart plug), communication modules, and smart mobile phones. The functions of the smart meter include display and storage of total power consumption, electric energy parameters, and abnormal operation conditions, etc. Besides, user can check power consumption information remotely, and the electric energy saving of appliance is implemented by smart plug under the control of smart phone. The smart plug consists of different communication modules, load control unit, and LCD display. Home members can use smart phone to check the power consuming information via internetwork, and the control of electric appliance can be implemented by the App on the smart phone through the WiFi interfaces. Moreover, the power information at the smart plug can be transmitted to the smart meter by ZigBee modules. Finally, to confirm the performance of the smart home electric energy saving system, a prototype was built up and tested at lab, and the test results validate the feasibility of the proposed system.