Unilectric will introduce its innovative home automation product, the Unilectric Energy Controller (UEC), at Distributech in San Diego on January 31 – February 2, 2017. Employing circuit-level digital instrumentation, the UEC manages the electrical network to drive a cloud-based solution for energy management, safety, and security. Complementing the custom designed hardware is a suite of mobile and web applications for managing the system.
At Distributech, Unilectric will showcase the UEC in the Eureka Park section, Booth 51018, by providing a demonstration of its circuit-level control, measurement and analytic capabilities. The UEC, in concert with its cloud-based analytics tools, supports a wide range of home and business applications such as automating actions to streamline energy control, reducing energy consumption, ensuring safety, and enhancing security. The product also utilizes a set of proprietary disaggregation algorithms both to actively monitor performance and to spot potential problems affecting appliances and other devices, making it an attractive solution for residential and industrial customers.
The UEC is modular, globally capable, and easily scalable thus offering broad applicability across residential and commercial environments for US and World markets. A key feature is the implementation of a utility-driven Automated Demand Response (ADR) function useful in reducing power usage during peak periods (with user notification and control of each event). For example, a user can pre-set rules to restrict usage of devices or change HVAC settings during peak periods.
Highlights of the UEC system include:
- Automated monitoring and control of each circuit (8k samples/second on each circuit)
- Remote control and notification (mobile and web applications)
- Manage energy usage per circuit and per individual device (meter quality power measurements)
- World power capable (1, 2 and 3 phase, 50-60Hz, 110 – 640V)
- Monitoring of individual device health
- Participation in utility-initiated power reduction programs such as Automated Demand Response (ADR) with full user notification and control
- Integrates into existing IoT home automation networks (e.g. Samsung’s SmartThings)
- Independent cloud storage and energy usage analytics
Guided by an experienced team, and possessing a current international patent portfolio of more than 30 assets with additional patent filings in progress, Unilectric is actively seeking partnerships to commercialize its technology.
Parks Associates’ Tom Kerber says that Unilectric offers a “highly differentiated solution” that is a “key component for smart home and energy management which addresses key value propositions for Consumers, Businesses and Channel Partners. It enables new business models for Energy Services, Cross selling with home services, Lead generation, Insurance loss mitigation, Demand Response and Aging in place.”
Dan Van Ostrand, CEO of Unilectric, states: “Effective energy management is comprised of both measurements and actions. Most energy management company products are really only energy monitors. Many of these companies believe that measuring a subset of select circuits or using software algorithms to divine individual device consumption from the total power measurement is sufficient. That is like selling a car with a speedometer and gas gauge but no steering wheel or brake pedal. We believe that ‘knowing your power is only the beginning’ of what is necessary to truly achieve energy efficiency and unlock the power of technology to truly integrate home and building automation, improve safety and enhance security. We monitor and control every circuit, identify each device, look for anomalous usage or device behavior, communicate with Utilities to reduce peak demand and seamlessly interact with other devices in the home or building to provide the most advanced energy management platform on the market. This is the future of true Home and Building Automation.”
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