Appliance Design - January 2009 - (Page 40)

ELECTRONICS application. Given the stringent cost requirements of the appliance market, the IC must deliver those capabilities in a low-cost, compact, and reliable package compliant with industry-standard, highvolume manufacturing techniques. While most appliances can be controlled via a hardwire connection, some functions such as gas or water meters or door sensors may not have access to a powerline. In other situations, utilities may need to transport commands from one wireless device to another via wired powerline networks. To cover all potential scenarios and offer complete command and control, utilities in the future will likely expand their home area networks by integrating wireless communications capabilities. The leading wireless networking technology for sensing and control applications today is called ZigBee. Many utilities and manufacturers are rapidly adopting ZigBee Smart Energy, a new standard for energy management and efficiency built around the ZigBee language. This program is designed to enable wireless communication between utilities and common household devices such as thermostats and appliances. The program improves energy efficiency by allowing consumers to choose interoperable products from different manufacturers, enabling them to manage their energy consumption more precisely using automation and near real-time information. The program also helps utilities implement new advanced metering and demand response programs to improve energy efficiency and meet emerging government requirements. Recently, the industry took a major step forward when the Homeplug Powerline Alliance, the ZigBee Alliance, and leading utilities announced plans to develop a common application layer for advanced metering applications that will allow devices compliant with the ZigBee Smart Energy initiative and devices compliant with the Homeplug standard to run on the same Home Area Network (HAN). This agreement will give utilities tremendous flexibility to create unified wireless and wired solutions for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and other smart metering programs by accelerating the development and certification of plug-and-play interoperable devices such as thermostats, water heaters, pool pumps, and other high-energy devices for use in a HAN. Ultimately, it will encourage the widespread adoption of energy management programs that automatically shift energy loads to help customers conserve energy, reduce energy costs and preserve the environment. Given today’s focus on the environmental impact and rising cost of energy consumption, demand is already building for more precise and efficient energy-management tools. By combining a reliable, costeffective technology that can be simply installed without using new wiring, PLCbased command and control networks offer a highly attractive solution for both utilities and energy consumers. < For more information, visit: Ariane Controls: www.arianecontrols.com NEC Electronics: www.am.necel.com 40 applianceDESIGN January 2009 www.applianceDESIGN.com http://www.ecomatesystems.com http://www.ecomatesystems.com http://www.arianecontrols.com http://www.am.necel.com http://www.appliancedesign.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Appliance Design - January 2009

Appliance Design - January 2009 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Supplier Spotlights Commercial Appliances Plastics & Parts Electronics Motors Design Marts Association Report: NAFEM Advertiser’s Index

Appliance Design - January 2009

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