Active Control Strategy for Household Appliances Based on NILM-Voltage Sensing

Most of the current smart meters for nonintrusive load monitoring (NILM) analyze the operation states of internal household appliances through the collected voltage and current data. However, smart meters cannot actively sense and analyze the state changes of other loads in the same network, which leads that the load cannot adjust its operation state timely and appropriately to participate in demand response, limits the potential capability of smart meters for load monitoring, and hinders the application of NILM technology. In this context, this paper proposes an active control strategy based on global load sensing in low-voltage distribution networks. Since the on/off state changes of loads have impacts on nodal voltages, in the proposed strategy, the smart meter can determine the situation of other external loads in the same network through analyzing its own nodal voltage changes. Combined with the operation states of internal appliances, the entire load condition of the network is comprehensively sensed and analyzed. Against the voltage changes, the internal appliances are actively controlled to compensate load fluctuations caused by external appliances. Simulation results show the proposed control strategy can effectively smooth the load curve.