Reduction of Vampire Power Using Smart Power Socket
Dhivya Mullai B and Ramprabhu Sivasamy
This research paper describes the development of a smart power socket which aims at reducing the vampire power (also called standby power) consumed by the electrical and electronic appliances during its sleep / standby mode. The proposed smart power socket operates in two modes i.e., threshold mode and timer mode. In threshold mode, the smart power socket checks for the amount of power consumed and based on which the decision is taken. In the timer mode, the duration for which the power flows into the circuitry of the device connected to the socket is decided by the timer. The proposed smart power socket considerably reduced the vampire power consumed by domestic appliances. Experimentation has been carried out with the appliances such as Television, Mobile charger, Video game console, Laptop etc. It is proved that the proposed smart power socket reduces the standby power consumed by the electrical and electronic appliances by 95%. The proposed device unplugs the devices in standby mode thereby reducing the vampire power consumed. The device has the advantage of mitigating the wear and tear of control circuitry of the equipment besides reducing the vampire power consumption. The proposed smart power socket is the potential candidate for home energy management system.
Keywords: Energy management, microcontroller, power saving, relay, socket, vampire power