FIELD

The present disclosure relates to detection and notification systems for ground fault circuit interrupters (“GFCI's” or sometimes referred to as GFI circuits), and more specifically, to systems and methods for communicating a loss of power to devices plugged into GFI protected electrical circuits through use of smart plugs. In addition, the detection and notification system to be described will communicate the loss of power to an entire property based upon the loss of power to a smart plug plugged into any electrical outlet on the premises, not only to a power loss due to the tripping of a particular GFI protected circuit.

BACKGROUND

Users may visually detect ground fault interrupter (“GFI”) circuit trips in homes and/or businesses. For example, a user may detect GFI circuit trips by personally viewing that a device, such a refrigerator or a lamp, is powered off when other devices connected to a different GFI circuit are powered on. Some GFI circuits may have an indicator light that illuminates to indicate either that the GFI circuit has tripped or that it has not tripped. Accordingly, the user may detect GFI circuit trips by personally viewing the indicator light.

Smart plugs incorporating “Internet of Things” technology may provide users with options to turn devices on and to turn devices off. Such smart plugs may also create power usage schedules for devices connected to the smart plug and/or estimate energy usage of devices connected to the smart plug. Nevertheless, there are many situations where individuals may be unaware of when a GFI circuit trips, e.g., when the user is not able to view the indicator light or does not observe any devices connected to the GFI circuit to determine that such devices are unexpectedly not receiving power. In one specific example, a user may be far away from the premises of the devices, and may not be aware that a freezer or aquarium connected to a GFI circuit has lost power, due to a GFI circuit trip, until it is too late to take remedial action. Also, in many parts of the country, there are blackouts causing total loss of power to one's premises. Or, occasionally, a power transformer can fail resulting in total power loss. Individuals would want to know about these events, especially when they are away from the premises, so that some remedial action can be taken, depending upon the circumstances. Thus, there is a need for improved methods of notifying individuals of GFI circuit trips.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

Systems and methods for GFI tripped circuit detection and notification are described. The systems and methods use a smart plug and a custom-written Application, known as GFI Notify. The smart plug and GFI Notify application work together to provide the detection of the loss and restoration of electrical power and the notification of such loss and restoration to the user. The systems and methods apply to the loss of power and restoration of power to an entire house, not only to a GFI monitored circuit.

A method may include receiving a smart plug identification and authorizing the smart plug. The method may include linking the smart plug to a smart plug application and querying the smart plug to obtain a power notification. The method may include receiving the power notification and notifying the smart plug application of a power status.

A system may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may have instructions causing the processor to receive a smart plug identification from a smart plug. The system may receive a smart plug identification from a smart plug and authorize the smart plug. The system may link the smart plug to a smart plug application and query the smart plug to obtain a power notification. The system may receive the power notification and notify the smart plug application of a power status. The application may query the plug from time to time to determine if the plug has loss of power. The system may communicate using Z-Wave, ZigBee, WiFi, Bluetooth or any such radio frequency and protocol.

The foregoing features and elements may be combined in various combinations without exclusivity unless expressly indicated herein otherwise. These features and elements, as well as the operation of the disclosed embodiments, will become more apparent in light of the following description and accompanying drawings.

