Smart Washer Communicates with Utility Grid

Using a ZigBee-enabled connection to the Internet, a newwashing machine can adjust its usage according to energy costs.

Designed byengineers at the Indesit Company, thewasher gets its cost information from an Internet connection to the utilitygrid. "With this washer, the consumer has the ability to choose, not only onthe basis of cost per kilowatt-hour, but also from a green perspective," saysBrett Black, senior manager for wireless connectivity operations at Freescale Semiconductor, which helped withthe wireless portions of the design.

Themachine, currently in prototype form, communicates with the Internet using aZigBee communication node that "talks" wirelessly to a broadband gateway, whichgets the energy cost information from the smart grid. At the recent FreescaleTechnology Forum (FTF), Indesit demonstrated the washing machine's ability todisplay the estimated cost of a particular washing cycle before running it.

"This is the concept of a euro ~energyawareness' - where the appliances will tell you what the price will be beforestarting the cycle," says Stefano Fratessi of Indesit at FTF. "Or the systemcan help you to choose the best time of the day, when the electricity costswill be less."

The washer employs an IEEE 802.15.4-basedwireless transceiver, known as the FreescaleMC13202. The 2.4-GHz transceiver works with a FreescaleHome Automation protocol stack and a low-power Freescale microcontroller tocontrol the washer on the basis of information from the grid.

Freescaleengineers say they were called in by the manufacturer to help with antennadesign and placement, as well as with creation of a ZigBee-based home meshnetwork.

The Indesitwasher is one in a sea of new household products expected over the next fiveyears that will communicate with the grid as a means of saving energy. Sparkedby government-supported energy programs, engineers are designing newrefrigerators, coffeemakers, dryers and dishwashers, not to mention other homeappliances and HVAC systems, with intelligence that would enable them to useenergy more wisely.

"We'reallowing the consumer to make intelligent decisions on when and how to useenergy," Black says. "The idea is for the consumers' peak usage to be in a timeframewhen renewable energy is most available to them."

Indesit's Stefano Fratessi talks about the technology behindthe smart washer and how it works.
Click hereto watch the video.