Deployment of a load simulator in simulating residential household appliances

Real-time electricity monitoring in residences is a growing market, with a number of systems being commercialized that provide feedback to occupants on electrical power and energy consumption. These systems are also useful for research purposes, by better quantifying occupant energy usage for input into whole building energy models. Different monitoring systems, however, may perform better in certain circumstances than in others, so this work discusses efforts to create residential electrical energy emulators that can be used to evaluate energy monitoring systems. Our research focuses on the efficacy of tools available to mimic individual electrical loads in residential buildings. In our study, appliances are simulated using typical load profiles, with programmable power and power factor. The advantage of the load simulator is that it provides a variety of fully controllable loads for experimentation. By applying this method, building energy analysis research will have more flexibility to mimic real household appliances and electrical loads than is currently available.