Power Saving Geyser Controller

The DEM-GEY was designed and developed in April 2008 as a result of the extensive load shedding by ESKOM which nearly crippled the economy and our way of life. demgey (25K) The parameters used for the design were not to switch off a geyser at a certain time but rather to reduce the power consumption to the geyser.
With the assistance of a microprocessor we were able to control the energy in a unique way with the added feature of programming a energy profile.
With this type of control the DEM-GEY unit is able to control the power to the geyser in such a way that there is up to 45.7% saving in electricity.
Using profile programming the DEM-GEY unit reduces power during peak demand periods to assist ESKOM in times of maximum loading on the ESKOM network.
This in turn will assist in reducing the possibility of load shedding.

Generally for those concerned with the green house effect, by reducing our power consumption of say 25,000 houses (which is the likes of Sandton etc) you will save 1 Megawatt of electricity.
Another built in feature is that the unit will wait for 20 seconds before continuing as normal in the event of a power trip. By doing this the mains supply has time to settle down and therefore not putting pressure on ESKOM switchgear.

The unit has been tested by an accredited testing facility. This testing facility followed a test procedure which is used to test similar products. It simulates normal household consumption.
First a test was done on a normal operating geyser for one week. The DEM-GEY was connected the following week and the same process was conducted.


With this type of control the DEM-GEY unit is able to control the power to the geyser in such a way that there is up to 45.7% saving in electricity.

Using profile programming the DEM-GEY unit reduces power during peak demand periods to assist ESKOM in times of maximum loading on the ESKOM network. This in turn will assist in reducing the possibility of load shedding.

The result below shows the savings that were achieved.

Normal Household System DEM-GEY Connected
Output Temperature 53.246 52.027
Geyser internal temperature 60.597 58.652
Energy consumed (KWh) 18.76 10.18
Contact Details

The unit complies with SABS.
Certification : IEC 60950-1:2001
                    SANS 6950-1:2003
The unit has international patent pending.

Click here for PDF version of DEM-GEY presentation. (736KB)

TECHNICAL REPORT

This unit has been tested by a world recognized power distributor.

The result of extensive testing over a period of 5 days, it was evident that a geyser without the DEM-GEY controller, consumed 18.76Kw/h. With the DEM-GEY connected The geyser consumed 10.18 Kw/h which gives you a saving of 8.68 Kwh over a period of 5 days

BENEFITS

The obvious benefit to you, the consumer, is to save you money as electricity prices have increased.

We can program the unit to achieve more than 45% saving, if you, the consumer have more than one geyser in the house.

This unit is a non intrusive product which can be installed in a standard DB box.

Conclusions

See below the savings in your pocket per month over the next 5 years per geyser:

Year Normal DEM-GEY Savings per month Savings per year
2008 99.78 50.25 49.53 594.37
2009 139.69 70.35 69.34 832.11
2010 195.57 98.49 97.08 1164.96
2011 273.79 137.88 135.91 1630.94
2012 383.31 193.03 190.28 2283.32
2013 536.63 270.25 266.39 3196.64


photo (8K)
The unit has been designed in such a way that it has flexibility for most applications. These are some types of scenarios that it is able to do

OPTION: 1

A stand alone module following an energy profile i.e.

6h00 to 10h00 at maximum energy saving 10h00 to 16h00 at medium energy 16h00 to 18h00 at maximum energy 18h00 to 20h00 at maximum energy saving 20h00 to 4h00 at medium energy 4h00 to 6h00 at maximum energy

This program can be altered to suit your needs

OPTION 2

Unit is fitted with a gsm module.

In a holiday home the geyser can be switch on and off by sms the unit once it is switched on it will follow the energy profile.

OPTION 3

A holiday resort have 200 chalet all with its own geyser all are on because to have the staff go around and switch every geyser on/off when guests are there does not work. By fitting a RF receiver and having a transmitter booking system at reception. It will enable only the chalets that are to be occupied are active geysers. No resort has a 100% occupancy it takes on average for a geyser to be heated in three hours from cold.

OPTION 4

City council:

The council has a command center from this center it can send a gprs (lower cost option) or sms message to a central receiver which would, via RF signal to the local area, switch the units on and off. This would mean that the geyser units would have to be fitted with a RF receiver module. A maximum of 256 units can be fitted in 1km area can be installed per repeater node. (See below)

diagram (34K)

Extras

The unit can be fitted with a current sensing device which would switch the geyser totally off when the stove draws current.

INSTALATION INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. TO BE FITTED BY A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN
  2. SWITCH POWER OFF
  3. Fit DEM-GEY unit
  4. Remove wire from bottom of geyser breaker
  5. Install into right terminal marked mains out - L
  6. Install neutral into terminal marked mains in-N fit correct size wire from geyser breaker to left terminal marked mains in L
  7. Check you work
  8. Power on
Specifications:
Size: 160mm x 55mm x 65mm
Weight: 500g
Maximum amps: 20 amps
Maximum voltage: 240vac
Maximum Cable size: 4mm