The advent of a smart electrical outlet/socket (SEOS) eliminates the need to incorporate specialized internet of things (IoT) electronics in appliances to support remote control and monitoring.

The system developed at National University of Singapore replaces a building’s electrical outlets with a network of smart faceplates and applies near field communications (NFC) stickers to the plug on each appliance's power cord. All of the outlets in one building are connected via Wi-Fi to a central server.

When a plug is inserted into an outlet, the NFC reader in that outlet identifies the appliance by a unique Researchers display a prototype of the smart electrical outlet/socket system. Source: National University of Singaporecode on the sticker. The server then looks up the electrical specifications of that appliance in a database. Appliances in standby mode can consume up to 50% of a building’s electricity consumption, but users can now turn an appliance on and off over the internet simply by powering up or shutting off the outlet so that when not in use, the appliance will not draw any current at all.

If the system detects that an appliance is drawing more current than its specified amount, it will automatically shut the outlet off to keep the appliance from overheating. Equipping a building with the SEOS system can be quick and relatively inexpensive, as each smart faceplate incurs a cost of about $80. The developers expect the system to save up to 60% of total plug load energy consumption, depending on the building’s size.

“The applications of this development are not just for buildings or building owners," said lead scientist, associate professor Sanjib Kumar Panda. "This can benefit the busy office workers who rush to work, forgetting to turn off the iron in their haste, or the elderly folk who live alone. Smart sockets will enable anyone to remotely check in how devices are performing and control them."