Fujitsu Develops Power Strip for Monitoring Office Energy Consumption

The trick is squeezing a sensitive sensor into a power strip.

Fujitsu Laboratories has created a power strip equipped with a power sensor for measuring electrical energy at each outlet in real time.

The company expects that the power strip will make its users pay more attention to power consumption. Although various companies have promoted energy conservation devices for homes, the sheer number of things that get plugged into walls in offices make commercial buildings a potentially more attractive market. Also, by combining the strip with a scheduler, IT managers can try to come up with ways to curb power consumption in advance or eliminate inadvertent consumption.

Each outlet of the power strip is equipped with a contactless power sensor that can sense power down to 1 watt and can measure up to 2,000W. Fujitsu Laboratories downsized the sensor to make it fit in the power strip and optimized the shape and position of the sensor so that it is not influenced by the adjacent outlets.

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