A comprehensive user interactive simulation tool for smart home application

With the development of the smart grid combined with the fluctuating nature of electricity market, demand-side management with controllable loads has grown. This paper presents a comprehensive user interactive simulation tool based on previously proposed hardware designs of a smart home energy management system (SHEMS). The simulation focuses on implementing optimal control strategies onto predominant loads including electrical water heater (EWH), electric vehicle (EV) charging station, etc. Most importantly, this simulation provides an easy and user-friendly user interface, which allows users to customize the simulation as the situation in their daily lives. This way, the simulation results will not only show the significant amount electricity payment reduced by SHEMS, but also increase the awareness of SHEMS to the public.