PinBus Interface Design

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, PNNL has explored and expanded upon a simple control interface that might have merit for the inexpensive communication of smart grid operational objectives (demand response, for example) to small electric end-use devices and appliances. The approach relies on bi-directional communication via the electrical voltage states of from one to eight shared interconnection pins. The name PinBus has been suggested and adopted for the proposed interface protocol. The protocol is defined through the presentation of state diagrams and the pins’ functional definitions. Both simulations and laboratory demonstrations are being conducted to demonstrate the elegance and power of the suggested approach. PinBus supports a very high degree of interoperability across its interfaces, allowing innumerable pairings of devices and communication protocols and supporting the practice of practically any smart grid use case.