A vision of Z-devices - page 4

When I look at a refrigerator, I see hundreds of Z-devices.

It contains several major subsystems: a cooling system, an ice maker system, an airflow system, a lighting system, a separate freezer with its own systems, and so on. And each of these are separate Z-devices. Separately manufactured and capable of independent operation.

I see a hierarchy of Z-devices composed of smaller Z-devices composed of still smaller Z-devices. For example, the cooling system is a Z-device, and might contain within it a pump, which is a Z-device, which might contain within it ..., also Z-devices.

A valve just a half-inch across might be composed of several smaller Z-devices. It might contain a Z-motor. There might be a pair of Z-flow-rate sensors in the input and output streams, to ensure its own proper operation. It might contain a separate Z-generator device with tiny rotating blades just to harvest power from the flow of the fluid itself. Thus, there could be numerous Z-devices just inside this tiny half-inch valve. (Which is inside a pump, also a Z-device, which is inside a cooling unit, also a Z-device, which is inside a refrigerator, also a Z-device).

Because we have an intelligent Z-chip in each Z-device, we can do a lot more than simply controlling the device's basic functions. For example, if the fluid flows slower when it is cold, the value could open more widely to compensate. If a motor is vibrating because of an unbalanced load, the coils could apply an inverse-FFT to the vibration to steady the shaft and increase the lifespan of the bearings.

And thus our refrigerator might have hundreds of intelligent Z-devices, linked into the Z-network of the refrigerator. (It would have its own network, which in turn linked into the owner's Z-network).