Workshop Practice 2k13

Experiment 9
Objective:
To study working and connections of an Energy Meter.

Apparatus:
 Energy Meter

Theoretical Background:
The total power consumed by a load during an interval of time is ENERGY.
E=P× T

Where, E=Energy, P= Power, T=Time

If the voltages & currents not constant & have n-values over the time t, then
n
E=∑ Pi . ti
i=1

n
¿ ∑ Vi . Ii. ti
i=1

It can also be expressed as continuous integral of Power i.e.,

t
E=∫ Pdt
0

t
¿ ∫ V . I .dt
0

The unit of energy is Watt second or joule. But its commercial unit is Kilowatt-hours or KWh which
is defined as the energy consumed by a load of 1000 watts over a period of one hour.
Energy Meter:
Induction type energy meters are most
commonly form of an A.C KWh meter used to measure
the energy consumed in any a.c circuit in a prescribed period
when supply voltage and frequency are constant, in day today
life & in industrial installation. Energy meter is an
integrating instrument which measure the total quantity of
electrical energy supplied to the circuit in a given period.
These meters measure electrical energy in Kilowatt hours.

Principle:
 Workshop Practice 2k13
The Basic principle of induction type energy meter is electromagnetic induction. When an alternating
current flows through two suitably located coils (Current coil & Potential Coil) produces rotating magnetic
field which is cut by the metallic disc Suspended near to the coils, thus, an e.m.f. is induced in the thin
Aluminum disc which circulates eddy currents in it. By the interaction of Rotating magnetic field & eddy
currents, torque is developed & causes the disc to rotate. This is the same principle which is applied in the
single-phase induction motors.

Construction:
An Induction type single phase energy meter, has following main parts of the operating mechanism:
 Driving System
 Moving System
 Braking System
 Registering System
Driving System: develops torque to rotate the moving system. It consists of two electromagnets one is
formed by current coil & other one is by voltage coil or pressure coil.
Moving System: essentially consists of an aluminum mounted on the spindle which is supported by Pivot-
jewel Bearing system. Since there is not control spring, the disc makes continuous revolution under the
action the deflecting torque.
Braking System: consists of a permanent magnet of C shaped covering a part of rotating disc to provide
braking torque. By changing the position of breaking magnet, the Flux linkage with the disc can be changed,
this torque is opposite to driving torque.
Registering System: keeps the record of energy consumed by load through worm wheel or pinion gear
mounted with spindle of moving disc.
 Workshop Practice 2k13
Working:
When the energy meter is connected in the circuit, the current coil carries the load current and the
pressure coil carries the current proportional to the supply voltage. The magnetic field produced by the
SERIES magnet (series coil) is in phase with the line current & the magnetic field produced by the shunt
magnet (pressure coil) is in quadrature with the applied voltage (since the coil is highly inductive). Thus, a
phase difference exists between the fluxes produced by the two coils. This sets up a rotating field which
interacts with the disc and produces a driving torque and, thus, disc starts rotating. The number of
revolutions made by the disc depends upon the energy passing through the meter. The spindle is geared to
the recording mechanism so that electrical energy consumed in the circuit is directly registered in KWh. The
speed of the disc is adjusted by adjusting the position of the breaking magnet. For example, if the energy
meter registers less energy than the energy actually consumed in the circuit, then the speed of disc has to be
increased which is obtained by shifting the magnet nearer to the center of the Disc and vice-versa.
At constant angular speed the power VICosφ is proportional to the angular speed in r.p.s. We calibrate w and
energy meter by time test.
Let K be the meter constant of energy meter, which is the number of revolution per KWh energy
consumption. When connected to measure energy, if disc makes R number of revolution in t seconds. Then
the reading of energy meter is:
Et =R/ K

Electronic Meter:
Electronic meters display the energy
used on an LCD or LED display, and some can
also transmit readings to remote places. In
addition to measuring energy used,
electronic meters can also record other
parameters of the load and supply such as
instantaneous and maximum rate of usage
demands, voltages, power
factor and reactive power used etc. They can
also support time-of-day billing, for
example, recording the amount of energy used
during on-peak and off-peak hours.
The meter has a power supply, a
metering engine, a processing and
communication engine (i.e.
a microcontroller), and other add-on
modules such as RTC, LCD display,
communication ports/modules and so on. The
metering engine is given the voltage and current
inputs and has a voltage reference, samplers and quantizers followed by an ADC section to yield the
digitized equivalents of all the inputs. These inputs are then processed using a digital signal processor to
calculate the various metering parameters such as powers, energies etc. The largest source of long-term
errors in the meter is drift in the preamp, followed by the precision of the voltage reference. Both of these
vary with temperature as well, and vary wildly because most meters are outdoors. Characterizing and
compensating for these is a major part of meter design.
The processing and communication section has the responsibility of calculating the various derived
quantities from the digital values generated by the metering engine. This also has the responsibility of
communication using various protocols and interface with other add on modules connected as slaves to it.
RTC and other add-on modules are attached as slaves to the processing and communication section for
 Workshop Practice 2k13
various input/output functions. On a modern meter most if not all of this will be implemented inside the
microprocessor, such as the real time clock (RTC), LCD controller, temperature sensor, memory and analog
to digital converters.

Conclusion & Comments:

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Precautions:
 While dealing with electric circuits handle the apparatus carefully.
 Make sure the connections (if any) are tight.
 Observe the readings carefully (if any).