PROJECT TITLE DESIGNING A REAL TIME ELECTRICITY USAGE MONITOR 1.

1 Objectives The main objective of the project is to design a device for measuring the power consumed by all appliances at domestic level. The device should: Provide the measurement in real time, Should show an increase or drop in the reading if more devices are plugg ed or unplugged respectively. 1.2 Problem statement At the present moment electrical energy is on high demand, and its generation is unable to meet the demand. The need to save electricity due to the increased co nsumption of electricity in residential areas has alarmed the designing of a rea l time electricity usage monitor. The device will help residents to monitor thei r electricity consumption and to know which appliances take the greatest amount of energy consumption and the ones that take the least amount of power. The them e of the project is, ``Metering displays should be provided for each individual household in a form that is accessible, attractive and clear``. 1.3 Project scope This project mainly concentrates on designing an electricity monitoring device w hich is easy to use and which does not require a technician or electrician to in stall it at home or business premises. Background of the project In Zimbabwe at the present moment there is need of saving electricity because th e current electrical supply to consumers is scarce, other ways have been put in place in order to save electricity, and these include: use of incandescent lamps i.e. energy savers use of alternative sources of energy e.g. installing solar geysers use of electric jugs to boil water The sum total of these methods is not an effective way of saving electricity, an alternative way is to use single phase energy watt meters to monitor your home or business electricity consumption through the month. This phenomenon is not ye t well adapted by many consumers in Zimbabwe. Unlike the main energy meter, an i n-home display is a quick and easy way for consumers to see what the cost of run ning their appliances is. Monitoring your monthly electric consumption can be us ed to project your monthly bill. There are a vast range of these meters; the issue is to carefully select a meter which would best help to achieve the desired goal. The watt meters are grouped as whole house meters and others that only measure power consumption of individu al appliances. Whole house watt meters are more attractive than those that measu re the power consumption of individual appliances. It is a necessity to introduce the watt meters to the consumers, and this desig n focuses on designing a whole house wattmeter which is quite advantageous to us e than watt meters that only show the power consumption of individual appliances . The advantages are as follows: keeps up with technological advances and hence can compete on the market It's easy to install and simple to use. Sends signals on instantaneous electric power over house wiring by power line carrier so that the display device can be installed in any room and simply plugged into the wall. This confers a substantial time savings in installation and set-up. The PowerCost Monitor is an easy-to-use and easy-to-install home electricity monito r that gives you and your family, real time feedback on how you are consuming el ectricity in your home. It can tell you at a glance how much electricity you are consuming in total at any particular time. By installing a PowerCost Monitior and changing how you consume electricity you can save up to $250* per year on your home electricity bill.

How Does it Help Me Save Electricity? With over 150,000 units sold to date and as seen on FOX News, ABC, and CNN Onlin e, the PowerCost Monitor helps people save money on their electric bill by showing them exactly where they are consuming energy and how even small changes in their electricity usage can save money. Clear, real-time usage information, helps you to make simple changes to your ene rgy usage that save money. It gives the power measurement in KWh 1.5 literature review The basic principle behind the operation of energy meters is the use of a curren t sensor to measure the current. The measurement can then be displayed using ana logue or digital methods. Two types of sensors are available, a shunt and clip-o n current transformers. This method of measuring AC electrical energy does not r equire breaking of the mains wire, which makes it safe. The current sensor is cl ipped-on to the wire, and the sensor measures the current flowing in the live or neutral mains wire. Simply clipping on the sensor to the mains wire will allow electrical energy used by the whole house to be measured. Using a shunt for current sensing A shunt is basically a resistor working as a potential divider and is used as a current sensor in energy meters. The values of the shunt used in energy meter ap plications are typically (0.001-100) . For cost reasons smaller values are used. To improve low current measurements, larger resistance are used. A shunt is a cost -effective solution for single phase distribution system. A shunt has many advan tages over current transformers: Shunts do not suffer from the DC saturation effect. Also, the phase response of a shunt is linear across the complete range of the input current. A disadvantage of shunts is that they are purely resistive, a shunt dissipates m ore power in the form of heat when high current is passed through it, increasing the overall power consumption of the energy meter. Using a current transformer for sensing A current transformer can be used as a sensor to measure the current passing thr ough the single phase lines. The turn ratio of the current transformer determine s the current in the secondary coil of the transformer. The turn ratio of the cu rrent transformer must be chosen in such a way that the current transformer does not get saturated over the full dynamic range of the energy meter. In a case wh en the current from the second coil an input to a microcontroller, a load resist or is used to convert the secondary current of the current transformer into the voltage signal. The voltage level of this signal must remain within the limits o f the analogue to digital converter used in the design of the meter. Power supply Most power supplies incorporate a transformer in their design, in recent technol ogies the use of these power supplies is vanishing. Capacitor power supplies are replacing these power suppliers. A capacitive power supply is the best solution for a low-cost energy meter. It works on the principle of reducing the line vol tage by having a series capacitor between the live and neutral. Current flowing through this capacitor is inversely proportional to the impedance of the capacit or as given by the formula: Impedance (Z)=0.5 fc Where: f is the line frequency and c is the capacitance of the series capacitor. The output of the capacitor needs to be rectified to generate the DC output sign al. The conversion from AC to DC is done using a rectifier, either half-wave or full-wave. Fig 1.0 power supply based on half-wave rectification The power supply is based on half-wave rectification. During the negative half c

ycle, capacitor C1 is charged and during the positive cycle the capacitor discha rges. Zener diode D1 dictates to which voltage capacitor C2 is charged. The ener gy stored in C2 is supplied to a voltage regulator to produce a stable output. R esistor R1 controls the charge and discharge of C1 and also limits the current f low through zener diode D1. The advantages of this solution are: The transformer is removed and cost is significantly reduced. The power supply size is smaller. Maximum output current values are proportional to the AC capacitor valu es. Removing the transformer optimizes the cost and weight. Design Layout N L

Shunt

1.6 Methodology In order to fulfil the project objectives, tasks have to be done in the stipulat ed time frame. To achieve this a lot of research on the internet and in textbook s is vital. Research alone is not enough; it will only help in tackling the theo retical part of the project. In the implementation i will work well with the lab oratory technicians at the University of Zimbabwe. I will also visit do some in dustrial visits to some electronics companies and ask for any help that might be necessary in the implementation of the project. 1.7 Material resources PCB board Stick and peel paper Diodes 2N series Microcontroller Resistors , shunt Capacitors Bread board LCD Voltage regulator 1.8 Budget Component Cost (estimate in US$) Resistors, capacitors and diodes $6 Microcontroller $20 PCB board $10 Stick and peel paper $8 Bread board $10 Voltage regulators $5 LCD $25 Total $84 Adjustment to the budget may be made in progress.

1.9 Time table Date Activity 10 Oct -14 Nov 2011 14 Nov - 28 Nov 2011 28 Nov 5 Dec 2011 5 Dec 19 Dec 2011 9 Jan 26 Mar 2012 26 Mar Jul 2012

Project proposal Circuit designing Material gathering Circuit implementation on bread board Circuit implementation on PCB Adjustments and finalization

2.0 References www.ti.com www.LDCForFreescaleSemiconductor@hibbertgroup.com