Digital Energy Meter

Electronic energy meters steadily are replacing the historical, electromechanical meters
in industrial plants, commercial buildings and domestic communities. These new type
of meters can record energy usage at different times of day and even different forms of
power (i.e., real versus reactive) to enable multi-rate billing. They provide improved
measurement accuracy and significant lower power consumption than mechanical
meters.

An electronic energy meter (e-meter) inherently is programmable, allowing a basic

hardware design to be easily reconfigured by software for different applications. A
major benefit is the provision of automatic meter reading (AMR), the ability to collect
data via networked communication.

In this particular energy meter, robust RS-485 differential signaling has become the
preferred method of remote data transmission because energy meters operate in harsh
and noisy environments. Any other communication technique (wi-fi, zigbee) can be
applied for data transmission purpose.

Figure 1. Simplified block diagram of an electronic energy meter..

Energy Meter Functional Overview

Figure 1 shows the block diagram of an e-meter. The incoming line voltage, L1 to L3
and Neutral, are attenuated via potential dividers in the voltage sensor block, while the
line currents are measured via shunt resistors in the current sensor unit. Their analog
outputs are converted into digital data through the A-to-D converter stage in the
metrology processor, and also are fed back to the terminal block making the e-meter
transparent to the electrical installation.

The metrology processor performs four-quadrant multiplication to determine the

amount of active power consumed, as well as the amount of reactive power loading the
mains. The calculated results are forwarded to the system controller, which, besides
display and memory management, controls the data transmission between a meter and
the central data collection point via an RS-485 interface.

SMART METERS

Figure 2: Smart Meter Block Diagram

The rollout of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) will enable appliances that
communicate inside the home, automatically shifting the utility supplying power to the
home based on the lowest cost supplier, and enabling sophisticated user behavior to
avoid blackouts and reduce the size of utility bills.

For the vision of AMI infrastructure to be realized, the smart meter must:
  Communicate with other intelligent appliances inside the residence or enterprise.
The strategy for providing this communication path varies from country to
country and in some cases region to region. Zigbee has gained significant
adoption in early trials. However, both WiFi and HomePlug offer benefits for
certain deployments.
 Communicate information securely across the network to preserve sensitive user
information.

 Incorporate enough latent horsepower to enable the delivery of future services

without the need for a truck roll.

DIGITAL MULTIMETERS

 Analog meters require no power supply, they give a better visual indication of
changes and suffers from less electronic noise and isolation problems. They are
simple and inexpensive.
 Digital meters offers high accuracy, high input impedance and are smaller in
sizes. The output available is electrical in addition to visual readout.
 All digital meters employ some kind of analog to digital converters (often dual
slope integrating type) and have a visual readout display at the converter output.
 A basic digital multimeter ( DMM ) is made up of several A / D converters,
circuitary for counting and an attenuation circuit.

dc V
ac V dc V
dc mA ac V
ohm dc mA
Attenuator ohm

A/D
Converter
Compensated Rectifier
dc V Attenuator
ac V
dc mA Decade
ohm
Current to Counter
Voltage converter

Digital
Constant
Readout
current source
Current measurement

10 

100 

1K 

IR
Ii
– A/D Decade Digital Read
Unknown Converter counter out
Current

+
 The current to be measured is applied to the summing function (i) at the input
of the opAmp.
 Since the current at the amplifier input is close to zero i i = iR causes a voltage
drop proportional to current across the resistors.
 This voltage drop is the input to A / D converter, thereby providing a reading
proportional to current.
Resistance measurement

 Resistance is measured by passing known value of current from constant current

source, through an unknown resistor
 The voltage drop across the resistor is applied to the A / D converter, thereby
producing indication of the value of the unknown resistor.

DC POTENTIOMETER
Introduction

A potentiometer is essentially an instrument by which two emf’s are compared.

If one of them is known then the other emf can be determined by comparison with the
former

Principle

Consider a uniform wire AB of higher resistance through which an adjustable

but steady current is maintained by a constant source of emf. Let ℓ is the length of the
wire and R is the resistance per unit length and i is the steady current passing through
the wire.
 E Rh
– +

C
A B

E1 K

– + G
The point ‘C’ is adjusted until the galvanometer shows zero which mean that the voltage
E1 is equal to the drop across the portion AC of the wire and hence no current flows
through galvanometer.

The voltage across AC = current × resistance of length AC ( ℓ1)

Say V = i × ( R × ℓ1) and V = E1 at balance

 E1 = i × ( R × ℓ1) -- (1)

Now another voltage source E2 is connected instead of E1 and again the point C is
identified. Now let it balance at a point which is at distance ℓ2 from A then

Voltage across AC = V = i × ( R × ℓ2) = E2 -- (2)

( i is same as E or Rh is not altered)

Dividing equation 1 by equation 2

If any one voltage say (E2) is known then

ℓ1 and ℓ2 are measurable with scale provided along the slide wire

Applications of DC potentiometers
 Measurement of voltage, current, resistance, power etc.
 Calibration of voltmeters, ammeters, wattmeters etc.
AC POTENTIOMETERS
Introduction

The principle of AC potentiometers is the same as that of Dc potentiometer. But

the difference is that in dc potentiometer, only magnitude of unknown emf and
potentiometer voltage drop have to be made equal to obtain balance whereas in AC
potentiometers, both magnitude and phase of the two voltages should be same to obtain
balance.

Factors to be considered.

 A necessary requirement for balance in an AC potentiometer is equal phase and

magnitude at all instants. This requires the frequency and waveform of current
in the potentiometer circuit must exactly be the same as that of the voltage being
measured.
 A vibration galvanometer is usually used as detector in AC
potentiometers(instead of galvanometers) which has a drawback that it will
respond to only one frequency to which it is tuned.
 There is no standard AC reference source and hence absolute accuracy is not
comparable with corresponding type of DC measurement.
 Stray emf pickups or coupling between portions of potentiometer circuit
seriously affect the result.
AC potentiometers are of two different types differing in the manner in which the value
of the unknown voltage is presented to the user by the instrument dials and scale. They
are
(i) Polar Potentiometers:

Unknown voltage is measured in polar form i.e magnitude

and relative phase vector. Vector OQ denotes the test voltage
whose magnitude and phase are to be imitated, Vector OP is the P
vector whose length ‘r’ can be varied with the help of a sliding
Q
contact on slide wire while its phase  is varied independently
r
with the help of a phase shifter so as to match with OQ . Then the
slide wire setting will give the magnitude of the unknown voltage
while the indication on the phase shifter will give the phase of it
from the reference OX. Ex: Drysdale Potentiometer

O X
(ii) Co-ordinate Potentiometer:

Measures the rectangular co-ordinates of the unknown voltage. The vector OQ is copied
by adjustment of in – phase and quadrature components OX and OY, the values of which are
read from two scales. The magnitude of the unknown voltage and its phase with respect to
reference is calculated as

and

Ex: Gall Tinsley Potentiometer Y Q

MAGNETIC MEASUREMENTS
V1
Electrical and magnetic phenomena are closely associated with each other. Therefore
magnetic measurements and a thorough knowledge of characteristics of magnetic materials are
important in designing and manufacturing electrical equipment. 

O V2 X
The principal requirements in magnetic measurements are

1. The measurement of field strength in air.

2. Determination of B – H curve and Hysteresis loop for soft – ferro magnetic materials
3. Determination of eddy currents and Hysteresis losses of soft ferro magnetic materials
subjected to AC magnetic fields.
4. The testing of permanent magnets.
Various tests are carried out for measurement of above mentioned quantities. They are broadly
classified as

a) Ballistic test / DC testing

 Generally employed for measurement of B – H curve and Hysteresis loop of
ferro – magnetic materials
 Direct current is used to provide an adjustable mmf to the magnetic circuit
 Ballistic galvanometer or flux meter is employed
 Not a direct measure
 b) AC testing
 Carried out at power, audio and radio frequencies
 Give information about eddy current and Hysteresis losses
c) Steady state test
 Performed to obtain the steady value of flux density existing in air gap of
magnetic circuits

DIGITAL TRANSDUCERS

Transducers dealt with so far are analog transducers whose output signals are in analog
form. Direct digital transducers are those which provide output signals in the form of rectangular
pulses of constant duration and amplitude. The presence or absence of which in its time slot is
taken to stand for either ‘1’ or ‘0’. Such transducers are called as an encoder. The digital output
obtained from digital encoder can be fed into digital computers without further conversion.
Encoders can be classified as

1. Tachometer transducer
2. Incremental transducer
3. Absolute transducer
i. Tachometer transducer

A tachometer encoder has only a single output which consists of a pulse for each
increment of displacement. If the motion were always in one direction, a digital counter could
accumulate these pulses to determine the displacement from a known starting point. However,
any motion in the opposite direction would also produce identical pulses, which would produce
errors. Therefore, this digital transducer is usually used for measurement of speed, rather than
for displacement, and in situations where the rotation never reverses.

ii Incremental Encoders

The problems caused by reverse motion in the case tachometer encoder are solved by
using an incremental encoder. The incremental encoder uses atleast two signal generating
elements. The two tracks in the case of incremental encoder are mechanically shifted by ¼ cycle
relative to each other. This allows detection of motion which signal rises first. Thus an up down
pulse counter can be used to subtract pulses whenever the motion reverses. A third output,
which produces one pulse per revolution at a distinct point, is sometimes provided for zero
reference.

An incremental encoder has the advantage of being able to rotate through as many
revolutions as the application requires. However any false pulses resulting from electric noise
will cause errors that persist even when the noise disappears. The failure of system power also
causes total information about the position data to vanish which cannot be retrieved even after re
– application of power.

iii Absolute encoder.

These are generally limited to measurement of a single revolution. They are multiple
tracks and outputs, which are read out in parallel to produce a binary representation of the
angular shaft input position. Since, there is a one – to – one correspondence between binary
outputs, position data are recovered when power is restored after an outage. The transient
electric noise causes only transient measurement errors.

DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS

Data acquisition systems via analog signals are used in communications, electronic and
medical applications. The demand for more and faster information from physical systems and
devices used for space and nuclear research and development, and for industrial automation,
have produced many new and effective instrumentation systems for data acquisition and
reduction

Data acquisition systems are used to measure and record analog signals in basically two
different ways:

i) signals which originate from direct measurement of electric quantities. These

signals may be d.c or a.c voltages, frequency or resistance etc.
ii) signals which originate from use of transducers.
Components of Analog Data – Acquisition systems

An analog data – acquisition system typically consists of some or all of the following
elements.
1. Transducers: The emf obtained from the transducer proportional to the quantity being
measured, is used as an input to the data acquisition system. Therefore transducers such
as thermocouples, strain gauges, Piezo – electric devices and photo sensitive devices are
used.
2. Signal conditioning equipment: This includes any equipment that assists in transforming
the output of transducer to the desired magnitude or form required by the next stage of
the data acquisition system. It also produces the required conditions in the transducers so
that they work properly. Signal conditioners may include devices for amplifying,
refining or selecting certain positions of these signals. Ex. Known constant voltage
sources for strain gauge bridges, zero bridge balance devices for strain gauge,
temperature control devices for thermocouple, voltage amplifiers and servo – systems.
3. Multiplexer: Multiplexer is the process of sharing the single channel with more than one
output. Thus multiplexer accepts multiple analog inputs and connects them sequentially
to one measuring input i.e same transmission channel is used for transmitting more than
one quantity. This becomes necessary in measurement systems when the distance
between transmitting and receiving point is large and many quantity are to be
transmitted. If a separate channel is used for each quantity, the cost of installation,
maintenance and periodic replacement becomes prohibitively large and therefore a single
channel is used which is shared by the various quantities.
Multiplexing is commonly accomplished by either time or frequency sharing of
transmission channel between the individual quantities.

4. Calibrating Equipment: Before each test there is a pre – calibration, and often after each
test there is post calibration. This usually consists of a milli volt calibration of all input
circuits and shunt calibration of all bridge – type transducer circuits
5. Integrating Equipment: It is often desirable to know the integral or summation of a
quantity. There are several ways of determining the time integral of a quantity. An
analog integrating circuit can be used for a qualitative test. It has the possible danger of
becoming overloaded and also its accuracy is low. Therefore, digital techniques are
normally used for integration purposes.
 6. Visual Display devices : They are required for continuous monitoring of the input
signals. These devices include panel mounted meters, numerical displays, single or
Multichannel CRO’s and storage type CROs, etc.
7. Analog Recorders: Analog recorders include strip chart recorder, magnetic tape
recorders, cathode ray oscilloscope with photo graphic equipment for recording the
outputs.
8. Analog computers: The function of a data acquisition system is not only to record data
acquired by the transducers and the sensors but also to redcue this data to the desired
form. An analog computer may be used as data reduction device. The output voltage of
an analog computer can either be recorded in analog form or be converted to a digital
form for recording and further computations.
9. High speed cameras and TV equipments: In many industrial processes, engine testing
and aerodynamic testing, it is not possible for the test operator to have a view of the
equipment being tested. Therefore, closed circuit TV is used to enable the operator to
make visual observations of the test. Also high speed cameras are employed to obtain a
complete visual record of the process for further analysis.

Components of Digital Data – Acquisition systems

Signal
Trans- Multi- Signal A/D Digital
Conditioning
ducer plexer Converter Converter Recorder
Element

Auxiliary Equipment and

System Programmer

A generalized diagram of a digital data acquisition system is as shown. This may include
some or all of the following components

1. Transducers: They convert a physical quantity into an electrical signal which is

acceptable by the data acquisition system
 2. Signal Conditioning element: They are used to modify or convert the signal as
acceptable by the next proceeding component.
3. Multiplexer: It is a process of sharing a single channel with more than one input.
Another name for a multiplexer is “Scanner”.
4. Signal converter: A signal converter translates the analog signal to a form acceptable by
the analog to digital converter,
5. Analog to Digital Converter: It converts the analog voltage to its equivalent digital
form. The output may be fed to digital display devices for visual display or may be fed
to digital recorders for recording.
6. Auxillary equipment: This contains devices for system programming functions and
digital data processing. Some of the typical functions done by auxiliary equipment are
linearization and limit comparison of signals. These functions may be performed by
individual devices or by digital computers
7. Digital recorders: Records of information in digital form may be had on punched cards,
perforated paper tapes, type written pages, floppy discs, magnetic tape or a combination
of these systems.
8. Digital Printers: After all these tests have been completed and the data generated, it
becomes necessary to record the numbers and in some cases reduce the data to a more
meaningful form. A digital printer can be specified to interface with an electronic
instrumentation system in order to perform this work, and thus provide a high quality
hard copy for records and minimizing the labor of the operating staff.
Essential functional operations of digital data acquisition systems

a) handling of analog signals

b) making the measurement
c) converting the data to digital form and handling it
d) internal programming and control.
Uses of Data acquisition systems

Data acquisition systems are being used in ever increasing, large and wide fields in a variety
of industrial and scientific areas, including the aerospace, biomedical and telemetry industries.
The type of data acquisition systems to be used depends upon the application and the intended
use of recorded input data.
 Analog data acquisition systems are used when wide frequency width is required or when
lower accuracies can be tolerated.
 Digital data acquisition is used when the physical quantity being monitored has a narrow
bandwidth. They are also used when high accuracy and low per channel cost is required.