An electricity meter is a device which measures the total electrical energy (or electricity) consumed by the appliances which

draw electrical energy from the main power supply at a

house or an official space and so on

Types of electricity meters

With the advancement of technology, like any other gadget, the energy meter had also been undergoing continuous development towards accuracy, low power consumption,

transfer of data, measuring parameters, anti-tempering features etc. and called Electro-mechanical, Electronic, Smart, dual register smart meter etc.

1. Electromechanical energy meter

2. Electronic energy meter

3. Automated energy meter

4. Smart energy meter

5. Digital energy meter

Electro-Mechanical Energy Meters

As their name suggest, Electro-Mechanical Energy Meters are the combination of Mechanical and Electrical Technology. A mechanical disk present inside the meter rotates when the

load applied. The speed of disk is directly proportional to the amount of load applied. With the rotation of disk, dial of the Energy Meter increase its value.
There are two coils present in the diagram and in between these two coils a rotating disk is present. One coil is current coil which is connected in series with load, that’s why it is also

called as series coil as well. Other coil is voltage coil connected in parallel, that’s why it is called as shunt coil as well. When both coils are energized they will induce eddy current in

the disk. There is a copper shading band present above the disk which gives 90 degrees’ phase shift eddy currents, which results in the rotation of disk.

There will be no rotation of the disk, if the switch is open. As soon as the switch will close, current will start to flow which results in the voltage induction and hence the rotation of the

disk. The speed of the disk depends on the load applied. As heavy load requires large current, thus when large current passes through the current coil, large amount of eddy current will

produce which will rotate the disk fast.

Breaking magnet is a permanent magnet which applies the force opposite to normal disc rotation to move that disc at balanced position and to stop the disc while power is off.
Advantages of Electro-Mechanical Meters

Robustness: These meters are strong meters with respect to new energy meters. As Digital Energy Meters have small and sensitive components, they can burn easily with

any stray jerk of voltage. On the other hand, Disk meters can endure those voltage fluctuations. Moreover, coils present in disk meters are tough and cannot easily be

destroyed.

Mechanical Dial of Energy Meter: Readings of the dial of Electro-mechanical Energy Meter is pretty hard to alter. So, its dial can be also taken as advantage of Electro-

mechanical meters.

No use of battery: Whenever battery of the digital meter dies or power turns off due to any reason, reading of meter will be vanished. But readings of disk meter will be

always present due to Mechanical dial present on it.

Disadvantages of Electro-Mechanical Meters

Future up-gradation: There is no chance of future enhancement in these kinds of Energy Meters. They are what they are, you cannot improve it or include anymore innovation in

it.

Accuracy limits: Disk meters mostly gives class 2 accuracy.

ELECTRONIC ENERGY METER:

Like other energy meters that measures the amount of electric energy consumed by a building, tenant space, or electrically powered equipment. Electronic Energy Meter is based on

Digital Micro Technology (DMT) and uses no moving parts. So the EEM is known as “Static Energy Meter” In EEM the accurate functioning is controlled by a specially designed IC

called ASIC (Application Specified Integrated Circuit). ASIC is constructed only for specific applications using embedded system technology. 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. 

Simple Block Diagram Of Electronic Energy Meter Shown Above:

Digital Electronic Energy Meter Analog Electronic Energy Meter
Generally 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 a real time

clock (RTC), a liquid crystal display to display power consumed.

The basic Electronic Energy meter senses the current and voltage which signals from the circuitry, converts them in to the digital signal and makes necessary calculations

to get the units of electrical energy which has been consumed in lcd panel.

The meters can be digital or analog .

In analog meters, power is converted proportional to frequency or pulse rate and it is integrated by counters placed in it . The output of ASIC is available as pluses by led.

In digital meters, power is directly measured by high end processors .The power is integrated by logic circuits to get energy and also for testing and calibration purpose. It

is then converted to frequency and pulse. The output is available in the form of pulse indicated by led/lcd. pulses equal to (kWh/units).

Both the meters starts measuring instantaneously when connected to the load.
Advantages Of Electronic Energy Meters:

Accuracy: These are accurate, high precision and reliable types of measuring instruments compared to conventional mechanical meters.

Ease of Measurement: With use of modern digital signal processors, it is possible to make complex calculations in a simpler way. In digital display

Security: It eliminates the risk of tampering with the meter and provides efficient way of calculating the energy units.

Added Features: Consumes less power and starts measuring instantaneously when connected to the load digital display.

Stability: The components used are not prone to mechanical wear and tear like their electro mechanical parts and are hence more stable and last longer.

EEM improves the cost and quality of electricity distribution.

• Low current performance.
• Low voltage performance.
• Difficult to temper.

Disadvantages Of Electronic Energy Meters:

• Errors due to the incorrect magnitude of fluxes.

• Incorrect magnitudes of fluxes.

• Incorrect phase angles.

 3.AUTOMATED ENERGY METER

Automated Energy Meter

Automatic Meter Reading System (AMR) is the remote collection of consumption data from
customers'utility like Electric meters using radio frequency, telephony, power-line or satellite
communicationstechnologies and process the data to generate the bill
 Automated energy meter is generally an electronic energy with a communication module that helps the meter to communicate directly with the service provider.
It has a digital signal processor or high performance microprocessor.

It also has voltage and current transducers connected to a high resolution ADC.
Real time clock for real time energy consumption calculation, maximum demand calculation and also date and time stamp for particular parameters.
.
LCD module for display purpose The IR Receiver contains three PIN and was connected with VDD, VSS and the pin8 of the microcontroller
The AMR circuit diagram
Smart Energy Meter
A smart meter is an electronic device that records consumption of electric energy and communicates the information to the electricity supplier for monitoring and billing. Smart meters
typically record energy hourly or more frequently, and report at least daily.
 
Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system. Such an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) differs from automatic meter reading (AMR) in
that it enables two-way communication between the meter and the supplier. Communications from the meter to the network may be wireless, or via fixed wired connections such as power
line carrier (PLC). Wireless communication options in common use include cellular communications (which can be expensive), Wi-Fi (readily available), wireless ad hoc networks over Wi-
Fi, wireless energy networks, low power long range wireless  ZigBee (low power, low data rate wireless), and Wi-SUN (Smart Utility Networks).
It is an advanced metering technology involving placing intelligent meters to read, process and feedback the data to customers. It measures energy consumption, remotely
switches the supply to customers and remotely controls the maximum electricity consumption. Smart metering system uses the advanced metering infrastructure system
technology for better performance.

These are capable of communicating in both directions. They can transmit the data to the utilities like energy consumption, parameter values, alarms, etc and also can receive
information from utilities such as automatic meter reading system, reconnect/disconnect instructions, upgrading of meter software’s and other important messages.
Advantages-
o Eliminating manual meter reading
o Monitoring the electric system more quickly
o Making it possible to use power resources more efficiently

o Offering more detailed feedback on energy use

o Enabling them to adjust their habits to lower electric bills
o Reducing blackouts and system-wide electric failures

Disadvantages-
o Some suppliers can’t support smart meters

o In-Home Display may be inaccurate

o It causes health problems like ear pain, anxiety and sleep problems.
 Digital Energy Meter

An electric meter or energy meter is an essential device that goes with consumption of commercially distributed energy
.
An electric meter or energy meter is an essential device that goes with consumption of commercially distributed energy. It

enables systematic pricing of energy consumed by individual consumer as it measures the amount of electrical energy

consumed by a residence, business, or an electrically powered device .

 Description

The block diagram for a digital energy meter is as shown in the figure below, here two basic
sensors are employed. These are voltage and current sensors. The voltage sensor is built around a
step down element and potential divider network and senses both the phase voltage and load
voltage. The current sensor senses the current drawn by the load at any point in time. It is built
around a current transformer and other active devices (such as voltage comparator) which
convert the sensed current to voltage for processing. The output from both sensors is then fed
into a signal (or voltage) conditioner which ensures matched voltage or signal level to the control
circuit, it also contain a signal multiplexer which enable sequential switching of both signal to
the analogue input of the peripheral interface controller (PIC). The control circuit centered on a
PIC integrated circuit. The PIC is selected because it contain ten bit analogue to digital converter
(ADC), very flexible to program and good for peripheral interfacing.
Description

The ADC converts the analogue signals to its digital equivalent; both signals from the voltage

and current sensors are then multiplied by the means of embedded software in the PIC. Here the

error correction is taken as the offset correction by determining the value of the input quality

with short-circuited input and storing this value in the memory for use as the correction value

device calibration. The PIC is programmed in C language. Such that apart from the multiplier

circuit it simulates, it is able to use the received data to calculate power consumption per hour, as

well as the expected charges. These are displayed on the liquid crystal display attached to the Circuit.