FI122463B - Method and apparatus for remote reading of an energy meter - Google Patents

Description

Method and apparatus for remote reading of an energy meter

The invention relates to a method for remote reading of an energy meter according to the preamble of claim 1.

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The invention also relates to apparatus for remote reading of an energy meter.

The invention discloses a method of connecting a plurality of kilowatt-hour meters to a collecting meter via an RFID local area network for gathering meter data.

10 Such equipment and methods are used in condominiums and shopping centers when a rapid and automatic reading and forwarding of the energy consumption of several units, typically apartments, is required for billing purposes.

In the prior art, RFID modules have been used to transfer data from an energy meter to a reader. The solution to how large the meter groups are for remote reading is not shown.

The problem with the prior art has been how to obtain energy meters advantageously for 20 automatic remote sensing. If GSM meters are installed on each meter, the system becomes very expensive and cannot be installed in a metal cabinet. If the GSM equipment is installed outside the installation cabinet, the meter will need to be connected to the data transmission equipment via a wired or wireless data network, and the wireless technology based wireless network is expensive and the metal installation cabinet impedes cvj 25 radio frequency propagation. A wired connection will work, but the system must be i c \ i protected by isolation, which makes a wired network difficult. An optical network is one x viable solution.

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It is an object of the invention to solve the prior art problems described above and this

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30 for the purpose of providing a completely new type of method and equipment for the remote reading of energy meters.

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The invention is based on the fact that electrical devices such as energy cutters or relays are read by RPDD technology and data transmission is enhanced by a closed wiring arrangement such as a wire loop located near the meters.

More specifically, the method according to the invention is characterized in what is set forth in the characterizing part of claim 1.

The apparatus according to the invention, in turn, is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing part of claim 6.

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The invention provides considerable advantages.

The arrangement according to the invention enables the collector meter to read readily the measurement data of all kilowatt-hour meters very many times, e.g. every 1 second 15. Advantages of the system include ease of installation and low cost of RFID electronics. Further advantages include the fact that before or after installation, the RFID feature can be used as a wireless method to read meter data using, for example, a mobile phone equipped with an RFID reader. Because RFID assigns a unique address to each meter, the meters can be installed in the cabinet in any order and then paste a specific RFID address into a block of flats address. Because the pickup meter also has an RFID interface, the pickup meter can be assured after installation using a mobile phone equipped with an RFID reader. The only additional work during the installation phase is to construct a closed power loop o around the meters. With new meter cabinets this can be done at the factory. If the cm 25 uses 13.56 MHz RFID technology, the meter can also be installed outside the meter room i c \ i. This, of course, requires that the wire loop be introduced through the wall or that the meter x be mounted on the wall with an induction loop on one side.

Q_ cm The method allows the meters installed in apartment buildings to be read

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o 30 collecting the meter, but the meters that are installed in the dispersed area can be read

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wirelessly with a mobile phone with RFID reader electronics. If these energy meters are retrofitted with GSM technology, 3 meters can be connected to the meter simply without opening RFID communication. In addition, the presence of an RFID chip in kilowatt-hour meters significantly facilitates meter logistics, deployment, and maintenance.

The invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 schematically illustrates one system according to the invention.

10 Applicant's earlier patent application FI20050501, which is secret at the time of filing this application, describes a method for transferring energy meter measurement and quality data to power plants using a mobile phone and the RFID protocol. The present invention provides a method in which a local sensor network can be made using the same technology, for example for automatic remote reading of meters in apartment buildings. Ko. Of course, a type of RFID local area network can also be used in other applications.

Figure 1 illustrates a typical situation in factories, shopping centers, apartment buildings, etc., where a plurality of kilowatt hour meters 1 are installed in a meter cabinet 6. Each of the 20 meters 1 thus measures at least electricity consumption, but typically these meters also provide information on current, voltage, phase performance in both instantaneous and averaged values. The problem is how to advantageously bring these meters 1 into automatic remote reading. If the GSM communication equipment is installed on each meter o, the system becomes very expensive and the meters c \ i 25 cannot be installed in the metal installation cabinet 6. If the GSM equipment is installed outside c \ j, the meter must be connected to it via a wired or wireless x data network. The wireless network based on radio technology is expensive and the metal Q_ cabinet interferes with the propagation of radio frequencies. A wired connection will work, but the system should be protected, which makes the wired network difficult. Optical

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The g 30 network is a viable solution.

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In the solution of Figure 1, the local area network is made using RFID technology. In the method, each kilowatt hour meter 1 has an RFID circuit 2 or electronics simulating it, in which memory the measurement data is stored. The circuit 2 thus contains the necessary memory for storing the measured values. An antenna 3 is connected to each RFID circuit 2. In addition to the electronics simulating the RFID circuit 2, the collecting meter 4 located outside the switch cabinet 6 includes electronics for reading the RFID circuits and an antenna 3. The reading electronics thus read the measurement results stored in the RFID circuits. A closed loop 5 is provided near the monitored meters 1 and the collecting meter 4 through which the data transmitted by the RFID circuits 2 10 of the energy meters 1 is transmitted to the antenna 3 of the collecting meter 4 and thereby forwarded to the reading electronics via a suitable data network 7.

The pick-up meter 4 may be a mere RFID unit with an RFID reading circuit having a suitable communication apparatus 10 for forwarding data through a data network 7 15. The communication apparatus 10 can operate both wired and wirelessly. Suitable communication methods include GPRS, GSM, WLAN, RFID and wired communication protocols. However, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the collector meter 4 is also an energy meter, which measures the sum of the energies of the meters 1, typically from a conductor through which the sum of the meters 1 flows.

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Thanks to the invention, the meter 4 can easily read the measurement data of all kilowatt-hour meters 1 with its reading device, for example, every 1 second. When installing the meter field in accordance with the invention, the RFID circuit assigns a unique address to each meter 1. This allows the meters 1 to be mounted in cabinet 6 in any cm 25 order. Each apartment or other unit of energy bill in cm can then be programmatically linked to the address corresponding to the correct meter, which is typically the apartment address of the apartment building. Because the collector

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4 also has an RFID interface, the collector meter can be verified after installation cm using a mobile phone equipped with an RFID reader, for example. Only

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o 30 additional work during the installation phase is the construction of a closed loop 5 of gauges 1 and 4

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about. For new meter cabinets, the current loop 5 can be made already at the manufacturing stage of the cabinet 6. If 13.56 MHz RFID technology is used, the pick-up meter 5 4 can also be installed outside the meter room. This, of course, requires the wire loop 5 to be inserted through the wall or the meter to be mounted on the wall with a wire loop 5 on one side of the wall.

The conductor loop 5 is thus a conductor ring made, for example, by combining any conductor into a galvanically uniform loop, a short-circuited ring. Such conductor discipline is typically insulated. The wire loop 5 is located near the meters 1 and 4, but not in galvanic contact with them. A suitable distance from conductor 5 to gauge 1 or 4 for sufficient coupling is 5-100 mm. The appropriate distance 10 naturally depends on e.g. the transmit power used and the antenna type and geometry. Figure 1 illustrates, as a preferred alternative of the invention, the placement of the gauges 1 and 4 inside the wire loop 5. However, the positioning of the wire loop 5 can be made in other ways with respect to the gauges 1 and 4, as long as the signal is adequately coupled to the wire loop 5 by keeping the distance from the gauges 1 and 4 to the wire loop 5 sufficiently small.

At least in the beginning it is advisable to build the system using 13.56 MHz RFID technology, but if in the future, for example, 869 MHz or 2.45 GHz RFID reading electronics are available in mobile phones, the system can also be built on these standards.

For the purposes of this application, electrical equipment means e.g. power meters, power, current and voltage meters and short-circuit and earth-fault current meters o or electrical relays or switches. Electrical appliances also include, for example, a home appliance equipped with a cm 25 RFID circuit or parts thereof which can transmit information or receive cm information.

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The wire arrangement refers to both the wire loop shown in Fig. 5 and cm, for example, to the wiring of the electricity network connected to the electricity meters 1 and 4 with a suitable

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g 30 when used either through inductive or capacitive coupling. In this case cm .....

each meter is provided with a connection from this RFID circuit to the wiring of the grid, either capacitively by providing a sufficiently large capacitance between the RFID-6 circuit and the electrical wiring, or inductively by providing a transformer-like connection between the RFID circuit of the meter and the wiring.

Em. the procedure does not require the actual mains connection to be altered, but changes 5 are made at the connection of each meter or at the manufacturing stage of the meter with a suitable inductive or capacitive switching component 11.

By appropriately selecting the transmit power levels, parallel meter fields (for example, adjacent blocks of flats) do not interfere with each other.

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Claims (10)

7 A method for remotely reading or controlling electrical devices (1), wherein a plurality of electrical devices (1) are used to measure or control an electrical network, which electrical devices (1, 4) are mounted in close proximity to each other, for example in the same switching cabinet (6) or unit. that - at least some of the electrical instruments (1) store the measurement data via RFID electronics (2) and transmit them via the antenna (3) or receive control information via RFID electronics (2), - the data transmitted or received from the electrical instruments (1) (4) including RFID reader electronics and communication apparatus (10) for forwarding or receiving data, and - the connection of the signal from the electrical devices (1) to the collecting device (4) is enhanced by a wire loop (5) located in the vicinity of the electrical devices (1, 4). Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the conductor of the conductor loop (5) is provided with an electrical insulation surrounding it and the conductor loop (5) is located at about 5-100 mm from each meter (1, 4). 20 Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the electric energy network (11) connected to the meters (1, 4), either capacitively or inductively, is used as the conductor loop (5). δ CM cm 25 A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cm collecting device (4) is a collecting meter (4) for measuring energy consumption. X cc Q_ 5. A method according to claim 4, characterized in that the "meter" of the collector meter (4) measures the total energy of the energy meters (1). δ o 30 o CM 8 Apparatus for remote reading or remote control of electrical apparatus comprising a plurality of electrical apparatuses (1) mounted in proximity to each other for measuring or controlling electrical quantities at different targets, characterized in that 5. at least some of the electrical apparatus (1) comprises RFID electronics (2) with antennas (3). for storing and transmitting the measurement data or for receiving control information, the apparatus comprising: - a collecting device (4) including RFID reader electronics for receiving and reading or transmitting the measurement data transmitted from the electrical apparatuses (1) and the communication apparatus (10) for transmitting or receiving information; - a wire loop (5) located in the vicinity of the electrical appliances (1,4), which is used to enhance the coupling of the signal from the electrical appliances (1) to the meter (4). Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the conductor of the conductor loop (5) is provided with an electrical insulation surrounding it and the conductor loop (5) is located at about 5-100 mm from each meter (1, 4). 8. Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that the conductor loop (5) is an electrical energy network connected to the instruments (1, 4) either capacitively or inductively. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the collecting device (4) is a energy meter (4). δ {M c \ j 25 Apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the collector meter (4) is connected to measure the total energy of the energy meters (1). X en CL {M δ o o {M 9