Prepaid digital energy meter with keypad interface
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Date
2012
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
UMT Lahore
Abstract
The modern world is a challenging place. Ideas are polishing the minds of the engineers, scientists, and analysts who are involved in the development of industry as well as providing feasible products to the users. In the 21st century, everyone is talking about modernization and development, but without electricity, it seems to be unaccomplished. The users are growing exponentially, and the load on power-providing divisions (e.g., WAPDA) is increasing, so organizations as well as customers must be facilitated by giving them an innovative solution; i.e., the concept of a prepaid digital energy meter. As older technology-based energy meters get older, they may become less accurate due to their mechanical design (based on the Ferrari wheel principle) and are the main source of dissipating power, so it makes good prospective sense to move to this new technology. Collecting data from power meters is a laborious task. Conventionally, the meter is read by a human being and written onto a notepad. The data then has to be typed into a computer before it can be processed.
By keeping all these things in mind, the idea of a prepaid digital energy meter has flourished, comprising three modules: energy calculation using metering IC (SA9903B), controlling module, and display unit. The system developed automates the whole process, that is, measuring the power from the digital electric meter, sending the consumed units (postpaid electric meter) and card number (prepaid electric meter) to the area substation, and the process of bill generation. It also eliminates human error in reading meters, improves meter reading accuracy, provides an accurate usage-based bill resulting in better customer satisfaction, and protects against electricity theft and meter tampering. This metering system is feasible for residential, commercial, and industrial applications because of the versatility and low cost afforded by the system design. The system design also changes the economics of manufacturing energy meters. Another consideration is the demand for mechanical-meter replacements that are as inexpensive as possible. In parts of the developing world where many new customers are being connected to the grid, the low cost of the project is its main attraction as well.
In the first part, the energy calculation module was developed, which measures the current and voltage, converts it into a digital form, and then computes the instantaneous power. In the prepaid meter case, we interfaced the keypad to enter the card number. Every card number entered has some units against it. When the correct code is entered, the user gets a certain amount of units which they can consume further. When the units are less than a certain level, the system intimates the user to recharge the card/units by activating the buzzer to avoid supply cutoff. When all units are consumed, the controlling module switches off the supply by operating the relay. To avail of the electric power, the user must now enter a valid card.