These days with emerging developments in all sectors and growing demands, electricity has become a priority for every individual and every organization. The basic procedure for power supply includes power generation, power transmission, and power distribution to the destinations. Naturally owing to a few technical faults, losses may occur due to power dissipation by some devices. These losses can be minimized using the fast-developing technology, but what about the other kind of losses? These are the losses caused deliberately by human beings for the sake of illegal access to power distribution. This is power theft.
Electrical Power System Problems and Solutions Problem Description Duration Cause Effect Possible Solution Momentary Interruption Very short planned or accidental power loss 0.5 cycles to 3 sec Switching Operations attempting to isolate electrical problem and maintain power to your area Equipment trips off Programming is lost.
In developing countries like India, power theft is one of the most prevalent issues which not only cause economic losses but also the irregular supply of electricity. It hampers the functioning of industries and factories, due to the shortage of power supplied to them. It causes a shortage of power supply to homes. It leads to loss of revenue by Government as individual enterprises may opt to install their own power generators, increases corruption in the form of bribes, and many more. Ultimately it is the country’s economy that suffers along with the country’s political reputation.
Power theft is also prevalent in developed countries like the USA and Britain. According to Forbes’ report, in Canada, about $500 million of electricity is stolen in Ontario and up to $6 billion of electricity is pirated in the USA. Many individuals who cannot afford to pay the electricity bills often run wires directly to circuit breakers, tamper with meters or steal meters from vacant houses.
Check out live project details of Tampered Energy Meter Monitoring Conveyed To Control Room By GSM with User Programable Number Features
A photodiode is placed on the shaft of the rotating disk on the meter and is illuminated with IR light from the IR LED. In normal operation, the output of the photodiode gives a logic low signal to the Microcontroller. However when the meter tampers, i.e. the disk rotation is obstructed or the meter cover is removed, an obstacle is created between the LED and the photodiode, resulting in a logic high signal to the Microcontroller. The Microcontroller detects this change in logic signal and based on this, sends a message to the GSM modem through the level shifter Max 232. The GSM modem then sends the message about energy meter being tampered at the particular location, to the power distribution grid, and appropriate action is taken accordingly.
Either the power supply to the organization of the house is cut off or the energy meter is replaced in case of any damage.
A real-life example of this technique of power theft prevention using Energy Meter tampering detection is shown below:
At this point, we have seen that Electronic Energy Meters can be one solution to the problem of power theft. Let us have a brief idea about Electronic Energy Meters.
An electronic energy meter as its name suggests is the measuring device of the energy consumed in kWh. It, unlike a conventional electromechanical meter, uses basic electronic devices to compute energy consumption.
The basic Electronic Energy meter senses the current and voltage signals from the circuitry, converts them to digital signal and makes necessary calculations to get the units of electrical energy consumed.
The electronic energy meter consists of
Basic Electronic Energy meter measurement takes place by counting the LED pulses at the rate of 3200 pulses per unit of electricity. A unit of electricity refers to the kilo watt units of power consumed in the given time in hours.
The digital Energy meter is connected to an optoisolator and for every electrical signal input from the Energy meter, the LED sends light pulses to the phototransistor, which converts them to electrical high and low pulses which are sent to the Microcontroller. The Microcontroller is also interfaced with a few push buttons to allow the user to enter relevant information about the number of hours. Based on this information and the input pulses from the optoisolator, the microcontroller makes the necessary calculations to calculate the energy units consumed.
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The 0.2 kW Electromechanical Training Systems (EMS) are part of a modular instructional program designed to teach electric power technology through laboratory observations. The program, divided in four subsystems, deals with the different techniques associated with the generation and use of electrical energy. The subsystems cover the common machines, and each subsystem is offered with its courseware presented in a student manual.
Each subsystem is available as a package that consists of the equipment necessary to perform the laboratory exercises presented in the correlated student manual.
Description | System Number |
---|---|
Complete 0.2 kW EMS – Modular | 8001-1 |
0.2 kW EMS – Power Circuits | 8001-2 |
0.2 kW EMS – DC Machines | 8001-3 |
0.2 kW EMS – Single-Phase Transformers and AC Machines | 8001-4 |
0.2 kW EMS – Three-Phase Transformers and AC Machines | 8001-5 |
0.2 kW Electromechanical Training System | 8001-6 |
Qty | Description | System Number |
---|---|---|
1 | Workstation | 8134-2 |
1 | Full-Size Blank EMS Module | 8160 |
1 | Half-Size Blank EMS Module | 8161 |
1 | DC Voltmeter/Ammeter | 8412-1 |
1 | Prony Brake Module, Imperial | 8913 |
1 | Prony Brake Module, Metric | 8913-1 |
1 | Speed Sensor / Tachometer | 8931 |
1 | Four-Quadrant Dynamometer/Power Supply | 8960-B |
1 | Textbook – Electrical Machines, Drives, and Power Systems, T. Wildi | 17708 |
1 | 0.2-kW Electromechanical Training System (Manuals on CD-ROM) | 25986-A |
EMS Wattmeter, 1-phase (8431)
8960-1x - Prime Mover / Dynamometer
Synchronizing Module 8621-0x pilot lamps problem