Adding power quality monitoring

to a smart kWh meter

This article describes a method that gives 'some power quality quantities, like
total voltage distortion and voltage unbalance, from relatively sparsely
sampled measurements. It is based on an adaptive state observer for the
voltage phasors. Requirements for power quality monitoring in power
distribution are listed and the results of the laboratory and field tests of new
power quality monitoring kWh meters summarised together with field use
experience. Finally, the needs and possibilities for future development are
discussed.

by P. Koponen, R. Seesvuori and R. Bostman

Introduction
A project has n o w been completed in which
the objective was t o develop a remotely
readable kWh meter that can also monitor
the power quality in the distribution network.
The idea was t o develop new software for an
existing commercial smart kWh meter
without any hardware modifications. In the
meter the energy measurement is based on a
method developed especially for sparse
sampling. Calculations of power quality
quantities were added including voltage
distortion, unbalance and the DC compoiient
as well as the fundamental frequency (50 Hz)
reactive power. Also monitoring of supply
voltage variations and interruptions and the
communication with the meter reading
system were improved.
Two problems gave the motivation for this
project. First, the utilities need t o get advance
warning of power quality problems such as
harmonics, but special power analysers are
t o o expensive t o be used in large numbers in
the power distribution network. Second,
remote reading kWh meters need other
applications t o share the costs and there is
free data processing capacity in the smar-t
kWh meters of Mittrix Oy. Koponen et al.'
describe such possible applications and also
say why there is a need t o monitor the power
quality parameters such as voltage levels,
voltage excursions, distortion, harmonic
frequency components, unbalance and direct
voltage component.
After a preliminary method development
and analysis phase, it was decided t o modify
the software of an existing smart kWh meter
POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL AUGUSST 1996

t o measure, t o a limited extent, the power

quality also. The power utilities defined the
relative importance of various power quality
parameters. Then the methods were
simulated, implemented in the meters, tested
in laboratories, tuned and developed further
in an iterative way. Minor hardware
modifications have been necessary.
Following these modifications, field tests
were conducted, in which the new meters
were connected t o the low-voltage feeders of
tliree power substations. Finally the results
were analysed.
It became necessary to redesign the data
communication and dalta management
systems in the meter and in the remote
wading system. The old systems were
inadequate for power quality monitoring.
The new systems are described by Saari eta/.'
Their development had already started
because of the anticipated requirements of
the competitive energy markets. It turned out
that the power quality #applicationfits well in
N
t 3 this new remote reading system. Only
r'iinor modifications were needed.
Adaptive state observer
Voltage distortion D, unbalance and direct
voltage component Ud(.are measured using
time discrete state observers of the voltage
phasors (Fig. I ) . In addition t o this the
reactive power of the fundamental frequency
is calculated from the rneasured current and
x,, the estimated imaginary component of
the voltage phasor. The filtering of the
voltage distortion D requires at least t w o
filter stages in order t o make the frequency
159

1 Method for power

quality monitoring for a
kWh meter with sparse
sampling, main
structure

2 Adaptive state
observersfor POwer
quality monitoring with
sparse sampling

response flat at the fundamental frequency,

the bottom of the stop band. In the
implementation both these stages are state
observers. The output error ae of stageA is
the input t o stage B, from whose output
error Bethe effective value is integrated in
order t o get the total distortion D . Only the
observer gains,k and & are slightly different,
because this improves the overall frequency
resoonse.
The model of the network voltage u(t)as a
function of time t is

u(t) = a cos(wt + 0)+ U&

+ d(t)

(1 1

Here we want t o estimate the amplitude a,

the angular frequency a,the initial phase
shift angle 0,the direct voltage component
udcand the zero mean noise or distortion d(t)
with E[d(t)]= 0. We can represent eqn. 1 in
state space and discretised with time step T
as

x , and x2 are the real and imaginary

components, uReand U,,, of the rotating
voltage phasor. ( . ) r denotes transpos:.
Following, for example, the book of Astrom
and Wittenmark3 and taking into account
that o is not exactly known we get the state
observer

where e(t) is the output error of the observer

and the state transfer matrix Qn depends only
on o T .
The relatively low sampling rate, fs = 1/T,
of the meter adds some problems. Higher
frequency components are included in the
total distortion via the aliasing effect, except
for some special frequencies that alias on the
fundamental frequency. The stop band is
narrow and the sampling rate carefully
chosen so that all interesting harmonic
components are included in the result.
Because of the narrow stop band the state
observers are made adaptive (Fig. 2). They
adjust to the fundamental frequency of the
network. Thus the fundamental frequency
and its normal variations are excluded from
the measured total distortion D, which
includes almost all other frequency
components under the limit frequency
defined by an analogue prefilter before the
sampling.
The adaptation mechanism that estimates
160

POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL AUGUST 1996

the angular frequency w is kept as simple as

possible:

quality monitoring. They saw the following

quantities as important:

&(t+ r) = &(t)+ k,,,[o, - oj(t)l

a1 voltage levels (variations)

a) voltage excursions, ,voltage sags (dips)

[(k,,

+ k,,,,)e(t)

k,,e(t

nIi2(O/22(t) (4)

where k,,,, k,,,, and k,, are small positive

adaptation gains that determine the
dynamics of the adaptation, w, is the
nominal angular frequency and the squared
amplitude estimate is

We have not yet derived any theoretical

stability proof for the time discrete adaptive
state observer (eqns. 3-5). However, using
methods described by Landau4we have
derived a globally asymptotically stable
adaptive state observer for the equivalent
time continuous model 1 and simulations
have confirmed the stability results. This
continuous adaptive observer is the same as
eqns. 3-5 with infinitesimally small time step
Tand k,,,,k, > kz,,,.The time derivative of e(t)
is avoided with a state variable filter in the
time continuous design. In the
implementation of eqns. 3-5 in the meter
version described, the limits of the data
processing power have caused additional
delay in the adaptation mechanism and the
gain ko,, is also omitted. These modifications
were tested by simulations and were found
to work in the small required region.
The lower the sampling rate is, the more
we must assume the stationarity of the
signal. In practice this means either a slower
response or more uncertainty in the result.

Requirementsand possibilities
Several power utilities participated in the
specification of requirements for power

4000

-3000

5008

5006

and swell (peaks), rapid voltage changes

a voltage fluctuations, flicker

a transient and temporary overvoltages

a voltage interruptions
a) harmonic frequencies and intermediate
frequencies
4) voltage unbalance
a direct current or voltage component.
I t turned out to be possible to meet almost all
the above requirements. The relatively slow
sampling and limited remaining data
processing capacity of the meter prevented
the measurement of flicker or rapid
voltage changes. In the present meter the
individual harmonic components are not
distinguished from each other either.

Results
In the laboratory tes.ts the quality
rnonitoring kWh meters have been compared
with six different power quality analysers and
t w o other meters. The range of voltage,
frequency, distortion and unbalance has
been wider in the laboratory tests and the
loads better controlled than is possible in the
field tests. The measurement of unbalance
was a t least as accurate as with the best of
the reference meters. 1-hefrequency
estimation works well !within the normal
fundamental frequency range of the power
network. However, the convergence region
of the frequency estimation is too small for
small separate networks. When the
Irequency estimate diverges, the distortion
estimate gets too high. In all other situations
the distortion estimate has been consistent

4994 -

3 Frequency estimate
of the adaptation (top)
and the reference
measurement (below)

POWER ENGlNEERtNG JOURNAL AUGUST 1996

161

measured
by the reference meter
(below) and the new
kWh meter (top) (all one
second values)

162

where 0:= 3.05x 1 0-4 represents the

additional noise of the new meters with
respect t o the reference meter. This
correction gives the lower curve in Fig. 5.
In autumn 1995 the first series of the
meters with a new remote reading system
entered permanent test use in the utilities. In
these meters eqn. 6 is applied as a correction
to the distortion measurement.
The analysis of results shows that the
methods have worked very well in the various
tests. The performance is adequate for the
planned task of detecting the quality
problems, but the meter is not suitable for
accurate measuring of small distortions (1O h
or less). Where power quality problems have
been detected, a special analyser can be
brought t o analyse them if more detailed
information is needed.

with the reference meters, but always about

1 YOhigher. That was before eqn. 6 was
added.
In the first field tests the meters were
connected t o the feeders of distribution
transformers a t three different sites. In each
of them t w o or three quality monitoring
kWh meters have been connected t o the
same voltage together w i t h one of the
special purpose power quality analysers.
That was the only available analyser w i t h
open serial line protocol and it could
measure all the necessary quantities with
adequate accuracy. All the measurements
have been collected and stored as (roughly)
one second values on a personal computer
via serial lines as often as the meters can
give them. Thus the quality monitoring
kWh meters gave measurements
continuously every second but the
reference meter only every fifth second. In
1995 over 100 M byte of data had been
collected in the field tests and w e had then
analysed about 70% of it.
In all field tests the frequency estimation
gave very similar results as the reference
meter. Fig. 3 shows an example. The
distortion measurements are compared in
Figs. 4 and 5. In Fig. 4the distortion estimate
of each second during 36 hours is compared
with the reference measurement of every
fifth second. In Fig. 5 the same
measurements are compared as ten minute
effective values. The relation between the
raw distortion estimate (the upper curve in
the Fig. 5) and the reference measurement
DE, is

Dr:f

0.87b2- D i

(6)

Future needs and possibilities

The low-cost data processing capacity in
the smart kWh meters is increasing all the
time. That makes it possible t o include in
some possible future version the estimation
of the most important harmonic frequency
components and also to increase the
sampling rate. Higher sampling rate makes it
possible t o measure the flicker and rapid
voltage excursions also. It also makes it
possible t o easily increase the region of
convergence of the adaptation mechanism of
the observer.
The kWh meter has a separate frequency
measurement also. If limited to work in a
certain frequency range around the
fundamental frequency, it can replace the
This
adaptation mechanisms of eqns. 4-5.
option is useful a t least until the extra delay in

POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL AUGUST 1996

the adaptation loop is removed.

Still more field experience from the
utilities needs t o be gathered. The power
distribution utilities in Finland have started a
common project for the locating and
measurement of reactive power and power
quality problems in their networks. As these
smart kWh meters will probably be used in
that project together with other meters i t
could at the same time serve as an effective
source of feedback for the meter
develop ment .
The new quality monitoring kWh meter is
not a substitute for special power quality
analysers. It does not give a very detailed view
of the power quality but it makes it possible a t
low cost to continuously monitor and
automatically process power quality
measurements from the network. The reason
for this is its integration into the remote
reading system of the power consumption
metering. In the future the special power
quality analysers will also become less
expensive and get better integration t o
remote reading systems. At least in the
meantime there is a need for a remotely
readable power quality monitoring kWh meter.
Data communication costs often restrict
the reliability of response times. That is w l ~ y
the present system is polling and does not
send active alarms. It can poll both
recordings and individual values on demand.
It can also continuously read the last
measu red va I ues.
The integration of several functions in the
same meter decreases investment,
installation and maintenance costs
remarkably for the overall functionality. The
kWh meter can read network state indicators
and remote control capacitors in the
network. It can be used for monitoring the
loading and voltages of transformers. The
power quality measurements increase the
usefulness of this combination. Both the
loads and the power quality of important
customers are known and reliably recorded
using the same meter.

03

method for measuring voltage distortion and

voltage unbalance with sparse sampling was
developed by Mr. Pekka Koponen from VTT
Energy and implemented in the meter by Mr.
Vesa Maki-Mantila from Mittrix Oy. Mr. Juha
Takala, VTT Energy, created the software for
collecting and analysing the results of the
test measurements. Messrs. Keino Seesvuori
and Timo Makela from Tampere Electricity
Board, Ralf Bostman, Juha Rantanen, Hannu
Saari and Erkki Lukkarinen from Helsinki
Energy, Juho Farin frorri VTT IEnergy, Teppo
Lindholm and Esko Tahvanainen from
Enersoft Oy and Seppo Vehvilainen from
Mittrix Oy have participated in the definition,
irnplementation and testing of the power
quality monitoring kWh meter and the
measu rement system.

Conclusion
Many important power quality problems
can be detecled with the smart energy meter
even with a relatively low sampling rate. The
quality measurements can be processed and
transferred by the remote reading system.
We believe that, in the near future, an even
more complete view of the network state and
power quality will be measured using lowcost remotely readable multi-purpose meters.
Acknowledgments
This work was carried out as part of
EDISON, a research programme o n
distribution automation 1993-1997 at V1T
Energy and the work w a s funded by the
Ministry of Trade and Industry, TEKES, VTT
Energy, Mittrix Oy, Helsinki Energy and
Tampere Electricity Board. The sparse
sampling method for measuring electric
energy was developed before this project by
Prof. Heikki Seppa from V n Automation. The

POWER ENGINEERING JOURNAL AUGUST 1996

Distortion measured

by the reference meter

~ ; ; ~ r ~ ~ d
kwh
corrected), ten minute
values
~~~~~

References
1 KOPONEN, P., VEHVIl.AINEN, S., and

RANTANEN, J.: Additional functions of

remote read kWh meters, DAIDSM Europe
94, I , 27th-29th September 1994, Paris,
France (Pennwell, 1994, pp.267-277)
2 SAARI, H., KOPONEN, P.,TAHVANAINEN, E.,
and LINDHOLM, T.: Remote meter reading
and data management system for kWh meters
with power quality monitoring, Power
EngineeringJournal, 1996, I 0 , (4).
pp.164-168
3 WSTROM, K. J . , and WITTENMARK, B:
Computer controlled systems (Prentice Hall
1984, pp.34-38 and ;!07-21 1 )
4 LANDAU, Y.: Adaptive control, the model
reference approach (IVlarceI Decker, 1979,
pp.97-198 and 325-331)

(2 IEE: 1996
Fekka Koponen is a Research Scientist with V n
Energy, Espoo, Finland, Tel: +358 0 456 6755,
Fax: +358 0 456 6538. Reino Seesvuori is with

lampere Electricity Board, Tampere, Finland, Tel:

+358 0 21 5 5717, Fax: +-3580 21 5 5200. Ralf
Eiostman is with Helsinki Energy, Helsinki, Finland,
Tel: +358 0 617 2592, Fax: +358 0 61 7 4330
163