Workshop Practice 2k13

Experiment 9
Objective:
To study working and connections of an Energy Meter.

Apparatus:
 Energy Meter

Theoretical Background:
The total power consumed by a load during an interval of time is ENERGY.

Where, E=Energy, P= Power, T=Time

If the voltages & currents not constant & have n-values over the time t, then

It can also be expressed as continuous integral of Power i.e.,

The unit of energy is Watt second or joule. But its commercial unit is Kilowatt-hours or KWh
which is defined as the energy consumed by a load of 1000 watts over a period of one hour.

Energy Meter:
Induction type energy meters are most
commonly form of an A.C KWh meter used to
measure the energy consumed in any a.c circuit in a
prescribed period when supply voltage and frequency
are constant, in day today life & in industrial
installation. Energy meter is an integrating instrument
which measure the total quantity of electrical energy
supplied to the circuit in a given period. These meters
measure electrical energy in Kilowatt hours.
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Principle:
The Basic principle of induction type energy meter is electromagnetic induction. When an
alternating current flows through two suitably located coils (Current coil & Potential Coil) produces
rotating magnetic field which is cut by the metallic disc Suspended near to the coils, thus, an e.m.f. is
induced in the thin Aluminum disc which circulates eddy currents in it. By the interaction of
Rotating magnetic field & eddy currents, torque is developed & causes the disc to rotate. This is the
same principle which is applied in the single-phase induction motors.

Construction:
An Induction type single phase energy meter, has following main parts of the operating
mechanism:
 Driving System
 Moving System
 Braking System
 Registering System
Driving System: develops torque to rotate the moving system. It consists of two electromagnets one
is formed by current coil & other one is by voltage coil or pressure coil.
Moving System: essentially consists of an aluminum mounted on the spindle which is supported by
Pivot-jewel Bearing system. Since there is not control spring, the disc makes continuous revolution
under the action the deflecting torque.
Braking System: consists of a permanent magnet of C shaped covering a part of rotating disc to
provide braking torque. By changing the position of breaking magnet, the Flux linkage with the disc
can be changed, this torque is opposite to driving torque.
Registering System: keeps the record of energy consumed by load through worm wheel or pinion
gear mounted with spindle of moving disc.
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Working:
When the energy meter is connected in the circuit, the current coil carries the load current and
the pressure coil carries the current proportional to the supply voltage. The magnetic field produced
by the SERIES magnet (series coil) is in phase with the line current & the magnetic field produced
by the shunt magnet (pressure coil) is in quadrature with the applied voltage (since the coil is highly
inductive). Thus, a phase difference exists between the fluxes produced by the two coils. This sets up
a rotating field which interacts with the disc and produces a driving torque and, thus, disc starts
rotating. The number of revolutions made by the disc depends upon the energy passing through the
meter. The spindle is geared to the recording mechanism so that electrical energy consumed in the
circuit is directly registered in KWh. The speed of the disc is adjusted by adjusting the position of the
breaking magnet. For example, if the energy meter registers less energy than the energy actually
consumed in the circuit, then the speed of disc has to be increased which is obtained by shifting the
magnet nearer to the center of the Disc and vice-versa.
At constant angular speed the power is proportional to the angular speed in r.p.s. We
calibrate w and energy meter by time test.
Let K be the meter constant of energy meter, which is the number of revolution per KWh energy
consumption. When connected to measure energy, if disc makes R number of revolution in t seconds.
Then the reading of energy meter is:

Electronic Meter:
Electronic meters display the
energy used on an LCD or LED display,
and some can also transmit readings to
remote places. 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. They
can also support time-of-day billing, for
example, recording the amount of energy
used during on-peak and off-peak hours.
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 RTC, LCD display,
communication ports/modules and so on.
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The metering engine is given the voltage and current inputs and has a voltage reference, samplers
and quantizers followed by an ADC section to yield the digitized equivalents of all the inputs. These
inputs are then processed using a digital signal processor to calculate the various metering
parameters such as powers, energies etc. The largest source of long-term errors in the meter is drift in
the preamp, followed by the precision of the voltage reference. Both of these vary with temperature
as well, and vary wildly because most meters are outdoors. Characterizing and compensating for
these is a major part of meter design.
The processing and communication section has the responsibility of calculating the various
derived quantities from the digital values generated by the metering engine. This also has the
responsibility of communication using various protocols and interface with other add on modules
connected as slaves to it. RTC and other add-on modules are attached as slaves to the processing and
communication section for various input/output functions. On a modern meter most if not all of this
will be implemented inside the microprocessor, such as the real time clock (RTC), LCD controller,
temperature sensor, memory and analog to digital converters.

Conclusion & Comments:

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Precautions:
 While dealing with electric circuits handle the apparatus carefully.
 Make sure the connections (if any) are tight.
 Observe the readings carefully (if any).