Wireless Automated Meter Reading for Power Distribution
Project Introduction In the Americas and Europe, electric
power is provided by a number of
private power plants distributed over
wide areas. Optimizing distribution
and transmission to meet market demand
is always a challenge, particularly
since power suppliers need to
monitor data usage and combine the
data for power generation, distribution,
and transmission.
The customer in this application
supplies power and provides other
management services to western
states in the US. The company
provides leadership and management
of power supply options and
continues to implement increasingly
sophisticated power management
techniques and innovative technologies,
giving the utilities in the region
the ability to offer low-cost power
options at stable prices.
System Requirements
•
Long range wireless transmission (satellite, GPRS, WCDMA, microwave, etc.)
over
wide territories.
•
Need to transmit data in a low bandwidth network environment.
•
Self-monitor connection status, when the connection fails, system reboots to
restore communication.
Moxa Solution
A well-designed communications structure is important for monitoring the power
distribution efficiently. The customer used a current transformer together with a
meter to measure how much electricity has been used. When current flows through
the current transformer, the meter transmits a pulse output, and Moxa's ioLogik
E2212 is used to keep track of how much energy has been used. In addition, the
ioLogik E2212's active report function helps deliver event messages automatically,
and send the counter value back to the central site every few seconds for generation
and distribution references.
This kind of remote monitoring system is often installed in the middle of nowhere,
making maintenance both challenging and costly. To ensure the communication
system is stable, ioLogik's watchdog timer was used to monitor the connection
status. If the communication fails, the ioLogik E2212 will send an output to an
external relay timer that shuts the system down for five minutes before restarting
the system. In addition to active messaging and the watchdog timer, another major
benefit is Moxa's simple and intuitive IF-THEN-ELSE Click&Go control logic, which
helps users reduce programming time from days to minutes, and also helps to keep
maintenance costs at a minimum.
