Discussion

1. Introduction
An electric meter or energy meter is a device that measures the amount of electrical energy supplied to or produced by a residence, business or machine. The most common type is a kilowatt hour meter. When used in electricity retailing, the utilities record the values measured by these meters to generate an invoice for the electricity. They may also record other variables including the time when the electricity was used. Modern electricity meters operate by continuously measuring the instantaneous voltage (volts) and current (amperes) and finding the product of these to give instantaneous electrical power (watts) which is then integrated against time to give energy used (joules, kilowatt-hours etc). The meters fall into two basic categories, electromechanical and electronic.

2. Working principles of an electromechanical energy meter

The electromechanical induction meter operates by counting the revolutions of an aluminum disc which is made to rotate at a speed proportional to the power. The

number of revolutions is thus proportional to the energy usage. It consumes a small amount of power, typically around 2 watts. The metallic disc is acted upon by two coils. One coil is connected in such a way that it produces a magnetic flux in proportion to the voltage and the other produces a magnetic flux in proportion to the current. The field of the voltage coil is delayed by 90 degrees using a lag coil. This produces eddy currents in the disc and the effect is such that a force is exerted on the disc in proportion to the product of the instantaneous current and voltage. A permanent magnet exerts an opposing force proportional to the speed of rotation of the disc. This acts as a brake which causes the disc to stop spinning when power is being drawn rather than allowing it to spin faster and faster. This causes the disc to rotate at a speed proportional to the power being used. The type of meter described above is used on a single-phase AC supply. Different phase configurations use additional voltage and current coils.

3. Reading
The aluminum disc is supported by a spindle which has a worm gear which drives the register. The register is a series of dials which record the amount of energy used. The dials may be of the cyclometer type, an odometer-like display that is easy to read where for each dial a single digit is shown through a window in the face of the meter, or of the pointer type where a pointer indicates each digit. It should be noted that with the dial pointer type, adjacent pointers generally rotate in opposite directions due to the gearing mechanism. The amount of energy represented by one revolution of the disc is denoted by the symbol K (known as meter constant) which is given in units of kilowatt-hours per revolution. The value 7.2 is commonly seen. Using the value of Kwh, one can determine their power consumption at any given time by timing the disc with a stopwatch. For example, if K = 7.2, as above, and one revolution took place in 14.4 seconds, the power is 1800 watts.

4. Errors involved with the energy meter

For the proper functionality of the energy meter, following conditions should be satisfied. The torque due to the current generated in the disc by its rotation in the magnetic field of the operating magnets must be negligibly in comparison with the operating torque. The friction must be compensated at all speeds.

 The breaking torque must be directly proportional to the speed of the disc. But in practical situations, its not possible to achieve them. Therefore, various adjustments are done to minimize the errors. They are, Power factor compensation Light-load adjustment Full-load adjustment 1. Power factor compensation Another error, which may arise induction energy meters is that due to the fact that the voltage coil flux may not lag exactly 90o behind the applied voltage. That is, because of the potential coil of the meter is not entirely inductive, its resistance component causes the potential coil flux to lag the line voltage by slightly less than 90o. This is overcome by having a compensating winding round the tip of the voltage-coil pole. Turing the lag adjustment screw moves a metal plate placed directly in the flux path of the potential coil. Current induced in the metal plate creates a flux that lags the potential coil flux. By adjusting the resistance of this compensating winding, it is possible to arrange that the voltage-coil flux lags exactly 90o behind the applied voltage.

2. Light-load adjustment Light load adjustment compensates for two factors, which may cause appreciable error only at light load. Without some form of compensation under law-load condition the torque on the disc may not sufficient be to overcome the static friction. So the meter is provided with a friction compensation device. A small torque, which is more or less independent to the load current, is required to overcome the frictional effects. Compensation is achieved by incorporating a shading ring over part of the voltage-coil pole face. The net effect of the shading ring is to produce a shifting magnetic field which, cutting across the aluminum disc, developed the torque required to overcome frictional effects. A slight torque caused by the light load adjustment can cause the disc to rotate slowly at on load. To eliminate this creeping effect of the disc two small holes are placed diametrically opposite in the disc. When the disc with all load removed, has moved to a position where one of the holes open-circuits the eddy current in the disc, the resulting distortion in the eddy current produces a small locking torque and the disc stops moving.

3. Full-load adjustment The full-load adjustment provides correct magnetic breaking to give correct speed at rated voltage and current at unity power factor. This adjustment is obtained either by varying the position of a magnetic shunt to control the amount the permanent magnetic flux passing through the disc, or by moving the permanent magnets with respect to the disc. Since the accuracy of the meter depends on having a constant breaking torque, the effect of temperature in reducing the strength of the permanent breaking magnet must be compensated for. This is achieved by having a magnetic shunt between the poles of the breaking magnets. The permeability of this magnetic shunt is chosen to decrease linearity with temperature, so that, the ambient temperature rises, a smaller proportion of the permanent magnetic flux passes through the shunt and hence a larger proportion passes through the disc. By suitable design the actual flux passing through the disc can be made practically independent to temperature.

5. Accuracy
The accuracy is determined at two test points called full-load and light-load. The full load point is at 100% while the light load point is at 10% of the rated current of the meter. In each instance rated voltage is used. Following figure shows the connections for one test procedure. An indicating wattmeter measures the power. The number of revolutions of the disc is timed with a stop watch.

W =

KH x N x 3600 t

W = metered watts KH = Watt-hour constant N = Number of revolution of the disc

3600 = Conversion from hours to second t = Time in second Using the permanent magnets, the energy meter is adjusted at full-load and unity power factor. At light load the accuracy is adjusted by moving the shading pole loop with an adjustment screw. The power factor and the load are determined using the ammeter and voltmeter. Usually the meter is also tested for 0.5 lag power factor, and if an error is found then the lag adjustment is done as explained above.

Calculations
n = Revolutions T = Total time taken for revolutions W = Wattage

Measured meter constant = Number of revolutions per kWh =

n n 1000 3600 (W / 1000 ) (T / 3600 ) W T

= 605.55

% Error in meter constant =

(Measured Value - Given Value) 100% GivenValue

)

=(

 0o
(A) 1 2 3 4 5 Measured 605.55 677.97 659.34 645.16 659.34 % Error 0.925 12.995 9.89 7.527 9.89

30 o
Measured 666.67 612.24 634.92 612.24 679.24 % Error 11.11 2.04 5.82 2.04 13.21

30 o
Measured 642.86 734.69 750 743.80 775.86 % Error 7.143 22.448 25 23.967 29.31

35 30 25 Error(%) 20 =0 15 10 5 0 0 1 2 3 Current(A) 4 5 6 =30 =-30

AC ENERGY METER

INSTRUCTORS NAME: DE SILVA H.A.I. STUDENTS NAME: DARMAWARDANA P.D.H. INDEX NUMBER: 100075H FIELD: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DATE OF SUBMISSION: 03.12.12