Final Project Report-Parggah and Gilbert

Retrofitting the electromechanical meter to make it a prepayment meter By Eric Johnson Parggah and Gilbert Mensah Computer Engineering
KNUST
Contents
CHAPTER ONE-PROJECT OVERVIEW.................................................................... 4 Table1-1 Ghantt Chart for September 2007December 2007.......................................... 6 Table 1-2 Ghantt Chart for February 2008May 2008.................................................... 6 CHAPTER TWO- LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................ 8 2.1.1 Units of measurement .............................................................................................. 8 2.1.2 Types of meters ........................................................................................................ 8 2.1.3 Electromechanical meters ....................................................................................... 9 2.1.4 Electronic meter ..................................................................................................... 11 2.1.4.1 Solid state meter ................................................................................................... 11 2.1.4.2 The prepayment meter ......................................................................................... 11 2.1.4.2.1 Keypad operated prepayment meters................................................................ 12 2.1.4.2.2 Smart card operated prepayment meters.......................................................... 12 2.3.1 Types of relays......................................................................................................... 15 2.4.1 The I2C Protocol .................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 3 OVERVIEW OF MICROCONTROLLERS..................................... 27 3.1General Architecture of microcontrollers24 3.1.1 Memory unit 25 3.1.2 Types of memory.25 3.1.3 CPU..26 3.1.4 Busses...26 3.1.5 I/O.27 3.1.6 ADC..27 3.2 PROGRAMMING.27 3.3 Types of Microcontrollers.28 3.3.1 PIC Microcontrollers...28 3.3.2Programming of the PIC microcontrollers..31 CHAPTER FOUR-DESIGN .......................................................................................... 36 4.1 Design considerations ............................................................................................... 36 4.2 Design Options .......................................................................................................... 42 4.2.2 How to deal with Please call an ECG personnel message .............................. 43 4.2.4 Warning .................................................................................................................. 44 4.3 System block diagram............................................................................................... 47 4.4 Principle of operation ............................................................................................... 47 4.5 Improvement over existing system .......................................................................... 48 4.5.1 Mode of warning .................................................................................................... 48
Retrofitting the electromechanical meter to make it a prepayment meter By Eric Johnson Parggah and Gilbert Mensah Computer Engineering KNUST
4.5.2 The concept of negative credit .............................................................................. 49 4.5.3 Security features...................................................................................................... 49 4.6 System Design............................................................................................................ 50 4.6.2 QRB sensor module ............................................................................................... 51 4.6.2.1 QRB sensor holder.............................................................................................. 52 4.6.3 Microcontroller module......................................................................................... 53 4.6.3.1 Packaging............................................................................................................. 54 4.7 Design of the card terminal unit .............................................................................. 55 4.7.2 Packaging................................................................................................................ 57 4.8 Design of a DSP based prepayment meter.............................................................. 58 4.8.1 Circuit diagram of DSP based prepayment meter design.................................. 58 4.8.2 Comparing a DSP based system to credit based prepayment system............... 59 4.9 Printed circuit board design of microcontroller module....................................... 60 4.10 Programming........................................................................................................... 61 4.10.1 Flow chart for program....................................................................................... 61 4.10.2 Operation of the program ..................................................................................... 62 4.10.3 The various functions in the program................................................................ 63 CHAPTER FIVE-IMPLEMENTATION..................................................................... 65 5.1 Design options implemented .................................................................................... 65 5.2 Calculations made..................................................................................................... 65 5.3 Construction .............................................................................................................. 66 5.3.1 The power supply module ..................................................................................... 66 5.3.2 The QRB sensor module........................................................................................ 68 5.3.3 The microcontroller module ................................................................................. 69 5.3.4 The card terminal unit........................................................................................... 69 5.4 Tests performed ........................................................................................................ 70 5.4.1 The bridging problem........................................................................................ 70 5.4.2 Placement of black mark and QRB sensor.......................................................... 71 5.4.3 Test for functionality of the various modules...................................................... 71 5.4.4 Test for the amount of power consumed by the embedded unit........................ 72 5.5 Limitation and Errors of the system ....................................................................... 73 5.6 Component list .......................................................................................................... 74 5.6.1 Cost of the embedded unit..................................................................................... 75 5.6.2 Cost of the card terminal unit............................................................................... 75
5.7 The process of retrofitting the credit energy meter with the embedded unit...... 76 CHAPTER SIX ............................................................................................................... 77 6.1 RCOMMENDATION............................................................................................... 77 6.2 Conclusions................................................................................................................ 77
CHAPTER ONE-PROJECT OVERVIEW
1.1 Introduction
Every utility company provides service, from which revenue is generated. The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) uses energy meters as the only direct revenue interface between the company and its customers.
An energy meter is a device that measures the amount of electrical energy supplied to a residence or business. There are several types of energy meters, one of which is the electromechanical meter (credit meter), which is largely used by ECG for the purpose of revenue generation. This is done by recording the value measured by the meter for the previous month or quarter to prepare invoices for the customers.
However, the mode of revenue generation of the electromechanical meter is credit based, where the customer uses the electricity before paying. This hinders the effective generation of revenue.
Owing to this fact, the company introduced the prepayment metering system to provide an almost immediate revenue generation. The company has partly achieved this by replacing the credit meters with prepayment meters. However, the cost of changing to the prepayment system is very high due to the following reasons
Firstly the prepayment meters must be imported at a high cost because they are not manufactured locally.
Secondly, upon installation of the prepayment meter, the credit meter, although in good working condition, becomes redundant and the company incurs extra cost disposing off them.
A very cost effective solution would be to upgrade the credit meter to the status of the prepayment meter, which this project seeks to achieve.
1.2 Problem statement
To convert the electromechanical credit energy meter to a prepayment energy meter.
1.3
Objective
This project seeks to upgrade the credit meter on site to a prepayment meter by retrofitting it with embedded unit. This prepayment energy meter will be interactive to use, have security features and allow the customer some amount of power on credit when his credit finishes.
1.4 Project plan
Table1-1 Ghantt Chart for September 2007December 2007 Month Week Activity A B C D 1 September 2 3 4 5 October 6 7 8 9 November 10 11 12 13 December 14 15 16
Table 1-2 Ghantt Chart for February 2008May 2008 Month Week Activity E F G H 17 February 18 19 20 21 March 22 23 24 25 April 26 27 28 29 May 30 31 32
A B C D E F G H
Formulation of objectives Research on energy meters Learning of microcontrollers, PIC and C programming Design, programming and simulation Building Testing Packaging and testing Report writing
CHAPTER TWO- LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Energy meters
An energy meter is a device that measures the amount of electricity supplied to a residence or a business.
2.1.1 Units of measurement
The most common unit of measurement on the electric meter is the kilowatt-hour, which is the amount of electrical energy used by a load of one kilowatt over a period of one hour.
Other units of measurement include kilovars-hour, which measures reactive power and finally, the ampere-hour which also measures the amount of charge in coulombs used. [1]
2.1.2 Types of meters
Broadly, there are two categories of meters. These are the electromechanical meter and the electronic meter. [1]
2.1.3 Electromechanical meters
This is the most common type of electricity meter. This meter operates by counting the revolutions made by an aluminum disc that is made to rotate at a speed proportional to the power consumption of the customer.
Picture of an electromechanical meter
The aluminium disc is acted upon by two coils. One coil is connected in such a way that it produces magnetic flux in proportion to the voltage and the other coil is in proportion to the current. The field of the voltage coil is delayed by 90 degrees using a lag coil. This produces eddy current 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 that is proportional to the speed of rotation of the disc. This acts as a brake which prevents the disc from rotating when power stops flowing, rather than allowing the disc to spin faster and faster. This causes the disc to rotate at a speed proportional to the power being used.
The meter described above is the single-phase energy meter. There are other configurations like the three-phase. [1]
2.1.3.1 Reading
The aluminium disc is supported by a spindle that has a worm gear that drives the register. The register is a series of dials that records the amount of energy used.
The amount of energy used represented by one revolution of the disc is denoted by the symbol Kh, which is given in units of watt-hours per revolution. The value 7.2 is commonly seen. Using the value of Kh, one can determine their power consumption at any given time by timing the disc with a stopwatch. If the time in seconds taken by the disc to complete one revolution is t, then the power in watts is P = 3600 Kh / t. For example, if Kh = 7.2, as above, and one revolution took place in 14.4 seconds, the power is 1800 watts. This method can be used to determine the power consumption of household devices by switching them on one by one. [1]
Most domestic electricity meters must be read manually, whether by a representative of the company or by the customer himself.
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2.1.4 Electronic meter
2.1.4.1 Solid state meter
These are newer meters that measure the amount of power consumed and display the result on an LCD. Aside measuring the power, the solid state meter measures other parameters such as power factor and the reactive power used. [1]
Picture of the solid state meter
2.1.4.2 The prepayment meter
There are a number of reasons why a utility company could consider installing a prepaid metering system. They include improved cash flow, no need for account posting or additional billing systems (1-2% savings), elimination of bad debts (5-12% average, with up to 40% in some developing countries), elimination of disconnection and reconnection fees and ease of installation.
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There are also advantages to the customer, including budget management, control of energy usage, no cost for disconnection/reconnection and no waiting for reconnection, no deposits.
Prepaid energy meters using keypad based systems, disposable card systems (one-way) and two-way smart card systems are in use in various parts of the world for over a decade. [1]
2.1.4.2.1 Keypad operated prepayment meters
Electronic prepaid energy meters came initially with keypad systems for inputting the credit. Security of keypad payment system is very low. The main reason is that the algorithm of key creation is stored inside the meter and is available to hackers. Keypad systems were created when highly secure smart card payments did not exist.
Although keypad systems are getting obsolete, it may still be cost-effective for remote villages, where two-way vending may not be feasible. [1]
2.1.4.2.2 Smart card operated prepayment meters
With Smart Card operated systems, customers purchase a reusable power debit card for the amount of energy they desire. These special, easy to use cards are individualized, keyed to each customer's meter and account number. The customer simply passes the card a few inches in front of the meter, and using an integrated card reader, the meter is reset to the number of kilowatt-hours contained on the card. The system works very much
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like a bank debit card. Because the meter is completely sealed and has no moving parts, maintenance is reduced and reliability is improved. Modern Smart Card operated meters are "stand alone", requiring no separate in-house keypad or onsite programming. The card captures transaction and power usage information, sending automatic input into the utility's accounting system at the sales terminal each time the customer purchases additional power. The card also captures data critical for load forecasting.
Disposable card type prepaid meters are also in use in certain utilities. The vending infrastructure for this scheme is much simpler, but it does not offer the advantage of capturing customer usage data.
Smart card operated meters can be used either as prepaid or postpaid. In some countries, prepaid option is socially not acceptable. In such cases, each consumer is assigned 50-day credit. After each month, the consumer has to recharge a card to pay off his negative balance. After full payment, his 50-day credit is restored. Credit can be time-based or amount-based. Mixed option like 50-day but not more than certain kWh is also possible.
[1]
Picture of the Prepayment meter
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2.2 Circuit breaker
A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch that that is designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by a voltage overload or a short circuit. Unlike the fuse which is used only once, the circuit breaker can always be reset after it has tripped to resume normal operation. It uses the shunt trip for this purpose. When there is a voltage overload, the live and the neutral terminals are connected together through a shunt resistor and that causes it to trip and open the circuit as a form of protection.
Picture of the Circuit Breaker
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2.2.1
Types of circuit breakers
There are many types of circuit breakers to suit various design situations. But for the purpose of this project, the miniature circuit breaker will be chosen. The other type of circuit breaker is the moulded case circuit breaker both of which are for low current applications.
For higher voltage applications, we have other circuit breaker like the vacuum circuit breaker and the air circuit breaker. [1]
2.3 Relays
A relay is an electrical switch that opens and closes under the control of another circuit. It operated by an electromagnet to open or close one or many sets of contacts. Knowing the resistance of the coil, and its rated voltage, you can compute the current requirement of the relay coil. And from that information, calculate the power needs of the relay.
2.3.1 Types of relays
There are several types of relays. These include latching relay, reed relay, mercurywetted relay, polarized relay, solid state relay, among many others. The choice of relay
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depends on the design of the project. For the purpose of this project, the solid state relay was chosen for the reason that it has no moving parts. [1]
Picture of the Solid State Relay
2.4 Memory card
Memory cards are the simplest type of smartcard. Memory cards only have some amount of memory inside the card and this memory can be normally read and written. There is normally nothing really intelligent inside those cards. Typically the memory inside this kind of cards is EPROM, EEPROM or FLASH memory. This card type is very widely used as telephone cards (telecards) and as prepayment cards where no processing is to be done by the card. For the purpose of this project, the memory card used conforms to the ISO 7816 standard. The standard specifies the pin outs and the communication protocols for the card. Below is the pin out of the memory card as specified by the ISO7816 standard?
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Connector Layout of the Smart Card
Pins marked with n/c are application specific pins defined in application standards. The standard supports two transmission modes:
Asynchronous transmission: In this type of transmission, characters are transmitted on the I/O line in an asynchronous half duplex mode. Each character includes an 8bit byte.
Synchronous transmission: In this type of transmission, a series of bits is transmitted on the I/O line in half duplex mode in synchronization with the clock signal on CLK.
There is a selection of different protocols available for communicating with the card. There is a method for selecting which communication protocol to use (one card can
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support one or more protocols).The most commonly used protocol seems to be asynchronous half duplex character transmission protocol. In contact systems, such as reading the data from a serial EEPROM over a two-wire (I2C) or three-wire SPI or Microwire bus, the power, clock, and data lines are connected separately. Some wired smartcards use RS-232 type asynchronous communications, and in this case supply power and communication through different wires. [2] This project will consider the I2C protocol.
2.4.1 The I2C Protocol
A brief discussion of the I2C protocol is discussed below
2.4.1.1 The physical I2C bus
This is just two wires, called SCL and SDA. SCL is the clock line. It is used to synchronize all data transfers over the I2C bus. SDA is the data line. The SCL & SDA lines are connected to all devices on the I2C bus. There needs to be a third wire which is just the ground. There should be a 5volt wire from which power will be distributed to the devices. Both SCL and SDA lines are "open drain" drivers. What this means is that the chip can drive its output low, but it cannot drive it high. For the line to be able to go high you must provide pull-up resistors to the 5v supply. There should be a resistor from the SCL line to the 5v line and another from the SDA line to the 5v line. You only need one set of pull-up resistors for the whole I2C bus, not for each device, as illustrated below:
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The value of the resistors is not critical. Anything from 1k8 (1800 ohms) to 47k (47000 ohms) can be used. 1k8, 4k7 and 10k are common values, but anything in this range works fine. If the resistors are missing, the SCL and SDA lines will always be low nearly 0 volts - and the I2C bus will not work.
2.4.1.2 Masters and Slaves The devices on the I2C bus are either masters or slaves. The master is always the device that drives the SCL clock line. The slaves are the devices that respond to the master. A slave cannot initiate a transfer over the I2C bus, only a master can do that. There can be, and usually are, multiple slaves on the I2C bus, however there is normally only one master. Slaves will never initiate a transfer. Both master and slave can transfer data over the I2C bus, but that transfer is always controlled by the master.
2.4.1.3 The I2C Physical Protocol
When the master (the controller) wishes to talk to a slave it begins by issuing a start sequence on the I2C bus. A start sequence is one of two special sequences defined for the I2C bus, the other being the stop sequence. The start sequence and stop sequence are special in that these are the only places where the SDA (data line) is allowed to change while the SCL (clock line) is high. When data is being transferred, SDA must remain
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stable and not change whilst SCL is high. The start and stop sequences mark the beginning and end of a transaction with the slave device.
Data is transferred in sequences of 8 bits. The bits are placed on the SDA line starting with the MSB (Most Significant Bit). The SCL line is then pulsed high, then low. The chip cannot really drive the line high, so it simply "lets go" of it and the resistor actually pulls it high. For every 8 bits transferred, the device receiving the data sends back an acknowledge bit, so there are actually 9 SCL clock pulses to transfer each 8 bit byte of data. If the receiving device sends back a low ACK bit, then it has received the data and is ready to accept another byte. If it sends back a high then it is indicating it cannot accept any further data and the master should terminate the transfer by sending a stop sequence.
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2.4.1.4 Speed of the I2C bus The standard clock (SCL) speed for I2C up to 100KHz. Philips do define faster speeds: Fast mode, which is up to 400KHz and High Speed mode which is up to 3.4MHz. But this needs a small delay of a few uS between each byte transferred.
2.4.1.5 I2C Device Addressing All I2C addresses are either 7 bits or 10 bits. For 7 bits, it means that you can have up to 128 devices on the I2C bus, since a 7bit number can be from 0 to 127. When sending out the 7 bit address, still always send 8 bits. The extra bit is used to inform the slave if the master is writing to it or reading from it. If the bit is zero are master is writing to the slave. If the bit is 1 the master is reading from the slave. The 7 bit address is placed in the upper 7 bits of the byte and the Read/Write (R/W) bit is in the LSB (Least Significant Bit).
The placement of the 7 bit address in the upper 7 bits of the byte is a source of confusion. It means that to write to address 21, you must actually send out 42 which is 21 moved over by 1 bit. It is probably easier to think of the I2C bus addresses as 8 bit addresses, with even addresses as write only, and the odd addresses as the read address for the same device.
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2.4.1.6 The I2C Software Protocol The first thing that will happen is that the master will send out a start sequence. This will alert all the slave devices on the bus that a transaction is starting and they should listen in incase it is for them. Next the master will send out the device address. The slave that matches this address will continue with the transaction, any others will ignore the rest of this transaction and wait for the next. Having addressed the slave device the master must now send out the internal location or register number inside the slave that it wishes to write to or read from. This number is obviously dependant on what the slave actually is and how many internal registers it has. Some very simple devices do not have any, but most do, including all of our modules. Having sent the I2C address and the internal register address the master can now send the data byte (or bytes, it doesn't have to be just one). The master can continue to send data bytes to the slave and these will normally be placed in the following registers because the slave will automatically increment the internal register address after each byte. When the master has finished writing all data to the slave, it sends a stop sequence which completes the transaction. So to write to a slave device: 1. Send a start sequence 2. Send the I2C address of the slave with the R/W bit low (even address) 3. Send the internal register number you want to write to 4. Send the data byte 5. [Optionally, send any further data bytes] 6. Send the stop sequence.
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As an example, you have an SRF08 at the factory default address of 0xE0. To start the SRF08 ranging you would write 0x51 to the command register at 0x00 like this: 1. Send a start sequence 2. Send 0xE0 (I2C address of the SRF08 with the R/W bit low (even address) 3. Send 0x00 (Internal address of the command register) 4. Send 0x51 (The command to start the SRF08 ranging) 5. Send the stop sequence.
2.4.1.7 Reading from the Slave Before reading data from the slave device, you must tell it which of its internal addresses you want to read. So a read of the slave actually starts off by writing to it. This is the same as when you want to write to it: You send the start sequence, the I2C address of the slave with the R/W bit low (even address) and the internal register number you want to write to. Now you send another start sequence (sometimes called a restart) and the I2C address again - this time with the read bit set. You then read as many data bytes as you wish and terminate the transaction with a stop sequence. So to read the compass bearing as a byte from a CMPS03 module: 1. Send a start sequence 2. Send 0xC0 (I2C address of the CMPS03 with the R/W bit low (even address) 3. Send 0x01 (Internal address of the bearing register) 4. Send a start sequence again (repeated start) 5. Send 0xC1 (I2C address of the CMPS03 with the R/W bit high (odd address) 6. Read data byte from CMPS03 7. Send the stop sequence.
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The bit sequence will look like this:
That's almost it for simple I2C communications, but there is one more complication. When the master is reading from the slave, its the slave that places the data on the SDA line, but its the master that controls the clock. What if the slave is not ready to send the data! With devices such as EEPROMs this is not a problem, but when the slave device is actually a microprocessor with other things to do, it can be a problem. The microprocessor on the slave device will need to go to an interrupt routine, save its working registers, find out what address the master wants to read from, get the data and place it in its transmission register. This can take many uS to happen, meanwhile the master is blissfully sending out clock pulses on the SCL line that the slave cannot respond to. The I2C protocol provides a solution to this: the slave is allowed to hold the SCL line low! This is called clock stretching. When the slave gets the read command from the master it holds the clock line low. The microprocessor then gets the requested data, places it in the transmission register and releases the clock line allowing the pull-up resistor to finally pull it high. From the masters point of view, it will issue the first clock pulse of the read by making SCL high and then check to see if it really has gone high. If its still low then its the slave that holding it low and the master should wait until it goes
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high before continuing. Luckily the hardware I2C ports on most microprocessors will handle this automatically.
Sometimes however, the master I2C is just a collection of subroutines and there are a few implementations out there that completely ignore clock stretching. They work with things like EEPROM's but not with microprocessor slaves that use clock stretching. The result is that erroneous data is read from the slave. Beware!
2.5 Phototransistor reflective object sensor
Phototransistor reflective object sensor is a device consisting of an infrared emitting diode and an NPN silicon phototransistor, mounted side by side in a black plastic housing. The phototransistor responds to radiation from the emitter only when a reflective object passes within its field of view. One of the many types of this sensor is the QRB1133 with its diagram shown below. [3]
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Picture of the QRB1133
Circuit representation of the QRB113
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CHAPTER 3 OVERVIEW OF MICROCONTROLLERS
3.1 General architecture of microcontrollers
Microcontroller is an integrated circuit that incorporates a central processing unit (CPU), a memory unit, and input/output (I/O) ports. A microcontroller is usually embedded in an electronic device to serve as a means of controlling the functions of the particular electronics device.
A typical microcontroller is manufactured as a single chip and has the following parts:
1.
has a central processing unit
2. a memory unit 3. a bus system 4. an input / output interface 5. serial communication 6. a timer unit 7. a watchdog 8. an analog to digital converter 9. programmability
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3.1.1
The memory unit
The function of the memory unit is to store binary data in groups of bits called words. Each word is a memory location, and it is assigned a unique address. The size of the memory determines how much data can be stored in it. Thus, the bigger the memory size, the greater the number words it can store. Data stored in a particular word is referenced by a process known as addressing. Addressing refers to the act of selecting a particular memory location.
Getting the desired data from memory is called reading, while the act of putting data into the memory of the microcontroller is called writing. Therefore, to read or write data to memory, the target location is first specified by addressing and the data is either read or written to that location. A read / write (W/R) control line specifies whether a read or a write operation is to be carried out. When this control line is high, data is read from memory, and when it is low data is written to the selected location.
3.1.2
Types of memory
There are two types of memory, the volatile and the non-volatile memories The volatile type of memory loses its data when there is no power supply to it. The nonvolatile memory on the other hand is able to retain its data even in the absence of power.
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RAM (Random Access Memory) is a volatile memory, while the non-volatile memories are the ROM (Read Only Memory), PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Memory).
3.1.3
The central processing unit (CPU)
The central processing unit is that component on the microcontroller that has built-in logic to enable it perform functions such as memory access, shift operations and the arithmetic and logical operations. The CPU has collections memory cells called registers that help it carry out these functions.
3.1.4
Busses
The busses are made up of a set of parallel wires that serve as a path that interconnect the various units of the microcontroller- the memory unit, the I / O and the CPU.
There are two types of busses. These are the data bus and the address bus. The address bus consist of as many parallel wires as needed to carry the addresses and the data bus is responsible for carrying data to and from the memory to the CPU.
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3.1.5
The input / output (I/O)
The input/output unit of the microcontroller serves as the interface between the microcontroller and the outside world. The I/O is connected to the bus on one side from the microcontroller. These connections are seen as the pins from the component. These pins are the output pins. The input connects to the inside of the microcontroller.
3.1.6
Analog-Digital converter
The microcontroller can only process digital data, and since most of the signals are analog signals, they must first be converted into digital signals. This conversion is done with the analog-digital converter.
There are other components that help the microcontroller to carry out its functions. These are the timer unit and the watchdog. [4]
3.2
Programming
Instructions must be given to the microcontroller in order for it to complete any required task. A program is a series of instructions written to give the micro controller step-by step procedure to complete the required task. The procedure of writing a program and loading it into the micro controller is termed programming the micro controller.
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Programs for the microcontroller can be written is several languages, of these are Assembler and BASIC etc. Assembler is a low level language and it is difficult to use, but programs written in assembler take up the least memory space and have the fastest execution times and Basic are very simple programming languages which takes a fair amount of memory space and have good execution times.
3.3
Types of microcontrollers
There are many microcontrollers from different manufacturers. These include the PIC, the BASIC stamp, AVR, ATMEL, and many more.
3.3.1
PIC microcontroller
The low cost and high performance of the PIC microcontroller makes it an ideal option for use in the energy metering system. Several types of the PIC exist, but the operation of an energy meter requires that some important information should be kept when there is no power. This calls for the use of a PIC with a non volatile form of memory. The PIC16F877 with 256byte of EEPROM became the obvious choice. The PIC16F877 is made up several features. These include:
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Program memory (flash)
This is based on the flash technology and is used for storing microcontroller programs. The flash is 8K in size. Flash can be programmed and erased several times. This makes the PIC microcontroller suitable for device development and testing.
EEPROM
Data stored in the EEPROM is not retained even when power is removed from the unit. This makes the PIC suitable for storing critical data like the units of electricity consumed and the units remaining. Thus the reliability of the PIC is enhanced by this ability.
RAM
Because the RAM loses data when power supply is interrupted, it is used for storing noncritical data during program execution.
PORTS
The ports provide the physical connections between the microcontroller and external devices. 16F877 has ports A, B, C, D and E .The numerous number of port makes the number of external devices that can be connected to it many.
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CPU
The function of the CPU is to execute the micro controller program and coordinate the functions of the other blocks in carrying out the instruction
The Diagram of the PIC16F877 [5]
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3.3.2
Programming of the PIC microcontroller
The PIC16F877 microcontroller can be programmed in any of the three languagesAssembler and Basic, but for this project, it will be programmed in C due to the availability of development tools like the FED PIC C compiler
The FED PIC C compiler is a full integrated development environment for writing programs for the PIC microcontroller. It has a simulator that allows easy programming of external real devices like LCD , EEPROM, led, switches, buzzers, keypad etc .Due to this, it becomes a convenient development tool for design problems involving the PIC micro controller since the whole project can be simulated using the simulator and debugged on errors. A diagram of a typical design environment using this compiler is shown below: [6]
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Snap Shot Of The Code Simulation
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CHAPTER FOUR-DESIGN
4.1 Design considerations
The following were considered in design process of this project. 4.1.1 From customers view
A survey in the form of questionnaires was conducted at Ayiduase with 50 customers of ECG who use the prepayment meter. The aim of this exercise was to find out what the general public felt about the current prepayment meters. The questionnaires were prepared with the following questions. Comparing the prepaid meter to the credit meter, which one is better? Is there anything about the prepaid meter that you dont like? If yes please state them For the first question, 38 out of the 50 said they liked the prepaid meters with 12 saying the credit meter was better because the prepaid read very fast and you have to pay before u use it. The second question was the focus. The following was what the response All 50 of the customers complained about the mode of warning when their credit got to 20. According to them, they see no reason why the meter should shut power while they still have as many as 20 credits. Those customers who operate internet cafs and other computer related business complained about loosing precious data while they still had credit.
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28 0f the 50 complained of not getting credit to buy on weekends. According to them they do not know any place where they can recharge their cards on weekends and so pay the unfair penalty of sleeping in the dark or using the generator, which is too expensive.
30 of the 50 said the meters were not interactive to use. It does not display any message when an error occurs, and they have to try and figure out what the problem is. They also complained that the meter only displays their available credit when it gets to 50 thus giving them no prior knowledge of how fast they consume before being hit all of a sudden with the appearance of a deadly 50 in red. According to them they would like to know their amount of credit all the time.
Based on the responses obtained from the survey, the following design considerations were developed. Replace the mode of warning with an alarm which will sound when the customers credit gets to a threshold thus shutting the customer only when he has exhausted all his credit.
Provide means for the customer to use some fixed amount of power on credit. This amount of power will be determined by the company after which the customer will be shut if he fails to buy credit. The number of power units consumed on credit will be deducted from the customers purchased credit as soon
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as he inserts the recharged card, and until he has paid all his debt, power will not be restored. Also the number of power units consumed on credit will be displayed as negative values to signify that the customer owes that amount of power. This is to take care of those customers whose credit gets finished on weekends.
Use a liquid crystal display (LCD) to interact with the user by displaying appropriate messages that will make the use of the system very interactive. For example, if you insert the card wrongly, a message will be displayed to warn you. Also the LCD will be appropriate to use to display the negative credit. It will also display credit all the time so that customers will know the amount of credit they have so as to know and control their rate of power consumption.
4.1.2 From tests performed
From tests performed and from the experiences of the ECG technician, the following were identified The current prepayment meter uses only a circuit breaker to do the switching. That is the circuit breaker is used to shut off power when the customers credit finishes and to switch power back on for the customer when he buys credit. The problem identified was that the circuit breaker has a minimum delay of about 8 sec to trip when a signal is sent to it from the microcontroller that the customers credit is finished. This means that the customer will have free power for that delay period since the system cannot record that power used. Also when
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the circuit breaker is switched on manually, the customer will enjoy free power for about eight seconds even if he has no credit. This is due to that eight second delay.
The current prepaid meters have minimal security in terms of card reading. Each meter is given a unique card from only which the meter is supposed to read. But it has become a known fact that the operation of the meter is affected by placing a phone card or any other card other than that unique card of the meter. According to ECG technicians, the meter fails to shut power off while a wrong card is inserted and the customers units are finished. The intelligent part of the system thus loses track of all the power that the user consumes as long as the wrong card is still inserted.
At very low voltages, it has been observed that the electronic aspect of the
existing prepayment meter goes off but the electromechanical aspect of the meter continues to record power consumption. Since the electronic meter will store the credit of the customer when it goes off and so the credit cannot reduce while the electromechanical continues to record power, there will be a disparity between power consumption displayed by the two units when normal voltage is restored (electronic unit comes back on). The company solves this by obtaining the difference in the two readings and billing the customer. This has led to lots of controversies.
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From these findings, the following design considerations were made. A double switching configuration will be used. This will involve a single pole double throw relay and the circuit breaker. The load will be connected to the normally closed contact of the relay and the shunt trip of the circuit breaker will be connected to the normally open contact of the relay. The relay which has no delays will only be limited by the response time of the PIC micro controller at power up which is 72ms.When there is no credit, the PIC energies the coil of the relay which then moves to the normally open contact, thus disconnecting the load. This implies no power consumption. The normally open contact will then trip the circuit breaker in about 8s preventing the loss of power to ECG which will be dissipated in the circuit.
A high security feature will be implemented to detect the insertion of wrong cards. This feature will count the number of times the system has recognized the presence of a wrong card and when that count reaches a preset value, the customer shall be penalized by disabling further reading of any card by the system, whether correct or wrong cards. When a card is inserted, the system will display the message Please call an ECG personnel with a beep. Unless a special card called Reset card is inserted by an ECG personnel to reset the count, the meter shall not read any more cards. When the Reset card is inserted, the system will display the message Reset card in.Security memory cleared!With a beep. This will also serve as a source of revenue for the
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company since recalcitrant customers will have to pay a fine before the system is reset. It will also serve as a deterrent to other customers to desist from tampering with ECGs meters. The electronic unit needs constant five volts supply to operate. This calls for the use of a five volts voltage regulator (LM7805).According to the datasheet of this regulator, an input voltage range of five to eighteen volts is required to produce a constant five volts at the output. An input voltage less than five will not be sufficient to turn on the voltage regulator thereby putting off the electronic unit. After consultation with the company, it came to light that the minimum phase voltage possible is around 120V, and the maximum phase voltage possible is 250V.thus a transformer which could produce at least 5V DC to the voltage regulator is required. A 220/240-12V transformer was chosen based on the following calculations Turns ratio = 240/12 = 20 100V across the primary, secondary voltage will be 100/20 = 5V Transformer has tolerance of 5% thus can withstand voltage up to 1.05 240 = 252V.
252V across primary, secondary voltage will be 252/20 = 12.6V The calculations above show that the electronic unit will be up and functioning at voltages between 100 and 252V which exceeds the minimum and maximum voltages specified by the company.
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4.1.3 Ease of installation The process of retrofitting the electromechanical meter with the embedded unit must be as easy as possible. Thus, a technician must be able to mount the unit accurately and with much ease.
4.2 Design Options This project does not seek to impose any design on ECG. Due to this fact, all possible design options will be discussed and the company will have the option of choosing which designs it want to implement. The following are the various design options
4.2.1 Method of initializing the embedded unit with the credit meter ID All credit meters installed by ECG have a nine digit id number. Due to the fact that each credit meter should be converted to prepaid and should have a card specific to it, then each retrofitting unit and card should be initialized with the nine digit id of the target credit meter so that functions such as the card authentication can be done. This can be done in two ways discussed below The credit meter ID is hard coded as part of the retrofitting units microcontroller code and the card also initialized using a special unit called the card terminal. For this system to work, ECG must present the data base of the entire targeted credit meter IDs so that they can be incorporated in the code before manufacturing. This means that ECG will be presented with tagged retrofitting units and cards bearing the ID of the target credit meters.
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Uninitialized retrofitting units will be presented to ECG along with a special card called initialization card and the card terminal. The card terminal which has a key pad interface will be used to program the initialization card with the credit meters ID and when inserted into the retrofitting unit, the unit will read the credit meter ID into its non-volatile memory (EEPROM) from which authentication can be done. The specific card for the retrofitting unit is also initialized with the card terminal .This flexibility give the company the option of doing the initialization on site or on the companys premises .The card terminal unit can also be equipped with a lot of function which have to be on demand from the company, example will be to give it the ability to sell credit to customers.
4.2.2 How to deal with Please call an ECG personnel message
The system is equipped with a security feature which upon detecting three insertion of a wrong card, displays the message Please call an ECG personnel and disables the system from feather reading any card. This the system does by increasing a memory location. To allow the system to read from a card again, then that memory location must be cleared. This can be done in two way as follows The customer comes to ECG to report the problem, he pays a fine and provides the necessary information on a form so that the companys scheduled maintenance team equipped with a Reset card would be able to locate his
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house/store .When the Reset card is inserted in the meter, the security memory is cleared.
The customer reports to ECG with his card, he is charged a fee after which a special code is put on his card. Upon his insertion of his card into the system, the security memory is cleared.
4.2.3 Power on delay

It has been observed that for the first few seconds when power is restored, there are voltage surges. The system can be designed with a delay mechanism built into it that will delay power supply to the house for a predetermined time within which the voltage surge dies down.
4.2.4 Warning
An improvement of this system over the existing prepayment system is beeping when the customers credit gets to a threshold instead of completely cutting off power. The system beeps slowly when the credit gets to a threshold value which will be set by the company and beeps faster when the customer has exhausted all his credit and is about to enter the negative credit zone. The beeping can be implemented in two ways The system can be designed in such a way that once the credit gets to a threshold and the system starts beeping, the customer has to insert his card into the system before the beeping will stop else the system will continuously beep until either credit is added or the system is shut down.
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The system can be designed in such a way that when the credit gets to a threshold, the system beeps for a number of times and stops.
4.2.5 Behaviour of the retrofitted meter upon failure of electronic unit Based on the configuration of the relay, there are two ways in which the retrofitted meter will behave upon failure of the electronic unit: When the load is connected to the normally closed terminal of the relay, failure of the electronic unit will not interrupt power supply to the household, and the power consumed, therefore, will be measured by the electromechanical meter. The advantage of this is that, prior to failure; the electronic unit will consume a maximum of 0.1135W if the customer has credit and 1.0135W for 8s when the customer runs out of credit. Thus this configuration will minimize power consumption by the electronic unit. The disadvantage is that when the electronic unit fails, the company reads the power measured by the electromechanical meter to prepare a bill for the customer. This has led to lots of controversies between the company and customers who claim the company is trying to cheat them because the bill is too much.
The load can be connected to the normally open contact of the relay. Upon failure of the electronic unit, power to the household will be interrupted and the customer will have to report to the company for immediate replacement of electronic unit. It is however advised that this option be chosen only if the
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company chooses to initialize the electronic units with the credit meter ID which is option two of section 4.2.1 since the company will have spare uninitialized units which can easily be initialized with the customers credit ID Also with this configuration, the relay will have to be energized to supply power to the customer. Thus when the customer has credit, the electronic unit will consume 1.0135W and when the customer runs out of credit, 0.1135W will be consumed for 8s.Thus this configuration will consume more power than the option above. The advantage however is that the there will be no controversy between the company and the customer since the company will not have to prepare any bill for the customer due to the fact that both electromechanical and electronic units will be off in this case.
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4.3 System block diagram The embedded unit will consist of a QRB sensor, LCD, buzzer, Pic microcontroller, card reader socket, relay and circuit breaker. The components will be connected as shown in the block diagram below
SENSOR QRB1133/QRB1134
ALARM (BUZZER)
LCD (LIQUID CRYSTAL DIODE)
PIC 16F877
CARD READER
RELAY Shunt Trip CIRCUIT BREAKER
4.4 Principle of operation
The sensor continuously throws infrared rays onto the rotating reflective disc of the credit meter. The reflected rays are detected until the rays hit a black non reflective mark on the surface of the disc. The logical output of the sensor changes which then interrupts the microcontroller to increase a count variable. When this count is equal to the number of revolutions that make up one credit, a credit is deducted.
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When the credit is finished, the system does not shut down immediately, rather the customer is allowed some fixed amount of power on credit, which will be deducted the next time credit is bought. This is in view of the fact that terminals where credit is sold do not operate on weekends and are closed from 6.00pm on working days. Thus if a customers credit finishes, he will not be denied power supply. The microcontroller shuts down the system through the relay when the customer exhausts the power on credit. The system warns the customer when his credit reaches a threshold. It does this by sounding an alarm.
Also the customer can buy credit onto his memory card, insert it into the card reader of the unit, the microcontroller verifies the authenticity of the card by matching the ID of the card with that of the meter. If it matches, the credit is loaded into memory and the credit on the card is cleared. If it does not, the card is not read.
4.5 Improvement over existing system
4.5.1 Mode of warning The prepayment meter currently in use by ECG completely shuts down the customer when the credit gets to twenty. This is to serve as a warning that the credit is getting finished. Even though a laudable idea, completely shutting down the customer only to remind him of his finishing credit has led to some dissatisfaction among some users. A better
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alternative would be to sound an alarm to warn the user, and this has been incorporated into the project.
4.5.2 The concept of negative credit
In view of the fact that terminals where credit is sold are not open on weekends, it might the case that a users credit will get finished on the weekend or in the evening. The current prepayment meter shuts the consumer when his credit gets finished. A better alternative would be to allow the user a fixed amount power on credit to cater for the special cases where credit gets finished on the weekend. The power used on credit will be deducted the next time he buys credit.
4.5.3 Security features
Each embedded unit comes with a specific card that will be given to the customer. This card contains an identification number (ID) that corresponds to a number stored in the memory of the unit. When the card is inserted, the unit checks its ID, if there is a match, the card is read. If not, it increments a count variable.
If count variable gets to three, the unit refuses to read anymore cards and must be reset by the card of an instructor.
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4.6 System Design The system consist of three main modules The power supply module The QRB sensor module The microcontroller module
The various modules with their circuit diagrams are presented belo
4.6.1Power supply module The power supply module will comprise the following component connected as shown in the circuit diagram below
220/240 9v step down transformer Bridge rectifier( 4 diodes) Smoothing capacitor Voltage regulator LM7805
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4.6.2 QRB sensor module The QRB sensor module will comprise the following
The QRB1133/1134 sensor 220,4.7k resistors 10k variable resistor.
The circuit diagram for the module is shown below.
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4.6.2.1 QRB sensor holder The QRB sensor must be placed under the rotating disc at a suitable distance of 5mm for effective detection of rotation; also the sensor must be positioned such that it will always be directly under the black mark. This necessitated the design of a holder that will keep the sensor at the desired position. The design is shown below.
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4.6.3 Microcontroller module The various components are connected as shown below and controlled by the PIC microcontroller.
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4.6.3.1 Packaging The embedded unit and the retrofitted credit meter have to be packaged. The design of the package is show below.
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4.7 Design of the card terminal unit The purpose of the card terminal is to write credit on the targeted meters card and also write the reset code on a reset card. The terminal unit built for this project comes with four push down buttons which will be used for writing either the reset code on a reset card or for writing credit on the meters card. Two buttons are used to select the modeeither reset code or credit code, and the other two are for writing and reading from the card once the mode is selected. It has an LCD display for to show the values being written to or read from the card. It has a card slot where the card is inserted. The function and how it operates are outlined below The four buttons are labeled as 1. Reset 2. Write 3. Read 4. Credit When it is desired to write or read from a reset card, then after insertion of the card, the reset button should be pressed once since it generates an interrupt. Once the microcontroller is interrupted, then the message Reset code will be displayed on the LCD. At this moment if a write operation is desired, the write button should be pressed or if it is a read, then the read button should be pressed. When finished, the reset button has to be pressed once again to leave the reset code block. On the other hand if it is desired to read or write credit to a card for a meter, then after insertion of the card, the credit button should be pressed. Once pressed, the desired operation is then selected using the write or read button.
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4.7.1
Circuit diagram of terminal unit
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4.7.2 Packaging The package for the card terminal unit is shown below.
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4.8 Design of a DSP based prepayment meter A DSP based prepayment system can easily be achieved by replacing the QRB sensor in the microcontroller module shown above with a DSP chip. The DSP chip should then be programmed to send a signal to the microcontroller when it measure one kilowatt of power. The circuitry remains unchanged. The revise circuit diagram is shown below. 4.8.1 Circuit diagram of DSP based prepayment meter design
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4.8.2 Comparing a DSP based system to credit based prepayment system. The DSP based prepayment meter undoubtedly is more accurate in measuring power than the credit based prepayment meters. This is in view of the fact that the DSP based meter takes power factor measurement into consideration which the credit based meter totally neglects. The credit based meter is more robust and can withstand high conditions of voltage and current than the DSP based system. A test conducted at the lab and confirmation from VRA technicians revealed that when the DSP based meter is bridged, the meter does not read at all and the customer uses power free of charge but from test also conducted at the lab and form confirmation from ECG technicians, when the credit based meter is bridged, the meter at least reads more than half of the power used An important advantage of the credit based prepayment meter over the DSP based meter is that when the DSP based meter gets damaged probably due to voltage surge, the customer uses power for free and the company has no way of determining how much power the customer has used but with a credit based prepayment system, when the digital part of the meter gets damaged also due to voltage surge, the mechanical aspect of the meter which is more robust keeps recording the power used by the customer. Thus the company can prepare a bill for the customer based on the readings of the mechanical part of the meter.
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4.9 Printed circuit board design of microcontroller module The printed circuit board design of the microcontroller module is shown below.
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4.10 Programming
4.10.1 Flow chart for program.
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4.10.2 Operation of the program
At the very first time of using the unit, initialization of the various variables is done once in the meters operative life. The variable initialization includes activities like clearing the EEPROM, setting counters to zero; etc. Then system enters an infinite loop. If an interrupt occurs, count is incremented. When count gets to N, which is the meter constant indicated by the letter N on the flow chart, then a credit is deducted. The interrupt is the electrical pulse coming from the
QRB1133/QRB1134 sensor. Check credit and see if it is equal to or less than five, and then sound the alarm. If credit is finished (plus the extra credit also exhausted), then shut down power supply to the household. If count is not equal to N or credit is not finished, then get credit from the card through the card reader. Else, Check card reader for credit. If there is a card, read value on card into EEPROM, then restart loop. If there is no card, just restart loop.
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4.10.3 The various functions in the program
Initialize () This function is responsible for initializing all the various components. This includes clearing EEPROM and clearing variables. This function is executed only once in the meters life.
Interrupt () This function increments the counting of the number of revolutions. It does this by employing a sensor.
LCDNum () This is the LCD driver for outputting to the LCD.
Subtract () When the interrupt function counts to a predetermined meter constant, the main () function calls subtract to do the deduction of credit.
Shut () When subtract determines that the credit is finished, it informs main () which call shut() to open relay. Thus shutting customer off
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getUnits () This function is responsible for reading credit on the card when a card is inserted.
Buzzer () This function is for warning. When subtract () determines that the credit is at or below some threshold. It informs main () which then calls the buzzer () to warn the customer.
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CHAPTER FIVE-IMPLEMENTATION 5.1 Design options implemented 1. The credit meter ID is hard coded as part of the micro controller code. 2. An ECG personnel has to insert a Reset card into the system to clear security memory. 3. The system beeps for some number of times and stops. 5.2 Calculations made The credit meter used for this project has the following information from the meter 1. 240v (voltage) 2. 15-60A(current) 3. 200Revs/KWh Form this information the following calculations were made. Watt (power) = voltage Watt = 240 current neglecting power factor at full load 200Rev/KWh
60 = 14400W = 14.4KW
Number of revolutions at full load = power at full load Number of revolutions at full load per hour = 14.4
200 = 2880revs/h
Number of revolutions at full load per second = 2880/3600 = 0.8revs/sec Number of revolutions at full load per millisecond = 0.8/1000 = 0.0008revs/ms From the pic16F877 data sheet, the rising time for the PIC is 72ms Number of revolutions in 72ms = 72 0.0008 = 0.0576revs
The radius of the aluminium disc in the meter was measured and found to be 4cm Circumference of the disc = distance moved in one revolution
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Circumference = 2 r Circumference = 2 4 = 25.13 cm
Distance moved in 72ms 1rev = 25.13cm 0.0576rev = (0.0576 25.13) = 1.44cm 2cm
Thus it can be deduced that when a black mark of length 2cm is placed under the disc, then there is no possibility of losing a revolution since the rising time of the circuit is only limited by the rising time of the PIC microcontroller.
5.3 Construction 5.3.1 The power supply module The power supply module was constructed as shown by the circuit design with the following calculations in mind.
Transformer Rating: 9volts Silicon diodes Current requirement of the circuit = 22.7mA Current that the power supply must be capable of delivering = (0.52 + 20% of 22.7) mA AC frequency = 50Hz Unsmoothed AC voltage = (9 - 1.4); since each of the two conducting diodes reduces the 9volts
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From the transformer by 0.7V
C = (5 x I (output))/ (f x Vs) C = (5 x 27.24mA) / (50 x 7.6)
C = 358MF C = 470MF (approximately)
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5.3.2 The QRB sensor module The QRB sensor circuit was constructed as shown in the QRB sensor circuit diagram. After the construction of the QRB sensor holder, it was fitted in the meter with the black mark as shown below
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5.3.3 The microcontroller module The circuit was constructed as shown in the circuit diagram. All the other modules were added and packaged as shown below
5.3.4 The card terminal unit The circuit was constructed and packaged as shown
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5.4 Tests performed
5.4.1 The bridging problem
A DSP (digital signal processing) based prepaid meter was obtained from a company (source cannot be disclosed) and tested for the bridging problem The bridging problem asserts that when the two live wires to and from the meter are bridged, the meter is completely bypassed and does not read anything. The meter was connected to a 200V ac supply and a load of 5A was given to it for 10min, the dials of the meter moved signifying that the meter was measuring the power consumed. After connecting the two lives of the meter with a wire (bridging), it was observed that for a time period of 30min, the dials of the meter did not move however the display was on but dim. This signifies that the meter was truly bypassed. The same test was performed with the credit meter obtained from ECG. Without bridging, the dials of the meter moved 18 revolutions for a period of 5min. However after bridging, the dials of the meter moved slow about 1 revs for the 5min period. The dial of the meter did not show the slightest sign of movement when the incoming live wire was disconnected and rather connected together with the outgoing live wire. A solution to the bridging problem is to employ sealing. Sealing is just covering all possible holes that can be used to bridge the meter with an impenetrable substance. The
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only way to bridge the meter then will be to break the seal which can easily be detected by the company for the culprit to pay a heavy fine.
5.4.2 Placement of black mark and QRB sensor.
The only way for the circuit to determine the amount of power used was through the interrupt caused by the detection of a black mark placed under the disc of the meter by the QRB sensor. But since the black mark has weight, then it was anticipated that it would increase the weight of the disc thereby causing unacceptable reading. Even the whole process of opening the meter and placing the black mark together with the sensor could cause some errors to be introduced .This led to a test to find out how accurate the meter will measure power after placing the black mark. The meter was connected to a 200V ac supply and a load of 5A was given to it. Sixteen revolutions were counted in a period of 5min.The meter was then opened and the black mark and the sensor were placed and the meter was subjected to the same load and voltage. The number of revolutions were counted and found to be exactly 16 signifying that the placement of the black mark and sensor did not introduce any unacceptable error in the measurement of power by the meter.
5.4.3 Test for functionality of the various modules
The various modules were tested after their construction to verify their functionality.
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The power supply module was connected to an ac source and a multi meter was connected across its terminals, the reading of the multi meter was the expected reading of 12v The output of the QRB sensor module was connected to an LED and the sensor was interrupted with both a reflective aluminium plate from a tin of milk and a non reflective black tape. It was observed that with the reflective substance, the LED was on and with the non reflective tape, the LED was off. This verified the fact that the QRB sensor detects non reflective objects from reflective objects. The micro controller circuit was powered and a switch which was connected as the interrupt was pressed five times. It was observed that the value displayed on the LCD connected to the circuit reduced by one-a desired behavior. After the value reduced to -5, the relay connected to the circuit was energized and after 8s tripped the circuit breaker thus verifying the functionality of the circuit. All modules were put together and the overall functionality of the system was tested and found to be correct. Also the card terminal was tested and all functionalities were verified.
5.4.4 Test for the amount of power consumed by the embedded unit
The system was connected in series with an Ammeter and the current consumed by the circuit was measured. It was found to be 22.7mA The supply voltage to the circuit is 5V Thus
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Power = voltage
current = 5
22.7mA = 0.1135W
When the customers credit is finished, the relay is energized to cut off power. This takes place for only 8 seconds which is the delay time for the circuit breaker to trip. From the data sheet of the relay the following was found Coil resistance = 160 Coil rated voltage = 12v Thus coil current = 12/160 = 0.075A Power consumed by relay = 12*0.075 = 0.9W Thus power consumed by system when customer has credit = 0.1135W Power consumed by system to disconnect customer = 0.1135 + 0.9 = 1.0135W (this is for only 8s)
5.5 Limitation and Errors of the system
From the power supply design circuit diagram and construction, it shows clearly that the transformer used for the power supply is a 240V/12V transformer. This means that the transformer will be damaged when the supply voltage is above the rated supply voltage of the transformer which is 240V. When this happens, the system will not get power and thus fail to perform its expected functions. Thus the operation of the system is largely dependent on the reliability of the power supply which lies primarily on the transformer.
Due to the fact that there is no way to determine the number of revelations the disc in the credit meter has moved prior to retrofitting, and also due to the fact that the credit meter
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cannot be reset, then there will be a disparity in the measurement of power by the system and the credit meter because the system will start counting from one which in actual sense might be about 134.The maximum anticipated disparity will be a maximum of 1 credit (1KWh). That means that the dial of the credit meter will increase before the system will also count up to the number required to reduce credit by one. This is to deter ECG personnel from considering the system faulty when they observe that the system and the credit meter have difference in measurement as it is the case for the existing prepayment meters. 5.6 Component list Things to be imported are: 1. PIC microcontroller programmer 2. Two PIC16F877 microcontroller chip
3. One 20MHz oscillator and one 5MHz oscillator 4. Two Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) 5. One Buzzers 6. QRB1133/34 7. One miniature circuit breakers 8. Solid state relays 9. Two Card Reader socket 10. One electromechanical meter
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5.6.1 Cost of the embedded unit PIC 16F877---------------------------------------------$10.00 LCD -----------------------------------------------------$20.00 BUZZER------------------------------------------------$2.00 20MHz CRYSTAL------------------------------------$2.00 RELAY -------------------------------------------------$2.00 QRB SENSOR------------------------------------------$2.00 CIRCUIT BREAKER---------------------------------$20.00 CARD READER SOCKET AND CARD----------$7.00 OTHER DISCRETE COMPONENTS--------------$5.00 PACKAGING -------------------------------------------$10.00
TOTAL --------------------------------------------------$80.00 5.6.2 Cost of the card terminal unit PIC16F877 ----------------------------------------------$ 10.00 LCD-------------------------------------------------------$ 20.00 5MHz------------------------------------------------------$ 2.00 CARD READER SOCKET AND CARD---------$ 7.00 OTHER DISCRETE COMPONENTS------------ $ 5.00 PACKAGING----------------------------------------- $ 10.00 TOTAL--------------------------------------------------$44.00
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5.7 The process of retrofitting the credit energy meter with the embedded unit
1. 2.
Remove the cover of the credit meter gently Gently wipe the lower surface of the aluminium disc with a dry piece of soft material
3. 4.
Measurer and cut a two centimeter piece of black tape Carefully paste the tape on the lower surface of the aluminium disc such that there are no fold-ups on the tape
5.
Loosen the screw on the top right corner of the credit meter and fit the QRB sensor to it gently while ensuring that the black tape is directly overhead the sensor
6.
Make an incision on the cover of the credit meter into which the cables of the sensor will fit.
7. 8.
Close the credit meter Disconnect the in-coming mains from the credit meter and connect them to the circuit breaker
9. 10.
Connect the output of the circuit breaker to the input of the credit meter Disconnect the live of the output of the credit meter and connect it to the normally closed pin of the relay
11.
The neutral and the normally closed contacts are connected to the household
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CHAPTER SIX 6.1 RCOMMENDATION Since the DSP based system measure power more accurately than the credit based meter, then it is recommended that more research should be done into the possible development of a robust DSP prepayment meter.
It is recommended that research be made into automated meter reading (AMR) technology and its possible implementation in the country.
6.2 Conclusions
From the prototype developed and tested, it can be concluded that the credit energy meter can easily be converted to a prepayment energy meter on site without compromising on accuracy.
From the cost of the embedded unit, it can be concluded that it is cheaper for ECG to achieve a prepayment system by retrofit the existing credit energy meters into prepayment meters than replacing the existing credit energy meters with imported prepayment energy meters.
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6.3 References
1. Edison Electric Institute: Handbook of Electricity Metering As seen at "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_meter" 2. Proton smart datasheet; www.protonsmart.com 3. Fairchild: QRB1133/34 Data sheet www.fairchild.com 4. Wikipedia microcontroller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcontrollers" 5. Microchip: PIC16F87X Data Sheet As seen at www.microchip.com 6. FED PIC C documentation ; www.fored.co.uk 7. Using the I2C protocol; www.semiconductors.philips
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Retrofitting the electromechanical meter to make it a prepayment meter By Eric Johnson Parggah and Gilbert Mensah Computer Engineering

CHAPTER ONE-PROJECT OVERVIEW

1.2 Problem statement

To convert the electromechanical credit energy meter to a prepayment energy meter.

1.4 Project plan

CHAPTER TWO- LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Energy meters

2.1.1 Units of measurement

2.1.2 Types of meters

2.1.3 Electromechanical meters

Picture of an electromechanical meter

2.1.4 Electronic meter

2.1.4.1 Solid state meter

Picture of the solid state meter

2.1.4.2 The prepayment meter

2.1.4.2.1 Keypad operated prepayment meters

2.1.4.2.2 Smart card operated prepayment meters

Picture of the Prepayment meter

2.2 Circuit breaker

Picture of the Circuit Breaker

Types of circuit breakers

2.3.1 Types of relays

Picture of the Solid State Relay

2.4 Memory card

Connector Layout of the Smart Card

2.4.1 The I2C Protocol

A brief discussion of the I2C protocol is discussed below

2.4.1.1 The physical I2C bus

2.4.1.3 The I2C Physical Protocol

The bit sequence will look like this:

2.5 Phototransistor reflective object sensor

Picture of the QRB1133

Circuit representation of the QRB113

CHAPTER 3 OVERVIEW OF MICROCONTROLLERS

3.1 General architecture of microcontrollers

has a central processing unit

The memory unit

The central processing unit (CPU)

The input / output (I/O)

Program memory (flash)

The Diagram of the PIC16F877 [5]

Programming of the PIC microcontroller

Snap Shot Of The Code Simulation

4.1 Design considerations

4.1.2 From tests performed

4.2.2 How to deal with Please call an ECG personnel message

4.2.3 Power on delay

LCD (LIQUID CRYSTAL DIODE)

RELAY Shunt Trip CIRCUIT BREAKER

4.4 Principle of operation

4.5 Improvement over existing system

4.5.2 The concept of negative credit

4.5.3 Security features

The circuit diagram for the module is shown below.

Circuit diagram of terminal unit

4.10.1 Flow chart for program.

4.10.2 Operation of the program

4.10.3 The various functions in the program

LCDNum () This is the LCD driver for outputting to the LCD.

Circumference = 2 r Circumference = 2 4 = 25.13 cm

From the transformer by 0.7V

C = (5 x I (output))/ (f x Vs) C = (5 x 27.24mA) / (50 x 7.6)