IEEE INDICON 2015 1570186881

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Development of Smart Energy Meter
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6   in LabVIEW for Power Distribution Systems
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9   Amit Bhimte, Rohit K.Mathew, Kumaravel S
10   Department of Electrical Engineering
11   National Institute of Technology Calicut
12   Kozhikode, India
13   [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
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16   Abstract—In this paper a smart energy meter is developed for power quality monitoring, motor test, battery stack testing and
17   domestic/industrial consumer. The proposed smart energy meter fuel cell tests. It has a simultaneous sampling rate upto 50 kS/s
is developed in LabVIEW. The developed prototype accounts
18   per channel. NI C Series modules combine A/D converters,
electricity consumption in multi-tariff structure, computes power
19   quality measures, generates monthly electricity bill for the signal conditioning and signal connectivity in one package for
20   consumer along with incentives provided and penalties levied for measuring or generating one or more specific types of signal.
21   power quality measures accordingly and establishes C Series modules are hot-swappable and automatically
22   communication between the consumer and utility. The developed detected by the NI CompactDAQ chassis. I/O channels are
23   prototype is experimentally verified for sample input voltage and accessible using the NI-DAQmx driver software. Fig. 2 shows
24   current waveforms. the NI 9225 voltage input module.
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I. INTRODUCTION
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27   An energy meter is a device which records electrical energy
28   consumption of the residential or industrial consumer. In the
29   conventional metering system the utility will deploy employees
who pay regular visits to the consumer establishments to
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account their meter reading. These meter readings are further
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processed to determine the cost of electrical energy
32   consumption which is later notified to the consumer. This is a
33   slow process requiring considerable time and effort and is
34   therefore inept way for measuring power consumption [1].
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36   This paper presents a smart energy meter developed using Fig. 1. NI cDAQ-9174
37   LabVIEW. The developed prototype not only reduces the
labour cost but also increases meter reading accuracy and saves 3) NI 9227: The NI 9227 C Series analog current input
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huge amount of time. module is designed to measure 5 A rms nominal and upto 14
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40   II. IMPLEMENTATION A peak on each channel with channel-to-channel isolation.
41   When used with the NI 9225 high-voltage module, the NI
42   A. Signal Conditioning 9227 current module can measure power and energy
43   An NI CompactDAQ system is used for data acquisition. It consumption for application such as appliance and electronic
44   is a small, modular data acquisition system capable of analog device test. It has a simultaneous sampling rate upto 50 kS/s
45   I/O, digital I/O, counter/timer operations, industrial bus per channel. Fig. 3 shows the NI 9227 current input module.
46   communication and sensor and electrical measurement. It
consists of a chassis and NI C Series I/O modules.
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48   1) NI cDAQ-9174: The NI cDAQ-9174 is a 4-slot NI
49   CompactDAQ USB chassis designed for small, portable,
50   mixed-measurement test systems. It can be combined with
51   upto four NI C Series I/O modules for a custom analog input,
52   analog output, digital I/O and counter/timer measurement
53   system. Fig. 1 shows the NI cDAQ-9174 USB chassis.
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55   2) NI 9225: The NI 9225 C Series analog voltage input
56   module has a full measurement range of 300 V rms for high
57   voltage measurement application such as power metering, Fig. 2. Voltage Input Module (NI 9225)
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978-1-4673-6540-6/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

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 The developed graphical source code employs (5) to
determine reactive power demand.
(5)
Where,
is reactive power demand
is apparent power demand
is active power demand

6) Power Factor Calculation: A virtual instrument is

developed in LabVIEW to measure load power factor. The
developed graphical source code employs (6) to determine
Fig. 3. Current Input Module (NI 9227)
power factor of the load.
B. Mathematical Background (6)
1) RMS Calculation: A virtual instrument is developed in Where,
LabVIEW to measure rms value of the voltage and current is load power factor
signal. The developed graphical source code employs (1) to is active power demand
determine rms value of the voltage and current signal. is apparent power demand
∑ | | (1)
7) Active Energy Calculation: A virtual instrument is
Where, developed in LabVIEW to measure active energy
is root mean square value of the input sequence consumption. The developed graphical source code employs
is number of elements in the input sequence (7) to determine active energy consumption.
(7)
2) Instantaneous Power Calculation: A virtual instrument Where,
is developed in LabVIEW to measure instantaneous power. is active energy consumption in time
The developed graphical source code employs (2) to is active power demand
determine instantaneous power.
(2) 8) THD Calculation: A virtual instrument is developed in
Where, LabVIEW to measure THD of the voltage and current signal.
is instantaneous power
The developed graphical source code employs (8) to
is instantaneous voltage
determine THD of the voltage and current waveform.
is instantaneous current
(8)
3) Active Power Calculation: A virtual instrument is
developed in LabVIEW to measure active power demand. The Where,
developed graphical source code employs (3) to determine is total harmonic distortion
active power demand. is amplitude of fundamental frequency
is amplitude of second harmonic
∑ (3)
is amplitude of third harmonic
Where, is amplitude of fourth harmonic
is active power demand
is number of elements in the input sequence C. Tariff Structure
Tariff refers to the amount of money the consumer has to
4) Apparent Power Calculation: A virtual instrument is pay for making power available to them. There are range of
developed in LabVIEW to measure apparent power demand. tariff structure. The ones incorporated in the developed
The developed graphical source code employs (4) to prototype include:
determine apparent power demand. 1) Single Rate: A virtual instrument is developed in
(4) LabVIEW to calculate tariff using single rate pricing. The
Where, developed graphical source code employs the flowchart shown
is apparent power demand in Fig. 4 to calculate tariff.
is rms value of load voltage
is rms value of load current 2) Off-Peak: A virtual instrument is developed in
LabVIEW to calculate tariff using off-peak pricing. The
5) Reactive Power Calculation: A virtual instrument is developed graphical source code employs the flowchart shown
developed in LabVIEW to measure reactive power demand. in Fig. 5 to calculate tariff.

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 3) Time of Use: A virtual instrument is developed in between 0.85 and 0.95; a rebate of 1% is given for every 1%
LabVIEW to calculate tariff using time of use pricing. The rise and if it is maintained above 0.95; a rebate of 2% is given
developed graphical source code employs the flowchart shown for every 1% rise.
in Fig. 6 to calculate tariff. 2) THD: If the average THD in a month for a consumer is
maintained below 8%; a rebate of 5% is given for every 1%
fall else a penalty of 5% is levied for every 1% rise.

Fig. 4. Flowchart for Tariff Calculation (Single Rate Pricing)

Fig. 6. Flowchart for Tariff Calculation (Time of Use Pricing)

E. Remote Monitoring
The user interface i.e. front panel can be viewed and
controlled through a standard web browser by generating a web
page with the front panel embedded on it. This is achieved by
means of LabVIEW Remote Front Panel.
The web page is created using LabVIEW Web Publishing
Tool. The Web Publishing Tool also provides URL for the web
page. To access the Front Panel over web, open a web browser
window and navigate to the URL.
1) Establishing Secure Connection: For secure data
exchange between the web browser (i.e. utility) and the web
server (i.e. consumer) SSL (Secure Sockets layer) security
technology is used. SSL encrypt the data transmitted between
Fig. 4. Flowchart for Tariff Calculation (Off-Peak Pricing)
a browser and web server (and vice versa).
D. Penalties and Incentives
III. EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
To ensure better power quality standard the consumer
would incur penalties and incentives for two power quality NI 9227 module and NI 9225 module are plugged in the
measures. These include: slot 2 and slot 3 of NI cDAQ-9174 chassis respectively. A test
load is connected to the supply through channel 0 of NI 9227
1) Power Factor: If the average power factor in a month for the acquisition of real-time load current signal. Channel 0
for a consumer is between 0.85 and 0.60; a penalty of 1% is of NI 9225 is connected across the load for the acquisition of
levied for every 0.01 fall, if it is between 0.60 and 0.30; a real-time load voltage signal. NI cDAQ-9174 is connected to
penalty of 2% is levied for every 0.01 fall and if it falls below Personal Computer through USB cable with NI LabVIEW
0.30; a penalty of 3% is levied for every 0.01 fall. In case the software pre-installed for processing the acquired signals. Fig.
average power factor in a month for a consumer is maintained 7 shows assembly of the developed prototype.

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 Fig. 7. Experimental Set-up
Fig. 10. Power Quality Parameters (60 W incandescent bulb)
IV. EXPERIMENT RESULTS
A. Linear Load
The developed prototype is tested for 60 W incandescent
bulb as a linear load for last 5 min of month end. The test
results obtained are shown in Fig. 8 - 13. Fig. 8 shows front
panel displaying the load voltage and current waveform. Fig. 9
shows front panel displaying rms value of the load voltage and
current signal. Fig. 10 shows front panel displaying total
harmonic distortion in the load voltage and current signal. Fig.
11 shows front panel displaying active, reactive and apparent
power demand of the load. Fig. 12 shows front panel
displaying number of units consumed by the load, active
electricity bill and electricity bill for the previous month. Fig.
13 shows front panel displaying penalties and incentives
incurred for the power quality measures. Fig. 11. Power Values (60 W incandescent bulb)

Fig. 8. Real Time Waveforms (60 W incandescent bulb) Fig. 12. Tariff (60 W incandescent bulb)

Fig. 9. Basic Parameters (60 W incandescent bulb) Fig. 13. Penalties and Incentives (60 W incandescent bulb)

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B. Non-Linear Load
The developed prototype is tested for 15 W CFL as a non-
linear load for last 5 min of month end. The test results
obtained are shown in Fig. 14 - 19. Fig. 14 shows front panel
displaying the load voltage and current waveform. Fig. 15
shows front panel displaying rms value of the load voltage and
current signal. Fig. 16 shows front panel displaying total
harmonic distortion in the load voltage and current signal. Fig.
17 shows front panel displaying active, reactive and apparent
power demand of the load. Fig. 18 shows the front panel
displaying number of units consumed by the load, active
electricity bill and electricity bill for the previous month. Fig.
19 shows the front panel displaying penalties and incentives
incurred for the power quality measures. Fig. 17. Power Values (15 W CFL)

Fig. 14. Real Time Waveforms (15 W CFL) Fig. 18. Tariff (15 W CFL)

Fig. 15. Basic Parameters (15 W CFL) Fig. 19. Penalties and Incentives (15 W CFL)

V. CONCLUSION
A smart energy meter is developed in the LabVIEW
platform. The developed prototype add on to the normal
features of the available energy meter. Integration between the
consumer and utility is established via Web to feed the metered
data to the utility. This data would help the consumer as well as
the utility for better load monitoring and management and in
increasing energy awareness and energy saving for the
consumer.
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Fig. 16. Power Quality Parameters (15 W CFL) Computer Applications, vol. 47, June 2012, pp. 41-45.

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