I.R.Port in Digital Energy Meter

communication?
Del

Del is right.

The IR port is for sending and receiving signals to other devices in the vicinity by way of EM radiation in the IR band.

This, as I recall, is often referred to as an "Opticom" port. It is used to transfer the stored meter readings from the electronic register of the meter to a hand held recording devise used by the utility company. It uses a pulsed inferred signal like the remote control for your television.

for collecting meter reading there is a displayed unit. then why I.R. Port is importants.

thank you.

Because you read with the eye, but data transfered via infrared is available for other devices and /or software for further use.

Yes

In Canada is like it.

They get readings just by passing through the streets

It can also be used to program the meter. As you can see there is both a transmitter and a receiver within your circle. More than likely they're both there as part of an authentication scheme to ensure that only authorized users are allowed to communicate with the device for programming or data capture.

I'm not sure about meters in India but in the US and other areas the actual data transfer is via an RF link to a specialized mobile reader that simply drives by and queries the meter and records the data on the fly, the display is simply there for your convenience.

you means , In US meter reading transfer via RF link to the distribution center??

if possible please learn me more with details, how US technology works about meter reading.

in india, line man come and see the meter reading and note down ( units) in his machine and finally print the bill details.

thanks

Hello, forgot to tell you:

1) The power company interface on the backside is used to attach a little unit which allows them to read the meter via powerline - not RF Powerline is cheaper. Not used in my case - someone is coming around once a year and verifies the meter readings.

2) Some power companiess provide a service where they read out the "customer section" and send you by email the visualisation of your consumption in order to make you aware of excessive consumption e.g. non energy efficient refridgerators... My provider can not doe it as the little unit for the powerline communication is missing.

This is really an interesting question! The interface shown is basically the "consumer interface" and there is even a protcoll available which explains what is the content of the messages. Sorry the only version of the spec i could find is in German even it seems that is following an international specification. I will not give a reference as I seee that the meter is from an Indian manufacturer. It should be possible to get current consumption and daily consumption weekly .. etc. The meter has internal several SW related partitions for the power provider which requires a complex security mode (the public key is even printed on the outside of the meter) to check the calibration etc. The consumer gets only the consumption related data which he even can protect via a password. That is why this is a bi directional interface. THe communication on the consumer interface is always active. You can verify this via a tablet PC and camera. THe IR transmission LED will light brightly if you try to take a picture of the electric meter as the tablet camera sensor is also IR sensitive.

FYI there is also a second data interface on the back of the power meter for the use by the power provider. If the meter is installed and secured with the lead seal of the power company the consumer has no access to it. This has normally a proprity SW as it could access the part of the internal software which affects calibration and other functions..

The issue is how to get really hold of the data. You will neeed a OCC Optical Communication Coupler. THese are a IR sensor and transmit diode in a housing which includes also a ring magnet to mount the OCC to the meter (that is why the surface is round around the 2 dark holes with the IR Diode (normally right) and the Phototransistor. If the data are not yet password protected (and no need to enter the password) you only read the transmitted datastream then an IR sensitive Photodetector is sufficient to get the actual meter information.(might be! I do not know it yet. The meter is only since some weeks in my house and I did not proceed to the SW yet due to OCC issue below.)

The question is interesting as even here in Germany you hardly can get the OCC. The meter maker points to the energy provider - the energy provider claims that they do not provide this. And third parties are extreme expensive as they also deliver the SW and the Hardware.. But there are Computerclub people which provide a software and a proposal how to build the OCC. For my self I will work with a RS232 TO USB interface cable with a photo transistor and an Arduino MCU including RF interface to get the actual power consumption - so I will not need the mode switching of the meter. But I have to find out whether this is enough. Because I consume electricity from the grid but I also deliver power from my photovoltaic system to the grid. Therefor the meter has two "energy meter sections" one for the deliveries and one for the consumption.

Here you got what I know about this topic

Greetings

Uli

In testing the accuracy of energy meters IR port is one of the sources of pulses (impulse).

Typically in testing such meters a reference standard should be present followed by the sensor (depending on what kind of port usually Visible led, Meter Disk or IR port) these sensor will collect the pulses emitted by the energy meter then upon collection the reference standard will now process those pulses with the help of the built in comparator inside the reference standard this comparator will decide if the accuracy of the meter (usually indicated in the meter itself as per its manufacturer) is valid or not.