Prepaid Energy Meter Report

SYNOPSIS

“Prepaid Energy Meter ”

Bachelor of Engineering

( Electronics Engineering )

Submitted by

Mr. Shrikar Umarji, Mr. Bharat Kumar

Mr. Ayush Tiwari

Under the guidance of

Prof. S. M. Labde

Department of Electronics EngineeringDr. D. Y. Patil Group’s

Ramrao Adik Institute of TechnologyNerul, Navi Mumbai – 400706

(University of Mumbai)OCT– 2010

“Prepaid Energy Meter”



Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of University of Mumbai

For the Degree of



by

Mr. Shrikar Umarji , Mr. Bharat Kumar Mr. Ayush Tiwari

Under the guidance of

Prof. S. M. Labde

Department of Electronics EngineeringDr. D. Y. Patil Group’s

Ramrao Adik Institute of TechnologyNerul, Navi Mumbai – 400706

(University of Mumbai)OCT – 2010

RAMRAO ADIK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYNERUL, NAVI MUMBAI

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that

Mr. Shrikar Umarji Mr. Bharat Kumar

Mr.Ayush Tiwarihas satisfactorily completed the requirements of the PROJECT ‘A’ entitled

“Prepaid Energy Meter”as prescribed by the University of Mumbai Under the guidance of

Prof. S. M. LabdeProject Guide

Examiner : 1.

2.

Project Coordinator Head of the Dept. Principal

Prof. S. J. PETKAR Prof. M. D. PATIL Dr.S.R. DEVANE

Company/organization letterhead

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the report titled“…PROJECT ‘A’….title……”

records the bonafide work carried out by

Mr./Ms. ……name1……, Mr./Ms. ……name2……

Mr./Ms. ……name3……

the students of Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology, Nerul , Navi-Mumbai, of Electronics Engg. Department has successfully completed project in our organization under my guidance and supervision.

Signature of the External Guide Name: Designation:…..…………. Date:

INDEXCHAPTER

NO.SECTION

NO.TOPIC PAGE

NO.Acknowledgement

AbstractList of figure with page number

viviiviii

1.1.11.2

INTRODUCTIONLiterature surveyStudy and analysis

111

22.12.22.3

PROPOSALProposed WorkProposed MethodologySystem Requirements

333

3. PLANNING AND FORMULATION 9

4.4.14.24.34.4

DESIGN OF SYSTEMWorking PrincipleAdvantagesDisadvantagesApplications

10101111

5.5.15.2

MARKET STUDYMarket DriversMarket Restraints

1414

6 CONCLUSION 16

REFERENCES 17

Acknowledgement

We owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported us during

the writing of this report

Our deepest thanks to Prof M Labde the Guide of the project for guiding and correcting

various documents of ours with attention and care. He has taken pain to go through the

project and make necessary correction as and when needed.

We express our gratitude to our head of the Department Prof. M. D. Patil for his

invaluable support and encouragement at every stage.

Our deep sense of gratitude to Mr. Rakesh Verma (Director), Veritek Engineering Pvt.

Ltd, support and guidance. Thanks and appreciation to the helpful people at Veritek

Engineering Pvt. Ltd., for their support.

We also express our thanks to the Principal Dr.S.R. Devane, Ramrao Adik Institute of

Technology, Nerul, for his constant support and encouragement.

We would also thank our Institution and the faculty members without whom this project

would have been a distant reality

Abstract

A scheme of Electricity billing system called PREPAID ENERGY METER WITH

TARIFF INDICATOR can facilitate in improved cash flow management in energy

utilities and can reduces problem associated with billing consumer living in isolated area

and reduces deployment of manpower for taking meter readings.

Every consumer can buy a memory card (is nothing but an EEPROM IC) with a

password stored inside it using a MC program. The memory card is available at various

ranges (i.e. Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200 etc).In our project we have given the name for memory

card as smart card.

When the consumer insert a smart card into the card reader which is connected in prepaid

energy meter with tariff indicator kit. The card reader will read the stored information

and delete the information from the EEPROM IC(smart card) using the MC program. So

that the smart card cannot be reused by others. Suppose if a consumer buys a card for

Rs.50/- so on. He / She can insert this amount through the card reader so that prepaid

energy meter with tariff indicator kit will be activated. According to the power

consumption the amount will be reduced. When the amount is over, the relays will

automatically shutdown the whole system. In our project we also have a provision to give

an alarm sound to consumer before the whole amount is reduced.

List of Figures:

Title Page no.

Fig (3.1.1) Block Diagram of Prepaid Energy Meter 9

Fig (3.1.2) Circuit Diagram of Prepaid energy meter 10

Fig (3.2.1.1) LCD Display 11

Fig (3.2.1.2) LDR 11

Fig (3.2.1.3) Voltage Regulator 11

Fig (3.2.1.4) Power Relays 12

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Literature Survey:

Over 40 countries have implemented prepaid meters in their markets. In United Kingdom

the system, has been in use for well over 70 years with about 3.5 million consumers. The

prepaid program in South Africa was started in 1992, since then they have installed over

6 million meters. Other African counties such as Sudan, Madagascar are following the

South African success. The concept has found ground in Argentina and New Zealand

with few thousands of installations.

The Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), Malaysia, has awarded a contract to a local

manufacturer to supply 1,080 prepaid meters.

Countries such as Thailand, Bangladesh, Singapore, and Iran have been showing

increased interest in adopting prepaid system.

In India, the State of West Bengal has decided to introduce the smart card operated

prepaid energy meters in remote islands of Sunderbans. In Mumbai, pre-paid power is

provided by the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking.

Tata Power plans to introduce pre-paid electricity in Delhi. Tata Steel is likely to install

prepaid electricity meters at its employee township in Jamshedpur.

1.2 Study and Analysis:

Over the last few years, Prepaid Energy Meter has been proposed as an innovative

solution aimed at facilitating affordability and reducing the cost of utilities. This

mechanism, essentially, requires the users to pay for the electricity before its

consumption. In this way, consumers hold credit and then use the electricity until the

credit is exhausted. If the available credit is exhausted then the supply of electricity is cut

off by a relay.

But their use is still controversial. On the one hand, those that support the diffusion of

prepaid meters claim that they benefit both consumers and utilities because they help

users to consume more efficiently and to improve the management of their budget, while

allowing firms to reduce financial costs, as well as the costs of operation and bad debts.

On the other hand, those that are against prepaid meters argue that their adoption is

expensive for firms and risky for low income consumers, as the insecurity and volatility

of their income may force them to make little use of the service, or ultimately, bring

about involuntary self-disconnection.

Prepaid meters are usually installed by electricity supplier, if it feels that the customer

cannot keep up payments on their energy bill. However, they can also be requested by the

customer themselves - and are often seen as a good method of budgeting. Generally

speaking they are used by lower income households, such as people on welfare benefits,

lone parents or those with no bank account.

From a technological point of view, the prepayment system consists of three well

differentiated components. The first is a service meter installed at the unit where energy

will be consumed, such as a household dwelling or a store. In general, these meters are of

the “two-gang” type, and consist of a user’s interface unit and a current measuring set.

The interface unit is a device installed inside the building, which allows the user to

“interact” with the meter. The metering unit, on the other hand, is the intelligent

component that stores credit and consumption information, and makes up the element

that either clears or switches off electricity supply. The second component of the system

is the so-called credit dispensing unit, which is the vending machine where consumers

can purchase electricity credit. In general, these sales outlets are located at the utility’s

commercial offices, as well as in stores with long opening hours. The third component is

the supporting device that links the various sales outlets to the utility’s management

system.

2. Proposal

2.1 Proposed work:

At first an energy meter is to be made. The output of the energy meter works as the

input to the next circuit for prepaid services. The prepaid circuit consist of a

Microcontroller and a memory reading circuit.The memory reading circuit is for putting

in the credit.

The microcontroller will act as the brain of the circuit.It will constantly check the credit

and accordingly provie the power

2.2 Proposed Methodology:

At first we will get a PCB layout f the whole circuit and the layout will be etched

on to the PCB.We will be using the Proteus software to create the layout.

Once the PCB is etched we will mount the components checking regularly for the

errors.

Once all components are mounted correctly we will test the circuit.

2.3 System Requirement:

The system requirements are

2.3.1 Components Used:

2.3.1.1 Hardware Used:

1. Microcontroller AT89S52

2. Energy Metering IC AD7752

3. EEPROM IC AT24C02

4. Voltage Regulator

5. Relays

6. LDR

7. LCD display

8. Relay Driver IC ULN2003

Microcontroller AT89S52:

The AT89S52 is a low-power, high-performance CMOS 8-bit microcontroller with 8K

bytes of in-system programmable Flash memory. The device is manufactured using

Atmel’s high-density nonvolatile memory technology and is compatible with the

industry- standard 80C51 instruction set and pin out.

Features:

1) 8K Bytes of In-System Programmable (ISP) Flash Memory

2) Endurance: 1000 Write/Erase Cycles

3) 4.0V to 5.5V Operating Range

4) 256 x 8-bit Internal RAM

5) 32 Programmable I/O Lines

6) Full Duplex UART Serial Channel

7) Fully Static Operation: 0 Hz to 33 MHz

Vital role of Micro controller-AT89S52:

1) It will acts a master to communicate with memory

2) Whenever command is sent to reset the memory ,controller resets the memory

3) Controller takes the pulses from the energy meter and increments the Unit which

depends upon the calculations and stores in memory.

4) Microcontroller also switches off the energy meter whenever the command is sent

from the server. This happens when the owner has not paid the bill.

External EEPROM memory (2/4/8/32/64 Kbytes)

These memory devices are used to store the data for off line process. The AT24C02A /

04A/ 08A/ 32/64 provides 2048/4096/8192/32,768/65,536 bits of serial electrically

erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM) organized as

56/512/1024/4096/8192 words of 8 bits each. The device is optimized for use in many

industrial and commercial applications where low power and low voltage operation are

essential. The AT24C02A/04A/08A is available in space saving 8-pin PDIP.

Features:

Internally Organized 256 x 8 (2K), 512 x 8 (4K) or 1024 x 8 (8K)

2-Wire Serial Interface (I2C protocol)

High Reliability

Vital role of External EEPROM memory:

1) Used to store the amount of unit the user consumed.

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display):

LCD’s can add a lot to your application in terms of providing a useful interface for the

user, debugging an application or just giving it a "professional" look. The most common

type of LCD controller is the Hitachi 44780, which provides a relatively simple interface

between a processor and an LCD. Inexperienced designers do often not attempt using this

interface and programmers because it is difficult to find good documentation on the

interface, initializing the interface can be a problem and the displays themselves are

expensive.

LCD has single line display, Two-line display, four line display. Every line has 16

characters.

Vital role of LCD:

Used to display the status of device

Relay Driver IC ULN2003:

The ULN2003 is a monolithic high voltage and high current Darlington transistor arrays.

It consists of seven NPN darlington pairs that features high-voltage outputs with

common-cathode clamp diode for switching inductive loads. The collector-current Rating

of a single darlington pair is 500mA. The darlington pairs May be paralleled for higher

current capability. Applications include Relay drivers, hammer drivers, lamp drivers,

display drivers (LED gas discharge), line drivers, and logic buffers. The ULN2003 has a

2.7k series base resistor for each Darlington pair for operation directly with TTL or

5VCMOS devices.

Features:

500mA rated collector current (Single output)

High-voltage outputs: 50V

Inputs compatible with various types of logic.

Relay driver application

Role of Relay Driver:

1) To control the triggering of the Relays

2.3.2 Software Used:

1. Keil u-Vision

2. PRO51 Programmer Software

3. Proteus Software

Kiel u-Vision:

Keil Software is used provide you with software development tools for 8051 based

microcontrollers. With the Keil tools, you can generate embedded applications for

virtually every 8051 derivative. The supported microcontrollers are listed in the µ-vision.

(Fig 2.1) LCD Display

Referred from Google.com

(Fig 2.2) LDR


(Fig 2.3) Voltage Regulator


(Fig 2.4) Power Relay


2. Planning and formulation First we visited the VERITEK ENGG. Pvt Ltd. And decided the project

PREPAID ENERGY METER.

Next week we visited the manufacturing site at Veritek and learnt about the

various methods of making an Energy meter.

Next two weeks we worked upon the IC AD7752 and learnt its characteristics

and uses.

Worked on the circuit diagram of the respective project.

Learnt PCB itching method using PROTEUS software.

We met Mr. Giradkar ( Marketing Sales Manager) at MSEB HeadOffice, Bandra,

regarding the market study of our project .

We had been to L&T for market research and learning the technicalities of our

project.

3. System Design

3.1 Working Principle

Every consumer can buy a memory card (is nothing but an EEPROM IC) with a

password stored inside it using a MC program. The memory card is available at various

ranges (i.e. Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200 etc).In our project we have given the name for memory

card as

smart card.

When the consumer insert a smart card into the card reader which is connected in prepaid

energy meter with tariff indicator kit. The card reader will read the stored information

and delete the information from the EEPROM IC (smart card) using the MC program. So

that the smart card cannot be reused by others. According to the power consumption the

amount will be reduced. When the amount is over, the relays will automatically shutdown

the whole system.

Microcontroller AT89S52 acts as the primary controller. The primary controller collects

information from energy meter as well as from the smart card which is IC AT24C02

(EEPROM chip). Smart card gives information about the limitation of units. The energy

meter reading is compared with the smart card information by the primary controller.

Depending on the result the Primary Controller will activate the buzzer if the credit is low

and the Controller will trigger the Relay if the credit goes very low.

Once the Relay is triggered, the electricity Supply will be cut. The supply will start again

only when the meter is recharged with enough credit. The Block diagram is shown in

figure 2.1 and the circuit diagram is shown is figure 2.2

3.2 Advantages of Prepaid Energy Meters:

Pay before use

Recover money owed (debt)

Lower Overheads

No bill production

No bill distribution

No need to chase payments

No further actions such as disconnections

3.3 Disadvantages:

1.) The main disadvantage of the system is, because of huge electronic hardware involved

in the system, the overall system consumes more electric energy

Remedy: When the system is converted into engineering module, the bulky hardware

can be converted into a small-integrated chip. When the hardware is minimized naturally

the system consumes less power.

2.) Since it is a prototype module, because of huge hardware the system occupies more

space

3.) The consumer or the electrical department has to spend more amounts for installing

this kind of smart energy meters. Economically it is not advised.

3.4 Applications:

1.) In Homes

2.) In Festivals where electricity is required just for a few days.

3.) Rental accommodation

4.) Industries and Factories

5.) In Malls

(Figure 3.1.1) Block Diagram

Microcontroller Unit

Energy Meter

Smart Card Read/Write

Digital Display

Buzzer

Power Supply

(Figure 3.1.2) Circuit Diagram

Referred from www.electronicsforu.com.

4. Market Study

4.1 Market Drivers

4.1.1 Power sector reforms:

The upcoming competitive and customer focused deregulated power distribution market

will force the market participants to make the existing metering and billing process more

competent. This is likely to drive the prepaid market.

4.1.2 Increasing non-technical losses:

Metering errors, tampering with meters leading to low registration and calibration related

frauds are some of the key components of non-technical losses. India reports greater than

10 percent of non-technical losses. It has been reported that prepaid meters control non-

technical losses better than conventional ones.

4.1.3 Opportunities in the emerging electrifying markets:

Most of the Asian countries do not have 100 percent electrification; hence new markets

are being created by the increasing generating capacity. Prepaid systems can be more

easily introduced in such new markets rather than the existing ones.

4.2 Market Restraints

4.2.1 Consumer behavior:

Consumers have not had any major problems with the existing post-paid system, and

hence it is likely to be difficult to convince them to change over to prepaid system.

Consumers might not appreciate the concept of "pay and use" as far as electricity is

concerned because it might be perceived as an instrument to control common man’s life

style.

4.2.2 Initial investment:

Utilities might be discouraged by the huge initial investment, which includes the cost of

instrument, marketing campaign, establishing distribution channel, and other

management costs.

4.2.3 Rapid technology changes:

The rapid technology changes happening in the metering market are expected to delay the

decision to go for prepaid system.

4.2.4 Uncertainty over the success:

Prepaid system is not as proven a concept in all the markets as South Africa; hence there

is bound to be uncertainty over its success, if implemented. The success of the system

depends on the commitment by utilities and for this they need to get convinced on the

real benefits of prepaid meters

5. ConclusionsPrepayment systems have been proposed as an innovative solution to the problem of

affordability in utilities services. In spite of being a popular system in European and

African countries, the use of such mechanisms remains controversial. Among the main

arguments in favor of its dissemination are the advantages concerning lower costs of

arrears, running costs and finance charges for the service provider and the better

allocation of resources it implies for users. The arguments against prepaid meters are

based on the higher cost of the technology and the possibility of self-disconnection of

low-income users.

The monopolistic power distribution market in Asia is gradually transforming into a

competitive marketplace. Differentiation in service is going to be the key competitive

factor to improve market share in the deregulated power markets. Prepaid meters with

their advantages over conventional ones are likely to help power distributors to

differentiate and offer value-added services to consumers. Encouraging consumers to opt

for prepaid meters on a voluntary basis and offering tariff or non-tariff incentives to those

consumers who prepay their power charges, would help the utilities to implement this

system.

References:www.electronicsforu.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.energymeter.com

www.thinkfast.com

Documents

Prepaid Energy Meter Report