JP2015186388A - Watt-hour meter for automatic meter reading system and power failure monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a watt-hour meter for automatic meter reading system and a power failure monitoring system capable of transmitting power failure information to a host server by receiving power supply from a power distribution network of another company even when a power failure occurs on a power distribution network of an own power supply company.SOLUTION: Since the voltage gets 0 V when a network 11 of a power supply company gets power failure, the power source is switched from the network 11 of the power supply company to a power source from a network 10 of another company. The network 10 of the other company transmits a piece of information of the power failure to a data collection server 20. Acquiring a power failure flag and a watt-hour meter ID, a power failure detection section 202 of a data management server 21 reads a piece of address information of a user corresponding to a watt-hour meter ID from a user information management server 22 to identify a power failed area on the basis of the read user's address information.

Description

  An embodiment of the present invention provides an automatic meter reading capable of continuing communication with a host server even if a power failure occurs in a power provider network by using power supply from another provider network other than the power provider network The present invention relates to a system energy meter and a power failure monitoring system.

  In recent years, smart meters having a communication function have been employed as watt-hour meters used in automatic meter reading systems. The smart meter has a measuring unit that measures the amount of power used by each customer by automatic meter reading, and a communication unit that communicates with a host server provided on the grid side. Can be automatically sent to the server. This eliminates the need for individual patrols by the meter reader, greatly improving meter reading efficiency.

  The smart meter can not only transmit data to the upper server side but also receive control commands from the upper server side. Specifically, the smart meter receives an instruction to control the amount of power used for each consumer, and optimizes power consumption based on consumer trends for devices connected to the smart meter. Commands can be received. By using such a smart meter, information can be linked in both directions between the demand side and the supply side. As a result, high-performance monitoring and control can be realized, and high-quality power supply can be stabilized and customer satisfaction can be improved.

  By the way, it is difficult for a smart meter to be equipped with a communication battery due to the area and the like. Therefore, the smart meter realizes a communication function by power line communication (hereinafter abbreviated as “PLC”) or wireless radio wave communication using power supplied from a power provider network as a power source. In the PLC, data communication can be performed by using, as a communication line, a power provider network that supplies power to consumers and superimposing data signals on the power lines of the power provider network.

  Since such a smart meter receives power from the power provider network and communicates with a host server, if a power failure occurs in the power provider network, the operation stops and communication cannot be performed. . Therefore, the smart meter cannot give power outage information indicating that a power outage has occurred to the host server on the system side.

  However, in the event of a power outage, it is essential to determine the power outage area and to develop a detour route for recovery, and the collection and analysis of power outage information is an urgent task. Therefore, conventionally, a technique for accurately and promptly detecting a power failure has been proposed even with an watt-hour meter for an automatic meter reading system. For example, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, a smart meter that has fallen into an incommunicable state is extracted on the upper server side, and the cause of the inability to communicate with the smart meter is confirmed one by one. Narrow down the cause. If the cause of the communication failure other than the power failure is not found, the smart meter determines that the communication is disabled due to the power failure, and determines that a power failure has occurred in the power provider network within the range including the smart meter.

JP 2013-146115 A

  With the spread of watt-hour meters for automatic meter-reading systems, the number of watt-hour meters under the control of the host server can reach tens of millions. For this reason, when the watt-hour meter in which a power failure has occurred is searched for and identified on the host server side, the burden on the host server increases, and it may take time to determine and restore the power outage area. Therefore, the development of a technology that can accurately grasp the watt-hour meter that has become unable to communicate due to the occurrence of a power failure has been awaited.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been proposed to solve the above-described problems. Even when a power failure occurs in the power provider network, the power supply network receives power from another provider network other than the power provider network. An object of the present invention is to provide an watt-hour meter for an automatic meter reading system and a power failure monitoring system capable of transmitting power failure information to a host server.

Means for solving the problem

In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present invention includes a measuring unit for measuring the amount of power used and a communication unit for performing communication with a host server provided on the system side, The watt-hour meter for an automatic meter reading system that is connected to an operator network and receives power from the electric utility network has the following characteristics.
(1) An operator network that is different from the power operator network and that can supply power to the watt-hour meter for the automatic meter reading system is connected.
(2) A power supply switching unit that switches power supply from the power provider network to power supply from the other provider network when power supply from the power provider network is interrupted.
(3) When the power supply switching unit switches the power supply from the power provider network to the power supply from the other business operator network, the communication unit displays power outage information indicating that a power outage has occurred in the power operator network. Send to the host server.

  Moreover, the power failure monitoring system which has the said electricity meter for automatic meter-reading systems and the said high-order server is also one Embodiment of this invention. In the power failure monitoring system of this embodiment, the watt-hour meter for the automatic meter-reading system continues to operate by switching the power supply switching unit to the power supply from the other power provider network. The communication unit transmits the power outage information to the host server, and the host server receives the power outage information from the watt-hour meter for automatic meter reading system and grasps the power outage that has occurred in the power system.

The block diagram which shows the structure of 1st Embodiment. The block diagram of the watt-hour meter of 1st Embodiment. The flowchart of 1st Embodiment. The block diagram of the watt-hour meter of other embodiment.

(First embodiment)
(overall structure)
Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the watt-hour meter of the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the power failure monitoring system according to the first embodiment includes a watt-hour meter 12 used in an automatic meter reading system such as a smart meter, three host servers on the system side, and two types of operator networks. It is composed of The three upper servers are a data collection server 20, a data management server 21, and a customer information management server 22.

  The power failure monitoring system according to the present embodiment is a system in which the watt hour meter 12 notifies the data management server 21 that a power failure has occurred in the power provider network 11. The watt-hour meter 12 included in this system performs a switching operation of the power supply destination so as to receive power from the other business network 10 when a power failure occurs in the power business network 11, and uses the network of the automatic meter reading system, Power outage information is transmitted to the data management server 21. The power outage information is information indicating that a power outage has occurred in the power provider network 11 and is information including a power outage alert, a power outage flag, a watt hour meter ID of the watt hour meter 12, a power outage occurrence time, and the like.

(Business network)
One of the two types of provider networks is a power provider network 11 (shown by a solid line in FIG. 1). The transmission voltage of the power provider network 11 is assumed to be AC 100V. However, the transmission voltage becomes 0 V if the electric power provider network 11 fails. The other provider network is another provider network 10 (indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 1) different from the power provider network 11. Specifically, it is a telephone line network of a telecommunications carrier, and the transmission voltage of such other carrier network 10 is DC 48V.

  Both of the power lines of such operator networks 10 and 11 are plugged into the watt-hour meter 12, and data communication is performed between the watt-hour meter 12 and the data collection server 20 via various networks. ing. The data transmitted from the power provider network 11 to the data collection server 20 is the power data measured by the power meter 12 such as the amount of power used, and the data transmitted from the other provider network 10 to the data collection server 20 is as follows: This is data related to the power outage information mentioned above.

  Both the operator networks 10 and 11 can supply power to the watt-hour meter 12. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the watt hour meter 12 includes an AC / DC power supply unit 109 that sends power from the power provider network 11 to the internal circuit of the watt hour meter 12, and power feed from the other provider network 10. Is supplied to the internal circuit of the watt-hour meter 12.

  However, only the power provider network 11 supplies power to the watt hour meter 12 during normal operation of the power provider network 11. That is, the other provider network 10 supplies power to the watt hour meter 12 only when a power failure occurs in the power provider network 11. Therefore, when the power provider network 11 returns to a normal state from a power failure, the power provider network 11 returns to a state where power is supplied to the watt hour meter 12.

(Higher server)
The data collection server 20 collects various power data such as power consumption and data related to power failure information from a plurality of watt-hour meters 12 and sends the collected data to the data management server 21.

  The data management server 21 is a server that manages data collected by the data collection server 20. The data management server 21 includes a data processing unit 201, a power failure detection processing unit 202, various databases 203, and a power failure information distribution unit 204.

  The data processing unit 201 collects and manages the power usage amount transmitted from the watt-hour meter 12 for each customer or predetermined area, and the power data in each customer or predetermined area. Is analyzed in real time. For this reason, it becomes possible to predict the demand amount in a consumer unit or a predetermined region unit, and a supply plan corresponding to the predicted demand amount can be made.

  The power failure detection processing unit 202 obtains the power failure information from the watt hour meter 12 so as to grasp the power failure of the power provider network 11 and communicates with the customer information management server 22 so that the power failure occurs. Confirm the area. More specifically, the power failure detection processing unit 202 accesses the customer information management server 22 using the watt-hour meter ID in the power failure information, and manages the customer address information corresponding to the watt-hour meter ID. Pull out from server 22. Then, the power failure area is determined based on the address information that has been pulled out.

  The power outage information distribution unit 204 distributes the power outage information including the power outage area and the time when the power outage occurred to the mobile terminal of the customer via the grid monitoring board of the electric power company, the website, and the cloud. The power outage information is output at various distribution destinations in various modes such as display on a system monitoring board, posting on a website, or providing data to a portable terminal.

  The customer information management server 22 is an external information server that accumulates and manages customer address information and the like, and exchanges data with the data management server 21. As described above, when the data management server 21 determines the power outage area, the customer information management server 22 receives the watt-hour meter ID from the data management server 21, and the address of the customer corresponding to the watt-hour meter ID. Information is sent to the data management server 21.

(Electricity meter)
The watt-hour meter 12 is demonstrated using FIG. 1 and FIG. The electricity meter 12 is installed for each customer or building. The watt-hour meter 12 includes a control unit 100, a metering unit 101, a communication unit 102, an analog / digital converter 103, a power feeding switching unit 104, and a converter 105 as main components.

  The control unit 100 is a part that controls the watt hour meter 12 as a whole, and outputs a power failure switching command or a power recovery switching command to the power feeding switching unit 104. The control unit 100 also includes a switching detection circuit 108 that detects power supply switching between the power provider network 11 and the other provider network 10. Moreover, the measurement part 101 is a part which measures the electric power consumption of the consumer by an automatic meter-reading.

  The communication unit 102 communicates with the data collection server 20 using a network of an automatic meter reading system. As a feature of the present embodiment, when the power supply switching unit 104 described later switches the power supply from the power provider network 11 to the power supply from the other business operator network 10, the communication unit 102 displays the power failure information under the control of the control unit 100. The data is transmitted to the data collection server 20.

  The analog-digital converter 103 is a circuit for converting the alternating current of the power provider network 11 into direct current and supplying power to the watt-hour meter 12. An AC / DC power supply unit 109 (shown in FIG. 2) is connected to the analog-digital converter 103 in order to send power from the power provider network 11 to the internal circuit of the watt-hour meter 12.

(Power supply switching unit)
The power supply switching unit 104 is connected to the power provider network 11 via the analog-digital converter 103 and to the other provider network 10. The power supply switching unit 104 includes a voltage detection unit 106 and a switching circuit 107.

  The voltage detection unit 106 detects that a power failure has occurred in the power provider network 11 by detecting that the voltage flowing through the power provider network 11 is equal to or lower than a preset voltage value, and detects a power failure detection signal. Is output to the control unit 100. Further, the voltage detection unit 106 detects that the power provider network 11 has returned to power by detecting that the voltage flowing through the power provider network 11 has returned to the original voltage from a preset voltage value or less. The power recovery detection signal is output to the control unit 100.

  The power provider network 11 and the other provider network 10 are connected to the input side of the switching circuit 107, and the communication unit 102 is connected to the output side. In addition, when the power supply switching unit 104 acquires a power failure switching command or a power recovery switching command from the control unit 100, the switching circuit 107 switches power supply from the operator networks 10 and 11.

  That is, when the power supply switching unit 104 acquires a power failure switching command from the control unit 100, the switching circuit 107 switches the power supply from the power provider network 11 to the power supply from the other provider network 10. Further, when the power supply switching unit 104 acquires a power recovery switching command from the control unit 100, the switching circuit 107 switches the power supply from the other business operator network 10 to the power supply from the power business operator network 11.

(converter)
The converter 105 is a device for converting the voltage and current from the other provider network 10 to a voltage and current suitable for the wattmeter 12 when power is supplied from the other provider network 10 to the wattmeter 12. It is. The voltage and current converted by the converter 105 are sent to the control unit 100 and the communication unit 102, and the watt-hour meter 12 starts up without stopping the operation.

(Operator network switching processing)
Next, switching processing of the operator networks 10 and 11 in the present embodiment will be described using the flowchart of FIG. In normal times, power is supplied from the power provider network 11 to the watt hour meter 12. At this time, the control unit 100 controls the communication unit 102 and uses the power provider network 11 to transmit power data including the power consumption measured by the weighing unit 101 to the data collection server 20 via various networks. Automatic transmission.

  From this state, when the power supply from the power provider network 11 to the watt hour meter 12 is interrupted (step S01), the watt hour meter 12 is stopped, but the voltage detector 106 is connected to the power provider network 11. It is detected that the flowing voltage is equal to or lower than a preset voltage value, for example, 0 V, and the control unit 100 determines whether or not there is no power supply from the power provider's distribution network for a certain time or more (step S02).

  Here, when the voltage detection unit 106 detects that the voltage of the power provider network 11 is restored from 0 V, the power supply is restored from the power provider network 11 before reaching a certain time. (No in step S02), the watt hour meter 12 is terminated without switching the business operator networks 10 and 11, and the watt hour meter 12 continues to receive power from the power business operator network 11.

  On the other hand, if there is no power supply from the power provider network 11 for a certain time or longer (Yes in step S02), the control unit 100 determines that a power failure has occurred in the power provider network 11 (step S03), and the power supply switching unit. A power failure switching command is output to 104. When the power supply switching unit 104 receives the power failure replacement command, the power supply from the power provider network 11 is switched to the power supply from the other provider network 10 (step S04).

  The voltage and current converted by the converter 105 are supplied to the control unit 100 and the communication unit 102 by receiving power from the other operator network 10. For this reason, the watt-hour meter 12 starts up again. As soon as the watt-hour meter 12 starts up, in the control unit 100, the switching detection circuit 108 detects power supply switching from the power provider network 11 to the other provider network 10, and controls the communication unit 102 to establish the network of the automatic meter reading system. Then, the power failure information is raised to the data collection server 20 on the system side (step S05). Thereby, the switching process of the operator networks 10 and 11 is completed.

  When the voltage detection unit 106 detects that the voltage flowing through the power provider network 11 has returned from 0 V to the original voltage, the control unit 100 determines that the power provider network 11 has recovered, A power recovery switching command is output to the power supply switching unit 104. The power supply switching unit 104 that has received the power failure time change command switches the power supply from the other business operator network 10 to the power supply from the power business operator network 11 and returns to normal operation.

(Function and effect)
In the first embodiment as described above, the power lines of the two types of provider networks 10 and 11 are drawn into the watt hour meter 12 in advance, and power is supplied from the power provider network 11 in normal times. When a power failure occurs in the power provider network 11 and the voltage of the power provider network 11 becomes 0 V, the voltage detection unit 106 in the watt hour meter 12 detects this.

  Using the detection signal of the voltage detection unit 106 as a trigger, the power supply switching unit 104 in the watt hour meter 12 switches the power supply from the power provider network 11 to the power supply from the other provider network 10. Since 48V DC is always applied to the telephone line which is the other operator network 10, the watt hour meter 12 continues to operate by directly feeding this DC power to the substrate inside the watt hour meter 12. be able to.

  Therefore, the power meter 12 does not stop, the control unit 100 controls the communication unit 102, and the power management information indicating that a power failure has occurred in the power provider network 11 is transmitted to the data management server via the data collection data 20. 21 can be sent. As a result, the data management server 21 can receive the power failure information directly from the watt-hour meter 12, and can quickly and accurately grasp the occurrence of the power failure.

  In such a power failure monitoring system according to the first embodiment, the data management server 21 does not need to perform the process of specifying the watt-hour meter 12 that has failed. Therefore, the data management server 21 can accurately grasp the state of the power system without increasing the burden. Therefore, the data management server 21 can determine the power outage area where a power outage has occurred accurately and within a short time. As a result, recovery measures such as switching to a detour route can be taken quickly, and customer satisfaction can be improved and the power system can be controlled efficiently.

  In addition, since the watt-hour meter 12 includes the converter 105, the power supplied from the other operator network 10 can be supplied to the watt-hour meter 12 after being converted into voltage and current suitable for the watt-hour meter 12. it can. Accordingly, the watt-hour meter 12 can stably use the other operator network 10 such as a telephone line as a power source, and the communication unit 102 can reliably transmit the power failure information to the data management server 21. .

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the power failure information distribution unit 204 of the data management server 21 distributes the power failure information to the electric power company and the customer, in addition to displaying on the system monitoring panel, posting on the website, It is possible to provide data to a mobile terminal via the above. For this reason, detailed power outage information such as a power outage area and a power outage occurrence time can be widely communicated to the customers, and the customer satisfaction of the customers is further improved.

(Other embodiments)
The above embodiment is presented as an example in the present specification, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. In other words, the present invention can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope of the invention and in the scope equivalent to the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof. Embodiments are included.

  For example, it may be a power failure monitoring system including a distributed power source such as solar power generation or a movable power consumption point such as an electric vehicle. Further, the power failure information is not limited to information indicating that a power failure has occurred, but may be transmitted including the power data of the watt hour meter 12 that has been transmitted in a normal state. Can be further advanced.

  Furthermore, since the consumer information management server 22 can manage not only the consumer address information but also various consumer power data, the power failure information can be analyzed in more detail with reference to these data. Is possible. Further, the other operator network 10 that supplies power to the watt hour meter 12 at the time of a power failure is not limited to a telephone line, and can be selected as appropriate, such as a local auxiliary power line or a security line.

  In the first embodiment, the power supply method of the other operator network 10 is set to DC, and the power supplied from the other operator network 10 is directly supplied to the board inside the watt hour meter 12. If the voltage value is not appropriate, a converter such as a dropper having a step-down function or a step-up converter having a step-up function is provided on the substrate to perform voltage conversion. In addition, if the power supply method of the other operator network 10 is alternating current, an AC / DC converter that converts alternating current to direct current may be provided. According to such an embodiment, it is possible to supply power from the other provider network 10 using the power supply port on the power provider network 11 side.

  Further, the interface unit for PLC or telephone line may be provided outside the watt hour meter, or may be provided integrally inside. For example, in the watt-hour meter 12A shown in FIG. 4, on the input side of the switching circuit 107, the power provider network 11 is provided with the PLC interface unit 111, and the other provider network 10 is provided with the telephone line interface unit 112. Is provided. According to such embodiment, the operation | work which draws in two types of electric power lines can be performed easily, and the installation operation | work of 12 A of watt-hour meters becomes still easier.

  In the first embodiment, the power supply switching unit 104 includes the voltage detection unit 106 for detecting the power provider network 11, but the other provider network 10 has a transmission voltage different from that of the power provider network 11. Assuming that, a voltage comparison unit that compares voltages input from the operator networks 10 and 11 may be installed in the vicinity of the power feeding port of the watt-hour meter 12.

  The voltage comparison unit compares the input voltage to the watt-hour meter, and when the power failure occurs, the voltage of the power provider network 11 becomes 0 V, and the voltage of the power provider network 11 is lower than the other provider network 10. Then, the power supply from the power provider network 11 is switched to the power supply from the other provider network 10. Moreover, if the power supply from the power provider network 11 returns to normal after the power recovery, the voltage of the power provider network 11 becomes higher than that of the other provider network 10. Therefore, when the voltage comparison unit compares the input voltage to the watt hour meter and the voltage of the power provider network 11 becomes higher than that of the other provider network 10, the power supply from the other provider network 10 is performed. It is also possible to return to the power supply from the power provider network 11.

  In the watt-hour meter for an automatic meter reading system having such a voltage comparison unit, it is not necessary to provide the power supply switching unit 104 with the voltage detection unit 106 for detecting the voltage of the power provider network 11. Therefore, the configuration of the power supply switching unit 104 can be further simplified, and the watt hour meter can be made more compact.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Other provider network 11 ... Electric power provider network 12, 12A ... Electricity meter 20 ... Data collection server 21 ... Data management server 22 ... Consumer information management server 100 ... Control part 101 ... Metering part 102 ... Communication part 103 ... Analog-to-digital converter 104 ... Power supply switching unit 105 ... Converter 106 ... Voltage detection unit 107 ... Switch circuit 108 ... Switch detection circuit 109 ... AC / DC power supply unit 110 ... TEL power supply units 111, 112 ... Interface unit 201 ... Data processing unit 202 ... Power failure detection processing unit 203 ... Various databases 204 ... Power failure information distribution unit

Claims (11)

An automatic measuring unit that measures the amount of power used and a communication unit that communicates with a higher-level server provided on the grid side, and is connected to the power provider network and automatically receives power from the power provider network In the watt-hour meter for meter reading system,
A different operator network from the above-mentioned power operator network, connected to another operator network capable of supplying power to the meter for automatic meter reading system,
A power supply switching unit that switches power supply from the power provider network to power supply from the other business network when power supply from the power provider network is interrupted,
When the power supply switching unit switches the power supply from the power provider network to the power supply from the other business operator network, the communication unit displays power outage information indicating that a power outage has occurred in the power business operator network to the upper server. An energy meter for automatic meter reading system characterized by transmitting. The power supply switching unit includes a voltage detection unit that detects an input voltage,
The voltage detector is configured to switch power supply from the power provider network to power supply from the other provider network when a transmission voltage of the power provider network is equal to or lower than a preset voltage value. The watt-hour meter for automatic meter reading systems according to 1.   The watt-hour meter for an automatic meter-reading system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a converter that converts the voltage and current of the other operator network into a voltage and current suitable for the watt-hour meter.   If the power supply method of the other operator network is AC, an AC / DC converter for converting AC to DC is provided between the other operator network and the power supply port of the power operator network. The watt-hour meter for automatic meter-reading systems of any one of Claims 1-3.   4. The method according to claim 1, wherein if the power supply method of the other operator network is a direct current, the power supplied from the other operator network is directly supplied to a substrate inside the watt-hour meter. The watt-hour meter for automatic meter-reading systems described in 2.   6. The power supply switching unit according to claim 1, wherein when the power supply from the power provider network returns to normal, the power supply switching unit switches the power supply from the other provider network to the power supply from the power provider network. The watt-hour meter for automatic meter-reading systems of Claim 1.   The watt-hour meter for an automatic meter reading system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a voltage detection unit that detects that the voltage of the power provider network is 0V.   The watt-hour meter for an automatic meter reading system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the power failure information includes a power failure flag, a watt-hour meter ID, and a power supply switching time. In the power meter monitoring system having the watt-hour meter for the automatic meter reading system and the host server,
The watt-hour meter for the automatic meter-reading system continues to operate when the power supply switching unit switches the power supply from the power provider network to the power supply from the other business operator network, and the communication unit displays the power outage information as the higher-order information. To the server,
The host server receives the power outage information from the watt-hour meter for the automatic meter reading system and grasps a power outage that has occurred in the power system. As the upper server,
A customer information management server for managing customer information including customer address information;
A data management server that acquires the power outage information from the watt-hour meter for the automatic meter reading system and refers to the address information of the customer managed by the customer information management server, and determines a power outage area, The power failure monitoring system according to claim 9. The power outage information distribution unit that distributes the power outage information to at least one of a grid monitoring panel, a power company website, and a mobile terminal of a power company customer. 10. The power failure monitoring system according to 10.

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