GB2460517A - Metering apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a retro-fitted device for reading utility meters and transmitting data for the utility provider. A smart meter attachment that clamps onto a digital utility meter 1 is disclosed. The attachment comprises a clamp 30 with adjustable sides 31, 32 that clamp opposite sides of the digital meter. The clamp comprises an optical reading part 13 that plugs into an optical port 3 on the meter 1. The reading part 13 allows data to be extracted from the meter. The adjustable sides have rubber pads 34, 35 between the side parts and the meter itself to allow the clamp 30 to be attached without damaging or defacing the meter. A further invention allows the smart meter clip or clamp to the utility meter such that its face it is not damaged. To achieve this the smart meter uses an elongate C-shaped clamping body having side parts which clamp to the sides of the utility meter rather than the face.

Description

Metering Apparatus This invention relates to metering apparatus.

Domestic and commercial premises are supplied with meters for supplied services such as electricity, gas and so on. A supply of mains electricity, for example, pass through the meter and the meter records the energy used. The meter can then be visually read to determine the amount of electricity used.

Meters are also provided with an electronic output known as FLAG (Fenanti Lander and Gyr), TEC 61107 standard or TEC (International Electro technical Commission) 62056-21.2 which defines a recognised digital protocol for metering data. The data is supplied to a port on the meter which may in some circumstances have two optical terminals for transmitting and receiving data, and a magnetic disk mounted around the terminals so that a person setting up the meter or reading the meter, can attach a probe having a corresponding magnetic attachment to the FLAG port or other optical connector, and be able to read various types of data from the meter.

There is becoming a requirement for so-called smart' meters to be installed which can be used to send meter readings direct to a supplier so that they do not have to send an individual to read the meter locally, and also which can provide data regarding energy usage, economy and so on to the consumer to assist the consumer in reducing his or her energy usage and making the most efficient use of energy.

A smart' meter enable timely and accurate bills, energy management information and stronger negotiation with utilities regarding tariffs, etc. The present invention arose in an attempt to provide an improved metering apparatus.

According to the present invention there is provided a metering apparatus, comprising a device for connecting with an optical port of a digital meter and having means for receiving data therefrom and means for mechanically clamping the device to the meter.

Preferably, the clamping means is such that a device may be clamped to the meter in such a way that the meter is not defaced or damaged in any way.

In some embodiments, a clamping bar may be mechanically mounted to the body of a meter and the reading device attached to the clamping bar.

In other embodiments, the device may be connected with mains terminals of the meter. This may be done by one or more resiliently mounted conductors contacting the mains terminals.

The invention further provides a method of attaching a smart meter to a meter, comprising clipping or clamping the smart meter to the meter in such a way that the part of the meter to which it is clipped or clamped is not damaged or defaced in any way.

In a further aspect, the invention provides equipment or a method or software comprising one or more of the novel features, or novel combination of features, disclosed herein.

The embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows an electricity meter with lower cover removed; Figure 2 shows an electricity meter with a reading device attached; Figure 3 shows a connection method; Figure 4 shows a reading device and remote display panel; Figure 5 shows an alternative embodiment of a reading device; and Figure 6 shows the embodiment of Figure 5 attached to a meter.

Figure 1 shows an electricity meter 1 having a display 2 and an optical digital port 3 which comprises a FLAG (IEC 61107, TEC 62056-21.2, etc) port. As shown, this comprises optical in and out terminals 4 and 5 mounted within a magnetic disk 6. The meter also includes, normally hidden by a front cover 7, a number of terminals providing mains input and output terminals. These comprise input live 8 and neutral 9 terminals and output live 10 and neutral 11 terminals. These arc typically very high rated, for example amps.

A smart' metering device 12 (Smart Meter) can be attached to the meter. Figure 2 shows one example. This reading device 12 comprises a reading part 13 adapted to be mounted over the digital port and including optical terminals for cooperating with the optical terminals of the meter. This is connected to an elongate mounting part 14 which enables the reader to be mechanically connected to the meter.

In the example of Figure 2, the elongate part 14 is mounted directly to the mains terminals part (with the cover removed) of the meter. The terminal cover 7 includes a screw 15 which attaches into a screw hole 16 in the meter. The clamping part 14 also includes a similar screw 17 which attaches in screw 16. Furthermore, the device comprises a number of spring contacts (seen in Figure 3)18 which each include a pin 19 connected to a spring 20 mounted within a contact body 21. These are mounted on the clamping part 14 and can be pushed against a respective one of the power terminals 8 to 11 in order to make strong contact by virtue of the resilience of the pin and the spring. Thus, with this embodiment, connection can be made to the mains terminals.

As shown in the embodiment of Figure 2, the reading part 13 is connected to the elongate body by two legs 22, 23 but this may be an integral part of the body, or an extension from the body. The whole body, including the reading part, may be formed as a single rectangular or other shaped body.

Figure 5 shows an alternative arrangement in which the reading part 13 is mounted to a body 30 which is simply clamped to the sides of a meter. The body is of adjustable length. It may include a generally rectangular body part 30 having at one end a portion 31 turn through about 90° to form a first side part. At the other end, is mounted an adjustable side part 32 which again has a side section mounted at about 90° to body 30 and this mounted by an adjustable mechanism 33 to alter the spacing between parts 31 and 32. Pads 34, 35, typically resilient pads such as rubber pads, resilient plastics pads and so on are mounted to the internal surfaces of parts 31 and 32 to contact the sides 36, 37 of a meter (see Figure 1).

The spacing between side parts 31 and 32 is varied in order to accommodate different sizes of meter.

This variable dimension may be achieved by any method known to those in the art.

The embodiment of Figure 5 shows an example which is a cam type clamping arrangement 36 in which adjustment is done by rotating a cam lever 37 around a pivot 38. The path 32 is squeezed towards part 31 in known manner by virtue of an off-set arrangement of the lever with regard to the pivot axis. The pivot point may be nearer to the side of the lever than it is to the nearest end for example so that as the lever is rotated it pushes part 32 toward part 31. There may be included a spring or other resilient mechanism to bias the mechanism to its widest disposition.

For example, the reader 30 may be mounted in a fixed disposition relative to the clamping body 30, or may be moveable along the clamping body 30, ie in direction X in the figure. It may simply be clamped or unclamped to body 30 and moved along it. This may be useful to ensure that the reading part 30 does not obscure a display or other parts 2 on the meter.

Figure 6 shows the reader and clamping arrangement of Figure 5 mounted to a meter 1. The reader part 13 is of course mounted over the digital optical port such that optical terminals 40, 41 (Figure 4 which are not shown in Figure 6 as they are on the reverse of the side shown) align with the optical ports 4 and 5 on the meter and therefore data can be transferred between these.

It will be apparent that, when the reader is affixed to a meter, it is done in such a manner that the actual meter and its housing is not defaced or damaged at all by the reader being connected, attached or detached therefrom. This may well be important in circumstances where, as is common, the meter belongs to a supplier and the reading device may belong to the consumer or another part and therefore the meter supplier does not wish its equipment to be damaged or defaced in any manner. No modification is necessary to the meter or any of its standard equipment in order to enable the reader to be connected. Thus, any mechanism where the device is clamped to the body of the meter may be used.

In other embodiments, the reader may be mounted by a mechanism which clips over the top of the meter or by other mechanisms which clamp it to one or more sides, the top and/or bottom of the meter.

Figure 4 shows how the reader 30 may include communications means for connecting to a remote display unit 50. This will be a wireless communication means and therefore the reader may have a wireless transmitter, such as a radio transmitter or one which uses WI-Fl, Bluetooth, low power RF or other communications systems. It may be battery powered or may have inputs to connect to a mains supply, in which case a transformer will be required either inside the reader or external thereto.

The reader is adapted as described to connect to the digital optical port of the meter and therefore to read all the signals that the standard protocol allows for, and any other data which may be obtained. An external display may be, for example, up to twenty meters away where low power RF communication is used, or may be further away or even located remotely and connected over the Internet or other network. Any data collected or analysed by the reader (which will include a computer type chip or other processor) can be viewed at the display and this might include details of use present or previous use of(in the form graphs or other displays), economy data and many other types of datas will be apparent.

The display may be arranged to cycle over several displays, ie to show current usage for a few seconds then usage half an hour ago for a few seconds and so on, or may display various graphs and charts on its display panel 51. The display may also include one or more control buttons 52. The reader unit and/or display may also be arranged to transmit meter readings direct to the electricity (or other service) supplier for billing purposes. It may do this by having a connection to the Internet and it can transmit the data back to a central server via any means such as PSDN, GSM, IP, GPRS, SMS or other types of data.

The data may include the current meter reading and the meter serial number.

SUDS is a database maintained by an independent software vendor on behalf of all the electricity businesses in the UK, who send updates to it daily, and who depend on it for information. This information includes: MPAN -Meter Point Administration Number -the number on the electricity bill, independent of supplier Supplier history -details of all suppliers for that MPAN and date of appointment Meter Technical Details -details of the meter including its serial number Agent Details -details of currently appointed supplier agents These two products can be linked to form a Utility Meter Index UMX. It works like this: (The term meterpod' is used to define a reading device which reads data from the meter. This may be one according to the present invention.) 1) The customer purchases a MeterPod (ie a reader according to the current invention) on a contract similar to how he would purchase a mobile phone 2) He installs the MeterPod on his existing utility meter 3) The MeterPod sends energy consumption information to his PC and/or to a wall-mounted display to help him save energy 4) The MeterPod transmits meter readings and the meter serial number back to a central server 5) The central server uses the meter serial number to lock on to the MPAN number used by the utilities from the SUDS database 6) The SUDS database is enhanced to include date-stamped meter readings 7) the SUDS information is made available to the customer and his current supplier for billing purposes 8) the SUDS information provides accurate opening meter readings for each change of supplier.

This provides: a) supplier independent reading and communicating supplier revenue data b) plug-and-play MeterPod against utility MPAN in SUDS database on which the utility depends c) provision of government "clip-on" that meets utility smart metering requirements.

Note that in embodiments of the invention, the FLAG probe is part of the body rather than a separate probe on a wire. It includes an opto-transmitter and receiver but instead of being held magnetically as in the prior art, it is fixed in place. No tampering or interfering with the communications is possible and this why the device may be used to send meter readings. To further improve the integrity of this data, a seal may be applied over a part of the reading device and clamping means and the meter, which seal will be damaged if anything is tampered with. This may be any convenient type of seal. Note that although the seal will be damaged, the actual meter and its housing will not be damaged in any way.

In some embodiments, the firmware running on the device is an adapted subset of the IEC 1107 protocol. It excludes the definition of the data items (similar to XML).

Instead it stores preferably challenge and response scripts specific to each meter manufacturer and type. This allows complete interoperability with any meter with an IEC 1107 port. In addition, it allows new meter types to be added later to the communications infrastructure, without changing the device's firmware. Meter vendors provide a "driver" CD for each meter type supplied -this installs software at the PC receiving end (where data needs to be decoded) either at a display point or at the energy supplier or agent's in-station.

Meter readings are served as customer readings to suppliers using a standardised XML messaging system. This links into the internationally controlled data catalogue by an independent standards body. The meter is identified by its serial number, which is stored in the meter and retrieved via the digital port. In addition, all data stored in the meter specific to its type may be transferred, such as time-of-use registers, energy export, reactive, tariff structures and configurations. This keeps the communications independent from the evolution of the new meter requirements.

Claims (16)

1. Claims 1. A metering apparatus, comprising a device for connecting with an optical port of a digital meter and having means for receiving data therefrom and means for mechanically clamping the device to the meter.
2. 2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, adapted such that it is clamped to the meter in such a way that the meter is not defaced or damaged in any way.
3. 3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, comprising a reading part and a clamping part adapted to clamp or clip the apparatus to the top and/or one or more sides of a meter housing.
4. 4. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising a clamping means for clamping against opposing sides of a meter housing.
5. 5. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the clamp is adjustable to enable the apparatus to be clamped to a range of different sized and/or dimension meters.
6. 6. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, including an adjustable length clamping bar.
7. 7. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, including a cam type clamping arrangement.
8. 8. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 7, including a cam lever mounted such that as the lever is rotated about a pivot it draws clamping members toward one another or away one another.
9. 9. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 8, including biasing means.

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10. 10 - 10. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, including means for connecting the device to mains terminals of a meter.
11. 11. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 10, including resiliently mounted connectors for connecting to the mains terminal.
12. 12. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 11, wherein the connectors are spring loaded.
13. 13. An electricity meter in combination with a smart meter device which is clamped to the meter housing in such a way that the meter is not damaged or defaced in any way.
14. 14. A method of attaching a smart meter to a meter, comprising clipping or clamping the smart meter to the meter in such a way that the part of the meter to which it is clipped or clamped is not damaged or defaced in any way.
15. 15. A method as claimed in Claim 13, including clamping the smart meter to the meter by means of an elongate clamping body.
16. 16. Metering apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference, and as illustrated by, the accompanying drawings.