GB2466107A

GB2466107A - Smart utility metering system

Info

Publication number: GB2466107A
Application number: GB0920819A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Richard Peter Lewis; Petar Igic
Original assignee: UWS Ventures Ltd
Current assignee: UWS Ventures Ltd
Priority date: 2008-11-28
Filing date: 2009-11-30
Publication date: 2010-06-16
Also published as: GB0920819D0; GB0821756D0

Abstract

A Smart utility metering system comprising a metering network having a plurality of Smart digital utility meters 1, each for metering consumption of a utility at a respective location and for obtaining data in relation to said consumption; a Metering gateway 2; and a data portal 3. The metering network 10 and data portal are connected to the metering gateway by means of a bidirectional communication path, and the data portal is operable to receive a data request from one of a plurality of authorised parties via a further bidirectional communication path. The data request is forwarded to the metering gateway which is operable to transmit the data request on behalf of the authorised party to the Metering network, to receive requested data from the Metering network, to match the received data to the respective data request and to return the received data to the data portal 3 for access thereto by the authorised party. The metering gateway may comprise a proxy server and a firewall. The data portal may include means for verifying the identity of the authorised party. An energy generation device may be connected via the smart digital utility meter to a distributed network.

Description

SMART UTILITY METERING SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE NYENTTON

This invention relates to a smart utility metering system for remotely metering the consumption of a utility, such as electricity, gas, water or district heating, supplied by a distributed network operator and billed for by the utility supplier.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Automatic Meter Reading, or AMR, is the technology of automatically collecting data from a utility metering device and transferring that data to a central database for billing and/or analysis. This saves employee trips, and means that billing can be based on iD actual consumption rather than on an estimate based on previous consumption, giving customers better control of their consumption of the utility under consideration. AMR technologies include handheld, mobile and network technologies based on telephony platforms (wired and wireless), radio frequency (RF), or powerline transmission.

A Smart meter generally refers to a type of advanced meter that identifies consumption of a utility in more detail than a conventional meter; and generally communicates that information back to the local network operator for monitoring and billing purposes.

Similar meters, usually referred to as interval or time-of-use meters, have existed for a number of years but Smart meters usually involve a different technology mix, such as real-time or near real-time reads, utility outage notification and quality monitoring.

These added features amount to more than simple automated meter reading.

Smart meters allow utility suppliers to communicate directly with their customers, removing the need for meter readings and ensuring entirely accurate bills with no estimates. They can tell people about their utility use through either linked display units or other ways, such as through the internet or television. Among other potential benefits, they could offer utility customers accurate bills and provide information that could help them use less energy and encourage energy efficiency (in the case of gas and electricity.

Smart meters may be part of a Smart grid. A Smart grid is a transformed utility (most commonly, but not exclusively, electricity) transmission and distribution network or "grid" that uses robust two-way communications, advanced sensors and distributed computers to improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of utility delivery and use.

However, the development of Smart grid infrastructures is becoming increasingly reliant on instantaneous data from the entire distribution network for a single utility, whereas current Smart meter technologies tend to focus on bulk collection of consumption readings as an aggregated reading in the order of half or quarter hourly units.

PRIOR ART

US Patent No. 4,803,632 describes a data processor type utility meter including a display for displaying information such as cumulative usage, current usage, current cost or remaining credit, load profiles, etc. A power line carrier is provided to communicate with a remote display unit inside the user's home or other building to permit convenient viewing of the displayed information. A meter reader/programmer can access and retrieve or modify information in the basic meter unit using power line carrier or optical (infrared) coupling; and credit card payment functionality may be included in a card reader provided in or on the remote display unit.

US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/68 192 describes a system for remote acquisition of data from, and remote control of, electricity meters. The system comprises a central server in bi-directional communication with a plurality of concentrators. A set of electricity meters is connected to each concentrator and bi-directional communication between each electricity meter and the respective concentrator to which it is connected is facilitated. Raw data collected in each electricity meter is processed by a first processor provided therein and the resultant data can be temporarily stored in a local data memory prior to transmission thereof to the respective concentrator. Similarly, data received by a concentrator from the electricity meters connected thereto is processed by a second processor provided therein and the resultant data can be temporarily stored in a local data memory prior to transmission thereof to the central server.

However, known technologies for metering of energy supplied by a utility provider are limited by the resolution in time of metering. This is typically achieved by means in the order of half-hourly meter readings transmitted nightly to the supplier via a communications medium.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved smart utility metering system which provides an available resolution of metering data to near real-time monitoring, and enables instantaneous data to be obtained from the entire distribution network for a single utility.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a Smart utility metering system comprising a Metering network comprised of a plurality of Smart digital utility meters, each for metering consumption of said utility at a respective location and obtaining data in relation to said consumption; a Metering gateway; and a data portal; said Metering network and said data portal being connected to said Metering gateway by means of a respective bidirectional communication path; said data portal being operable to receive a data request from one of a plurality of authorised parties via a bidirectional communication path, and forward said data request to said Metering gateway; said Metering gateway being operable to transmit said data request on behalf of said authorised party to said Metering network, receive requested data from said Metering network, match said received data to said respective data request and return said received data to said data portal for access thereto by said authorised party.

Beneficially, said data portal comprises means for verifying the identity of an authorised party submitting a data request, for example, by means of a password or the like. In one exemplary embodiment, said Metering gateway comprises a proxy server and a firewall.

The proxy server may additionally be operable to provide a caching service.

These and other aspects of the present invention will be apparent from, and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described herein.

Preferable and/or optional features of the invention are also set forth in claims 2 to 13, inclusive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAW1GS

The invention will now be described by way of examples only and with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: FIGURE 1 is a block diagram illustrating the principal components of a first embodiment of a smart utility metering system, according to the present invention; and FIGURE 2 shows a consumer unit incorporating a Smart digital utility meter, forming part of a second embodiment of a smart utility metering system, in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, a Smart utility Metering system according to a FIRST embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of Smart utility meters 1, each located at a respective consumer's premises, a Metering gateway 2 and a data portal 3. Each Smart utility meter 1 is communicably coupled to the Metering gateway 2, and the Metering gateway 2 is communicably coupled to the data portal 3, as shown schematically in Figure 1.

Digital Smart meters per Se, both single phase and polyphase, are well known in the art.

For example, a typical electronic electricity meter designed for residential metering provides for two-way communication and may offer demand, time-of-use (TOU), load profile recording, bidirectional metering and critical tier pricing (CTP) capabilities, in addition to kWh consumption measurement. Such meters support various types of two- way communication, for example, one known digital Smart meter has on-board two-way radio frequency (RF) communications that permit the meter to respond to requests over an unlicensed 900 MHz local area network (LAN). For the purposes of this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, it will be assumed that the Smart meter 1 supports bi-directional data communication via any of a plurality of different mutes, for example, (7) electronic signal based communications imposed upon cabling/piping or medium by means of which the utility in question is distributed to the consumer, (8) electronic signal based communications propagated through air over long distances, seen conceptually as a direct link between the Smart meter 1 and the Metering gateway 2, or (9) electronic signal based communications propagated through air over relatively short distances by means of a wireless communication protocol to another long-distance type communication medium such as that described in relation to reference numeral 8.

A suitable juncture 6 is provided at each end of the communication route(s) 7, 8, 9 to allow the flow of information between the Smart meter 1 and the Metering gateway 2 via the multiple available routes 7, 8, 9.

The Metering gateway 2 is designed for the proxy of communications from the Smart meters 1 to a repository of data stored within a large metering database, and the Data Portal 3 provides a single point of entry to that database to enable authorised parties 4 to access information contained within the repository with sufficient limitation and control to access of privileged information, such data being deliverable for viewing by the authorised parties 4 via a communication medium such as one of those described above in relation to reference numerals 7, 8, 9.

The functionality provided by the Metering gateway 2 will now be described in more detail.

(2) Metering Gateway The term gateway' is defined in the art as a network point that acts as an entrance to another network. For example, in enterprises, the gateway is the computer that routes the traffic from a workstation to the outside network that is serving the Web pages. In homes, the gateway is the TSP that connects the user to the internet. Tn the case of this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the Metering gateway 2 comprises a network point in the form of a server that acts as an entrance to the Metering network comprised of the consumer Smart meters 1, the junctures 6 and the communication routes 7, 8, 9 provided therebetween. This server may also act as a proxy server and firewall.

In this case, it will be understood that a proxy server is associated with, or part of, the Metering gateway server 2 that separates the Metering network from the Data Portal 3, and a firewall server that protects the Metering network from unauthorised external intrusion. The Metering gateway 2 may also be associated with both a router, which uses headers and forwarding tables to determine where data packets that arrive at the gateway 2 are sent, and a switch, which provides the actual path for the packet in and out of the Metering gateway 2.

The above-mentioned proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary between the Data Portal 3 (and, therefore, the authorised parties 4) and the Metering network so that security, administrative control and a caching service may be ensured.

As stated above, the Data Portal 3 provides a single access point for the authorised parties 4 to information available from the Metering network via the Metering gateway 2. Thus, initially, an authorised party 4 transmits a request via a communication path 5 to the Data Portal 3 for specified data from the Metering network. It is likely that the Data Portal 3 will include means for verifying the identity of the authorised party 4 making the request, for example, by means of a password or similar security measure.

The Data Portal 3 then transmits the request and data representative of the authorised party making the request to the Metering gateway 2 via a communication path 10. The proxy server provided by the Metering gateway 2 "represents" the authorised parties 4 by intercepting their data requests and managing them on their behalf This is primarily required because the Metering network, and data available therefrom, is protected by a firewall server, also provided by the Metering gateway 2. The firewall server allows outgoing requests to go out from the gateway 2 but screens all incoming traffic to the gateway 2.

If the data request from the authorised party 4, received at the proxy server from the Data Portal 3, passes predetermined filtering requirements, it may forward the request to the Metering network. In this regard, it acts as a client on behalf of the authorised party 4, and uses its own IP addresses to request the desired information from the appropriate Smart meter 1 via the Metering network. When the data is returned, the proxy server, which is designed to match incoming messages with outgoing requests, relates the incoming data to the original request and forwards it to the respective authorised party 4 via the Data Portal 3.

However, the proxy server may also operate as a cache server. In this context, the cache server comprises a service acting as a server that saves data received from the Metering network locally at the Metering gateway. As stated above, the proxy server helps match incoming data with outgoing requests and, in doing so, it is also in a position to cache the files that are received for later recovery by any other authorised party 4. Thus, data requested previously by authorised parties 4 may be placed in temporary storage, or cache, at the Metering gateway 2, and, when the above-mentioned data request is received from an authorised party, via the Data Portal 3, the proxy server first looks in its local cache of previously stored data. If the requested data is found therein, it can be returned to the requesting party via the Data Portal 3 without needing to forward the request to the Metering gateway 2. Only if the requested data is not found in the cache, will the proxy server, acting as a client on behalf of the requesting party, use one of its own IP addresses to request the required data from the Metering network. Thus, by placing previously requested information in temporary storage (or cache'), a cache server both speeds up access to data and reduces demand on system bandwidth. An advantage of a proxy server (or separate cache server) is that its cache can serve all users, and thereby improve user response time. A proxy can also perform logging, and a cache function can also allow authorised parties to access content offline.

It will be appreciated that, to the user (i.e. the authorised party 4 making a request for Metering information), the proxy server (and the cache server/function, if present) appear invisible. All data requests and returned responses appear to be directly with the addressed Data Portal.

Thus, the provision of a physical instrument in the form of a Metering gateway in a system such as that described above enables the coordination of metering data between numerous Smart meters and the respective end user of information gathered thereby.

In general, the present invention provides a utility metering system, comprising a modular based measurement system contained within a Smart meter for monitoring a utility, for example, electric power throughout multiple channels.

Advanced methods can be employed for the presentation of detailed consumption information to a user on the physical Smart meter device and/or on any other viewing element not directly connected to the Smart meter.

A number of measuring elements may be employed that provide real-time monitoring of, for example, electrical power or other data through a number of circuits within a subsystem. n this respect, connection of monitoring equipment capable of collecting usage data from any appliance or hardware that uses a measurable energy via appropriate sensing elements is enabled. In the example of electrical power and quality data, measurement of voltage and current delivered to a measured load and subsequent use of any suitable mathematical technique for the analysis thereof may be utilised for determining purposes.

Equally, volumetric measurement of water or any other fluids for the provision of energy is rendered possible, as is thermal energy and its subsidiaries for the provision of energy.

The system of the present invention may be designed to monitor industrial equipment that consumes energy that is measurable by means of the above-mentioned monitoring.

Connection means may be provided within or adjacent to the Smart meter 1 to allow the connection of energy generation equipment or device for subsequent monitoring by the metering system.

Energy generation equipment encompasses any equipment that will in some manner produce energy, such as electrical energy, that can be extracted and distributed. By way of examples, energy generation equipment can include solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and panels, wind turbines, combined heat and power (CHP) also known as biomass generation, hydroelectric, wave, and tidal.

In the above cases, the connection means for connecting the energy generation equipment or device may comprise a straight-forward connector for a non-technical user of the Smart digital utility meter to connect the energy generation device thereto and thus install it to the distribution network. The connector is preferably plug-and-play' which enables connection without user configuration. For example, the connection of the energy generation equipment to the meter can be through any standard cabling, and may be from an inverter or a power converter. Typically, for the case of a photovoltaic energy generation device, a DC to AC inverter is utilised feeding to the Smart digital utility meter. In general, a converter for outputting an AC voltage that is matched in amplitude, frequency and phase to the existing voltage provided from the distributed network operator is provided. The Smart utility metering system is adapted so that channels input to the Smart digital utility meter from energy generation equipment, and display information that is "aligned" to the statistical and parametric data that is significant for generation equipment.

Referring to Figure 2, part of a second embodiment of the invention is shown. In this case, the Smart digital utility meter 1 may be provided on a consumer unit 12, which could be a domestic and/or commercial consumer unit. In this case, the Smart digital utility meter 1 may be integrally formed as one-piece with the consumer unit 12, and as such would be installed along with the consumer unit.

An alternative is to provide a consumer unit with mounting means to allow the Smart digital utility meter to be, preferably releasably, mountable thereon. In this latter case, the Smart digital utility meter can be retro-fitted to a suitable existing installed consumer unit.

The consumer unit preferably includes a plurality of fused and remotely switchable channels 13, and the Smart digital utility meter 1 thus monitors each said channel separately. In this way, metering or meteorological data including quality of supply data being transmitted to the Metering gateway 2 can be determined. Quality of supply and additional parametric data will assist the provision of diagnostic information regarding the transmission system to a supplier and quality of service to a consumer. Parameters such as power factor, being the phase difference between voltage and current, and electromagnetic disturbances on the line will affect the quality of supply and can thus be determined by the Smart digital utility meter and provided to the Metering gateway.

The consumer unit 12 also preferably includes a plurality of electrical circuit protection devices, such as MCBs 14. Each electrical circuit protection device is associated with a respective one of the channels 13, and provides over-current circuit protection, typically under fault conditions.

It should be noted that the present invention is not restricted to the above-described embodiment and preferred embodiments may vary within the scope of the appended claims. The term "comprising", when used in the specification including the claims, is intended to specify the presence of stated features, means, steps or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, means, steps, components or groups thereof. Furthermore, the word "a" or "an" preceding an element in a claim does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. Moreover, any reference sign does not limit the scope of the claims. The invention can be implemented by means of both hardware and software, and several "means" may be represented by the same item of hardware. Finally, the features of the invention, which features appear alone or in combination, can also be combined or separated so that a large number of variations and applications of the invention can be readily envisaged. ii

Claims

CLAiMS 1. A Smart utility metering system comprising a Metering network having a plurality of Smart digital utility meters, each for metering consumption of a utility at a respective location and for obtaining data in relation to said consumption; a Metering gateway; and a data portal; said Metering network and said data portal being connected to said Metering gateway by means of a bidirectional communication path; said data portal being operable to receive a data request from one of a plurality of authorised parties via a further bidirectional communication path, and forwarding said data request to said Metering gateway; said Metering gateway being operable to transmit said data request on behalf of said authorised party to said Metering network, receive requested data from said Metering network, match said received data to said respective data request and return said received data to said data portal for access thereto by said authorised party.
2. A Smart utility metering system according to claim 1, wherein said data portal comprises means for verifying the identity of an authorised party submitting a data request.
3. A Smart utility metering system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said Metering gateway comprises a proxy server and a firewall.
4. A Smart utility metering system according to claim 3, wherein the proxy server is additionally operable to provide a caching service.
5. A Smart utility metering system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising connection means for connecting an energy generation device via a said Smart digital utility meter to a distributed network, the in use said Smart digital utility meter monitoring the energy generation device.
6. A Smart utility metering system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the connection means includes a connector for a non-technical user of said Smart digital utility meter to connect the energy generation device thereto.
7. A Smart utility metering system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the connector is a plug-and-play connector which facilitates connection without user configuration.
8. A Smart utility metering system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a consumer unit, a said Smart digital utility meter being on the consumer unit.
9. A Smart utility metering system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the said Smart digital utility meter is unitarily formed as part of the consumer unit.
10. A Smart utility metering system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the said Smart digital utility meter is demountably attached to the consumer unit.
11. A Smart utility metering system as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the consumer unit includes a plurality of fused and remotely switchable channels, the said Smart digital utility meter monitoring each said channel separately.
12. A Smart utility metering system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the consumer unit includes a plurality of MCBs, each MCB being associated with a respective said channel.
13. A Smart utility metering system as claimed in claim 11 or claim 12, wherein the said Smart digital utility meter monitors each said channel, determined meteorological data including quality of supply data being transmitted to the Metering gateway.
14. A Smart utility metering system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 or Figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.