GB2508492A - Interface apparatus for existing utility monitoring units where the apparatus appears on a smart wireless monitoring system network as a virtual smart meter. - Google Patents

Interface apparatus for existing utility monitoring units where the apparatus appears on a smart wireless monitoring system network as a virtual smart meter. Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2508492A
GB2508492A GB1317698.7A GB201317698A GB2508492A GB 2508492 A GB2508492 A GB 2508492A GB 201317698 A GB201317698 A GB 201317698A GB 2508492 A GB2508492 A GB 2508492A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
utility
interface apparatus
data
resource monitoring
interface
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB1317698.7A
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GB201317698D0 (en
Inventor
Harry William Bach
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Tayeco Ltd
Original Assignee
Tayeco Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Tayeco Ltd filed Critical Tayeco Ltd
Publication of GB201317698D0 publication Critical patent/GB201317698D0/en
Publication of GB2508492A publication Critical patent/GB2508492A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01D—MEASURING NOT SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR A SPECIFIC VARIABLE; ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEASURING TWO OR MORE VARIABLES NOT COVERED IN A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS; TARIFF METERING APPARATUS; MEASURING OR TESTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G01D4/00—Tariff metering apparatus
    • G01D4/008—Modifications to installed utility meters to enable remote reading
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01D—MEASURING NOT SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR A SPECIFIC VARIABLE; ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEASURING TWO OR MORE VARIABLES NOT COVERED IN A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS; TARIFF METERING APPARATUS; MEASURING OR TESTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G01D2204/00—Indexing scheme relating to details of tariff-metering apparatus
    • G01D2204/10—Analysing; Displaying
    • G01D2204/18—Remote displaying of utility meter readings
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02B—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS
    • Y02B90/00—Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
    • Y02B90/20—Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y04—INFORMATION OR COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES HAVING AN IMPACT ON OTHER TECHNOLOGY AREAS
    • Y04S—SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS
    • Y04S20/00—Management or operation of end-user stationary applications or the last stages of power distribution; Controlling, monitoring or operating thereof
    • Y04S20/30—Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

A utility resource interface apparatus 10 comprising: an interface unit 12 to which receives a physical connector for connection of the apparatus to a utility resource monitoring unit 20; a processor 14 to act upon data relative to a metered utility resource to provide utility consumption data; and a transceiver 16 to communicate consumption data with a wireless utility resource monitoring system network thus facilitating communication of consumption data between the monitoring unit and the wireless monitoring system. Preferably the physical connector receives a cable connector which may be a serial data cable connector. The processor may periodically sample data. The processor may continuously record data. The apparatus may further comprise a data receiving interface to receive at least one of operational and system data relative to the apparatus and associated monitoring unit. The apparatus may have tamper detection 40. The apparatus may integrate with a utility resource home area network (HAN). Also another embodiment where the interface apparatus comprises a utility monitoring unit with a cabled connection arrangement.

Description

SYSTEM INTERFACE
The present invention relates to a system interface for utility resource monitoring networks, in particular, the invention relates to a utility resource monitoring system interface suitable for use with existing utility resource monitor units.
Excessive consumption of natural resources is an increasing problem. Such consumption depletes natural resources and in turn, this can cause environmental problems as well as causing an increase in the cost of these resources, such as oil and gas. In turn, these rising costs can put significant strain on the budgets of users of the resources.
Awareness raising campaigns to try and encourage more careful use of natural resources on a personal basis has made knowledge of the issues mainstream.
However, awareness raising has not been successflil in seeing the changes in behaviour required to see significant conservation of resources through decreased utility use.
\hen managing use of these resources, for example the use of electricity within a school building or office building or even within a home, the abstract measure of utility consumption based simply on the use of appliances means that it is difficult for individuals to correlate particular actions to a reduced use of power or water for example. This is compounded by the utilities companies sending out monthly or quarterly bills, which means that any specific action is lost within the context of utility consumption over a period of 30 days or more.
To overcome this disconnect between the actions which use the utilities and the overall resource consumption, a variety of different utility monitoring systems have been developed. These utility monitoring systems monitor the consumption of utilities such as gas, electricity, LPG, oil and water, and provide an easy to interpret display which enables users to assess the current level of usage and compare this to an optimum or a maximum desired level of usage. By having the connection between actual usage and optimal usage clearly visible and easy to interpret, users can, in real time, modify their behaviour and see the results in terms ofutility consumption.
An example of such a utility monitoring system is disclosed in W02008/025939 wherein the energy monitoring system determines threshold and maximum consumption values then monitors ongoing resource usage, providing a display output which a user can easily interpret to understand how current resource consumption compares to the average, the threshold and maximum consumption values.
However, optimum usage by consumers of such utility monitoring systems relics on the systems being easy and convenient to use as the demands of modern life means uptake is dependent upon new devices or services being easy and straightforward to implement effectively.
In addition, with the introduction into daily living of more systems of resource consumption such as, but not limited to, gas, electricity, water, broadband, digital services and oil as well as more local resource generators which are renewable power generators such as solar panels, heat source pumps, windmills and the like more different utility monitoring systems may be required to satisfy the needs of different resources. In addition, interaction between different utility monitoring systems is necessary as there is an opportunity for some traditional utility consumption, in particular electricity consumption, to be offset against the power generated by a local renewable generator. Furthermore, many such renewable generators can often be found to, at peak operation, provide an excess of power which may then be fed back into the electricity grid, thus generating an income for the user. However, such processes require monitoring and implementation. Ideally, integrating the monitoring facilities of each utility resource helps with effective consumption. However often existing utilities arc already provided with a metering or monitoring unit and the expense and hassle of removing existing monitoring apparatus to install a new single system apparatus is prohibitive. In addition, wireless smart meters of utility resource monitoring systems of the prior art typically have no mechanism to integrate effectively with such existing metering or monitoring system.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an interface for utility resource monitoring networks which obviates or mitigates the drawbacks of the
abovementioned prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an interface for a resource monitoring system to facilitate interfacing between existing utility resource monitoring networks effectively enable monitoring and determining resource consumption and resource production of resources such as utilities.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a utility resource monitoring interface apparatus comprising an interfacing unit operable to receive a physical connector for connecting the apparatus to a utility resource monitoring unit; a processor operable to receive data relative to the metered utility resource and act upon it to provide utility resource consumption data; and a transceiver operable to communicate utility resource data with a wireless utility resource monitoring system network, wherein the interface apparatus facilitates communication of utility consumption data between the utility resource monitoring unit and the wireless utility resource monitoring system.
By provision of an interface apparatus provided with an interface for connection of a physical connector, existing monitoring units associated with utility resource monitoring can be connected to the interface such that the data collected by the monitor unit can be acted upon by the processor and provided to a smart wireless monitoring system network in a manner which causes the interface apparatus to appear on the smart wireless monitoring system network as a virtual smart meter.
Similarly the interface apparatus is able to receive data from the smart wireless monitoring system network relating to usage or performance of the utility and act upon this data to implement effective resource consumption according to preset criteria and present this to the monitor unit in an operationally useffil manner.
Preferably, the physical connector interface is operable to receive a cable connector.
This enables hard wire monitoring systems to be integrated with an interface enabling their inclusion within a wireless monitoring system.
The cable connector may be a serial data cable connector. This enables typical existing monitoring systems to provide data and to receive data in a format often most suitable for the existing monitoring unit operation.
The interface apparatus processor may sample utility resource monitoring consumption data periodically and act upon this to generate suitable resource consumption data for provision to a wireless resource monitoring system network.
Alternatively the interface apparatus processor may continuously record utility resource monitoring consumption data and act upon this to generate suitable resource consumption data for provision to a wireless resource monitoring system network.
The interface apparatus may frirther comprise a data receiving interface operable to receive at least one of operational and system data relevant to the interface apparatus and the associated utility resource monitoring unit. Provision of a data receiving interface enables the interface apparatus to be upgraded, configured or altered to suit the utility resource monitoring unit or the wireless resource monitoring system network with which it is associated.
The interface apparatus may further be provided with a tamper detection mechanism.
This will enable third parties to ensure that the consumption data being processed is a direct reflection of the consumption data provided to the interface via the physical connector interface and that no tampering has taken place in an attempt to adjust consumption data.
Preferably the interface apparatus will be operable to integrate with a utility resource home area network (HAN). This enables consumers to use the interface apparatus in a retrofit manner so that a home area network can be established which communicates effectively with existing utility resource monitoring units.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a utility resource monitoring interface system comprising a utility monitoring unit with a cabled connection arrangement; an interface apparatus with a physical connector interface operable to receive a cabled connection arrangement, a processor operable to act upon data provided from the monitoring unit through the cabled connection arrangement and a transceiver operable to communicate data with a wireless resource monitoring network system.
Provision of such an interface system enables integration of existing monitoring units within wireless resource monitoring network systems on a retrofitted basis to enable convenient operation of comprehensive utility resource monitoring and establish system performance in relation to resource generation and usage to determine the system performance of different aspects of the utility systems. This can enable a user to actively manage resource usage without the need for the expense or inconvenience of replacing all existing utility monitoring units within their utility resource network.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following figures in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a resource monitoring interface in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a utility resource monitoring network system including the resource monitoring interface of Figure 1.
In Figure 1 there is shown a resource monitoring interface apparatus, generally indicated by reference numeral 10, comprising a physical connector interface 12, for connection to an existing utility meter, a processor 14 for receiving and output data relevant to resource consumption or apparatus and network operation, wireless transceiver 16 for communicating wirelessly with a smart meter home area network HAN, a secondary interface 18 for interfacing with an external data source 16. The user interface is provided with a display 18 and a user input, in this case a keypad 18.
The first transceiver 12a and second transceiver 12b are each connected to processor 14. User interface 16 is also connected to processor 14.
In Figure 2 there is shown resource monitoring interface system 8, wherein the resource monitoring interface apparatus 10 physical connector interface 12 in connected via cable 22 to utility meter 20, wireless transceiver is in communication with transceiver 32 of smart meter home area network HAN 30 and secondary interface 18 is provided with an extemal data source 50 which in this case is a secure digital card provided with system configuration data for appropriate configuration of the apparatus 10.
The utility meter 20 may be what is termed a legacy meter, that is one which already is in place to monitor a utility resource, for example an existing gas meter, but which does not have the capability for direct integration into a smart meter resonrce monitoring network 30 due to operational capabilities. A serial data cable 22 can be used to connect the meter 20 to the interface apparatus 10. The interface apparatus 10 is provided with the capabilities to connect wirelessly with a smart meter home HAN using predetermined security and authorisation mechanisms appropriate for the HAN technology. Thus the interface apparatus 10 then appears and behaves on the HAN 30 as a meter, effectively acting as a wirelessly enabled virtual meter for existing meter 20.
In use, consumption data monitored by meter 20 is provided to the interface apparatus and wherein the processor 14 samples the provided data before fomiatting and transmitting appropriate consumption data to the HAN 30 via transceiver 16.
As many different types of utility meter currently exist and home area network operating systems can vary from one home to another, the data interface 18 enables appropriate system, HAN or user data requirements to be input into the interface apparatus and further support the operation of the apparatus as a virtual meter. The data interface may be a user input interface or an interface suitable to receive a data carrying unit so that an external data source such as a user or an SD card or other flash memory source may be used to provide external data into the interface apparatus 10.
Such extemal data may include tariff data for broadcast over the HAN for example.
As utility resource costs are high, ensuring that no tampering occurs which will cause the essence of the recorded consumption data which is output from the interface apparatus to vary from that received from the meter 20. Tamper mechanism 40 can operate in conjunction with the physical interface 12. The tamper mechanism 40 can be a simple digital input mechanism and tamper mechanism data can be relayed to the HAN 30 by the interface apparatus 10.
By providing a meter 20 with an interface apparatus 10, the monitoring of a utility resource and be implemented by an existing meter arrangement 20 and then acted upon by interface 10 so that it can be provided to a resource management network system to enable performance a home area network system in relation to utility resource generation and usage and to be monitored and collated thus determining what the performance level of different aspects of the system are. This can enable a user to actively manage resource usage even if a particular utility resource has an existing metering arrangement which can communicate directly with the system.
The principle advantage of the invention is that an existing hardwire resource monitoring unit can interfaced with a wireless resource monitoring system network to enable optimisation of the monitoring of utility consumption using pre-existing monitoring units.
A further advantage of the invention is that the resource monitoring interface apparatus appears as a monitoring meter unit within the home area network.
A yet further advantage of the invention is that a iuser can be provided with a real time indication of resource allocation, economy of consumption and utility income and expenditure for use in actively managing resource usage at a single interface which includes data provided by a resource monitoring unit which is directly incompatible It will be appreciated to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to thc invcntion herein dcscribcd without departing from the scope thcreof. For example, although water, gas and electricity have been given as example utilities, any meterable utility may be monitored by the system, including, but not limited to LPG, oil, chemicals, grain, digital data services or the like.

Claims (9)

  1. SCLAIMS1. A utility resource monitoring interface apparatus comprising an interfacing unit operable to receive a physical connector for connecting the apparatus to a utility resource monitoring unit; a processor operable to receive data relative to a metered utility resource and act upon it to provide utility resource consumption data; and a transceiver operable to communicate utility resource consumption data with a wireless utility resource monitoring system network, wherein the interface apparatus facilitates communication of utility consumption data between the utility resource monitoring unit and the wireless utility resource monitoring system.
  2. 2. A utility resource monitoring interface apparatus according to claim I wherein the physical connector interface is operable to receive a cable connector.
  3. 3. A utility resource monitoring interface apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the cable connector is a serial data cable connector.
  4. 4. A utility resource monitoring interface apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the interface apparatus processor samples utility resource monitoring consumption data periodically and acts upon this to generate suitable resource consumption data for provision to the wireless resource monitoring system network.
  5. 5. A utility resource monitoring interface apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the interface apparatus processor continuously records utility resource monitoring consumption data and acts upon this to generate suitable resource consumption data for provision to a wireless resource monitoring system network.
  6. 6. A utility resource monitoring interface apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the interface apparatus further comprises a data receiving interface operable to receive at least one of operational and system data relevant to the interface apparatus and the associated utility resource monitoring unit.
  7. 7. A utility resource monitoring interface apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the interface apparatus is further provided with a tamper dctection mechanism.
  8. 8. A utility resource monitoring interface apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the interface apparatus is operable to integrate with a utility rcsource homc area nctwork (HAN).
  9. 9. A utility resource monitoring interface system comprising a utility monitoring unit with a cabled connection arrangemenL an interface apparatus with a physical connector interface operable to receive a cabled connection arrangement, a processor operable to act upon data provided from the monitoring unit through the cabled connection arrangement and a transceiver operable to communicate data with a wireless resource monitoring network system.
GB1317698.7A 2012-10-08 2013-10-07 Interface apparatus for existing utility monitoring units where the apparatus appears on a smart wireless monitoring system network as a virtual smart meter. Withdrawn GB2508492A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GBGB1218023.8A GB201218023D0 (en) 2012-10-08 2012-10-08 System interface

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GB201317698D0 GB201317698D0 (en) 2013-11-20
GB2508492A true GB2508492A (en) 2014-06-04

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GBGB1218023.8A Ceased GB201218023D0 (en) 2012-10-08 2012-10-08 System interface
GB1317698.7A Withdrawn GB2508492A (en) 2012-10-08 2013-10-07 Interface apparatus for existing utility monitoring units where the apparatus appears on a smart wireless monitoring system network as a virtual smart meter.

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GBGB1218023.8A Ceased GB201218023D0 (en) 2012-10-08 2012-10-08 System interface

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Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2016089194A1 (en) * 2014-12-03 2016-06-09 Comision Federal De Electricidad Energy measurement monitoring and control system

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20060044158A1 (en) * 2004-09-02 2006-03-02 Womble Phillip C Methods and systems for meter reading and high speed data transfer
US20060255965A1 (en) * 2005-04-29 2006-11-16 Nagy Christopher J Automatic adjustment of bubble up rate
US20070013547A1 (en) * 2003-02-14 2007-01-18 Boaz Jon A Automated meter reading system, communication and control network from automated meter reading, meter data collector, and associated methods
WO2008025939A2 (en) * 2006-08-31 2008-03-06 Tanya Barbara Ewing Utility monitoring system
EP2503298A1 (en) * 2011-03-22 2012-09-26 General Electric Company Network interface controller for a utility meter
EP2558873A1 (en) * 2010-04-16 2013-02-20 Itron, Inc. Gateway-based ami network

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20070013547A1 (en) * 2003-02-14 2007-01-18 Boaz Jon A Automated meter reading system, communication and control network from automated meter reading, meter data collector, and associated methods
US20060044158A1 (en) * 2004-09-02 2006-03-02 Womble Phillip C Methods and systems for meter reading and high speed data transfer
US20060255965A1 (en) * 2005-04-29 2006-11-16 Nagy Christopher J Automatic adjustment of bubble up rate
WO2008025939A2 (en) * 2006-08-31 2008-03-06 Tanya Barbara Ewing Utility monitoring system
EP2558873A1 (en) * 2010-04-16 2013-02-20 Itron, Inc. Gateway-based ami network
EP2503298A1 (en) * 2011-03-22 2012-09-26 General Electric Company Network interface controller for a utility meter

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2016089194A1 (en) * 2014-12-03 2016-06-09 Comision Federal De Electricidad Energy measurement monitoring and control system

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Publication number Publication date
GB201317698D0 (en) 2013-11-20
GB201218023D0 (en) 2012-11-21

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