Advanced Metering Architecture Pioneers in the Smart Grid Industry

According to IEK's view, under the continuous fermentation of international energy and climate issues, various countries have vigorously promoted the construction of smart grids, hoping to promote optimal allocation and operation of power resources through real-time control and demand-side management, and achieve the goal of energy conservation and carbon reduction. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to rely on power information gathering and analysis. Therefore, Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) with two-way communication function can make the automation and information of the power system penetrate into the family/building, and it is considered as intelligence. The backbone of the grid.

Under the guidance of the policy, the international AMI market has sprouted from Europe, the United States and Other regions, and has begun to spread around the world. Currently it includes Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, and New Zealand, all of which have related infrastructure or pilot projects in progress. .

There are a large number of meter markets. If the smart meters are fully replaced, the market size will be considerable. The number of smart meter installations has begun to grow at a double-digit rate since 2009. Market research organization ABI estimates that 76 million smart meters will be installed in 2009, and it is expected to reach 212 million in 2015. In the next five years, Europe and North America are still the main market, and Asia, led by China, is the region with the greatest growth potential.

AMI System Architecture Introduction

AMI refers to a system that uses various communication methods to transmit client meter data back to the control center, and achieves various functions such as reading, providing, setting, and controlling of various remote data through two-way communication. In addition to improving the disadvantages of uneconomical, inaccurate, and non-real-time features of traditional manual meter reading, AMIs still possess many functions. For example, they support various tariff rates, provide users with energy usage information and guide spontaneous energy conservation, and support the transmission of signals to users. Load control, automatic response to changes in electricity prices, support for fault detection and remote on/off management, improved load forecasting, and user power quality management.

(1) AMI brings many benefits to the country, electric power industry and users

Compared with traditional mechanical meters, AMI has the advantage of two-way communication. Therefore, AMI can connect multiple sources of information such as electricity, power generation, and even power storage systems to each other, helping the development of the power grid toward the freeway of the power system and achieving the hop-on-hope approach. Features. Therefore, the main advantages of AMI are the realization of energy-saving and carbon reduction goals, improvement of power supply quality, and improvement of economic efficiency. Therefore, the country, the electric power industry, and power consumers can each provide multiple benefits.

At the national level, AMI can facilitate the management of demand side and the integration of renewable energy sources, thus helping the country achieve its energy saving and carbon reduction policy goals. For the electric industry, AMI can provide load control and communication functions to quickly measure and diagnose power quality to achieve self-healing of the power grid and improve the quality of power supply. This can be achieved through the cooperation of the time electricity price mechanism. The smoothness of the peak off the peak will slow the pressure on the newly-built power plant. At the same time, it will be easier to obtain the user's electricity consumption data, so it can provide more innovative services. Finally, at the user level, the AMI can be used to display information transparently. The power users can learn more information and perform energy management. The user's flexible interaction with the power system can be enhanced. The power user can also act as a generator and power consumer at the same time. The role of Prosumer = Producer + consumer helps to improve the operation of the electricity market.

(B) AMI three major sub-systems

The AMI system is mainly composed of a smart meter, a communication system and a device, and a meter database management system (MDMS).

1. Smart meter smart meter refers to more complex power calculations, plus two-way communication

Therefore, the main key components within the smart meter can be divided into two major parts: the communication module and the measurement module. The key components involved in the metering part of the smart meter are: high precision analog-to-digital converter (ADC), MCU, Current Transformer (CT), real time clock (RTC) . Because smart meters need to perform complicated and precise power calculations and measurements, the development of power metering chips is the key to the smart meter menus. The MCU is also a key component in the operation of smart meters.

The MCU is just like the heart of a smart meter. The number and stability of MCU functions are directly related to the performance of smart meters. In order to allow users and power companies to have more flexible interaction, the functions that can be supported by smart meters are much more complex than those of general electronic meters. In addition to the basic multi-function power parameter measurement, there must be support for time electricity prices. Quantity measurement, load curve, real-time price, and power quality measurement. In addition, the design of low-power consumption and encryption to prevent hackers is also a key consideration in the development of smart metering MCUs to meet the power saving and safety considerations.

2. AMI Communication Technology Selection

The communication technology that can be used for AMI is diversified. The adoption of technology depends on the communication range and the environmental difference in each region. Currently, it includes PLC (Power Line Control), Fiber (Fix), The Fiber (FTTx), Ethernet (Ethernet), ADSL, and mobile Different communication technologies such as network (GSM, GPRS, 3G, CDMA...) or wireless network technology (Wimax, Wi-Fi, RF).

AMI can be divided into three communication interfaces according to the communication range: (1) Wide Area Network (WAN) WAN refers to the communication interface between the low-voltage user concentrator and the control center, or the high-voltage user smart meter and control. The communication network between the centers requires the use of communication technologies that can communicate over long distances. Mobile communication technologies are usually prioritized, such as GSM, GPRS, and 3G. (2) Local area network (LAN) LAN is the communication interface between smart meter and concentrator. Due to the large number of meters and the considerable amount of traffic, this part of the communication technology will generally be considered as a priority for wireless communication technology, such as PLC, RF, and Zigbee. (3) Home Area Network (HAN) is the communication interface between smart meters and In Home Display (IHD), other meters or appliances. It is usually considered for convenience and low cost. Zigbee or PLC communication technology is a priority.

3. Meter Database Management System (MDMS)

The main technical aspect of MDMS lies in the development of software. Under the AMI system architecture, information is transmitted through the communication system. The information collected by the meter is stored in the MDMS through the communication system. At the same time, it must support multiple back-end application systems, such as accounting systems, power-off systems, and customer service systems. In order to ensure the correctness and security of data and use the collected meter information without affecting the normal operation of the MDMS, a more complicated and complete program design is needed. Therefore, it is currently capable of undertaking the supplier of the large-scale MDMS program. , mainly in Oracle, Ecologic, Itron and eMeter four.

The main functions of the MDMS under the AMI system are briefly described as follows: (1) Data from different AMI architectures, vendors, and meter types can be accepted, and the data read can be confirmed according to the power company standards. (2) Data source judgment and edit processing (Validation, Estimation, and Editing; VEE). (3) Record the status and events of the meter reading process, and compare the analysis with historical data to identify suspected slow meters, stop the meter, and steal power. (4) Support back-end application systems such as customer information system (CIS) and ticketing system connection.