Power meter with individual channel configuration
The present invention pertains to a power meter designed for monitoring and measuring the electrical parameters of power as it is distributed from an electrical distribution system to various loads. The power meter includes one or more sensors for detecting electrical parameters, such as current and voltage, and at least one analog-to-digital converter that transforms the analog signals from the sensors into digital data. A processing module, in communication with the analog-to-digital converter, is configured to access channel configuration data from a memory source. This channel configuration data establishes a relationship between each current input channel and a corresponding configured voltage. Utilizing this configuration, the processing module calculates various electrical parameters for each input channel based on the corresponding voltage and the current flowing through it. The invention thus allows for precise monitoring and computational assessment of power usage and can be tailored to specific applications through customized channel configurations.
1 . A power meter comprising:
at least one sensor configured for sensing electrical parameters of electrical power distributed from an electrical distribution system to a load;
at least one analog-to-digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor and configured for converting an analog signal output from the at least one sensor to digital data; a user interface comprising selection interface elements;
at least one processing module coupled to the at least one analog-to-digital converter, the at least one processing module is configured to:
retrieve a user-defined channel configuration stored in a channel configuration file in a memory, the user-defined channel configuration defining a user-selectable correspondence between each current input channel of a plurality of current input channels and a corresponding configured voltage, wherein the corresponding configured voltage is one of a line-to-line voltage or a line-to-neutral voltage selected by a user via the selection interface elements of the user interface;
compute first electrical parameters for each channel of the plurality of current input channels based on the measured voltage for the corresponding configured voltage and the measured current flowing through the associated current input channel, wherein the measured voltage and the measured current are calculated based on the digital data provided by the at least one analog-to-digital converter, and wherein the user interface further allows users to selectively enable or disable the user-defined channel configuration, wherein disabling the user-defined channel configuration causes the power meter to default to utilizing predefined channel pairs for measurements, and wherein enabling the user-defined channel configuration allows for operation in a customized channel configuration mode.
2 . The power meter of claim 1 , the at least one processing module is further configured to:
access a summation configuration stored within the memory, the summation configuration specifying a subset of current input channels designated for aggregate computation;
calculate cumulative electrical parameters by summing the first electrical parameters across the specified subset of input channels as defined by the summation configuration.
3 . The power meter of claim 2 , further comprising a user interface configured to allow users to customize the summation configuration based on specific requirements of the electrical distribution system.
4 . The power meter of claim 2 , further comprising a user interface configured to display the cumulative electrical parameters.
5 . The power meter of claim 1 , wherein the power meter is a three-phase power meter or a multi-channel power meter.
6 . The power meter of claim 1 , wherein the first electrical parameters include current, active power, reactive power, apparent power, active power demand, reactive power demand, apparent power demand, import active energy, export active energy, import reactive energy and export reactive energy.
7 . The power meter of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface configured to display the first electrical parameters, with the current channel configuration.
8 . A method of measuring electrical parameters in an electrical distribution system, the method comprising:
sensing electrical parameters of electrical power distributed to a load with at least one sensor;
converting an analog signal output from the at least one sensor to digital data with at least one analog-to-digital converter; providing a user interface comprising selection interface elements enabling a user to specify a particular matching voltage for each current input channel of a plurality of current input channels, wherein the matching voltage is one of a line-to-line voltage or a line-to-neutral voltage;
storing user-defined matching voltage selections for the plurality of current input channels in a channel configuration file in a memory;
retrieving a user-defined channel configuration stored in the channel configuration file from the memory, the user-defined channel configuration defining a user-selectable correspondence between each current input channel of the plurality of current input channels and a corresponding configured voltage;
computing first electrical parameters for each channel of the plurality of current input channels based on the corresponding configured voltage and the current flowing through the associated current input channel using the digital data; and selectively enabling or disabling the channel configuration via the user interface, wherein disabling the channel configuration causes a power meter to default to utilizing predefined channel pairs for measurements, and wherein enabling the channel configuration allows for operation in a customized channel configuration mode.
9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
accessing a summation configuration stored within the memory, the summation configuration specifying a subset of current input channels designated for aggregate computation;
calculating cumulative electrical parameters by summing the first electrical parameters across the specified subset of input channels as defined by the summation configuration.
10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the computing step includes determining electrical parameters selected from the group consisting of current, active power, reactive power, apparent power, active power demand, reactive power demand, apparent power demand, import active energy, export active energy, import reactive energy, and export reactive energy.