Meter reading schema to enhance system functionality

Abstract

An improvement to a utility (U) meter's (M) meter reading schema. The improvement includes a device (D) responsive to a native language with which a meter is programmed to convert communications to and from the meter from that native language into a neutral language. The neutral language is convertible by other meters programmed with different native languages into the native language of a particular meter for meters programmed with different native languages can communicate with each other. This allows facilities within a localized area of a utility's power grid (G) to form into a micro-grid (MG) in which meters programmed with the same or different native languages can communicate with each other without having communications between them routed through a central location of the utility.

Claims

1. A utility system supplying, through a distribution system, electricity to a plurality of facilities within a localized area of a power grid of the utility system, the utility system comprising: a communications network comprising a central controller located at a utility substation and a plurality of meters, wherein the utility substation supplies energy to the plurality of facilities within the localized area of the power grid, and the plurality of meters includes a meter located at each facility of the plurality of facilities within the localized area of the power grid; and a translating device connected to the communications network; wherein the communications network provides bi-directional communications between the plurality of facilities within the localized area of the power grid and is used for routing bi-directional communications from one network device of a plurality of network devices to other network devices of the plurality of network devices; wherein the one network device of the plurality of network devices comprises a first utility meter measuring electricity usage at one facility of the plurality of facilities within the localized area of the power grid, and the other network devices of the plurality of network devices comprises a second utility meter located at a separate facility of the plurality of facilities within the localized area of the power grid; wherein all of the bi-directional communications between the plurality of facilities within the localized area of the power grid are routed through the central controller; wherein a first group of network devices of the plurality of network devices uses one native language with which network devices of the first group were programmed for effecting bi-directional communications, and a second group of network devices of the plurality of network devices uses different native languages with which network devices of the second group were programmed for effecting bi-directional communications; wherein the translating device affects communication message writing, reading and interpretation schema of the first meter at an application layer (Layer 7) of an open communications interconnection (OSI) message stack; and wherein the translating device converts a native language, with which the first utility meter was programmed, into a neutral language for carrying a message from a point of origin of the message to a receiving location where the second utility meter is located, and the second utility meter converts the message from the neutral language into a native language with which the second utility meter was programmed to allow communication between the first utility meter and the second utility meter, thereby eliminating problems resulting from use of dissimilar meters within said localized area, preventing disruption in bi-directional communications if a natural or manmade disruption occurs, and permitting the plurality of meters within the localized area of the power grid to continue communicating with each other using the translating device even if the plurality of meters within the localized area of the power grid cannot do so through the central controller at the utility substation.

2. The utility system of claim 1, wherein the neutral language is an IEC 61968-9:2013 standard for an open communications interconnection (OSI) protocol.

3. The utility system of claim 2, wherein the IEC 61968-9:2013 standard is applied at an application layer (Layer 7) of the OSI protocol.

4. The utility system of claim 1, wherein the translating device provides an end point (EP) configurability by which a communications module within the first utility meter is configured to enable the first utility meter to communicate with other meters of the plurality of meters programmed to use a different native language than the first utility meter without affecting other bi-directional communications between the first utility meter and other meters of the plurality of meters programmed with same native language as the first utility meter.

5. The utility system of claim 4, wherein a communications module within each meter of the plurality of meters is configured to enable a corresponding meter to communicate with other meters of the plurality of meters programmed to use a different native language than the corresponding meter without affecting other bi-directional communications between the corresponding meter and other meters of the plurality of meters programmed with same native language as the corresponding meter in order to provide end point configurability for each meter of the plurality of meters.

6. The utility system of claim 5, wherein the bi-directional communications between the plurality of facilities within the localized area of the power grid are point-to-point or peer-to-peer.

7. The utility system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of meters employ native languages comprising: ANSI C12, IEC-61850, DNP, SEP, DLMS/COSEM, other standard application-layer languages, and other proprietary application-layer languages.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a simplified representation of a utility's power grid; and,

(2) FIGS. 2-4 illustrate an IEC 61968-9 schema for meter readings and end device events.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(3) The following detailed description illustrates the invention by way of example and not by way of limitation. This description clearly enables one skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and describes several embodiments, adaptations, variations, alternatives and uses of the invention, including what is presently believed to be the best mode of carrying out the invention. Additionally, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it will be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

(4) In accordance with the present invention, a smart meter M utilizes the IEC 61968-9:2013 (hereinafter Part-9) schema standard as a neutral language. As such, the Part-9 standard supports operation of any smart meter M, regardless of its source of manufacture, including system control and data acquisition (i.e., SCADA) operations. The Part-9 standard can be extended as required and is used to define or map each meter in the original or native language with which the meter was programmed during its manufacture. An example of the use of the Part-9 schema for reading a meter, for example, is shown in FIGS. 2-4.

(5) In accordance with the invention, a translation protocol or device D converts the native language of a meter into the neutral language which, once implemented, provides a common semantic understanding between a message's sender, which is sometimes referred to as the Head End or HE, and the message's receiver, which is sometimes referred to as the End Point or EP. As previously noted, this neutral language is employed at the application layer of a protocol stack. Device D may be located at a substation S as shown in FIG. 1 or other convenient Head End location.

(6) In operation, translating device D services one or more native languages including: ANSI C12, IEC-61850, DNP, SEP, DLMS/COSEM, other standard application-layer languages, and other proprietary application-layer languages.

(7) Translating device D is installed outside of the equipment; e.g., meters M, which are issuing or receiving messages; and, it can be integrated into a communication module located at a Head End facility, substation S, for example, to provide translation within a communications channel. Further, each meter has a communications module programmable to communicate with meters programmed for a different native language.

(8) In FIG. 1, be bi-directional communications over a grid G of the utility are routed through a central controller located at the substation. In such a communications scheme, translation is also bi-directional. Accordingly, an end point or meter M is able to communicate back to a central controller located at substation S and can also route traffic to other devices connected via the same central controller. This is done using Internet Protocols versions 4 or 6 (IPv4, IPv6) or a Network Address Translation (NAT) protocol to communicate back to the central controller and be backhauled to a Head End. Data acquired by a meter M or other equipment is routed to a back office advanced metering interface (AMI) Head End as well as to a back office SCADA Head End or a centralized or back office energy management system (EMS).

(9) An advantage of the above is that in addition to communications over the utility's grid G, it is now possible for communications within a localized area such as the micro-grid MG designated in FIG. 1 to be performed. Situations where communications within a micro-grid are desirable include those where network wide communications are halted due to a storm or other natural causes as well as manmade incidents. In such instances, the improvements of the invention now allow the facilities F1-F5 in FIG. 1 to communicate with each other, but not necessarily to substation S or other sections of the utility grid, so to determine the operational status at each facility, any configuration changes needed at a facility in order for continued functioning of equipment at the facility, and data acquisition. Since the meters or other equipment at one facility may not necessarily be the same as that at other facilities within micro-grid MG, the ability to go from a native language to a neutral language allows communications to timely occur locally without requiring communication backhaul to a central office such as substation S.

(10) Within micro-grid MG, the local communications are point-to-point or peer-to-peer, and are routed through the micro-grid's communication infrastructure without reaching a Head End. The communications are routed through the meters M at the various facilities F1-F5 to, for example, consumer appliances, in-home displays, utility distribution automation including, for example: capacitor bank controllers, transformer tap changers, switch reclosers, micro-grid controllers, inverters, and distributed generation equipment; demand response applications for load control and price response, etc.; outage detection and power restoration management equipment including lineman diagnostic tools; and, health monitoring equipment.

(11) A distributed micro-grid controller, for example, allows inputs for a locally determined action such as distribution-side voltage sag so to inform a storage battery array that it needs to begin to provide an output to meet load demands.

(12) With regard to mapping, as previously noted, the IEC 61968-9 standard has been selected as the neutral language. Mappings created between the neutral language and the equipment's native language entail an equivalency between a restful architecture and the equipment's native architecture. On the restful side, a resource and a verb are identified to perform a particular action. On the equipment side, this involves a process workflow usually including reading or writing data elements, and possibly the creation and close-out of secure sessions. Further on the restful side, parameters are supplied to specify exactly what is to be done; i.e., acquire data, perform a function, etc. On the equipment side, specific neutral parameters are mapped to specific native parameters. The formats of both are specified, along with a conversion formula.

(13) An example of a mapping from an end point's native language to and from the neutral language is provided below. Preferably, mappings are maintained in a tabular form but can be expressed in BPEL (Business Process Execution Language), OWL (Ontology Web Language), as well as other means.

(14) TABLE-US-00001 Neutral Language Native Language Reading Type ID Reading Type Description Format ANSI C12.19 Location 0.0.0.1.1.1.12.0.0.0.0.0. bulkQuantity forward Decimal TOTAL_DEL_KWH (MFG Table 19, 0.0.0.3.72.0 electricitySecondaryMetered Length 4B, Offset 4B) energy (kWh) 0.0.0.1.20.1.12.0.0.0.0 bulkQuantity total Decimal TOTAL_DEL_PLUS_RCVD_KWH 0.0.0.0.3.72.0 electricitySecondaryMetered (MFG Table 19, Length 4B, Offset 8B) energy (kWh) 0.0.0.1.4.1.12.0.0.0.0.0. bulkQuantity net Decimal TOTAL_DEL_MINUS_RCVD_KWH 0.0.0.3.72.0 electricitySecondaryMetered (MFG Table 19, Length 4B, Offset 12B) energy (kWh) 0.0.0.1.19.1.12.0.0.0.0. bulkQuantity reverse Decimal TOTAL_REC_KWH (MFG Table 19, 0.0.0.0.3.72.0 electricitySecondaryMetered Length 4B, Offset 16B) energy (kWh)

(15) The following example is for a meter reading definition. A conversion formula is also supplied in Y56109FDS:

(16) $\mathrm{Ke}=\frac{\mathrm{Mp}\mathrm{Kh}}{1000}$

(17) Equation I, The definition of Ke for Metered Usage (Secondary Reading)
Energy.sub.kWh=(Energy.sub.pulsesKeRp)+InitialOffset.sub.kWh

(18) Equation 2, BulkQuantity Energy Pulses to kWh conversion

(19) Where,

(20) EnergykWh=Energy in its finished form as a useable business value.

(21) Energypulses=Energy in a raw form from the meter

(22) Mp, is the number of meter disk revolutions per pulse. (This value may be used to normalize pulses. For electromechanical meters it is customarily computed as the 1/the number of stripes on the disk. For solid-state meters, this is ratio of normalized pulses to actual pulses).

(23) Kh, is the number of Watt-hours per disk revolution.

(24) Rp=AMR decompression scalar. (Normally, for usage calculations Rp=1).

(25) InitialOffsetkWh=The value determined at time of integration which defines the difference between the dial reading and the corresponding register reading expressed in kWh.

(26) Importantly, use of a neutral language to carry messages creates opportunities for an Internet of Things capability. To achieve this, adapters or translating devices D are built at each end of a communications network to convert the neutral language to the local or native language. An exception to this would be a utility's back office since the language chosen as the neutral language is the language of the back office. Future developments include developing an enclosure that contains a device D and a communications synergization module that allows almost any distribution automation (DA) device to be connected into the system. The DA devices would have autonomous analysis capabilities to communicate with meters M so to obtain field environment conditions such as voltage or demand.

(27) In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects and advantages of the present disclosure have been achieved and other advantageous results have been obtained.