ICs Make Meter Designs Easier, Energy Theft Harder
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM
By David Morrison, Editor, Power Electronics Technology
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A MAXQ3100 evaluation kit (EV kit) is available that includes an on-board LCD and a JTAG interface board for communication with a PC. Its IDE includes a debugger, assembler/linker, a time-limited version of the IAR C-compiler and a simulator. The MAXQ3100 is available in an 80-pin MQFP. Pricing starts at $3.19 each in quantities of 1000.
Although not an energy-metering chip, Power Integrations’ previously introduced LinkSwitch power-supply chip gives meter designers an option for providing energy-efficient, tamper-resistant power to their electricity meters. In August, the company published a power-supply design idea (DI-141) based on its LinkSwitch-XT family.
The design idea offers an isolated power supply in flyback configuration that delivers 150 mA at 5 V, even under an intense external magnetic field. The use of an external magnetic field is said to be the most commonly used method of disabling meters without alerting existing anti-tamper measures.
Power Integrations’ LinkSwitch-XT family includes EcoSmart technology, which optimizes the efficient conversion of energy at different load levels. By replacing traditional linear power supplies with the LinkSwitch-XT based design, the 2 W of power used by power meters — the maximum amount recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission — may be reduced to around 1 W while still providing the 750 mW of power required by the advanced meter electronics.
The DI-141 design idea, complete documentation for the LinkSwitch-XT family and a description of Power Integrations’ EcoSmart technology can be found at www.powerint.com.
For more information on the energy-metering components discussed in this article see:
STMicroelectronics
www.st.com
Teridian Semiconductor
www.teridian.com
austriamicrosystems
www.austriamicrosystems.com
Texas Instruments
www.ti.com
Maxim Integrated Products
www.maxim-ic.com
Power Integrations
www.powerint.com
Other vendors offering energy-metering ICs:
Analog Devices
Website provides information on vendor's energy-measurement ICs including the ADE7100 and ADE7500 energy meter SoC families, which were introduced in October 2006.
www.analog.com
Atmel
Application note presents the AVR465 single-phase power/energy meter with tamper detection, which is based on the AVR microcontroller.
www.atmel.com
Cirrus Logic
www.cirrus.com
Cypress Semiconductor
Press release announces the CY8C775X family of single-chip, single-phase, electric energy-metering ICs. Check with vendor for status of the CY8C775X.
www.cypress.com.
Freescale
Website includes a discussion of DSP-based energy-meter design using the DSP56F80x digital signal controller.
www.freescale.com
Microchip Technology
Website offers the MCP3909 three-phase energy meter reference design using PIC18F2520.
http://www.microchip.com
Renesas
http://america.renesas.com
For further reading on previously introduced energy-metering ICs, see:
Morrison, David, “ICs Ease Adoption of Electronic Energy Metering” Power Electronics Technology, February 2005.
Morrison, David, “Mixed-Signal ICs Build Smart Power Meters,” Power Electronics Technology, April 2005.
