Electric Meters

Description

Electric meters are devices used to measure the quantity of electricity supplied for commercial, residential, or industrial purposes. Such measurements are mostly recorded in terms of kilowatt hours. Modern electric meters have provisions to measure the reactive power; the instantaneous voltage, current, electrical power, etc separately. The designing and programming of an electric meter vary depending upon the product manufacturer.

Types

Electric meters are classified into two types, which are:

Electromechanical meters or electromechanical induction meters or watt hour meters
Solid state meters

Electromechanical meters

An electromechanical meter is otherwise known as electromechanical induction meter or watt hour meter. These meters work by counting the revolutions of a disc made of aluminum, which is proportional to the total power consumed.

Solid state meters

Power used in LCD’s (liquid crystal display) are measured using solid state meters. They are modern types of electricity meters, which read the output power automatically. Generally a current transformer is used to measure the current flow in solid state meters.

Other commonly used types of electric meters are:

Variable rate meters
Appliance energy meters
Smart electric meters
Prepaid electric meters

Features

The following are some of the features of electric meters:

Power outage and power quality monitoring and notification
Measure power usage for specific time intervals
Measure energy usage by individual appliances
Solid state meters record useful information like power factor, reactive power, etc
Appliance energy meters help in conservation of energy through identification of major energy usage areas and devices that consume excessive power

Applications

Some of the applications of electric meters are:

Hot water storage systems like electrical storage heaters make use of variable rate meters
Plug-in types of electric meters are used in appliances for energy conservation purposes
House hold energy consumption details are monitored and recorded with the help of the residential electric meters