Disk Rotation Counter for Kilowatthour meter

[pete]

rotational counter

Hi there!
Can you give me an idea how to count the disk rotation of a kilowatt hour meter?
Need a photo sensor and a small PIC that can be mounted inside the meter case.
What PIC can be best suited for this? I need to have also a real time clock and program to store the "time of use" of electric energy.
Any idea? Thanks...

 

[newelltech]

rotation counter

Another way to do this is to simply glue a small magnet to the edge of the disc and use a Hall effect sensor to count revolutions. The counter circuit can then be placed outside the meter case if that gains you any advantage - like easy data collection.

 

[the_risk_master]

rotation counter circuit

Hi,

I think the small magnet you mentioned can be altered by other external magnet producing source for instance, what do you think?

 

[newelltech]

digital rotation counters

Yes, I agree the the magnetic solution is more susceptible to attack if someone is trying to affect the count. The photo sensor method can probably be designed to block external light and would be more secure.
I guess I was thinking more 'hobbyist' than commercial applications, so thanks for pointing this out.

 

[Alan69]

power meter wheel per rotation

Hobbiest is sort of what it looks like..

For OP, note that going inside your meter case can get you into a lot of trouble if you're not the power company.

Get a lens with the right focal length, and put it on the outside so it's focused on the edge of the ring. Then do normal photodetection on the other side of the lens. No real need to be inside the case if you're just wanting to keep track of it yourself.

If you are the power company or using your own meter for other use then of course it won't matter, go inside the case..

Alan

 

[smxx]

electric meter disk counter

hi
I think it is can be made by optic sensor that used in mouse . if u can going to your meter.
or maybe use Capacitor sensor.
Disk of KW/h meter is aluminum disk.It cann't be sensed by a magnet.

 

[VSMVDD]

meter to count rotations

these wheels have a vernier scaler {series of black bars} on them

you can read these markings easily using a close mounted optical sensor
{use one scavanged from an old video recorders take up real sensor its flat and the tx rx leds are mounted side by side look for ferguson 3v30 series or toshiba or mitsubushi some makers cant use this system as its licenced from philips lots of videos use other types of sensors on there take up reals the trick is the take up real always has some mirror plastic section mounted on its underside so just take the real off the video and look below youll see the mirrors on the underside and the sensor mounted on the underside of the video transport chasis}

ofcourse it wont read the markings just the space inbetween thats shiny

 

[newelltech]

meter counter disc

hi
I think it is can be made by optic sensor that used in mouse . if u can going to your meter.
or maybe use Capacitor sensor.
Disk of KW/h meter is aluminum disk.It cann't be sensed by a magnet.

No one suggested trying to sense the wheel - the idea was to attach a small magnet to the wheel.

 

[VSMVDD]

philippines inside electric meter pic

then you can count part rotational data
a person can wave a magnet at the front and get a big bill

electricity meters are primarily electromechanical devices
so some amount of residual field will be there

given the nature of this supply magnets and magnetic materials will be come unstable and slowly become depolerized as they rotate in the eddies the wheels drive coils exibit and impart
so like square wheels its just not practicle


the best idea is to drill two small holes one at the top one at the bottom of the shaft 90 at right angles to each other to form a 4 pole switch
2 operations per rotation per sensor
and use a angle mounted opto switch
on both top and bottom of the disk to use the hole to switch them

you can also use the phase differance of the meter
or you can go the whole hog and use a small scale ccd
to read the wheels movements

using magnets in magnetic fields is dense {lol} too many vebers per m2

Added after 23 minutes:

ok back to the actual question

reading data and storing using something like a ds1306 clock
**broken link removed**

youll find lots of project for pic using this chip
try google

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=ds1306+++pic+++projects+--&btnG=Search&meta=
this link yields many
https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=ds1306+++projects+--&meta=


**broken link removed**
good c code drivers


as for the pic is a realy easy thing its doing
i think you could use something like a pic 509 even {just 8 pins} serial coms
via shared io {you boot the pic {reset } it first looks for serial handshake if so goes to serial mode for data dump to another display device with rs232 and lcd implimented and maybe some menus etc to set it up for different rates

true 16bit maths and functions /hardware is needed here i think
so use a later pic like 16F630
as it has a large data ram and eeprom support and simple i/os
and enought for the ds1306 and shared rs232 coms via i/r some buttons
an lcd if you like to give user feedback and some nice data menus
for user feedback and its cheep and chearfull

 

[newelltech]

kilowatt hour meter reading on the disk

then you can count part rotational data
a person can wave a magnet at the front and get a big bill

True but I think we're talking about a hobbyist who's not particularly concerned about this.

electricity meters are primarily electromechanical devices
so some amount of residual field will be there

given the nature of this supply magnets and magnetic materials will be come unstable and slowly become depolerized as they rotate in the eddies the wheels drive coils exibit and impart
so like square wheels its just not practicle

Good point, I hadn't considered that aspect.

 

[pete]

sensor electric meter disk rotation -patent

Hi there!
I appreciate your responses. I guess the best solution is using optical but with quadrature holes to detect the direction of rotation.As you know, some meters have creepage. That is, it rotates in the opposite direction but however it will stopped once the whole of the disk is in front of something inside the meter, provided the creepage is within allowable tolerance. If this happens, the PIC should not count the rotatation but just ignore it. Now with the suggested PIC to be used here, my next question is, what chip do I need so that I could transport the data in the PIC to the outside world via narrow band digital power line communications? In this way, I shall be venturing into meter reading without a human meter reader. But instead its an automated reader. The data from the PIC is transported via digital PLC upto the utility's premises kilomaters away from the electric consumers. Wheww, sorry, I guess this is too much of an asking in this forum...But in case someone knew it, thats a great sharing it here . Thanks...