ABSTRACT
The magnitude of operational losses in the supply of
electricity in Nigeria has been growing
significantly. Issues of theft and illegal connection pose major challenges
in the energy distribution. This has greatly worsened the current electricity
supply in the country; hence, the need for the design of a robust system for
identifying or detecting illegal electricity consumption.
In this study, an Automated Remote Power Management
System (ARPMS) was developed for detection of meter bypassing, tampering and
illegal load shedding. ARPMS consisted of embedded microcontroller, Current and
Voltage Sensors (CVS), and Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) module for
effective detection of meter tempering. The microcontroller was embedded with
microprograms for task regulation and control functions. The CVSs were used to
monitor and report deviations from the normal signals. The GSM module was used
for remote communication and control. The microcontroller was programmed using
embedded C. A user-study experiment, which involved fifty (50) purposively
selected electrical engineers, was carried out to evaluate the proposed system.
The engineers subjected the system to different scenarios of bypass. A
structured questionnaire guide was used to capture responses from the
engineers. Descriptive analysis was conducted on the performance data of the
ARPMS from the engineers.
The result showed that ARPMS had 100% efficiency, 96%
acceptance and a remote communication index of 0.99. This showed that ARPMS had
high capability for detecting meter tempering. The result also showed that the
real time ARPMS was able to evaluate the amount of consumed energy by a
building through remote monitoring and control of domestic energy meter, and
gave the information about the meter reading to the utility company through
Short Message Services (SMS). ARPMS provided regular status of the meter on a
predefined interval, and displayed user’s account update in real time. This
system also detected electricity power bypass by consumers. The ARPMS
controlled technology demonstrated the capability of providing a better
mechanism for collecting power consumption bills in advance.
In conclusion, an efficient ARPMS for preventing
power theft has been developed. It also used GSM based technology to perform
billing related processes at all times. The system is therefore recommended for
electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) for efficient management of energy
consumption and prepaid billing.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Cover
Page
Abstract
Table of
Contents
List of
Tables
List of
Figures
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
1.1.1 Motivation
1.1.2 Summary of Motivation
1.1.3 Measure and Methods of Stealing Electricity
1.1.4 Factors that Influence Illegal Consumers
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Objective of the Study
1.4 Significance of the Study
1.5 Scope of the Study
1.6 Organization of the Study
CHAPTER TWO:
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1
Conceptual Review
2.1.1
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)
Electricity
2.1.2
Smart Meter
2.1.3
Global System for Mobile Communication
(GSM)
2.1.4
Pulse Detection and Electric metering
system
2.1.5
Power Utility Control Central –Recharging
Process
2.1.6
Design of energy meter using SIM
2.1.6.1 Fixed charge collector - Hand-Reset Type
2.1.6.2 Fixed charge collector - Time Switch Type
2.1.6.3 Flat rate tariff
meter
2.1.6.4 Two-part tariff -
Fixed Rate Type
2.1.6.5 Two-part tariff -
Variable Rate Type
2.1.6.6 Double tariff,
Current Change-Over Type
2.1.6.7 Double tariff, time
Change-Over Type
2.1.7 Payment Solutions: Coins, Token, Pin, Barcode, Memory Card
and Smart
Card
2.1.7.1 Coins
2.1.7.2 Token or pin
2.1.7.3 Memory cards
2.1.7.4 Barcodes
2.1.7.5 Smart cards
2.1.7.6 Mobile Phone
2.2 Theoretical Framework
2.3 Empirical Review
2.3.1 Design of Energy Meter Using a Smart Card
2.3.2 Design and Development of Automatic Meter
Reading (AMR) System
2.3.3 Wireless Electrical Meter Reading Based on ZIGBEE
Technology
2.3.4 Automatic Meter Reading System using GPRS
Technology
2.3.5 ZIGBEE based meter to measure the electricity
consumption
2.3.6 Automatic Meter Reading using Wireless Network
2.3.7 Impact of Smart Metering on Energy
Efficiency
2.3.8 The Path of the Smart Grid on Rising Cost of
Energy Consumption
2.3.9 Automation of Residential Electricity Meter
Reading
2.3.10 Prepaid Electricity Meter System based on RFID
2.3.11 Prepaid Energy Meter Based on AVR microcontroller
2.3.12 Development of a Vigilant Energy Meter
2.3.13 Wireless Electric Meter Reading
2.3.14 Automated wireless meter reading system for
monitoring power theft
andcontrolling power Consumption
2.3.15 Electrical Power Theft Detection and Wireless
Meter Reading
2.3.16 Wireless Power Theft Detection
2.3.17 The cImpact of the Pre-Paid Meter on Revenue
Generation in Nigeria
CHAPTER THREE:
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Block diagram
3.2.1 Microcontroller unit
3.2.2 Relay unit
3.2.3 GSM modem
3.2.4 Liquid crystal display
3.3 Design of the power supply unit
3.3.1 Circuit explanations
3.4 Design of a voltage sensing device that
automatically adjusts
the power factor of the electricity
supply through its calibration
3.5 Design of a current sensing device to
measure the accurate
consumed by theload
3.6 Programming of PIC18F252 microcontroller
that will measure
current, voltage, and calculate the power
from the load
3.7 Programming of the recharge
3.8 Prepaid meter reading and reconciliation
between energy service
provided and communication company
3.9 Display unit
3.10 Interfacing circuit for liquid crystal
display (LCD)
3.11 Interfacing SIM 300 with PIC18F252 96
3.12 SMS controller unit
3.13 Algorithm for energy metering system at
consumer’s end
3.13.1 Algorithm used for the implementation of the
intelligent
prepaid energy meter
3.13.2 Explanation of code
3.14 Design of the relay
3.14.1
Program explanation of code
3.15 Over current detector
3.16 Design flowchart
3.17 By-pass detection unit
3.17.1 Explanation of the code
CHAPTER FOUR:DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION
OF FINDINGS
4.1 Simulation of LCD with the Microcontroller
Unit (MCU)
4.2 Power Calculation
4.2.1 Explanation of the Code for Power Evaluation
4.3 Calculation and result
4.4 System simulation
4.5 Block Testing
4.5.1 Power supply
4.5.2 Voltage sensing circuit
4.5.3 Relay (Latch for load)
4.5.4 Testing of max 232 driver
4.5.5 Interfacing the GSM with PIC18F252
4.6 System Testing
4.7 Result of SMS sent
4.8 System Evaluation
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION
AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
5.1.1 Summary of Work
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendations
5.4 Contribution to Knowledge
5.5 Suggestions for Further Studies
References
Appendix
I: Major legal
Appendix
II: Program code for prepaid Energy meter
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Electricity is very crucial to the socio-economic and
technological development of every country. One of the indices used to measure
the development of an economy is uninterrupted power supply. It is widely
accepted that there is a strong correlation between the availability of
electricity and socio-economic development. The supply of electricity in
Nigeria incurs substantial capital. The enormity of these costs is growing astronomically across the
globe. To decipher the unlawful users of electricity in a bid to enhance the
economy of utility company, efficiency and protection of the grid, a novel
procedure for scrutinizing electricity usage patterns of customers and
recognizing illegal consumers is proposed and implemented. Nigeria electric
power network operator, electricity Distribution Companies of Nigeria (DISCOs)
has for a long period of time been combating the problem of revenue collation.
This is majorly attributed to the fact that electricity bills are sent to
consumers after consumption. Consumers are usually unwilling to pay electricity
bills as a result of epileptic nature of the electricity supplied which is not
usually mirrored in the bills which are basically estimates of power usage and
not usually commensurate to the true amount of electricity consumed by the
respective consumer.
The low
reliability of electric power supply has little bearing on the network operator
because whether power is provided or not, in the post-paid method, the monthly
electricity bills are still sent to consumers. Hence, the user bears the cost
of generating power for their personal usage as well as that of the electricity
that was never provided by DISCOs. Due to the enormity of the debt accrued by customers,
the network operator initiated a cash collection policy named Revenue Cycle
Management (RCM) which involves collecting monies owed through private
establishments. This failed to give the anticipated results; hence DISCOs came
up with the digital pre-paid meter in 2006 whose operation is somewhat
synonymous with the loading of an airtime voucher in the Global System for
Mobile communication (GSM) handset. If power is available and the pre-paid
meter is loaded with units, the loaded unit diminishes only when the load is
connected and stops when power is interrupted. In the last decade, smart cards
evolved from basic memory cards to complex systems on chips with a processing
power that can be expanded. This became an avenue for the invention of many applications
used in the world today. The smart card, an intelligent token, is a credit card
sized plastic card embedded within an integrated circuit chip. A smart card
usually consists of a Read Only Memory (ROM) or flash memory, Electrical
Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) and a Central Processing Unit
(CPU). The smart card operating system controls access to data on the card. The
card operating system does not only make the smart card secure for access
control, but also has the capability to store a private key for a public key
infrastructure system.
Recently,
the industry has come up with 32-bit smart card processors having more than
400Kbytes of EEPROM, and a memory management and protection unit serving as a
firewall for the hardware. This hardware firewall enables secure separation of
adjacent applications, as well as being the basis for secure downloading of
applications. The self-containment of smart card makes it somewhat attack proof
as it does not need to be relied upon potentially attack susceptible external
resources. Due to this feature, smart cards are often used in diverse
applications which require strong security and authentication. In addition to
information security, smart cards achieve greater physical security of services
and equipment, because a smart card limits access to only authorized users.
Furthermore,
the smart card can be used as a credit/debit bank card which makes it relevant
for e-commerce applications. The multi-application smart card, along with the
advent of open platform smart card operating systems, brings the only viable
option for handling multiple electronic transactions these days. It is a cost
effective secure way to manage transactions electronically Manufacturers,
issuers and users have come to appreciate the value of one card that manages
multi-applications. A multi-application card will be able to amongst other
things do an automatic update of new services as well as existing applications,
change and store user profiles for each application and be usable on a range of
devices. One of the most valuable applications is in using the smart card to
buy energy. Recently, the portal technology has been playing an increasing role
in computing. Service providers are rolling out portals to allow users to create
customized web sites that display exactly the information on the Card and
transformer. Corporations are rolling out portals to provide employees and
business partner's customizable access to corporate information. For web
enabled energy services, and with the introduction of home networking
technology, power companies and service providers can offer value-added
services to the homes, like energy management, to generate additional revenue
as well as to increase convenience and loyalty. In this research work, we
propose a novel and simple prototype of a web enabled smart card based solution
for controlling the consumption of electricity in a home environment. The
proposed system can calculate the total voltage consumption and the structure
health condition of the transformer as well as the total voltage distributed by
the transformer. For a while now, energy conservation has been a topical issue.
In practical terms, people use much more power than what they actually need and
that is responsible for the consequent huge loss of energy.
Moreover,
the continuous increase in the universal energy prices has led to a colossal
economical loss. Thus, we are proposing a prepaid electricity smart card based
system that will enable people to buy specific quantum of energy for use only
when needed. People can subscribe for this service and recharge their accounts
through the Mobile Phone. The power meter used in this study interrupts the
controller at a rate of 0.75Wph based on the particular tariff used and the
amount of power consumption needed, the correct amount of money to be loaded
into the card can be easily calculated and programmed into the chip. The unique
feature about this system is that the electric utility in the home environment
can be accessed remotely from the supplier server. The study provides people
with the opportunity of buying electricity in advance, using the prepaid
electricity cards. Thus, people can use only the amount of power they really
require.
The proposed power management
system will benefit the end customer as well as the electric utility in that
the customer can recharge his account wirelessly from his home using Mobile
Communication Module and the status of meter is indicated through a Short
Message Services (SMS). The device will show the remaining balance so that the
user knows how much he has consumed and can plan ahead and know when he needs
to recharge the account and moreover, this strategy provides the utility
companies the avenue to collect the expenses from customers in advance. Thus,
they will no longer have to deal with late payments or non-payment of bills by
the customers. This also helps to reduce electricity theft through bypass.
1.1.1 Motivation
Losses that occur during generation can be measured, but
Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses cannot be quantified completely
from the end where information is sent. According to Depuru (2012),
distribution losses in several countries have been reported to be over 30%.
Substantial quantity of losses proves that Non-Technical Losses (NTL) are
involved in power distribution. Total losses during T&D can be evaluated
from the information like total load and the total energy billed, using
established standards and formulae. In general, NTL are as a result of factors
external to the power system. Electricity theft constitutes a major chunk of
the NTL.
Electricity theft can be defined as, using electricity from the
utility without a contract or valid obligation to alter its measurement. The world over, T&D losses are more than
the total installed generation capacity of countries such as Germany, the UK,
or France. It is estimated that around the world, utilities lose more than $25
billion every year to illegal consumption of electricity. It has also been
discovered that the illegal consumption of power by the local business sector
is on the increase. The quality of the power generated, transmitted, and
distributed has an impact on the power system components and customer
appliances. Due to the illegal consumption of electricity, estimating the
overall load in real time becomes very difficult (Depuru, Wang, &Devabhaktuni,
2012)....
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