MONITORING & METERING
THE SMART SOLUTION for energy management
With accurate electricity consumption essential, Craig Mellor, director, Deer Technology, explains how its new LimpetReader enables analogue electricity meters to be quickly converted to smart meters
T
here is a truism in the field of energy management, ‘If you can’t
measure it, you can’t improve it’. But while traditional analogue meters do measure electricity consumption, they tend to be read so infrequently that the information is of limited use. Most industrial and commercial facilities
have so many analogue electricity meters that it is impractical to read them all manually, multiple times per day, to build up a clear picture of consumption patterns. Installing conventional smart meters is costly and time-consuming, not least because the electricity supply has to be interrupted to exchange the meter. Where analogue meters have a pulse output for monitoring consumption, it is usually expensive for the consumer to access this. What many energy managers would
like today is accurate meter reads, at a frequency of their choosing. Ideally, the necessary hardware would be installed without interrupting the supply, and the costs of installation and data provision should be low enough that they can be justified by the savings delivered by better energy management. Accurate data for electricity
consumption, collected at defined intervals, enables energy managers to understand when and where energy is being used. Detailed investigations can then take place to see how consumption can be cut, and controlled, most effectively. For example, is a compressor still running during the lunch break when demand for compressed air is much lower? Is an industrial oven turned on earlier than necessary because it comes up to temperature faster than was thought? Is a pump consuming more energy than expected, and could savings be made by installing a variable-speed drive so flow is matched to demand? Without detailed data, energy managers
are operating ‘blind’. In addition, nobody likes to receive bills based on estimates rather than metered consumption. Real- time data is extremely powerful, providing for both visibility of consumption and accurate billing. With
bills based on real-time data rather than estimates, consumers know they are only paying for the electricity they have used. Furthermore, if data is readily
available for different areas of a facility, electricity costs can be allocated against cost centres to provide a clearer view of profitability. Similarly, managers of commercial buildings that are sub-let to multiple tenants can bill on a daily basis if necessary.
A COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTION Fortunately, all of these problems can be solved cost-effectively by Deer Technology’s LimpetReader. This clever, battery-powered opto-electronic device attaches to the meter’s faceplate with optical tape or adhesive. There is no need to dismantle the meter or interrupt the supply. Installation takes around 10 minutes and the meter’s register remains visible should a visual read be necessary. Dual-register meters are fitted with two LimpetReaders to capture readings from both registers. For regulatory purposes, with the
patented LimpetReader the readings are classified as a ‘visual’. This means suppliers never need to send anyone to read the meter manually. To make the LimpetReader as compact
as possible, it incorporates multiple micro-cameras for imaging the register. The images are date- and time- stamped before being transmitted to Deer Technology’s secure servers. Images are sent from the LimpetReader
to the server via GSM technology over any of the UK’s four mobile phone networks. Once on the server, the images are stitched together to create a single high-quality, distortion-free image of the register. This is then decoded into a numerical value, which is stored together with the high-quality image of the register. Data and images can be accessed by the customer in a variety of ways, depending on the requirements. For instance, an API can be provided, data
16 ENERGY MANAGEMENT - Summer 2021
can be exported as spreadsheet files, or dashboards created for high- quality reporting. Deer Technology
provides a comprehensive service covering everything from meter installation through to data management. The service starts with a customer consultation to establish the optimum overall
solution to the problem of meter reads and data management. Deer Technology LimpetReader is a clever,
battery-powered opto- electronic device attaches to the meter’s faceplate with optical tape or adhesive
then installs the LimpetReaders and provides a data service for reporting, visualisation and delivering data to the customer’s databases as required. As we have already discussed, data
visibility helps to reduce electricity consumption. In addition, organisations in all sectors, from manufacturing and logistics, through to schools and hospitals, are under pressure to reduce their environmental impact. Although wind and solar are increasing their share of the UK electricity supply mix, a substantial proportion of the UK’s electricity is still generated by burning fossil fuels. Reducing electricity consumption therefore cuts carbon emissions, which is good for the environment and helps organisations meet their corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals. Deer Technology estimates that millions
Craig Mellor
of analogue electricity meters in the UK could be converted to smart meters using its LimpetReader devices. Moreover, LimpetReaders can also be used on water meters to deliver similar benefits: accurate billing, better visibility of consumption data to enable savings to be made, and an early warning of leaks. Again, millions of water meters could be retrofitted with LimpetReaders.
Deer Technology
https://deertechnology.com
www.energymanagementmag.co.uk
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