• Untangling electric vehicle chargers – Exploring standards

    In the last post in this series we discussed some of the charging architecture behind electric vehicles (EV), and laid some of the base work to figure out how these new vehicles can charge so quickly. Today we’re going to elaborate on the topic and start looking at the high power interface between the car and the grid.

    In order to get enough power into an electric vehicle to provide reasonable charging times, we…

  • Glimpse in to Electrical Grid – Part 2: Power generation, transmission and distribution

    The electrical grid is an integration of a number of systems that perform specific functions. The systems include primary equipment, secondary equipment, automation, test and maintenance equipment and support systems for delivering power from the generator to consumers. The electrical grid systems' functionality can be broadly classified into:

    1. Power generation, power transmission, power distribution and power co…
  • Cap-drop offline power supply for light-load applications made SIMPLE

    Low-power applications such as e-meters often require a simple offline power supply, where 3.3V powers up a microcontroller and charges a lithium-ion battery to 4.2V. You can do this with a mains frequency power transformer or with a complex AC/DC offline power supply. Both approaches have well-known disadvantages related to weight, size and/or complexity. Two simpler options are full-wave and half-wave capacitor-drop…

  • How to quickly add Bluetooth Smart to your electricity power strip meter

    Other Parts Discussed in Post: CC2650, CC2650STK

    Recently I worked on a project to add Bluetooth® Smart remote reading capabilities to an electricity power strip meter.  With the convenience of  finding Bluetooth Smart on most smartphones and tablets, it allows you to easily read the power consumption on a smart power strip (in the past those strips had an LCD display, but who wants to get below a cabinet to find the…

  • European smart grid RF communication in Sub-1 GHz - part 3

    Other Parts Discussed in Post: CC1310, CC1125, CC1120, CC1200

    Part 1 of this blog series reviews the wM-Bus protocol standard in the 868MHZ ISM band in Europe, while Part 2 looks at the wM-Bus N-modes and ETSI Category 1 receiver performance. This time let’s see how a real world wM-Bus sub-system, either an embedded solution or a stand-alone RF module, is designed nowadays and what is the next generation solution.…

  • Simple tips for designing sensor circuits with extended scan interface for low power smart meter applications

    Smart meters in a smart grid have the ability to measure, control and communicate in one single device.  For those battery powered smart devices like flow meters, electrical energy is precious to keeping them “smart”. Having a smarter design to lower power consumption can keep them alive for a longer time.

    The extended scan interface (ESI) is a module for the ultra-low-power MSP430FR69X microcontroller (MCU…

  • Make metering more efficient

    Low power consumption is imperative for modern meter design. Whether you’re measuring gas, water, electricity or heat, you must limit the current draw to achieve long battery life and/or prevent inaccurate readings. Fortunately, TI provides a variety of solutions to meet these requirements. In this post, I’ll review some common configurations to see where TI products can aid your design.

    Electricity meter…

  • European smart grid RF communication in Sub-1 GHz - part 2

    Other Parts Discussed in Post: CC1120, PMP9753

    Part 1 of this blog series reviews the wM-Bus protocol standard in the 868MHZ ISM band in Europe. Now, let’s have a closer look at the wM-Bus protocol version optimized for the 75 kHz narrowband at 169.400 MHz band, as defined in the European Norm (EN) EN300 220 v2.4.1 standard for tracking, tracing, data acquisition and meter reading applications. The maximum radiated power…

  • Untangling electric vehicle chargers – Getting started

    As the quite hum of electric vehicles (EV) continues to rise on our streets, public interest in making them part of our daily life is also going up. As a plug-in hybrid owner, I routinely get asked questions about ownership. The most often one being “How long does it take to charge?” and any EV owner can tell you, there isn’t really a straightforward answer.

    There are many different standards that…

  • Enabling long life in dual-coin cell powered meters

    Many smart meters are powered by two coin-cell batteries connected in series; after all, two batteries give twice as much battery life as a single battery. The second battery provides the energy required to meet the greater-than-10-year runtime between battery replacements that the industry requires.

    Unfortunately, two batteries also give twice the voltage, which is harder to convert down even with the latest in ultra…

  • Glimpse into the Electrical Grid – Part 1: Introduction

    Ever wonder how electricity gets to your home?

    The electricity generation, transmission, distribution and control networks make up the electrical grid. Electric power transmission is bulk transfer of electrical energy from generating power plants to substations. Electricity is transported over long distances at high voltages, minimizing the loss of electricity. Electric power distribution includes the local wiring between…

  • Solar Inverter Gateways Connect Renewables to the Grid

    Solar is one of the more popular forms of renewable energy, and continues to grow in both commercial and home use. Its popularity is driven in part by solar panels becoming increasingly cheaper, which has made systems affordable not only for commercial solar farms, but also for homeowners who want to lower their carbon footprint or even sell generated energy back to the grid, where possible.

    Global Solar PV Capacity…

  • European smart grid RF communication in Sub-1 GHz - part 1

    RF communication started as simple automated meter reading (AMR) in Central Europe a decade ago, replacing the high effort, very costly manual read-out of water meters and heat cost allocators in millions of houses and apartments, providing multiple benefits to both end users and utilities at the same time. Customers no longer needed to stay at home waiting to let a utility employee in, who would read out the meters in…

  • Key technology drivers for the adoption of renewable energy

    For my earlier blog on how innovations at TI are driving the growth of renewable energy see here.

    TI’s offerings are aiding the development of some key technological drivers of renewable energy. Distributed energy systems, substation automation and grid storage technologies have been some of the key drivers that are accelerating the adoption of alternative energy into main stream.

    Distributed Energy Resources …

  • Smart power for smart cities: why time synchronization is essential – part 2

    As I mentioned in part 1, time synchronization (TS) provides the when to the where – the exact time something occurs anywhere in a given electrical system. I also discussed how TS works and the different protocols used to implement it.

    However, this leaves two very important questions unanswered:

    • Where do you find TS in the electrical grid?
    • How do you use this information to make that grid “smarter”?…
  • Adding Wi-Fi to smart meters is easy and cost-effective

    Other Parts Discussed in Post: CC3100, MSP430F6779

    Wi-Fi® wireless networks have struggled to gain acceptance in the growing market for smart electric meters around the world, with very few utilities having deployed meters with Wi-Fi in their territories and few smart meter OEMs even offering Wi-Fi as a communications option. But Wi-Fi does have several advantages for smart meter networks.

    Wi-Fi can offer direct connectivity…

  • Really smart cities in real time

     Have you been to Stockholm, Sweden? What about Glasgow, Scotland, or New York City in the U.S.? Or Calgary, Canada? If so, have you noticed anything different or special about these cities? They all have one thing in common—they have been recognized for “creating a local prosperity and inclusion using broadband and information technology to attract leading-edge businesses, stimulate job creation, build skills, generate…

  • TI fuels the future of renewable energy

    Imagine a day where everyone would have access to energy that is smart, that is affordable and that is green.  Innovations at TI are helping make such vision a reality. Today, renewable energy accounts for close to 10% of the total energy consumed across the world – from sources such as hydro, solar, wind, geo-thermal and bio-mass energy.

    Markets, manufacturing and investment has expanded further across the developing…

  • Smart power for smart cities: Why time synchronization is essential (Part 1)

    Look around in the city of the future. What do you see?

    Perhaps you see a quadcopter flying overhead in the Federal Aviation Administration’s newly designated drone space, delivering a package you ordered through your smart watch the night before. A fleet of autonomous electric vehicles glide by silently while their occupants enjoy coffee on the way to work. As you lock your door with an implanted radio frequency identification…

  • Smart Cities, a way to make the world a better place for future generations

    Smart cities, a concept that has evolved over the past few years has been a result of several initiatives coming together. If one looks at growing urban populations relative to the availability of resources, there is definitely a concern with the quality of life for current and future generations. Worldwide, there is a shortage of many basic essentials such as nutrition, clean drinking water, affordable energy, comfortable…

  • Interested in replacing current transformers (CTs) with a shunt? We can show you how!

    Other Parts Discussed in Post: TIDA-00080

    Part of the intelligence in today’s smart grid is being able to monitor the grid accurately. What this means in real terms is measuring several parameters in the grid, including currents and voltages. Current measurement is a critical requirement in protection, substation automation and power quality. Different types of current sensors are used to measure current. The most common…

  • Engineering a smarter grid

    Green grid: Measure, control, communicate

    The smart grid of yesterday is vastly different from what we see today. The changes in the smart grid have been deployed in multiple stages and have changed the operation of the grid at many different levels. This change has effectively increased the resiliency of the grid thus improving the quality and reliability of the power. The motivation for the smart grid comes from the…

  • How automation gives alternative energy a boost – Design News

    Alternative energy is definitely a hot topic in the smart grid industry today. We recently met with Rob Spiegel, senior editor at Design News, to discuss how automation technology is helping generation of alternative energy like solar and wind become more consistent.  

    According to Spiegel, automation tools that manage volatile load swings are smoothing out the inconsistencies of solar and wind power generation. This…

  • Handling the rampant growth in analog input and output signals in today’s smart grid

    Other Parts Discussed in Post: TIDA-00310, ADS8684

    One of the hallmarks of the smart grid today is the vastly increased connectivity between different Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) on the grid. Examples of IEDs include protection relays, circuit...

  • Simplifying merging units - Measuring a large numbers of currents and voltages in a “smart grid”

    The “smarts” in a smart grid come from the ability the grid has to measure, control and communicate. Once a measurement is done, communication between the power distribution company and the customer creates an automated and widely-distributed electricity network that can protect, monitor, and optimize the operation of the interconnected components. This new automated network allows for utility companies to respond more…