LECTURE 4

Measurement of energy
Electrical energy is measured by means of energy meter (watt-hour-meter).
Energy meter is an integrating instrument and takes into account both of the quantities i.e
the power and time, the product of which gives the energy. An energy meter keeps a
record of total energy consumed in a circuit during a particular period but it does not give
any idea about the variation in the rate of energy consumption during the period.
Energy meters are generally of the three types namely
i. Electrolytic meters
ii. Motor meters and
iii. Clock meters
Electrolytic Meters
Electrolytic meters operate on the principle of electrolytic action and is purely a
d.c. meter measuring ampere-hour or coulombs in terms of the deposit of metal due to
passage of current in one direction. It is essentially an ampere-hour meter and is used for
measurement of energy when the supply voltage is constant. Though these instruments
are simple, cheap and consume less power but have disadvantage of not taking into
account the variations of circuit voltage, so introducing error.
The other disadvantages of such instrument are that there is a potential drop of
1 or 2 volts across their terminals; they require frequent inspection to ensure proper level
and re-setting; the considerable amount of glass used in their construction renders some
what fragile; and the destruction of the old record of energy supplied on re-set. The
advantages of such instruments are that they are accurate even at very small loads; they
are unaffected by stray magnetic fields and they are free from friction errors. They do
not have any moving part and have low maintenance cost with negligible deterioration.
Reason Electrolytic Meter
It is generally used on d.c. supply systems. It consists of an anode formed of
annular ring of mercury contained in a shallow through at the top of the tube; a cathode
formed of a ring of sand blasted iridium and an electrolyte (the saturated solution of
mercury and potassium iodides) which fills the whole of the tube of the meter except the
space occupied by the mercury.
 Platinum wires act as leads, one of them is dipped in the mercury anode and
another is welded to the cathode, when the current passes through the electrolyte, a
certain quantity of mercury is removed from the anode and the same quantity is deposited
at the cathode. The mass of mercury so deposited, which is directly proportional to the
quantity of electricity (ampere hour or coulombs) passed through the meter, is collected
in the measuring tube.
Motor Meters
These meters can be used on d.c. as well as on a.c. circuits. In principle the motor
meter is a small motor d.c. or a.c. type whose instantaneous speed of rotation is
proportional to the circuit current in case of ampere-hour meter and to the power of the
circuit in case of a watt hour meter.
Essential parts of such meters are as follows.
1. An operating torque system which produces a torque and causes the moving system
rotate continuously.
2. A braking device, which is usually a permanent magnet. The moving system attains a
steady speed when the braking torque is equal to the driving torque.
3. A device for registering the number of revolutions made by rotating element. This is
obtained by having worm cut on the spindle of the instrument. The worm engages with a
pinion and thus drives the train of wheels and registers A-H or W-H directly.
Errors in Motor Meters
There are two principal errors common to all motor meters namely friction errors
and braking errors. The friction error, which is due to friction at the pivots and bearings,
plays a considerably more important part than the corresponding error in most indicating
instruments, since it continuously operates and affects the speed of the rotating element
(disc) for any given value of current or power.
Variation on breaking action affects the speed of the rotating element of the
meter, for a given driving torque, and so affects the number of revolutions made in a
given time. The rotating element of the meter attains steady speed when the braking
torque, which is proportional to the speed, is equal to driving torque.
 With the increase in temperature, the resistance of current path will increase and
therefore the braking torque will decrease and cause an error in the instrument
registration.
Though it is some what difficult to compensate completely the reduction in
braking torque due to increase in temperature but in some meters driving torque also
decreases with increase in temperature and thus automatically compensates partially.
Types of Motor Meters
There are three types of motor meters, which are in common use and enumerated below.
(a) Mercury motor meter
(b) Commutator motor meter and
(c) Induction motor meter.
Motor Meters for A.C. Circuits
The most commonly used meter on a.c. circuits for the measurement of energy is
the induction type watt hour meter. The induction type energy meters have got
advantages of higher torque/weight ratio and the absence of a commutator with its
accompanying friction, and are therefore more accurate than the commutator type on
light loads.

How to measure electricity consumption

Household electricity meter

The main electricity meter has an aluminium disk which rotates at a rate
proportional to the instantaneous power consumption. Each revolution of the disk
represents a particular amount of electrical energy and the amount is probably marked on
the face of the meter somewhere. The amount is 1/300 kilo watt hours per revolution.
Timing one revolution of the disk
The number of revolutions is counted by gears and dials and these will give a
direct reading of a number of kilo watt hours but these are rather large units and it is
much quicker to simply use a stopwatch to time the time for one revolution of the disk.
The disk has a black mark on the circumference and you can start the stopwatch when the
black mark is at a particular point and then stop the stopwatch after one revolution when
the black mark is again at the same reference point. The relationship between time t in
seconds and the instantaneous power P in kilowatts when the energy per revolution is R
kilo watt hours is given by the formula:-
P = 3600*R/t

Since R=1/300 this is P=3600/300/t = 12/t

Measure a reference base load

First, temporarily switch off all devices which have an intermittent operation
(often controlled by thermostats) such as fridges, freezers, immersion heaters, electric
space heaters, irons, central heating pumps. If do not switch them off then might instead
ensure they are at least in their "off" state when take the measurements by comparing
measured instantaneous power with expected power and waiting and repeating the
measurement until the reading is consistent with expected. Measure the time t for one
revolution and convert to a power. Later, can repeat this with various household devices
either added or subtracted from the load and subtract the base load reading in order to
find the additional power consumed by the device deliberately added or removed from
the system.

Example base load and device measurements

In a house, which includes an annex, the minimum convenient load was 2 security alarm
systems with sensors, a doorbell transformer, and 3 external security lamps (lamps not on
because it is daylight but movement sensors presumably still powered).

t = 9 minutes and 13 seconds = 553 seconds.

P = 12/t = 12/553 = 0.02169 kWatts = 21.69 Watts.

Adding a garage circuit with 2 security lamps changed the reading:-

t= 7 min 37 seconds = 457 seconds.

P=12/t= 12/457 = 0.02625 kWatts = 26.25 Watts.

Subtracting this from the base load gives the additional power of 2 security lamps =
26.25-21.69 = 4.56 Watts.

Each security lamp then must take 2.28 Watts.

Taking this as the new base load, and adding on 2 central heating boiler controllers (not
active since it was a hot day) gave a reading:-

t = 5 minutes 33 seconds = 333 seconds.

P = 12/t = 12/333 = 0.03603 kWatts = 36.03 Watts.

Subtract from the changed baseload gives the additional power of 2 boiler controllers =
36.03-26.25 = 9.78 Watts.

Each boiler then takes 4.89 Watts.

Continue with all the devices, such as your video/satellite/TV on standby.

I did not bother measuring incandescent lamps since the power consumption is usually
reliably marked on the bulbs.

Remember to reconnect the fridge and freezer as soon as possible. It is likely that they
will have warmed up slightly and so the motors will start operating when connect them
and we can take a power reading.

For combination of 1 fridge-freezer + 1 fridge, the power was 750-444 = 306 Watts.
Each motor was then probably 153 Watts.

Conversion from instantaneous power to an annual operating cost

The number of hours in a year is 24*365 = 8760.
If the electrical energy tariff is T units (Rupees) per kilo watt hour then a device
of P kilowatts continuously powered would cost:-
C = 8760*P*T units.
Example, T=0.08 (Rupees)
TV which is usually on standby at a suprising 43.73 Watts would then cost
 C=8760*0.04373*0.08 = Rs. 30.64 per year.
The average powers of intermittent devices such as fridges will a function of the
on/off ratio and the power when on.
If a fridge is on for L seconds and off for M seconds then the average on-time fraction is
L/(L+M) and the average off-time fraction is M/(L+M) = 1-(L/(L+M)).
Where the temperature is at 19.5 Celcius and my fridge thermostat was set to a medium
coolness :-
The fridge turned off at 10:01 am. Later it turned on at 10:41 am and then turned off at
10:54 am.
L=54-41 minutes= 13 minutes
M= 41-01 minutes = 40 minutes
Therefore L/(L+M) = 13/(13+40) = 0.245
The annual cost will then be this fraction of the annual cost if the device was
continuously on (Assume that when device is off it consumes no power).
C=8760*P*T*L/(L+M)
Alternatively we can just measure L and know that L+M is the total of on plus off.
E.g a computer used 8 hours per day then L+M must be 24 hours so L/(L+M) = 8/24 =
0.333.
If the device still consumes power little-p in the off-state, we can estimate the additional
annual off-state power cost c with,
c=8760*p*T*M/(L+M) = 8760*p*T*(1-(L/(L+M)))
Minimising annual costs
Devices that consume excessive power on standby might be routed via one of the
plug-in timers with manual override switch which should consume less than 1 watt and
can power off devices during time of definite no use. Ideally, the timer should consume
no electricity itself and retain time of day and settings when it loses power (unfortunately
not the case with the common mechanical timers).
Freezers might be super-insulated with additional panels. Be sure not to insulate
the heat rejection devices (black motor or pipework or anything that feels warm when
operating) and be sure not to allow air circulation between the new insulation and the
original device walls (these will now be colder and may then condense water vapor in the
air).
Check the energy efficiency ratings of the devices. A class A rating might use half
the electricity of a class C for the same performance.