Patent Application
20160161539
Electricity theft is the practice of stealing electrical power from a provider. Violators are not charged for the total number of kilowatt-hours actually used, causing lost revenue for both utility companies and retail electricity providers. Theft of electricity may result in higher fees for legitimate electricity customers, who must make up for the lost revenue so that the utility provider can continue to operate. Electricity theft is also dangerous, because the tampering involved can result in fire or electrocution. Electricity theft is a problem in both developed and developing countries.
A basic method of stealing electricity is to attach a wire directly to a main power route, thus bypassing the legitimate purchaser of electricity, so that electricity can flow to the electricity thief without passing through the electric meter installed by agency responsible for providing electrical services.
Electricity theft can also be accomplished by tampering with the electric meter. For example, but injecting foreign elements such as transistors, resistors, or IC chips into the electric meter, the meter can be made to show lower than actual electricity consumption. In other cases, a remotely controlled circuit is installed inside the electricity meter, where the meter can be remotely slowed down. If the remotely controlled circuit is off, it will not be detectable when the meter is tested for accuracy. Electromechanical electricity meters can be tampered with by drilling holes into or otherwise entering the meter and inserting objects into the meter to obstruct the movement of the internal mechanism.
Electricity theft can often be detected by visual inspection of the wires to and from the main power route, or of the electric meter. Automated methods, however, are more practical and scalable, and are able to detect theft methods that might not be found by visual inspection. Electronic electricity meters, often referred to as “smart meters” are one method of detecting electricity theft. Smart meters are able to communicate directly with the electricity supplier, so that the supplier will always have an accurate meter reading. Smart meters, however, are expensive to install. In developing countries in particular, a more cost-effective method is desirable.
Another method of electricity theft is accomplished by bypassing the normal return path of the electrical current. This method involves, first, an electric meter that measures only the current on the return path (also called the neutral wire); and, second, an electricity thief that rewires their electricity system so that the current the thief uses bypasses the expected current return path, thereby bypassing the current measuring device.
Electricity theft can be detected in a number of other ways. One detection method is to provide a current sensor on the current source (i.e. the hot conductor) as well as on the return path (i.e. the neutral conductor). The values measured by the two current sensors can be compared and theft detected by large differences between these two measurements. This method, however, can be costly because it requires two current sensors for each electricity user. Moreover, alternating current (AC) systems employing high voltage require an electrically isolated current sensor, which can be even more costly.
In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods for detecting electricity theft are provided. In systems where, first, many electricity users are supplied by a single power source, and, second, each electricity user may be switched on and off by software, electricity theft detection may be performed without providing a source sensor (also called a high-side current sensor) for every circuit. Instead, a single high-side current sensor is used to measure the source current to a group of electricity users, and the circuits for the individual electricity users may be switched on in isolation, allowing a single circuit to use this high side sensor and perform a theft detection calculation.
In various embodiments, a method for detecting electricity theft is disclosed. The method comprises providing power to a plurality of end user destinations from one power source. The method further comprises selecting one destination from the plurality of end user destinations for testing, and switching off all of the end user destinations except for the selected destination. The method further comprises sensing the current from the power source and sensing the current returning from the selected destination. The method further comprises determining a difference between the current from the power source and the current returning from the selected destination.
In various embodiments, a system for detecting electricity theft is disclosed. The system comprises a power interface for receiving power from a power source, a source sensor coupled to the power interface for measuring current from the power source, and a plurality of output interfaces for delivering power to a plurality of end user destinations, wherein each of the plurality of output interfaces comprises a return sensor.
In various embodiments, an apparatus for detecting electricity theft is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a power interface for receiving power from a power source, a source sensor coupled to the power interface for measuring current from the power source, and a plurality of output interfaces for delivering power to a plurality of end user destinations, wherein each of the plurality of output interfaces comprises a return sensor.
The novel features of the embodiments described herein are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The embodiments, however, both as to organization and methods of operation may be better understood by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings as follows:
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate several embodiments disclosed herein. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and mechanical, compositional, structural, electrical, and operational changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Certain embodiments will now be described to provide an overall understanding of the principles of the structure, function, manufacture, and use of the devices and methods disclosed herein. One or more examples of these embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the devices and methods specifically described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings are non-limiting exemplary embodiments. The features illustrated or described in connection with one exemplary embodiment may be combined with the features of other embodiments. Such modifications and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the present embodiments.
Reference throughout the specification to “various embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “one embodiment,” or “an embodiment”, or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” “in one embodiment”, or “in an embodiment”, or the like, in places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Thus, the particular features, structures, or characteristics illustrated or described in connection with one embodiment may be combined, in whole or in part, with the features structures, or characteristics of one or more other embodiments without limitation. Such modifications and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the present embodiments.
In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein, the microgrid controller 120 is located in relatively close physical proximity to the end users and is coupled to distribution lines that carry electrical power to the end user destinations. The power may be delivered to the end user destinations via known distribution methods, such as to residential customers having standard power sockets in homes 130a-130c, commercial or industrial customers having power delivered to a business or factory 134, or to any other end user destination, such as an electric vehicle charging station 132. The microgrid controller 120 may include a power interface 126 to receive power from the standard electric grid 102, if access to the grid 102 is available. In addition to or in place of the connection to the grid 102, the microgrid controller 120 may be connected via the power interface 126 to one or more alternate power sources 104, such as a fuel cell, wind turbine, solar power system, or other energy source. The microgrid controller 120 may further include one or more energy storage devices for temporary storage of electricity received from the grid 102 or other power source 104. These energy storage devices may include both devices that store electricity such as batteries 124 and capacitive storage devices. These energy storage devices may also include devices that convert the electricity to another form of energy and then store it, such as inertial storage devices such as flywheels or pumped storage.
The microgrid controller 120 can provide a localized grouping of electricity generation, energy storage, electric power delivery, and Internet services to end users who are not otherwise connected to the power grid 102. In some embodiments, all of this functionality is provided in a single device that can be easily transported to and installed in remote locations. This can be particularly useful in regions where technically skilled personnel are unavailable and the installation, connection, and set-up of multiple components can be challenging.
In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein, each end user destination 140 receives power from a dedicated switch 122a-122e, which monitors power consumption by the end user destination 140 and can initiate or terminate power delivery to the end user destination 140 based on instructions received from the host 110. The power consumption monitors may calculate power consumption based on current and voltage. The current measurement can be based on any current measurement technology, including, e.g., shunt resistor, current transformer or transducer, or Hall Effect sensor. The switch 122a-122e may deliver either AC or DC power, depending on the end user's needs. The switch 122a-122e may be any type of AC or DC switch, including electromechanical devices such as relays or contactors and solid state devices such as, e.g., transistors, silicon controlled rectifiers, and thyristors.
In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein, each end user destination is associated with a communications device, such as, e.g., a mobile phone device 136, tablet computing device, or other computing device configured for user input and data communications. The user may utilize the mobile phone 136 to authorize pre-payment to the host 110 via any of a variety of known payment systems. The communications device may authorize pre-payment via any of a variety of known communications technologies, such as, e.g., a wired network connection, WLAN, or mobile data service, such as, e.g., GPRS or GSM. In some embodiments, the host 110 is configured to receive payments from a plurality of different payment systems, so that different end users on the same microgrid controller 120 may use different forms of payment.
Examples of payment systems include mobile money, such as M-Pesa, scratch card, prepaid phone card, or local agents. In other embodiments, the host 110 may accept payments via transfer of mobile phone minutes
The payment is transmitted via mobile phone tower 142 and the Internet 144 to the host 110, which may be implemented using a cloud computing system located anywhere in the world. When the pre-payment is received by the host 110, the end user destination's account is credited with the pre-payment amount in the data server 112. The host 110 then transmits this pre-payment information to the microgrid controller 120. This transmission may occur via any of a variety of known communications technologies, such as a wired network connection, WLAN, or mobile data service, such as, e.g., GPRS or GSM.
The microgrid controller 120 will monitor the pre-paid balance for each end user destination, as well as that destination's consumption of power. Once the end user destination has utilized enough electricity to have depleted the prepaid credits, the power to that end user destination will be terminated by the microgrid controller 120 using the corresponding switch 122a-122e associated with that end user. This will not affect the other end user destinations receiving power from that microgrid controller 120.
In some embodiments, the mobile device 136 associated with the end user destination 130 will receive a message alerting the user that the amount of prepaid credits is almost consumed and/or reminding the user that the amount of prepaid credits has already been depleted. This may occur once the credit balance reaches a predetermined or programmable minimum value. The message to the mobile device 136 can be delivered via any of a variety of messaging technologies, such as, e.g., Short Message Service (“SMS”), Text Messaging System (“TMS”), voice call, or other messaging service. In the developing world, the preferred messaging technology may be a text messaging service configured for use by low-cost mobile phones. The end user may then utilize the mobile device 136 to transmit additional prepaid amounts to the host 110. This may be done, e.g., by via reply message or by utilizing the same mobile payment service previously used.
In some embodiments, the end users may utilize their mobile devices 136 to check their credit balance and historical usage. This may be performed, e.g., using a browser application, a dedicated power management application, or via messaging service. For example, a user may send a message to a predefined address or containing a predefined string of text (e.g., a text message containing “BALANCE” or “HISTORY”). In response, the host 110 or microgrid controller 120 will cause a reply message to be transmitted containing the requested information.
In some embodiments, the microgrid controller 120 may include a short-range communications interface 202 (e.g., a WLAN or WiFi interface) for communicating with a computing device 162 utilized by a local administrator of the microgrid controller 120. When the local administrator is servicing the microgrid controller 120, the administrator may use a computing device 162, such as a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer, or personal computer, to connect with the microgrid controller 120 via the communications interface 202 and perform various administrative functions, such as viewing locally the amount of credit or historical power used per circuit without needing to access the host 110 via the Internet 144 for this information. Other administrative functions include determining when the microgrid controller 120 last synchronized data, such as customer data (e.g., prepaid credits, power consumption, tariffs, etc.) with the host 110, or other diagnostics such as the state of charge of battery 124, average temperature over time of the battery 124, etc.
Current from the power source 402 enters the microgrid controller 420 on an incoming current wire 452 (also called the “hot” wire). In series or in parallel to the incoming current wire 452 is a source sensor 450 (also called a high-side meter). The source sensor 450 may be part of a power interface, such as for instance the power interface 126 illustrated in
Returning to
As discussed above, the monitors/switches 422a-422n can be controlled by the microgrid controller 420 or by a host 110 located remotely from the microgrid controller. The host 110 may also be operable to detect that the microgrid controller 420 has been tampered with. For instance, the microgrid controller may issue a signal to the host 110 if it is opened or otherwise physically tampered with. The host 110 may also be able to detect if the microgrid controller 420 is removed from the system 400. The host 110 may also be able to detect electricity theft between the power source 420 and the microgrid controller 420 by employing, for instance, one or more additional current sensors located between the power source 420 and the microgrid controller 420.
Once the test is complete, all end user destinations 440a-440n are switched back on, meaning that the circuit to each end user destination 440a-440n is closed. The test can be conducted sufficiently quickly so that the end user destinations 440a-440n experience only a negligible interruption in power.
The process 500 illustrated by
Embodiments of the present embodiments may provide various advantages not provided by prior art systems. Multiple households may have power delivered by a single microgrid controller unit, and each household may have its power individually monitored and managed. Above-described embodiments may enable this microgrid controller unit to effectively yet inexpensively detect electricity theft.
While various details have been set forth in the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that the various aspects of the systems and methods for electricity theft detection via a circuit switch may be practiced without these specific details. For example, for conciseness and clarity selected aspects have been shown in block diagram form rather than in detail.
Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the foregoing discussion, it is appreciated that, throughout the foregoing description, discussions using terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
Although various embodiments have been described herein, many modifications, variations, substitutions, changes, and equivalents to those embodiments may be implemented and will occur to those skilled in the art. Also, where materials are disclosed for certain components, other materials may be used. It is therefore to be understood that the foregoing description and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and variations as falling within the scope of the disclosed embodiments. The following claims are intended to cover all such modification and variations.
Some or all of the embodiments described herein may generally comprise technologies for various aspects of the disclosed embodiments, or otherwise according to technologies described herein. In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various aspects described herein which can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof can be viewed as being composed of various types of “electrical circuitry.” Consequently, as used herein “electrical circuitry” includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitry having at least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one application specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming a general purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g., a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein, or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein), electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of random access memory), and/or electrical circuitry forming a communications device (e.g., a modem, communications switch, or optical-electrical equipment). Those having skill in the art will recognize that the subject matter described herein may be implemented in an analog or digital fashion or some combination thereof.
One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein described components (e.g., operations), devices, objects, and the discussion accompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptual clarity and that various configuration modifications are contemplated. Consequently, as used herein, the specific exemplars set forth and the accompanying discussion are intended to be representative of their more general classes. In general, use of any specific exemplar is intended to be representative of its class, and the non-inclusion of specific components (e.g., operations), devices, and objects should not be taken limiting.
With respect to the appended claims, those skilled in the art will appreciate that recited operations therein may generally be performed in any order. Also, although various operational flows are presented in a sequence(s), it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. Examples of such alternate orderings may include overlapping, interleaved, interrupted, reordered, incremental, preparatory, supplemental, simultaneous, reverse, or other variant orderings, unless context dictates otherwise. Furthermore, terms like “responsive to,” “related to,” or other past-tense adjectives are generally not intended to exclude such variants, unless context dictates otherwise.
In certain cases, use of a system or method may occur in a territory even if components are located outside the territory. For example, in a distributed computing context, use of a distributed computing system may occur in a territory even though parts of the system may be located outside of the territory (e.g., relay, server, processor, signal-bearing medium, transmitting computer, receiving computer, etc. located outside the territory).
A sale of a system or method may likewise occur in a territory even if components of the system or method are located and/or used outside the territory. Further, implementation of at least part of a system for performing a method in one territory does not preclude use of the system in another territory.
Although various embodiments have been described herein, many modifications, variations, substitutions, changes, and equivalents to those embodiments may be implemented and will occur to those skilled in the art. Also, where materials are disclosed for certain components, other materials may be used. It is therefore to be understood that the foregoing description and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and variations as falling within the scope of the disclosed embodiments. The following claims are intended to cover all such modification and variations.
In summary, numerous benefits have been described which result from employing the concepts described herein. The foregoing description of the one or more embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting to the precise form disclosed. Modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The one or more embodiments were chosen and described in order to illustrate principles and practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the claims submitted herewith define the overall scope.
