System Integrators for Web-Based Power Meters?

[peebee]

I have a site where there are various existing power monitors connected to the Ethernet network. I need a vendor to pull that data off the LAN, perhaps do some simple number crunching (nothing more complex than add the kW's from a couple meters together), and display it (perhaps on an LCD showing a one-line diagram with switch positions and kW at each switch).

It's not clear to me what vendors would be capable of this. The following come to mind:

+ Electrical Mfgrs (Sq-D, C-H, GE, Siemens, etc)
+ Power Meter Mfgrs (Dranetz, PMI, Fluke/RPM, etc) - and yes, I realize that PMI = Sq-D now...
+ BMS Vendors (Johnson Controls, Andover, etc)

Am I missing any obvious sources to integrate these meters into a central display station?

Also -- it's very unclear to me what issues I might need to be aware of with integrating meters from various sources -- can any system integrator work with any IP-based (or Modbus over Ethernet) meter? Will there be any shocking cost surprises due to mapping meter addresses?

Will all the features of all Ethernet meters be available to any selected system? For example, waveform capture -- while I have no immediate need for that, perhaps some monitoring systems would be able to handle that data at little or no cost, whereas other systems might not be able to access that information.....

Any other pointers on this?

 

[swn1]

The more stuff you want to have seemlessly available across multiple meter types, the more it is going to cost you.

Since the electrical and networking parts of the job are already done, you need a controls company. Anybody who knows what Modbus TCP means should be able to do the job.

All they need to know about energy metering is how the KWh value is scaled in each meter.

Actually, they should probably go ahead and map a few more values as 'standard equipment': KWh, KVARh, average voltage and current, voltage and current unbalance, power demand, and power factor would be my starting point. Plus neutral current, if available.

The best way to deal with the value-added features is to get the software for each type of meter and interrogate them over the network with the appropriate program. Merging that stuff into a common format would be a huge job.

It would be more economical, probably, to select an existing software package that does what you want and talks to most of the meter types in your inventory. Then replace the ones it doesn't talk to.

Cheaper and faster than rolling your own, plus you get the illusion of vendor support for the software.

 

[peebee]

Swn1 -- thanks for the insights.

Regarding "It would be more economical, probably, to select an existing software package that does what you want and talks to most of the meter types in your inventory. Then replace the ones it doesn't talk to." -- Would that be software provided by one of the meter manufacturers, or are there other 3rd-party software vendors out there that would be worth pursuing?

That's really the heart of the issue -- it's not clear to me if there are 3rd-party people out there I should be trying to connect with, or if I should just be talking to the outfits I mentioned above....

 

[dpc]

peebee,

With the various meters involved, I think you are probably going to be better served by either using the individual software packages provided with each meter, or by rolling your own solution using some type of DDE or OPC software to collect the data. Once you get the data, you have a lot of options for displaying it, including Excel.

But I don't think the meter suppliers are going to be much help in putting together a system to read data from each other's meters. At least, that wouldn't be my first choice.

 

[CJCPE]

I think the secret to integrating devices from various sources is the availability of drivers like DDE or OPD drivers for each type of device. The human machine interface (HMI) devices that are available from the electrical manuafcturers etc. can probably work with the most popular types of drivers.

There is 3rd party software that would run under a Microsoft operating system and perhaps also Unix or something else. See

http://www.wonderware.com.

There are also others. The same kinds of drivers would be required.

 

[sparky1976]

Peebee,

I have several different meter mfr in my site,and want to get kw and other number from meter in simple way, I use matrikon product, use their OPC modbus server and and desktop historian, and do math in opc to xl. and they not expensive like PI from OSI.