JP2013146115A - Power failure detection system using automatic meter reading system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in which, for detection of power failure with respect to a low-voltage line, a technique for detecting the occurrence of power failure by monitoring an electric conduction state inside a house and an electric conduction state of an incoming line between the house and a pole transformer using two monitoring devices is known, but the monitoring devices need batteries in the devices so as to transmit information even at the time of power failure, therefore electric conduction to a smart meter is stopped at the occurrence of power failure and thereby transmission of information becomes impossible in the case where the technique is applied to a power meter which directly obtains power from a power system and operates.SOLUTION: This invention detects power failure with the following method using the situation that transmission of information from a smart meter becomes impossible at the occurrence of power failure. The method achieves power failure detection by sequentially confirming factors for which data cannot be transmitted when there is a smart meter from which meter-reading value data cannot be acquired and determining power failure when there are no other factors.

Description

  Technology related to power failure detection in automatic meter reading systems. In particular, a method for detecting a power failure when the meter reading data is transmitted from a power meter (smart meter) by wireless communication.

  Regarding the method of detecting a power failure, the technology differs between the high-voltage line and the low-voltage line. In the high-voltage line, the current-carrying status is regularly checked in units of feeders, and this is known as a technology for monitoring and controlling a distribution automation system. On the other hand, in the low-voltage line, the current status is not confirmed as a system for individual consumers. Regarding the low-voltage line, in particular, Patent Document 1 detects the occurrence of a power outage by monitoring the energized state of the room and the energized state of the lead-in line between the house and the pole transformer using two monitoring devices. Technology is disclosed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-6656

  However, in Patent Document 1, the monitoring device that monitors the energized state needs to include a battery in the device to enable transmission of information even during a power failure. For this reason, no consideration is given to a smart meter (power meter) having a specification in which power is obtained directly from a system (for example, a lead-in line). Therefore, when the technique of Patent Document 1 is applied to a smart meter that directly obtains electric power from the system, there is a problem that energization of the smart meter is stopped due to the occurrence of a power failure, thereby making it impossible to transmit information. .

  The present invention detects a power failure by the following method using the situation that information cannot be transmitted from the smart meter when a power failure occurs.

  An automatic meter reading system connected to the smart meter via the network periodically acquires meter reading data from the smart meter. When there is a smart meter that cannot acquire the meter reading data, the power failure detection is realized by sequentially checking the factors that the data cannot be transmitted and by determining that there is no other factor.

  According to the present invention, even a smart meter that does not include a battery can detect a power failure.

Overview of power failure detection management processing section in automatic meter reading system Overall process flow diagram for detecting power outages Process flow diagram of the unreceived smart meter extraction processing unit Meter reading database Equipment information database Uncollected smart meter database Process flow diagram of the switch status confirmation processing unit Switch database Process flow diagram of the instrument abnormality confirmation processing unit Event information database Processing flow diagram of the communication status error confirmation processing unit Processing flow diagram of the collection status confirmation processing unit for the service column Power failure detection support database Processing flow diagram of alarm processing notification unit

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a power failure detection system. The power failure detection system includes an automatic meter reading server 10, a power meter (smart meter) 20, and a network connecting the automatic meter reading server and the power meter.

  The power meter is installed in each house, building, condominium, etc., and acquires the amount of power used at those locations (facility). The acquired power usage amount is transmitted to the automatic meter reading server by wireless as meter reading value data.

  The automatic meter reading server includes storage units (databases) 101 to 106 that store meter reading information, a power failure detection processing unit 107 that detects power failure based on the information, and a communication unit 114 that communicates with a smart meter. This power failure detection processing unit is realized by executing various programs using an arithmetic processing unit (CPU).

  FIG. 2 is an overall processing flowchart of this embodiment. First, the meter reading value database 108 is scanned to extract smart meters that have not received meter reading value data (unreceived smart meters) (S101).

  Next, with regard to the extracted unreceived smart meter, the switch status check (S103), smart meter error check (S104), and communication status error check (S105) are executed, so there is a high possibility of power failure. Extract smart meter. Here, when a plurality of unreceived smart meters are extracted, the processing from S103 to S105 is executed for each smart meter ID (S102, S106). It should be noted that the power outage point can be estimated even though any of these three steps from S103 to S105 is not executed but is one of them. The efficiency of narrowing down can be improved by proceeding in the order of S103, S104, and S105. Meter reading data may not be acquired in a wireless system. Data transmission using radio may be affected by being blocked by a moving shield such as an automobile. That is, a problem may occur in the communication state. Here, before deepening the problem of the communication state, the efficiency is improved by reducing the number of subjects by crushing items that can be checked in advance. By the way, a switch is a device that can turn on / off current. The installation location is held inside the smart meter. The on / off state of the switch is transmitted to the automatic meter-reading server via the communication unit in the smart meter. In the present embodiment, a process including these three steps will be described in order to more efficiently estimate a power outage point.

  Next, smart meters in the vicinity of the smart meter with high possibility of power failure are checked (S1207), and the number is counted (S108).

  Details of each process will be described later with reference to FIGS. 3, 7, 9, 11, 12, and 14.

  FIG. 3 corresponds to S101 in FIG. 2 and is a processing flow diagram regarding extraction of unreceived smart meters. This process is executed by the unreceived smart meter extraction processing unit (101). The meter reading data of each smart meter is stored in the meter reading database. Meter readings are collected on a fixed time schedule such as 30 minutes. For example, this flow is activated by a defined period such as 30 minutes (S201). The period can be arbitrarily set. The unreceived smart meter extraction processing unit (101) first searches the meter reading value database to identify the smart meter to be metered. Thereafter, by searching the equipment information database, information on the installation location of the smart meter is added, and an unreceived smart meter is extracted (S202).

  Here, whether or not it has been received is determined by determining that a predetermined time has passed since the previous reception or a predetermined reception interval has not been received, and extracting it. After the extraction, the smart meter identification (smart meter ID) and information about the installation location acquired from the equipment information database are stored in the unreceived smart meter database (S203). After storing, the process proceeds to the process of FIG. 7 one by one using SMID (smart meter ID) as a key. SMID is an ID uniquely assigned to a smart meter.

  FIG. 4 shows the data structure of the meter reading value database. Regarding the item of whether or not re-collection is possible, re-collection is performed at a preset time (after 30 minutes) if the meter reading value cannot be acquired from the smart meter as scheduled. After the recollection, a recollection execution flag that is a flag for identifying the recollected smart meter (×: that was not recollected (metering value data has been acquired by periodic automatic meter reading), ○: recollected (The meter reading value data has not been acquired by periodic automatic meter reading, and is then acquired by recollection)).

  FIG. 5 shows the data structure of the facility information database. The service column ID is a unique ID for a service column that is mainly installed on the ground. The drawing column 30 in FIG. 1 shows that a plurality of smart meters are under the umbrella. The range managed by the smart meter for one pull-in column is estimated to be approximately 20 to 30 units. It is assumed that this database is created in advance and stored in the automatic meter reading server.

  FIG. 6 is a data structure of an uncollected smart meter database. This database includes a smart meter ID (SMID), a pull-in column ID, a date when data could not be acquired, and a power failure flag. As for the power failure flag, it can be assumed that there is a regular problem with the smart meter if the recollection rate is above a certain level. On the other hand, if the recollection rate is less than a certain value, there is no regular problem with the smart meter, so it is possible to estimate the possibility of a power failure.

  FIG. 7 corresponds to S103 of FIG. 2 and is a process flow diagram for searching for the state of the switch. This process is executed by the switch state confirmation processing unit (102). First, the switch database is searched using the SMID as a key (S301). After the search, it is checked whether the switch is on (S302). If ON, the process proceeds to FIG. If it is off, the loop processing (S106) for the SMID is terminated with no problem. These loop processes (S102) are executed for the next SMID. In this process, it can be confirmed whether another department has turned off the switch of the smart meter.

  FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the switch database.

  FIG. 9 corresponds to S104 in FIG. 2 and is a processing flow diagram for searching for the presence / absence of an abnormality in the instrument. This process is executed by the smart meter abnormality confirmation processing unit (103). First, it is checked whether there is an abnormality with respect to SMID (S401). If not, the process proceeds to FIG. If there is, there is no problem, and the loop processing (S106) for the SMID is terminated. These loop processes (S102) are executed for the next SMID. In this process, it can be confirmed whether or not the meter itself has a problem as the reason why the meter reading value data is not uploaded from the smart meter.

  FIG. 10 shows the data structure of the event information database. What is an event? When a problem occurs in the smart meter, the smart meter sends an event to the automatic meter reading system.

  FIG. 11 corresponds to S105 of FIG. 2, and is a processing flow diagram for performing a communication state abnormality check. This processing is executed by the communication state abnormality confirmation processing unit. First, in order to check whether the SMID was outputting meter reading data at the same time zone that was not collected this time, a plurality of data (including data on whether or not recollection is possible) from this meter value database for this SMID Is extracted (S501).

  After extraction, calculate the recollection rate. After the calculation, it is checked whether the recollection rate is 80% or more (S502). If it is less than 80%, the power failure flag = 1 is written in the uncollected smart meter database (S503), and a series of loop processing (S102 to S106) in this SMID ends. In this case, these loop processes are executed for the next SMID. If it is 80% or more, a power failure flag = 0 is written in the uncollected smart meter database (S504), and a series of loop processing (S102 to S106) in this SMID is completed. In this case, these loop processes are executed for the next SMID. The 80% value can be set arbitrarily.

  When all the records are checked against the SMID of the uncollected smart meter database, the process proceeds to FIG.

  Thus, in order to transmit the meter-reading value data of the smart meter to the automatic meter-reading system by wireless communication, it is possible to remove the cause caused by wireless characteristics by using past history data.

  FIG. 12 corresponds to S107 of FIG. 2 and is a process flow diagram for creating a power failure detection support database for checking neighboring smart meters. Here, the SMID smart meter group under one umbrella is defined as the neighborhood for one service pole ID. This process is executed by the collection status confirmation processing unit (105) for the pull-in column.

  First, the SMID of the power failure flag: 1 is extracted from the uncollected smart meter database (S601). The extracted data is written into the power failure detection support database (S602). The corresponding SMID is counted for the service pole ID, written in the power failure detection support database (S603), and the process is terminated.

  FIG. 13 shows the data structure of the power failure detection support database. The item of the customer power outage estimation overview indicates the possibility that a power outage has occurred at one or more houses for the service pole ID.

  FIG. 14 corresponds to S108 of FIG. 2, and is a process flow diagram for performing alarm processing by counting neighboring smart meters. This processing is executed by the alarm notification processing unit (106). Of all the records stored in the power failure detection support database, one record is checked (S701), and the number of counts is checked (S702). In the case of one case, the possibility that a power outage has occurred at one customer is written in the power outage detection support database (S704). In the case of two or more cases, there is a possibility that a power outage has occurred in a plurality of customers, and the information is written in the power outage detection support database (S703). When all records have been checked, an alarm notification is sent to the department in charge (S706). In this way, by isolating one or more customers who have a possibility of power outage into one or more, it is possible to improve the priority of the possibility of power outage trouble and detect specific locations.

10: Automatic meter reading server 101: Meter reading value database 102: Equipment information database 103: Event information database 104: Uncollected smart meter database 105: Switch database 106: Power failure detection support database 107: Power failure detection processing unit,
114: Communication unit 20: Electric power meter

Claims (8)

A power failure detection method using a meter reading device,
A database for storing the meter reading values transmitted from each meter reading device;
Out of each of the meter reading devices, an unreceived device extraction step for extracting an unreceived device that is the meter reading device for which the meter reading value has not been transmitted to the meter reading server;
An estimation step for estimating the reason why the unreceived device could not transmit;
A detection step of detecting a power failure based on a result of the estimation step;
A power failure detection method comprising: In the power failure detection method according to claim 1,
The estimation step includes
A power failure detection method for estimating a reason why the unreceived device could not be transmitted based on past communication state information of the meter-reading device for a time zone during which the meter-reading value was not transmitted from the meter-reading device. . In the power failure detection method according to claim 2,
The estimation step includes
Based on the acquired past communication state information, calculate the ratio that the meter reading value was not transmitted, and if the ratio is equal to or less than the specified value, it is estimated that the reason why the transmission could not be performed is not a communication abnormality,
The detection step detects a power failure based on the estimation, with the meter-reading device as a power failure occurrence location. In the power failure detection method according to claim 3,
The estimation step further includes an estimation based on information about a state of a switch of a distribution network and an estimation based on an abnormality of the meter-reading device. In the power failure detection method according to claim 4,
The estimation step includes
A power failure detection method, wherein estimation is performed in the order of estimation based on information about a state of a switch, estimation based on abnormality of the meter-reading device, and estimation based on a rate at which a meter-reading value is not transmitted. A power failure detection server that detects a power failure based on information from a meter-reading device,
A database for storing meter reading values transmitted from each meter reading device;
Of each of the meter reading devices, an unreceived device extraction processing unit that extracts an unreceived device that is the meter reading device for which the meter reading value is not transmitted to the meter reading server;
An estimation processing unit for estimating the reason why the unreceived device could not be transmitted;
A detection processing unit for detecting a power failure based on the result of the estimation step;
A power failure detection server comprising: In the power failure detection server according to claim 6,
The estimation processing unit
A power failure detection server that estimates a reason why the unreceived device could not be transmitted based on past communication status information of the meter-reading device for a time zone during which the meter-reading value was not transmitted from the meter-reading device. .   The power failure detection system provided with the power failure detection server of Claim 6 or 7, and the said meter-reading apparatus.

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