Energy is an integral element of our life, be it in the field of automobiles, smart devices, industrial machines, or household appliances. Scientists have always been craving to develop more energy-efficient systems to enhance the performance of devices, and also to save energy. As a result, most of the electronic gadgets that we use today come with advanced energy monitoring systems. These intelligent systems not only measure the various energy consumption data and carry them to the user, but also perform automatic adjustments to optimize the energy usage. This is done with the help of various registers which store and manipulate the input data.
These energy monitoring systems come in the form of IC chips, which reduces the complexity of the circuit, leaving only a few components to be added externally. Energy monitoring ICs for 1-phase, 2-phase, and 3-phase systems are available in the market. Main parameters which are generally measured by these energy monitoring systems are:
1. Active, reactive, and apparent power. The apparent power of a given phase is measured by multiplying its RMS current and RMS voltage. Active power is the cos component of the apparent power while reactive power is the sine component of the apparent power. The arithmetic sum of phase-wise apparent current gives out the total apparent power.
2. Fundamental and harmonic components of power. Many energy metering systems also have provisions for measuring the fundamental and harmonic components of power. In fact, they may even have Fourier analysis functions for measuring the higher harmonics of voltage, current, and power of the system.
3. RMS values of voltage and current- RMS values of voltage and current are also monitored. The average (DC) values of the same may also be measured.
4. Power factor- The power factor is the ratio of active power to the apparent power of the system and is equal to the cosine of the phase angle of a particular phase.
5. Frequency
6. Phase angle- In the case of three-phase systems, the phase angle is generally measured for phase A by default. In the case of sag in phase A, the phase angle is measured for phase C and for phase B in case both phases A and C are sag.
7. Temperature- The temperature of the system is measured generally with the help of the on-chip thermal sensor.
An excellent example of three-phase energy monitoring systems is the ATM90E36A chip which has many advanced energy and power measuring features. Other common energy metering systems incorporate the MCP39F501-E/MQ, the ADE7763ARSZRL, and the STPM32TR.
