Method and system for automatically testing communication pressure of electric energy meter

Abstract

The invention relates to a communication pressure automatic test method and system for an electric energy meter. The method comprises the following steps: controlling an electric energy meter calibrating device to output an electric energy meter critical voltage to a calibrated electric energy meter; controlling the electric energy meter calibrating device to output rated voltage and maximum current to the calibrated electric energy meter; setting the date and time of the detected electric energy meter, and reading the data of the detected electric energy meter before and after cross-year; adding a leading interference frame at the frame header of the normal communication frame, inserting an error frame in the middle and adding a leading interference frame at the frame tail in sequence to obtain a test frame, and sending the test frame to the detected electric energy meter; modifying the communication baud rate of the detected electric energy meter, and reading data of the detected electric energy meter under different communication baud rates; reading a reset record of the detected electric energy meter; according to the method, the repeatability, concurrency and load capacity of the pressure test are fully considered, various complex operation environments of the electric energy meter are simulated, a set of complete communication pressure test method is provided, and the field operation failure rate can be effectively reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of electric energy meter detection, and in particular to a method and system for automatically testing the communication pressure of an electric energy meter. Background Art

[0002] With the advancement of smart grid construction in my country and the widespread adoption of smart energy meters, the communication capabilities of energy meters are playing a crucial role in practical applications such as remote meter reading, fault information reporting, and data monitoring and management. However, when automated electricity information collection systems perform high-frequency and continuous meter readings, they often encounter a series of anomalies, including low communication success rates, communication buffer overflows leading to system crashes, management MCU resets, and no responses to interference frames. These issues not only severely restrict the automated data collection capabilities of terminals but can also affect the basic metering functions of energy meters, leading to power consumption disputes. To ensure the stable operation of energy meters and electricity information collection systems, and to adapt to complex and changing field conditions, it is imperative to establish a comprehensive and effective communication stress testing method.

[0003] Patent application CN102759724A discloses a method and system for testing the communication reliability of smart energy meters. This method involves a test host sending communication frames of the corresponding test type to a multi-serial port card. The card then distributes the frames to each smart energy meter under test and determines the communication reliability of each smart energy meter based on the response to the communication frames. However, this solution only tests the meter's ability to resist interference from communication frames, resulting in a relatively limited test scenario. In other communication environments with non-interference frames, this solution cannot fully guarantee the meter's operational quality, and therefore cannot perform a complete communication stress test on the meter. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Based on this, it is necessary to provide an automatic communication pressure testing method and system for an electric energy meter to address the problem that the current communication pressure testing scenario of the electric energy meter is relatively single, resulting in unreliable test results.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for automatically testing communication pressure of an electric energy meter, the method comprising:

[0006] Step S1, controlling the electric energy meter verification device to output the electric energy meter critical voltage to the electric energy meter under test, reading the data of the electric energy meter under test and calculating the communication success rate;

[0007] Step S2, controlling the electric energy meter verification device to output rated voltage and maximum current to the electric energy meter under test, reading data from the electric energy meter under test and calculating a communication success rate;

[0008] Step S3, setting the date and time of the inspected electric energy meter, reading the data of the inspected electric energy meter around the New Year and calculating the communication success rate;

[0009] Step S4, sequentially adding a leading interference frame to the frame header of a normal communication frame, inserting an error frame in the middle, and adding a trailing interference frame to the frame tail to obtain a test frame, sending the test frame to the electric energy meter under test, reading the data of the electric energy meter under test, and calculating the communication success rate;

[0010] Step S5, modifying the communication baud rate of the inspected electric energy meter, reading the data of the inspected electric energy meter at different communication baud rates and calculating the communication success rate;

[0011] Step S6, reading the reset record of the inspected electric energy meter;

[0012] Step S7: obtaining a test result of the inspected electric energy meter according to the communication success rate in steps S1 to S5 and the reset record.

[0013] Furthermore, the leading interference frame includes a repeatedly set start symbol or random garbled code, and the trailing interference frame includes a repeatedly set end symbol or random garbled code.

[0014] Furthermore, the error frame is a communication frame obtained by changing the frame header, frame tail, control code, check code, data identifier, communication address or data length of the normal communication frame.

[0015] Furthermore, the cumulative byte size of the leading interference frame, the trailing interference frame and the error frame is larger than the communication buffer size of the inspected electric energy meter.

[0016] Furthermore, the communication baud rate of the inspected electric energy meter includes 1200bps, 2400bps, 4800bps, 9600bps, 19200bps, 38400bps, 57600bps and 115200bps.

[0017] Furthermore, step S3 includes:

[0018] Step S31, setting the date and time of the inspected electric energy meter to 15 minutes before the new year;

[0019] Step S32: 15 minutes before and after the New Year, continuously read the data of the inspected electric energy meter and calculate the communication success rate.

[0020] Furthermore, the data of the inspected electric energy meter includes a clock, electric quantity and electric parameters of the inspected electric energy meter, and the electric parameters include voltage, current, grid frequency and power.

[0021] In the second aspect, the present application also provides an automatic communication pressure testing system for an electric energy meter, comprising a testing host, an electric energy meter calibration device and an electric energy meter to be tested, wherein the testing host tests the electric energy meter to be tested according to the automatic communication pressure testing method for the electric energy meter as described in the first aspect.

[0022] Furthermore, the test host is compatible with DL / T 698.45-2017, DL / T 645-2007 and DLMS protocol types, and supports RS485, Bluetooth, infrared, carrier and Ethernet serial port communications.

[0023] Furthermore, the number of the inspected electric energy meters is at least two.

[0024] The above-mentioned automatic communication stress testing method and system for the electric energy meter controls the electric energy meter calibration device through the test host to output the critical voltage of the electric energy meter to the tested electric energy meter to test the communication performance of the electric energy meter under extreme working conditions. The test host controls the electric energy meter calibration device to output the rated voltage and maximum current to the tested electric energy meter to test the communication performance of the electric energy meter in the high-frequency electricity pulse output scenario. The test host controls the electric energy meter calibration device to read the data of the tested electric energy meter when the date and time of the tested electric energy meter are around the New Year to test the communication performance of the electric energy meter at key time nodes. The test host constructs a test frame including a leading interference frame, an intermediate error frame and a trailing interference frame, and sends the test frame to the tested electric energy meter to test the communication performance of the electric energy meter in an abnormal communication scenario. Finally, the test host obtains the test result of the tested electric energy meter based on the communication success rate in each test scenario and the reset record of the electric energy meter after completing each test, thereby significantly improving the reliability of the communication stress test result of the electric energy meter. In summary, this test method simulates various complex working conditions in the actual operation of the electric energy meter by testing the host and the electric energy meter calibration device, providing a complete set of communication stress testing methods, which can effectively reduce the field operation failure rate of the electric energy meter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the structure of an automatic communication pressure test system for an electric energy meter in one embodiment;

[0026] Figure 2 The figure is a flow chart of a method for automatically testing the communication pressure of an electric energy meter in one embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of this application more clear, the following further describes this application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain this application and are not intended to limit this application.

[0028] Example 1

[0029] In actual applications, communication problems often encountered between electricity meters and data collection terminals include:

[0030] 1. When multiple channels are communicating simultaneously, the mismatch between the serial port receive register and the UART (asynchronous receiver transmitter) of the communication channel may result in probabilistic communication failure.

[0031] 2. During long-term continuous meter reading or extreme working conditions, communication is unstable and the success rate is low;

[0032] 3. When the electric energy meter outputs high-frequency electric quantity pulses, the electric quantity pulse interruption interferes with the communication interruption, and the communication success rate is low;

[0033] 4. When communicating at key nodes in the energy meter program, the interrupt priority order is not properly handled or there is no corresponding cache mechanism, resulting in low communication success rate or no response;

[0034] 5. When receiving interference frames or error frames during network communication or multi-protocol communication, the message cannot be correctly parsed or there is no communication buffer overflow protection mechanism, resulting in the electric energy meter not responding normally or even crashing;

[0035] 6. Frame loss occurs at different communication rates, resulting in abnormal analysis at the acquisition terminal;

[0036] 7. Improper timing processing during various stress tests may cause the watchdog to reset, resulting in serious problems such as power loss.

[0037] In response to the above communication problems, this embodiment provides a method for automatically testing the communication pressure of an electric energy meter, which verifies the communication reliability of the electric energy meter by simulating multiple extreme working conditions, so as to be applied to Figure 1 The following is an example of the test host in the automatic test system for electric energy meter communication pressure. Figure 2 As shown, the specific steps include:

[0038] Step S1, controlling the electric energy meter verification device to output the electric energy meter critical voltage to the electric energy meter under test, reading the data of the electric energy meter under test and calculating the communication success rate.

[0039] The critical voltage of the electric energy meter is the minimum voltage at which the electric energy meter can start and operate normally. For example, the critical voltage of the electric energy meter can be 60% of the reference voltage of the electric energy meter. For example, for an electric energy meter with a reference voltage of 220V, the critical voltage value is 132V. Specifically, after the electric energy meter under test is correctly connected to the electric energy meter calibration device, the test host sends a control instruction to the electric energy meter calibration device. The electric energy meter calibration device outputs the corresponding critical voltage to the electric energy meter under test according to the control instruction, so that it is in a critical working state. At this time, the test host sends a data reading instruction to the electric energy meter under test, such as reading the current power, voltage, current and other parameters, and simultaneously records the response of the electric energy meter, including the number of successful responses, the number of failures and the reasons for failure (such as timeout, verification error, etc.). Afterwards, the test host calculates the communication success rate to test the driving ability of the electric energy meter under the limit voltage. Specifically, the communication success rate is calculated as the ratio of the number of times the test host successfully reads the data of the electric energy meter under test during the detection cycle to the total number of times the test host reads the data of the electric energy meter under test. If the communication success rate is lower than the set threshold, it is determined that the driving capability of the electric energy meter is insufficient under the extreme working state.

[0040] Step S2, controlling the electric energy meter verification device to output the rated voltage and maximum current to the electric energy meter under test, reading the data of the electric energy meter under test and calculating the communication success rate.

[0041] Among them, the maximum current is the maximum current value that the specified electric energy meter can continuously carry and maintain safety and meet the accuracy requirements. Specifically, the test host controls the electric energy meter calibration device to output the rated voltage and maximum current of the electric energy meter to the electric energy meter under test, so that the electric energy meter under test is in a high-frequency electric quantity pulse output state, and continuously reads the data of the electric energy meter under test, calculates the communication success rate, and thus completes the test of the impact of electric quantity pulse interruption on communication interruption. Similarly, the communication success rate is calculated as described above. If the communication success rate is lower than the set threshold, it is determined that the communication stability of the electric energy meter in the high-frequency pulse output state is insufficient.

[0042] Step S3: Set the date and time of the inspected electric energy meter, read the data of the inspected electric energy meter around the New Year, and calculate the communication success rate.

[0043] The energy meter is equipped with an internal clock module, which not only records electricity usage but also plays the important role of calculating electricity bills. The test host first sets the date and time of the energy meter under test to a time before midnight on New Year's Eve. Then, it continuously reads the meter's data for a period of time around the New Year's Eve and calculates the communication success rate during this period. This tests the energy meter's communication performance during the daily and monthly freezes at midnight on New Year's Eve, which require large amounts of data to be settled. This tests the energy meter's communication capabilities at key program nodes.

[0044] Exemplarily, in some embodiments, step S3 further includes:

[0045] Step S31, setting the date and time of the inspected electric energy meter to 15 minutes before the new year.

[0046] Step S32: 15 minutes before and after the New Year, continuously read the data of the inspected electric energy meter and calculate the communication success rate.

[0047] Specifically, the test host sends a date-setting command to the meter calibration device, which sets the date and time of the meter being tested to the specified date and time in the command, for example, 15 minutes before the New Year's Eve. Once the setting is complete, the test host continuously reads the meter's data for 15 minutes before and after the New Year's Eve and calculates the communication success rate. This verifies the meter's communication stability during this critical period around the New Year's Eve and tests the meter's communication processing capabilities when large amounts of data are being settled, transferred, and frozen.

[0048] Step S4, sequentially add a leading interference frame to the frame header of the normal communication frame, insert an error frame in the middle, and add a trailing interference frame to the frame tail to obtain a test frame, send the test frame to the tested electric energy meter, read the data of the tested electric energy meter and calculate the communication success rate.

[0049] Specifically, a start character or random garbled code is repeatedly added to the communication frame header to construct a leading interference frame. An end character or random garbled code is repeatedly added to the communication frame tail to construct a trailing interference frame. The error frame is generated by changing the frame header, frame tail, control code, check code, data identifier, communication address or data length of a normal communication frame, or by directly inserting garbled code in the middle of a normal communication frame to test the electric energy meter's ability to identify and process error frames. In particular, when constructing the test frame, the cumulative byte size of the leading interference frame, trailing interference frame and error frame can be set to exceed the communication buffer capacity of the electric energy meter under test to test its protection mechanism in the event of buffer overflow.

[0050] After constructing the test frame, the test host sends it to the meter under test and reads the meter's data to evaluate its response. The meter should be able to interpret and respond to interference frames normally, while it should show no response to error frames. This testing process verifies the meter's ability to resist interference from abnormal frames and the effectiveness of its protection mechanisms in the event of buffer overflow.

[0051] Step S5, modifying the communication baud rate of the inspected electric energy meter, reading the data of the inspected electric energy meter at different communication baud rates and calculating the communication success rate.

[0052] Specifically, modify the communication baud rate of the electricity meter, such as setting it to 1200bps, 2400bps, 4800bps, 9600bps, 19200bps, 38400bps, 57600bps and 115200bps in sequence, and read the electricity meter data at each communication baud rate, calculate the communication success rate, and test the communication response capability of the electricity meter at different communication rates.

[0053] Step S6: reading the reset record of the inspected electric energy meter.

[0054] Specifically, after completing the tests from step S1 to step S5, the reset record of the tested electric energy meter is read to confirm whether the above-mentioned pressure test step causes abnormal reset of the electric energy meter.

[0055] Step S7: obtaining the test result of the inspected electric energy meter according to the communication success rate and reset record in steps S1 to S5.

[0056] The test host can read the clock, power, and electrical parameters of the energy meter under test, including voltage, current, grid frequency, power, and other parameters. Furthermore, the test host can read the relevant data N times continuously to test the communication response capability of the energy meter under test during this rapid reading. The actual value of N can be set by those skilled in the art based on test requirements.

[0057] After all test items are completed, the test results are compared with the expected results. If all are qualified, the electric energy meter is considered qualified. For example, if the communication success rate in steps S1 to S5 all meet the preset threshold and the tested electric energy meter does not reset, the tested electric energy meter can be considered qualified; otherwise, it is unqualified.

[0058] In addition, the communication stress automatic testing method of the electric energy meter in this embodiment can also simultaneously calibrate the metering error of the electric energy meter, expand the impact of the electric energy meter communication stress test on the metering, and can also be used with a high and low temperature box to apply environmental stresses such as temperature and humidity to verify the communication reliability of the electric energy meter under double 85 high temperature and high humidity (high temperature 85°C, humidity 85% RH), low temperature -45°C, high and low temperature shock, and high and low temperature cycle.

[0059] The automatic communication stress testing method of the electric energy meter in this embodiment tests the communication performance of the electric energy meter under extreme working conditions by controlling the electric energy meter calibration device to output the critical voltage of the electric energy meter to the electric energy meter under test, tests the communication performance of the electric energy meter in a high-frequency electric quantity pulse output scenario by controlling the electric energy meter calibration device to output the rated voltage and maximum current to the electric energy meter under test, tests the communication performance of the electric energy meter at a critical time node by controlling the electric energy meter calibration device to read the data of the electric energy meter under test when the date and time of the electric energy meter under test is around the New Year, tests the communication performance of the electric energy meter under abnormal communication scenarios by constructing a test frame including a leading interference frame, an intermediate error frame and a trailing interference frame, and sending the test frame to the electric energy meter under test, and finally obtains the test result of the electric energy meter under test based on the communication success rate in each test scenario and the reset record of the electric energy meter after completing each test, thereby significantly improving the reliability of the communication stress test result of the electric energy meter. In summary, this test method provides a complete set of communication stress testing methods by simulating various complex working conditions in the actual operation of the electric energy meter with the electric energy meter calibration device, which can effectively reduce the field operation failure rate of the electric energy meter.

[0060] Example 2

[0061] like Figure 1 As shown, this embodiment provides a communication pressure automatic testing system for an electric energy meter, including a test host, an electric energy meter calibration device and an electric energy meter to be tested. The test host is communicatively connected to the electric energy meter calibration device, and the communication methods include but are not limited to RS485, Bluetooth, infrared, carrier, Ethernet, etc. The automatic testing platform of the test host is a host computer software running on the PC side, which is based on C# language programming and has a script development function. The test scripts, test plans, and test data are all stored on the server and updated in real time, and have historical inspection data and detailed script operation record query functions. In addition, the automatic testing platform is compatible with DL / T698.45-2017, DL / T 645-2007, and DLMS protocol types, and supports serial or parallel testing of multiple meters. The communication method between the test host and the electric energy meter to be tested supports multiple methods such as RS485, Bluetooth, infrared, carrier, Ethernet, etc.

[0062] The energy meter calibration device includes a standard energy meter, a standard power source, an error meter, and other supporting peripherals. In a preferred embodiment, the energy meter calibration device interacts with a test host via RS232. The test host sends control commands to the energy meter calibration device based on a test script, controlling the output voltage or current of the desired amplitude and phase. Simultaneously, the test host can also read parameters such as voltage and current from the standard energy meter in the energy meter calibration device.

[0063] Specifically, after a connection is established between the test host, the energy meter being tested, and the energy meter calibration device, the test host automatically executes the test plan and runs the test script on the energy meter being tested. In some embodiments, there are at least two energy meters being tested. In this case, the test host automatically executes the test plan and runs the test script on each energy meter being tested in sequence. The energy meter calibration device is set to an online state, and the automatic test platform calls the corresponding test script to perform simultaneous multi-channel testing to verify the independence of each communication channel of the energy meter. This system can automatically and efficiently execute the various tests in Example 1 above, achieving a comprehensive evaluation of the communication performance of the energy meter.

[0064] The communication stress automatic testing system for the electric energy meter of this embodiment can realize full-process batch automated testing without manual intervention. The test data is uploaded to the background database in real time and supports retrieval and query at any time, which greatly improves the testing efficiency, saves time and effort, and has outstanding practical value. Moreover, the system has excellent compatibility, supports parallel access of multiple communication channels, and tests multiple communication protocols, which can fully cover the testing requirements in different application scenarios. In addition, by performing communication stress tests on the electric energy meter under the above various complex operating environments, a complete communication stress testing method system is constructed, which can effectively accelerate the verification of the communication reliability of the electric energy meter, improve test efficiency, and reduce the failure rate of field operation.

[0065] The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. In order to make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-mentioned embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0066] The above-described embodiments merely represent several implementation methods of the present application. While the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that a person skilled in the art could make various modifications and improvements without departing from the spirit of the present application, all of which fall within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present patent application shall be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for automatically testing the communication pressure of an electric energy meter, characterized in that: The method comprises: Step S1, controlling the electric energy meter verification device to output the electric energy meter critical voltage to the electric energy meter under test, reading the data of the electric energy meter under test and calculating the communication success rate; Step S2, controlling the electric energy meter verification device to output rated voltage and maximum current to the electric energy meter under test, reading data from the electric energy meter under test and calculating a communication success rate; Step S3, setting the date and time of the inspected electric energy meter, reading the data of the inspected electric energy meter around the New Year and calculating the communication success rate; Step S4, sequentially adding a leading interference frame to the frame header of a normal communication frame, inserting an error frame in the middle, and adding a trailing interference frame to the frame tail to obtain a test frame, sending the test frame to the electric energy meter under test, reading the data of the electric energy meter under test, and calculating the communication success rate; Step S5, modifying the communication baud rate of the inspected electric energy meter, reading the data of the inspected electric energy meter at different communication baud rates and calculating the communication success rate; Step S6, reading the reset record of the inspected electric energy meter; Step S7: obtaining a test result of the inspected electric energy meter according to the communication success rate in steps S1 to S5 and the reset record.

2. The automatic communication pressure testing method of an electric energy meter according to claim 1, characterized in that: The leading interference frame includes a repeatedly set start symbol or random garbled code, and the trailing interference frame includes a repeatedly set end symbol or random garbled code.

3. The automatic communication pressure testing method of an electric energy meter according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The error frame is a communication frame obtained by changing the frame header, frame tail, control code, check code, data identifier, communication address or data length of the normal communication frame.

4. The automatic communication pressure testing method of an electric energy meter according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cumulative byte size of the leading interference frame, the trailing interference frame and the error frame is greater than the communication buffer size of the inspected electric energy meter.

5. The automatic communication pressure testing method of an electric energy meter according to claim 1, characterized in that: The communication baud rates of the inspected electric energy meter include 1200bps, 2400bps, 4800bps, 9600bps, 19200bps, 38400bps, 57600bps and 115200bps.

6. The automatic communication pressure testing method of an electric energy meter according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step S3 comprises: Step S31, setting the date and time of the inspected electric energy meter to 15 minutes before the new year; Step S32: 15 minutes before and after the New Year, continuously read the data of the inspected electric energy meter and calculate the communication success rate.

7. The automatic communication pressure testing method of an electric energy meter according to claim 1, characterized in that: The data of the inspected electric energy meter includes the clock, electric quantity and electric parameters of the inspected electric energy meter, and the electric parameters include voltage, current, grid frequency and power.

8. An automatic communication pressure test system for an electric energy meter, characterized in that: The method comprises a test host, an electric energy meter calibration device and an electric energy meter to be tested. The test host tests the electric energy meter to be tested according to the automatic communication pressure test method of the electric energy meter according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. The automatic communication pressure test system of the electric energy meter according to claim 8, characterized in that: The test host is compatible with DL / T 698.45-2017, DL / T 645-2007 and DLMS protocol types, and supports RS485, Bluetooth, infrared, carrier and Ethernet serial port communications.

10. The automatic communication pressure test system of the electric energy meter according to claim 8, characterized in that: The number of the inspected electric energy meters is at least two.

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