Three-State Prepaid Electricity Meter for Delayed Top-Up Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing prepaid resource distribution networks face challenges in managing service interruptions due to communication delays between credit top-up and the gateway, which can lead to unsafe conditions or loss of perishable goods, necessitating improved meter management.
Innovation Solution
A consumption metering device with a processor and metrological device that can regulate resource consumption in three states: blocking, allowing up to a first flow limit, and allowing up to a second flow limit, with a communication interface to manage state changes based on consumption and credit levels, ensuring timely adjustments to prevent service interruptions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the gateway implements a delay before service interruption to account for communication problems, then communication reliability is improved, but the risk of unsafe conditions and loss of perishable goods increases
Solution Approach 1:
The regulating device dynamically adjusts its state based on real-time consumption data and credit status. It transitions between three states: blocking consumption, allowing consumption up to a first flow limit, and allowing consumption up to a second flow limit. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to respond flexibly to changing conditions without requiring a fixed delay, thereby maintaining safety while accommodating communication variations.
Solution Approach 2:
The meter autonomously determines when to block or limit consumption based on pre-defined criteria regarding credit status and consumption patterns. Instead of waiting for gateway commands with inherent delays, the meter performs preliminary actions locally by monitoring its own state and automatically adjusting the regulating device, thus preventing unsafe conditions before they occur.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the meter autonomously blocks consumption without delay, then safety is improved, but communication flexibility and handling of top-up scenarios deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The regulating device operates with dynamic control, transitioning between three distinct states rather than a simple on/off mechanism. This allows the system to adapt to various scenarios: complete blocking when credit is exhausted, partial allowance up to a first limit during transitional states, and allowance up to a second limit during top-up periods. The dynamic state management enables both safety and communication flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The meter performs self-service by autonomously monitoring its own credit status and consumption patterns, and automatically adjusting the regulating device state without requiring continuous gateway intervention. This self-service capability ensures safety is maintained while the system retains flexibility to handle various communication scenarios, including delays and top-up operations, without compromising either safety or adaptability.
3Ease of operation
If the gateway centralizes consumption management, then control is improved, but response time to consumption changes deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the consumption management function between the gateway and the meter. The gateway maintains centralized control for high-level decisions and credit management, while the meter handles local real-time monitoring and immediate response to consumption changes. This segmentation allows the gateway to exercise control without being the bottleneck for every instantaneous decision, thereby improving response time while maintaining centralized oversight.
Solution Approach 2:
The meter is pre-configured with the authority to autonomously adjust the regulating device state based on locally monitored consumption data and credit status. Instead of waiting for the gateway to process and respond to every consumption change, the meter performs preliminary actions locally, significantly reducing response time while the gateway retains overall control through periodic communication and parameter setting.
Data Source
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AI summary
A metering device is disclosed, providing information representative of a quantity of resource consumed, the given meter having a regulating element that can have one of three states (a first state blocking consumption of the resource, a second state allowing consumption of the resource up to a first flow limit; and a third state allowing consumption of the resource up to a second flow limit, the second limit being strictly greater than zero and strictly less than the first limit); the verification if a credit level is equal to or greater than the quantity consumed;and if the check is negative and the given meter's regulating device is in the second state, the transmission of a message to put the regulating device into the third state, the resource being electricity, the flow being power and the first flow limit being a power subscribed to with an electricity supplier, the processor being configured so that when the regulating device is in the third state and a flow of resource consumed is greater than the second flow limit, the state of the device changes from the third state to the first state.