Energy Meter Fire Origin Detection via Dual Temperature Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional energy meters cannot determine whether a fire has originated from inside or outside the meter, making it difficult to identify fraudulent activities such as electricity theft by tampering, which complicates compensation claims.
Innovation Solution
An energy meter equipped with both internal and external temperature sensors that detect and compare temperature changes at different thresholds to determine if the fire started inside or outside the meter, with a system to transmit this information to an external entity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a single temperature sensor is used to detect fire, then the device complexity is reduced, but the ability to determine fire origin (inside vs outside) is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The temperature sensing system is segmented into multiple independent sensors positioned at different locations within the energy meter housing. This segmentation enables the system to detect temperature gradients and determine whether fire originated from inside or outside the meter, thereby resolving the technical contradiction between measurement precision and device complexity.
2Loss of information
If multiple temperature sensors at different locations are deployed, then the fire origin identification capability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Temperature sensors are pre-positioned at strategic locations within the energy meter housing during manufacturing. This preliminary action ensures that the system is already equipped with the necessary spatial temperature distribution capability to identify fire origin when needed, rather than requiring complex post-installation configurations.
3Reliability
If temperature threshold detection is implemented to identify fire origin, then the reliability of fraud detection is improved, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs temperature threshold parameters that can be adjusted and optimized based on different operational conditions and fire scenarios. By changing these detection parameters, the system achieves high reliability in fraud detection while maintaining manageable measurement complexity through standardized threshold comparison logic.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables accurate identification of fire origin, allowing for proper compensation claims and prevention of fraudulent activities by determining whether the fire was set from outside or originated internally.
Implementation Method 1
a first threshold temperature detecting section configured to detect that a temperature of a first location inside an energy meter main body has become equal to or higher than a first threshold temperature which was set in advance; a second threshold temperature detecting section configured to detect that a temperature of a second location, which is located closer to a housing of the energy meter main body than is the first location, has become equal to or higher than a second threshold temperature
Data Source
Figure 1(a)~1(c)
Figure 2
Figure 3(a)~3(g)
AI summary
The present provides an energy meter and an energy meter fire outbreak location identification method, each of which can (i) determine whether fire has broken out from inside the energy meter or the fire has been set to the energy meter from outside and (ii) retain the results of the determination. The energy meter (1A), in which power consumption is accumulated, includes: an internal measurement-use temperature sensor (25) configured to detect that a temperature of a first location, which is located inside an energy meter main body, has become equal to or higher than a first threshold temperature which was set in advance; an external measurement-use temperature sensor (26) configured to detect that a temperature of a second location, which is located closer to a housing of the energy meter main body than is the first location, has become equal to or higher than a second threshold temperature; an abnormality determination control section (13c) configured to determine, based on a result of detection by the internal measurement-use temperature sensor (25) and a result of detection by the external measurement-use temperature sensor (26), which one of the following (i) and (ii) occurred before the other: (i) the temperature of the first location became equal to or higher than the first threshold temperature and (ii) the temperature of the second location became equal to or higher than the second threshold temperature; and an external communication section (14) configured to transmit, to an outside entity, a result of determination by the abnormality determination control section (13c).