Kilowatt-hour Meter with Remote Environment Detection and Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional kilowatt-hour meters lack the ability to monitor and control network environments and detect environmental conditions, limiting their functionality in effectively managing electricity consumption and ensuring safety, especially in resource-constrained settings.
Innovation Solution
A kilowatt-hour meter with remote environment detect and control capabilities, featuring a microcontroller connected to a display unit, input device, sound device, Ethernet port, environment detection devices, and digital switch ports, allowing for remote monitoring and control of electricity usage, environmental states, and load management through a networked system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional kilowatt-hour meter is used, then the device structure is simple, but the functionality is limited (cannot monitor network environment or detect environmental conditions)
Solution Approach 1:
The kilowatt-hour meter is designed to perform multiple functions: electricity consumption measurement, network environment monitoring, and environmental condition detection. The microcontroller unit integrates these diverse functions into a single device, allowing it to serve as both a traditional meter and an environmental monitoring station, thereby resolving the contradiction between versatility and structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines previously separate functions (electricity metering, network monitoring, environmental sensing) into a single integrated kilowatt-hour meter device. This merging approach enables the device to achieve enhanced functionality while maintaining a unified structure, addressing the technical contradiction between adaptability and device complexity
2Productivity
If manual data collection is used, then the device complexity is low, but the time and labor cost is high
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously collects electricity consumption data and environmental information, then transmits this data remotely via network communication. This automated feedback loop eliminates manual data collection, significantly improving productivity while the standardized communication protocols keep the automation system relatively simple
Solution Approach 2:
The kilowatt-hour meter automatically performs data collection, processing, and transmission without requiring manual intervention. The device serves itself by autonomously monitoring its own operation and environmental conditions, and remotely transmitting this information, thereby resolving the contradiction between productivity and device complexity
3Reliability
If environment detection devices are added, then the safety monitoring capability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The microcontroller unit is designed to handle multiple tasks simultaneously: electricity measurement, environmental sensing data acquisition, and remote communication. This universal controller integrates the safety monitoring function without requiring separate dedicated hardware for each function, thereby improving reliability while limiting the increase in device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a standardized communication interface and protocol as an intermediary between the environment detection devices and the main processing unit. This mediator simplifies the integration of additional sensing components, allowing safety monitoring capabilities to be enhanced without proportionally increasing overall system complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A kilowatt-hour meter with remote environment detect and control is provided. Besides calculating and display a quantity of used electricity through the kilowatt-hour meter, the kilowatt-hour meter with remote environment detect and control can also perform remote data collection and environment detect and control through an Ethernet. A plurality of the kilowatt-hour meters with remote environment detect and control can be connected through network connection, so as to detect and control situations related to safety of using electricity such as over current warning, environment state, access control, etc., for prompt processing.