A series of engineering insights by Analog Devices.

Changing the Way 3-Phase Meters Are Designed with New Isolation Technology
ADIs high speed data isolation, iCoupler technology, and isoPower technology, combined with its energy metering ICs solution addresses communication speed and cost challenges in 3-phase electronic energy meters. Today, the market for 3-phase energy meters is facing an inflection point where demand is accelerating, fueled by new deployments of 3-phase meters for residential buildings. The predominance of electronic solutions allows the market to support this surge in demand, but the cost of the solutions is not falling as quickly as the utilities would like. This situation means that electronic meter designers are searching for innovative ways to address the need for low cost 3-phase meters. This combination of constraints has led to a design consensus on isolating the phases with the current sensor and implementing the signal processing and data management isolated from the power lines (see Figure 1). Four types of technologies can achieve current sensing isolation: current transformer (CT), Rogowski coil, Hall effect, and current shunt with voltage transformer. However, due to patent protections, the CT is the only solution that can be implemented cost effectively with open market components, leading to the wide spread use of dc tolerant CT by many newly formed electronic meter manufacturers. Analog Devices has a portfolio of 3-phase analog front ends (AFE) for watt-only and 4-quadrant energy measurements. These solutions serve the 3-phase market needs where energy measurement is interfaced with isolated current sensors.

PHASE C

With more than 225 million energy metering ICs deployed worldwide and Unfortunately, due to the uniqueness of the technology, dc tolerant CTs are 17 products servicing this market, Analog Devices is the preferred IC also priced at a high level and, therefore, are not the panacea to reach low solution provider of meter manufacturers and utilities. Analog Devices has cost systems. In summary, the technical advantages and disadvantages of also a portfolio of more than 10,000 parts featuring innovative and high a current sensor technology are currently largely overridden by the lack of performance technologies, some of them applicable to electronic energy competition in the supply of current sensing solutions. meters such as ISM RF transceivers, high speed digital isolation, voltage references, temperature sensors, and RS-485 drivers. This breadth of technology puts Analog Devices in an excellent 3-PHASE ENERGY METER POWER GENERATION position to meet this new low cost 3-phase market demand.
VOLTAGE SENSING

Challenges in Existing Solutions

NEUTRAL

POWER SUPPLY BATTERY

Three-phase energy meters are typically high performance. Although the trend toward low cost 3-phase meters is accompanied with simpler specifications, some basic electrical requirements and utility specifications have a large effect on its cost: Electrical isolation between phases. A 3-phase system is comprised, by definition, of more than one phase, with each phase representing an independent voltage and current source. In a 3-phase meter, the energy measurement per phase is generally combined in one result, requiring energy information exchange between phases. Thus, the requirement of electrical isolation between phases. Tolerance to dc current. This requirement is initiated from the half-wave rectified waveform test of the IEC 62053-21 standard and MID CENELEC European standard, and is critical to cover the extensive use of simple half wave rectifiers in electrical equipment. This need led to using sensing technology that can tolerate dc current.

PHASE A

PHASE B

BATTERY MANAGEMENT

ADC ADCs ADCs LOAD ADCs ADCs ADCs LOAD ADCs VOLTAGE REFERENCE FLASH MEMORY TEMPERATURE SENSOR

LCD DISPLAY

LCD DRIVER UART MCU SPI/I2C

IR INTERFACE

LOAD

ENERGY MEASUREMENT DSP

EEPROM

RTC RAM

WATCH XTAL

ENERGY METERING AFE

Figure 1. Existing 3-phase energy meter system.

Alternative Approach Alternatively, Analog Devices single-phase AFE and system on a chip (SoC) combined with its high speed digital isolation technology, iCoupler technology, and low value shunt resistors can provide a new system solution that allows electronic meter designers to choose a new system architecture using technology not previously available (see Figure 2).

Isolation between the voltage and current inputs. Meter manufacturers and utilities prefer to use simple testing equipment for 3-phase calibration and verification. This nonnormative requirement leads to the isolation between voltage and current specification.

Shunt The shunt resistor solves a number of current sensing issues. However, it has some limitations. Advantages Cost Availability
NEUTRAL

POWER GENERATION PHASE C PHASE A PHASE B

ADuM5241 POWER SUPPLY #2 VOLTAGE SENSING ADCs ADCs ENERGY MEASUREMENT DSP VOLTAGE REFERENCE

POWER SUPPLY #1

BATTERY

LCD DISPLAY

SHUNT

DC tolerance Linear range Frequency range No phase calibration needed Limitations Maximum current (<100 A) Signal level (tens of mV at full scale) Isolation required Bipolar input around line voltage Energy Metering ICs
LOAD

ADuM2401

ADC TEMPERATURE SENSOR ADCs ADCs ENERGY MEASUREMENT DSP VOLTAGE REFERENCE

BATTERY MANAGEMENT

LCD DRIVER UART SPI/I2C

RTC

IR INTERFACE

ENERGY METERING AFE SHUNT

MCU FLASH RAM MEMORY

EEPROM WATCH XTAL

SHUNT

VOLTAGE SENSING

ADCs ADCs

ENERGY MEASUREMENT DSP VOLTAGE REFERENCE

ADuM2401

ENERGY METERING AFE POWER SUPPLY #2 ADuM5241

LOAD LOAD

ENERGY METERING AFE

3-PHASE ENERGY METER

Figure 2. Alternative 3-phase energy meter system.

Although the shunt current sensor limitations are few, Analog Devices AFE and SoC can uniquely solve the low signal level and bipolar input challenges with Large analog internal gain to interface to low shunt value down to 200 Patented analog input structure to allow bipolar input in unipolar ICs Accuracy better than Class 1 Best-in-class reliability High quality and ease of manufacturing Additionally, the meter designer can choose the right AFE depending on the energy measurements needed (watt only, watt + rms, or 4-quadrant) combined with the industry acclaimed ADE7569 SoC. The ADE7569 is part of the ADE75xx family of products, which feature a high accuracy energy measurement engine with high precision voltage reference, power management with low power sleep modes and internal battery switching, low current real-time clock, level adjustable LCD driver, and an 8-bit single cycle 8052 microcontroller core with embedded flash memory and RAM. Digital Isolation ICs Data isolation between the energy metering AFE and the SoC can be achieved using standard optocouplers for watt-only pulsed output AFEs. However, as the 3-phase energy meters become more complex, more information such as rms values, reactive power, apparent power, or instantaneous waveforms for THD measurements is required from the AFE. To collect that information from the AFEs, the communication speed with the SoC needs to increase significantly, making the optocoupler technology inadequate from a performance and price perspective. However, the iCoupler technology from Analog Devices solves this issue and allows the meter manufacturer to use this shunt-based architecture. The ADuM2401 family of products provides 5 kV of isolation per UL1577 test for four digital channels and can be used for the SPI interface. Furthermore, the development of the iso Power technology, as presented in the ADuM5242, integrates an isolated dc/dc power supply with digital channel isolation to provide not only the isolation of the AFE serial interface

but also the AFE power supply, thus removing the need for both Power Supply #2s in Figure 2. This additional feature is another reason for using the new solution proposed. Conclusion The combination of Analog Devices energy metering AFEs, SoCs, and data isolation technology allows ADI to propose an innovative solution to solve the issue of low cost multifunction 3-phase electronic energy meters. While meeting the standards requirements in term of isolation, this solution allows more information transferred between AFEs and SoC, and leverages the inherent benefit of the shunt current sensor. While electronic energy metering is seen by many as a low cost market with little room for innovation and the development of value added solutions, Analog Devices continues to discover ways of challenging this belief. In 2007, it introduced the ADE7569 that integrates battery switching, power management features; and also solved the battery operation problem. The ADE7569s innovative system architecture enables key functionality (including temperature measurement, time keeping, LCD display, and UART) to be maintained in battery mode while consuming low power. At the same time, the ADuM5242, a breakthrough isolation technology combining high speed digital data isolation and an isolated power supply, was brought to market. This product enhances Analog Devices offering for 3-phase energy meter system solutions by proposing an innovative solution to solve energy meter manufacturers most critical design issues.
Etienne Moulin is product manager in the Energy Measurement Group at Analog Devices, Inc. in Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA. Before joining Analog Devices, Etienne worked as an electronic designer at Thales (Thomson-CSF). He graduated in electrical engineering from the Ecole Superieure dElectricite in France. Analog Devices, acknowledged industrywide as the world leader in data conversion and signal conditioning technology, serves over 60,000 customers around the world, representing virtually all types of electronics equipment. Celebrating more than 40 years as a leading global manufacturer of high performance integrated circuits used in analog and digital signal processing applications, Analog Devices is headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts, and employs approximately 8,900 people worldwide.

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