Intelligent electric utility meter

Electricity: measuring and testing – Measuring – testing – or sensing electricity – per se – Meter protection or fraud combatting

Patent

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

346 14MR, 235449, G01R 100

Patent

active

042400309

ABSTRACT:
A conventional electric utility meter is equipped with special circuitry and components which work in conjunction with an inserted magnetic card to regulate the supply of electricity to the structure to which the unit is attached. In addition to including the conventional dials which indicate overall kilowatt hours, the exterior of the unit includes a receptacle for the card and additional displays which show the kilowatt hours, and corresponding dollar value thereof, for the current payment period. The special circuitry includes a microprocessor, a set of magnetic read/write/erase heads, and a power relay. The circuitry interfaces with the conventional meter components by means of a photocell positioned above apertures or notches in the rotating disk of the meter. In the primary mode of operation, a prepayment card is inserted containing a predetermined kilowatt hour credit. The special circuitry senses this amount and adds it to the amount of power the customer is entitled to receive. Also, the circuitry warns the customer when only a small electricity credit remains. In an alternative mode, a blank postpayment card is inserted into the unit and the amount of the electricity utilized during the current payment period is encoded on the card. The card is then sent to the utility company as the basis of a future billing. Finally, the unlocking of the meter unit case is controlled by a special card code.

REFERENCES:
patent: 2019866 (1935-11-01), Morton
patent: 3001846 (1961-09-01), Franceschini
patent: 3380064 (1968-04-01), Norris et al.
patent: 3778637 (1973-12-01), Arita
patent: 3835301 (1974-09-01), Barney
patent: 4019135 (1977-04-01), Lofdahl

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Intelligent electric utility meter does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Intelligent electric utility meter, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Intelligent electric utility meter will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-610271

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.