Telephonic communications – Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical... – To produce visual-graphic copy
Patent
1987-09-25
1989-07-18
Ng, Jin F.
Telephonic communications
Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical...
To produce visual-graphic copy
379102, 34087003, 340505, H04M 1100
Patent
active
048500100
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to remote monitoring or control of loads and will be described in terms of the control or monitoring of the users of an electricity utility but it may also be used in respect of other utilities such as gas and water.
BACKGROUND ACT
In an electricity supply grid it is known to switch off-peak hot water systems by "tone" signals transmitted by the utility over the supply lines. This requires the injection of large currents into the power grid at frequencies of about 400 Hz. In a known electronic meter reading system meters electronically store readings at the consumer's premises and the meter reader connects a portable meter reading device to the electronic meter and the reading is transferred to the portable device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The system described herein makes it possible for the utility to transmit control signals over the telephone lines to the user's equipment to perform the switching operation. Alternatively the switching may be controlled by an electronic clock at the subscribers premises and the switching times may be varied by signals transmitted over the telephone line. Other embodiments disclose techniques for remotely reading the meter at the user's premises. Our provisional application No. PH 3553 (P. Naish 1) discloses a method of off-peak switching over the telephone line which has a back-up "clock" at the user's premises in case of failure of the telephone line. A further embodiment makes possible load shedding on a selective basis where an indication from a sub-station to the utility's control system shows that the load on the sub-station has reached a maximum permissable level.
Another embodiment allows load shedding at an individual user's premises where the user's load exceeds a maximum permissable. This system may allow short term loads in excess of the maximum. A maximum permissable load per consumer may be stored in a memory and load shed when this load is exceeded for a specified time.
A further embodiment which may be applicable e.g. where the tariff changes when use over a period exceeds a preset total e.g. excess water rate would enable the system to compare cumulative use with the average permitted use and to give an indication to the user when actual use exceeded the permissible average. During periods of water restrictions outside taps, routed through a remotely controllable valve, can be shut off for specified periods.
Accordingly intelligent units, referred to as utility management terminals (UMT) are installed at the user's premises and these are capable of reading meters and switching loads.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a system embodying the invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a UMT;
FIG. 3 shows a more detailed embodiment of the UMT of FIG. 2.
BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows the main elements of the system. In the first area 1 is the equipment at the utility's central control, while area 2 shows the equipment installed at the telephone exchange and area 3 shows the equipment at the consumer's premises.
At each consumer's premises there may be installed meter reading equipment 4 or load control equipment 5 or both. There may be more than one of each device for each consumer.
The subscriber is allocated an utility management terminal (UMT) 6 which is connected to the telephone line 7 in parallel with the telephone.
At the telephone exchange the line 7 is connected to a scanner 8 which is capable of monitoring about 2000 such lines. This connexion is made on the subscriber line and no exchange switching equipment need be involved. The scanners act to concentrate the information and pass it to the host computer 9, shown with backup units A and B. The UMTs are linked through the host computer to the Central Control 10. This Computer 9 acts as a special purpose message switch which routes messages to the UMT's and checks acknowledgement. Should a UMT fail to acknowledge a message or should there be a failure affecting the system, a report is sent to the
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Bellis Graeme J.
Hansford Alan E.
Naish Peter J.
Stanbury Evan J.
Watkins Gregory D.
ALCATEL N.V.
Ghan Wing Fu
Ng Jin F.
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