Meters for measuring electrical energy consumption
First Claim
1. A meter for measuring electrical power consumption by a load circuit of a consumer comprising sensing means for sensing the voltage applied to that circuit and the current flowing in the circuit, digital data processing means responsive to the sensed voltage and current from said sensing means and including a programmable memory and operative to compute from the values of the sensed voltage and current and from data in the programmable memory, the charges in monetary units for energy consumed, means for periodically including in the computed charges a time-dependent component, and means for indicating the total accumulated credit or debit information in monetary terms.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electrical energy consumption meter for use on a consumer'"'"'s premises has data processing means responsive to the sensed voltage and current and to data such as tariff rates and clock information, for computing and displaying charges in monetary terms. A data link with the utility enables the utility to make use of this information and to add hire purchase commitments, etc. to the charges for energy consumption and also to enter credits for payments received. The data link may include provision for credit transfer by the consumer. Coin or token prepayment facilities may also be provided.
159 Citations
15 Claims
- 1. A meter for measuring electrical power consumption by a load circuit of a consumer comprising sensing means for sensing the voltage applied to that circuit and the current flowing in the circuit, digital data processing means responsive to the sensed voltage and current from said sensing means and including a programmable memory and operative to compute from the values of the sensed voltage and current and from data in the programmable memory, the charges in monetary units for energy consumed, means for periodically including in the computed charges a time-dependent component, and means for indicating the total accumulated credit or debit information in monetary terms.
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13. A meter for measuring electrical power consumption by a load circuit of a consumer comprising sensing means for sensing the voltage applied to that circuit and the current flowing in the circuit;
- digital data processing means responsive to the sensed voltage and current from said sensing means and including a programmable memory portion and a second memory portion and operative to compute from the sensed voltage and current, using data from the programmable memory portion, the charges in monetary units for energy consumed;
means for periodically including a time-dependent component in the computed charge;
means operable to indicate the accumulated credit or debit information in monetary terms;
a pre-payment device associated with the data processing means, the pre-payment device being arranged to accept coins or electronic money or tokens and to provide data in accordance with accepted pre-payment to the data processing means for updating credit information in the second memory portion; and
switching means in said load circuit and controlled by said data processing means for limiting the permissible power consumption, when the credit is exhausted, to a low level. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
- digital data processing means responsive to the sensed voltage and current from said sensing means and including a programmable memory portion and a second memory portion and operative to compute from the sensed voltage and current, using data from the programmable memory portion, the charges in monetary units for energy consumed;
Specification