Power Integrations Introduces Tamper-Proof Electricity Meter Power Supply Design
Power Integrations (PI) introduced a new Power Supply Design Idea (DI-141) based on the company’s LinkSwitch-XT family that enables anti-tampering protection in electricity meter applications.
According to the company, in some countries it is estimated that 5% of electricity production is consumed illegally through tampered meters, a very real and high cost to utility companies. New and effective anti-tampering strategies are in continuous demand by meter developers. The PI design idea offers an isolated power supply in flyback configuration that delivers 150mA at 5V, even under an intense external magnetic field, the most commonly used method of disabling meters without alerting existing anti-tampering measures.
PI’s LinkSwitch-XT family includes EcoSmart technology, which is said to optimize the efficient conversion of energy at different load levels. By replacing traditional linear power supplies with the PI solution, the 2W of power used by power meters, the maximum amount recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission (or IEC), may be reduced to around 1W while still providing the 750mW of power required by the advanced meter electronics. The PI solution is thus said to reduce energy expended in metering by 50%.
Silvestro Fimiani, Product Marketing Manager at Power Integrations, stated, "Adoption of this technology is an effective way for utility companies - which are investing millions of dollars worldwide to install an Automatic Meter Infrastructure (AMI) – to recover part of their huge investment by saving energy."
