Feb 22 2011
According to Pietro Menniti, group vice-president and general manager, industrial business unit, industrial and power conversion division, STMicroelectronics, the recently launched STPMC1 and STPMS1/S2 chips provide accuracy and reduced costs to design the 'poly-phase' smart meters for industrial applications.
The devices will monitor, analyze, control and communicate to the electricity grid to enhance efficiency, control costs and capacity. Smart grids will reduce consumption, monitor renewable energy, and monitor energy consumption by electric vehicles.
The devices are cost effective, support 50-60Hz IEC and ANSI standards for up to 0.2-class ACW meters. The IC has five input channels taking measurements from three out of four. It can track tampering, temperature, and the fifth channel accepts magnetic field data transmitted by a Hall sensor.
The devices are dual-channel delta-sigma modulators. They change analog current and voltage from each phase and relay information to the STPMC1. They can be kept near the current sensor avoiding long analog tracks and noise interference. The STPMS2 has a secondary modulator for improved accuracy. The STPMC1 supports the Rogowski coil, current transformer, shunt or Hall-effect current sensor with a ripple-free energy calculation algorithm. The STPMS1/S2 supports IEC and ANSI standards up to 0.2 class ACW meters