Home // International Journal On Advances in Intelligent Systems, volume 8, numbers 3 and 4, 2015 // View article
Authors:
Elizabeth Devore
Adam Birchfield
Mark Halpin
Keywords: smart meters; power line communication; high-frequency harmonics; EMC standardization; commutation notches
Abstract:
A key enabling component of the Smart Grid is communications. Of particular interest is power line communications where very little additional infrastructure is needed to establish communication links. In the very vast majority of cases, smart meters will be located in the low voltage environment and therefore must be designed to operate properly in the presence of disturbance levels bounded by established compatibility levels. Without standardized limits for emissions in this frequency range, levels can and have reached the point where smart meter communication disturbances have been reported. The International Electrotechnical Commission’s Technical Committee 77, Sub-Committee 77A, Working Group 8 is presently tasked with developing compatibility levels for disturbances in the frequency range 2-150 kHz. This range is particularly important given that numerous smart meter products are designed to communicate in this band. Communication failures, thought to be due to higher-frequency harmonics, have been reported in the literature and demonstrated in tests conducted in Europe. All of this information is being considered by Working Group 8 and is reflected in a proposed compatibility level curve for this higher frequency range. However, only limited (if any) work has been done in North America. In the United States, there are no defined compatibility levels for 2-150 kHz, but there are limits for voltage notches in IEEE Standard 519. In this paper, compatibility level curves proposed by European utilities and end-user equipment manufacturers are used to evaluate the results of initial product testing in the 120 V three-wire low-voltage environment commonly found in North America. Further consideration is given to the measurement, propagation, and summation of disturbances at higher frequencies based on a model developed for the line(s) between in-service equipment and the service point where smart meters are connected. The results of the analysis show that the total level of disturbance further exceeds the proposed CL curve when the tested equipment is in service and that measurements taken at the public supply terminals represent measurements taken at the service point.
Pages: 458 to 466
Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2015. Used with permission.
Publication date: December 30, 2015
Published in: journal
ISSN: 1942-2679