11.prepaid Energy Meter Using GSM and Arduino.
11.prepaid Energy Meter Using GSM and Arduino.
11.prepaid Energy Meter Using GSM and Arduino.
Prof. Dhavale A. A.
Asst. Prof., Department of Electrical Engineering/VVPIET, Solapur/
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, Raigad, Maharashtra
ABSTRACT
The work carried out here in this paper represents designing and implementing a digital prepaid energy
meter which this affordable for domestic consumers in a developing countries. The prepaid energy meter is a
single phase 230V/40A energy meter which consist of a metering devise designed according to the IEC1036
(1996-09) standard and a prepaid module that uses GSM/GPRS technology to communicate with the utility
server. In this project researchers have proposed prepaid energy meter by using Arduino nano, GSM
SIM800L. The main advantage of this work is fast collection of electricity bill, less involvement of human
in the process, increased speed of operation. And along with it the work will make the system paperless.
INTRODUCTION
The cost of electrical energy has been increasing over the years. This creates a concern among home users
regarding the energy usage efficiency of the electrical appliances that they are using. Thus, there is a
need to design and implement a Prepaid Energy meter System to control the amount of energy supply.
The purpose of this project is to design and implement a Prepaid Energy Meter System to control the
amount of energy supply based only on the prepaid amount. This facility can be used in shared
environments and the consumer utilized the energy supply based accordingly to its available credit which
can be topped-up. Prepaid Energy Metering System referring to the concept ‘First Come First Serve’ but
for this project the concept is ‘First Pay First Serve’. All electricity can be only generated once people pay
money or reload fist before use. After a reload, the credit is activated and from that, all of the electricity will
start being used. When the credit runs out, electricity will be cut off immediately. To use the electricity
consumers needs to reload and fill in the credit. An energy metering system can efficiently control the
amount of electricity consumed by the user. Electricity users can buy a specific amount of energy to use it
only when they need. So, all consumers will be more careful and will not waste the electricity and be more
responsible. Because of the fast growing of technology, prepaid energy system is faced with very fast
accommodation. The basic prepaid system is used to reload more energy supply and saved it on energy
storage for further used, but nowadays it comes with various functions to fulfill consumer needed. However,
to own the system, it will be quite pricey.
Comparison between Postpaid Metering System & Prepaid Metering System
Sr. Postpaid Metering System Prepaid Metering System
No.
1 Make a payment after use Make a payment before use
The process is under office management,which have
2 invoicing, feedback and response and consumer The process is self-administered whichalready cut down
monitoring the worker costs
To end up payments, staff in charge willcome to read the To end up payments, no need staff to readthe meter
3 meter reading reading
There have lots of time loss and resourcesfor clients and There are use concept of self- connection and self-
distributor due to connection disconnection of the system disconnection ofthe system whichsave money and there
4 no customer
complaints
Low-income households which uselow energy
consumption need to pay the samerates of maintenance Just only once off installation,maintenance
5 and management costs every month and management costs
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BLOCK DIAGRAM
Energy Opto
Meter Relay Load
coupler
Arduino
GSM
LCD
Fig 1
CIRCUIT DESIGN
Fig 2
ANALYSIS OF HARDWARE COMPONENTS:
1. Regulated Power Supply:
The microcontroller and the circuit associated with it requires 5V supply where as the relay used requires
12V supply for its operation. Usage of two separate power supplies for Arduino and relay will increase the
size and cost of the project. Hence, a single 12V adapter is connected to the mains, which produces 12V
output usable for the relay and then this voltage is passed through a LM7805 voltage regulator resulting in
a 5V DC output usable for the Arduino and the associated circuitry. The adaptor works as a filter and
rectifier. Load is connected across 220V AC supply.
2. Arduino:
Arduino is a programmable device which consists of a processor RAM, ROM, I/O ports, and a timer all
on a single chip. ATmega 328P Arduino is used in this project. It is highly reliable and virtually low cost.
The software used to program the ATmega 328P to do specific tasks is Arduino IDE. It has a total of 28 pins
out of which 23 are multifunctional. The device operates between 1.8-5.5 volts International Journal of
Management, Technology And Engineering Volume 8, Issue XII, DECEMBER/2018 ISSN NO : 2249-
7455 Page No:4401
3. GSM:
GSM in this project is used for the communication between the device and the user. We used SIM800L
module. This module supports quad-band GSM/GPRS network, available for GPRS and SMS message
data remote transmission. The SIM800L communicates with microcontroller via UART port, supports
command including 3GPP TS 27.007, 27.005 and SIMCOM enhanced AT Commands. SIM800L is a
miniature cellular module which allows for GPRS transmission, sending and receiving SMS and making and
receiving voice calls. After connecting power module boots up, searches for cellular network and logins
automatically. On board LED displays connection state (no network coverage-fast blinking, logged in-slow
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blinking).
4. Energy Meter:
In this project Digital Energy Meters. These meters have microprocessors which are used to calculate
phase angle between voltage and current, so that it also measures and indicates reactive power. It is
programmed in such a way that it calculates energy according to the tariff and other parameters like power
factor, maximum demand, etc. and stores them in EEPROM. It also contains real time clock (RTC) for
calculating time for power integration, maximum demand calculations and also time and date stamps for
particular parameters.
5. Optocoupler:
An Optocoupler is an electronic device that interconnects two separate electrical circuits by means of a
light sensitive optical interface. It acts to break ground loops used in eliminating common-mode noise,
especially for systems working at the higher operating voltages. Here we are using PC817 Optocoupler.
6. Relay:
A relay is an electrically operated switch. In this project relay is used to control the power to the en energy
meter. The relays are controlled using a low-power signal. All relays contain a sensing unit, the electric coil,
which is powered by AC or DC current. When the applied current or voltage exceeds a threshold value, the
coil activates the armature, which operates either to close the open contacts or to open the closed contacts.
When a power is supplied to the coil, it generates a magnetic force that actuates the switch mechanism. The
magnetic force is, in effect, relaying the action from one circuit to another. The first circuit is called the
control circuit; the second is called the load circuit.
WORKING:
The 230V AC power supply is given to operate the loads. A 20V adapter is used to provide 5V to the
Arduino board and from here it is interfaced with relay, GSM and LCD. The transmitter and receiver pins
of GSM are connected to the receiver (Rx 0) and transmitter (Tx 1) pins of Arduino board. The
Optocoupler is given to the 8 pin of Arduino Uno and the other end is given to the energy meter. The relay
is connected to the 12 pin of the Arduino board and to the energy meter as well as the load. The load in turn
is connected to the energy meter. The LCD 6 pins i.e. RS, Rw, E, D0-D2 are given to the 2, 3, 4,5,6,7 pins
and the switch is connected to the 13 pin of the Arduino board. Here we are representing the switch outside
of the energy meter just to represent the power theft in real life.
COMPONENT DETAILS
Arduino Nano:-
Fig 3
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Arduino Nano is a small, complete, flexible and breadboard-friendly Microcontroller board, based on
ATmega328p, developed by Arduino.cc in Italy in 2008 and contains 30 male I/O headers, configured in
a DIP30style. Arduino Nano Pinout contains 14 digital pins, 8 analog Pins, 2 Reset Pins & 6 Power
Pins. It is programmed using Arduino IDE, which can be downloaded from Arduino Official site.
Arduino Nano is simply a smaller version of Arduino UNO, thus both have almost the same
functionalities. It comes with an operating voltage of 5V; however, the input voltage can vary from 7 to
12V. Arduino Nano's maximum current rating is 40mA, so the load attached to its pins shouldn't draw
current more than that. Each of these Digital & Analog Pins is assigned with multiple functions but
their main function is to be configured as Input/output. Arduino Pins are acted as Input Pins when they
are interfaced with sensors, but if you are driving some load then we need to use them as an Output Pin.
Functions like pin Mode () and digital Write () are used to control the operations of digital pins while
analog Read () is used to control analog pins. The analog pins come with a total resolution of 10-bits
which measures the value from 0 to 5V Arduino Nano comes with a crystal oscillator of frequency 16
MHz it is used to produce a clock of precise frequency using constant voltage. There is one limitation
of using Arduino Nano i.e. it doesn't come with a DC power jack, which means you cannot supply an
external power source through a battery. This board doesn't use standard USB for connection with a
computer; instead, it comes with Type-B Micro USB. The tiny size and breadboard-friendly nature
make this device an ideal choice for most applications where the size of the electronic components is of
great concern. Flash memory is 16KB or 32KB that all depends on the Atmega board i.e. Atmega168
comes with 16KBof flash memory while Atmega328 comes with a flash memory of 32KB. Flash
memory is used for storing code. The 2KB of memory out of total flash memory is used for a boot
loader. The SRAM memory of 2KB is present in Arduino Nano. Arduino Nano has an EEPROM memory
of 1KB.
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• Blink every 3s:
When the LED Blinking with a delay of 2s, then it indicates that the module has made contact with the
cellular network and it is ready to transmit/receive voice and SMS.
ANTENNAS:
An antenna is a vital part of the module; it is used for voice or data communications as well as some SIM
commands. SIM800l GSM/GPRS module provides two ways to connect Antennas. There are two types of
antennas that can connect to the module one is a Helical GSM antenna and another one is PCB Antenna.
NET:
The NET pin is used to attach an external antenna. Here we can solder Helical Antenna which comes
along with the module.
VCC:
The VCC pin is used to supply the positive (+) voltage to the module. Power supply 3.4Vto4.4V within 2
Amp required working the module finely. We need to remember; never connect it to a 5Vpower supply,
which can destroy module. Also, it doesn’t work on a 3.3 V power supply.
R S T:
This pin is a hard reset pin. Pulling this pin low for 100 ms to perform hard reset of the module
RXD (Receiver):
RX pin is used for Serial communication
TXD (Transmitter):
TX pin is used for Serial communication
GND:
This is the Ground Pin of the module that needs to be connected to the GND pin on the microcontroller.
SPK+:
SPK + and SPK – is a differential speaker interface. The two pins of a speaker can be connected to these
two pins. The positive pin of the speaker is connected to the SPK+ pin and the negative Pin to the SPK-.
MIC+:
MIC+ and MIC- pins are differential microphone inputs. The two pins of the microphone can be connected
to these pins. The positive pin of the microphone is connected to the MIC+ pin and the negative Pin to the
MIC-.
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DTR:
Pulling this pin HIGH to activate sleep mode. In sleep mode, the module disables serial communication.
Pulling it LOW to deactivate sleep mode, means the module wakes up.
RING:
The RING pin acts as a Ring Indicator, which is used in detecting calls and SMS. Basically this is the
‘interrupt’ out pin from the module. It is by-default high, but when a call is received it gives a LOW pulse
for 120ms. Also, it can be configured to pulse when an SMS is received
Fig 4
Features
▪ Receive and make calls using the external speaker and electric microphone
▪ Receive and send SMS/ Text messages
▪ Send and receive GPRS data (TCP/IP, HTTP, etc.)
▪ Scan and receive FM radio broadcasts
▪ GPRS multi-slot class12 connectivity: max. 85.6kbps(download/upload)
▪ GPRS mobile station class B
▪ Controlled by AT Command (3GPP TS 27.007, 27.005 and SIMCOM enhanced
ATcommands)
▪ Supports Real-Time Clock
▪ Supports A-GPS
APPLICATIONS
▪ Home automation
▪ Emergency systems
▪ Remote sensing
▪ Communication
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SPECIFICATIONS OF GSM
Sr. No. IC Chip SIM800L GSM cellular chip
1 Operating Voltage range 3.4V ~ 4.4V
2 Recommended supply voltage 4V
3 Peak Current 2A
LCD DISPLAY
Fig 5
This is a high quality 16 character by 2 line intelligent display module, with back lighting, Works with
almost any microcontroller. This is a popular 16x2 LCD display. It is easy to interface with most micro
controllers. It works of 5v and has a green back light which can be switched on and off as desired. The
contrast of the screen can also be controlled by varying the voltage at the contrast control pin (pin 3).
Features
• 16 Characters x 2 Lines
• 5x7 Dot Matrix Character Cursor
• HD44780 Equivalent LCD Controller/driver Built-In
• 4-bit or 8-bit MPU Interface.
Fig 6
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An electric meter or energy meter is an essential device that goes with consumption of commercially
distributed energy. It enables systematic pricing of energy consumed by individual consumer as it measures
the amount of electrical energy consumed by a residence, business, or an electrically powered device .They
are typically calibrated in billing units, the most common one being the Kilowatts hour, which is equal to
the amount of energy used by a load of one kilowatt over a period of one hour, or 3,600,000joules. Some
meters measured only the length of time for which charge flowed, with no measurement of the magnitude of
voltage or current. These were only suited for constant- load applications. Neither type is likely to be used
today. In addition to metering based on the amount of energy used, other types of metering are available.
Meters which measured the amount of charge (coulombs) used, known as ampere-hour meters, were used in
the early days of electrification. These were dependent upon the supply voltage remaining constant for
accurate measurement of energy usage, which was not a likely circumstance with most supplies.
• Electromechanical Meters
• Electronic Meters
In the block diagram for a digital meter above two basic sensors are employed. These are voltage and
current sensors. The voltage sensor built around a step down element and potential divider network
senses both the phase voltage and load voltage. The second sensor is a current sensor; this senses the
current drawn by the load at any point in time. It is built around a current transformer and other active
devices (such as voltage comparator) which convert the sensed current to voltage for processing. The output
from both sensors is then fed into a signal (or voltage) conditioner which ensures matched voltage or signal
level to the control circuit, it also contain a signal multiplexer which enable sequential switching of
both signal to the analogue input of the peripheral interface controller (PIC). The control circuit centered
on a PIC integrated circuit. The PIC is selected because it contain ten bit analogue to digital converter
(ADC), very flexible to program and good for peripheral interfacing. The ADC converts the analogue
signals to its digital equivalent; both signals from the voltage and current sensors are then multiplied by
the means of embedded software in the PIC. Here the error correction is taken as the offset correction by
determining the value of the input quality with short- circuited input and storing this value in the memory for
use as the correction value device calibration. The PIC is programmed in C language. Such that apart from
the multiplier circuit it simulates, it is able to use the received data to calculate power consumption per hour,
as well as the expected charges. These are displayed on the liquid crystal display attached to the circuit.
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WORKING
This project is based on Arduino Microcontroller which uses ATMega 328P. Arduino Nano is used for this
purpose. Single phase Digital Energy Meter is used for this purpose .We have connected Optocoupler to the
CAL led of Energy Meter. This led gives pulses to the Optocoupler according to the load. Arduino nano is
interfaced to the Optocoupler and it counts pulses from Optocoupler. For 1KW it gives 1000 pulses. Here
counting of pulses is measurement of load. For Recharge we are sending SMS. SMS is read by Arduino
Nano. According to Recharge amount Arduino will monitor the Pulses after that, when Recharge amount
load consumption is done Arduino nano will disconnect the Energy Meter.
ARDUINO IDE
The Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) is a cross-platform application (for Windows,
macOS, Linux) that is written in the programming language Java. It is used to write and upload programs
to Arduino board. The source code for the IDE is released under the GNU General Public License,
version. The Arduino IDE supports the languages C and C++ using special rules of code structuring. The
Arduino IDE supplies a software library from the Wiring project, which provides many common input and
output procedures. User-written code only requires two basic functions, for starting the sketch and the main
program loop, that are compiled and linked with a program stub main() into an executable cyclic executive
program with the GNU tool chain, also included with the IDE distribution. The Arduino IDE employs the
program argued to convert the executable code into a text file in hexadecimal encoding that is loaded into
the Arduino board by a loader program in the board's firmware.
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Go to file, click on new
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ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES
ADVANTAGES:-
1. Timely collection of bill.
2. Less involvement of man power
3. Most efficient system
4. It is fast system. so that time to time recharge will be done
5. If there is a Delay of recharge ,then meter will automatically disconnect supply
DISADVANTAGES:-
1. GSM network may create problem so that this system is suitable where GSM network is available.
2. Spike in supply may damage system because it uses Electronic Energy Meter.
APPLICATIONS
1. Improved cash flow management: Prepaid energy meters allow utility companies to collect
payments upfront, which can help them manage their cash flow more effectively.
2. Reduced energy theft: Prepaid energy meters can help reduce energy theft and tampering, as
customers are required to pay for the electricity they use before they can access it.
3. Increased customer control: Prepaid energy meters provide customers with greater control over
their electricity usage and spending, as they can monitor their energy consumption in real-time and adjust
their usage accordingly.
4. Reduced billing disputes: Prepaid energy meters can help reduce billing disputes between
customers and utility companies, as customers can see exactly how much electricity they are using and
paying for.
5. Remote monitoring and control: Prepaid energy meters can be remotely monitored and controlled
by utility companies, which can help them quickly detect and resolve any issues with the meter or the
customer’s energy supply.
FUTURE SCOPE
• Integration with renewable energy sources: Prepaid energy meters can be integrated with renewable
energy sources such as solar and wind power to provide customers with more sustainable and cost- effective
energy options.
• Smart grid integration: Prepaid energy meters can be integrated with smart grid technology to enable real-
time communication between the utility company and the customer, allowing for more efficient and
reliable energy distribution.
• Mobile payment integration: Prepaid energy meters can be integrated with mobile payment systems to
provide customers with more convenient payment options, making it easier for them to top up their energy
credit.
• IoT integration: Prepaid energy meters can be integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT) technology
to enable remote monitoring and control of energy usage, allowing customers to optimize their energy
consumption and reduce costs.
• Energy conservation: Prepaid energy meters can be used to encourage energy conservation by offering
customers incentives for reducing their energy consumption, such as discounts or rebates.
CONCLUSION
Smart Energy meter architecture using GSM technology will allow users to pay for energy before using it.
Consumers, therefore, hold credit, then use the energy until the credit is expended. If the available credit is
exhausted then a relay cut-offs the electricity supply. An agreement is also made to intimate the user when
their credit in their balance is poor, with the aid of the GSM contact module. This system was suggested as
an innovative solution to the affordability problem in the Utilities sector. Since a device based on a
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microcontroller is being developed, the readings can be registered continuously. It decreases human labor,
thus increasing the efficiency of measuring bills for using energy. Smart energy meters will offer awareness-
raising solutions for wasteful power wastage, which will help to rising electricity wastage. This module
will reduce the strain of delivering energy by easily establishing the link, and no power theft will occur.
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