Power Measurment Device

Davis Energy Group, Davis, CA, USA

ID: SDE0

Relevant Skills: instrumentation, measurement, software, electronics

One service we do a lot of here is to consult on projects trying to determine energy savings in buildings before and after energy saving measures have been applied. Often this involves measuring power from many devices plugged into electrical outlets (plug loads) throughout a building. There currently is no inexpensive, wireless, an unobtrusive commercial product to do this. We are interested in having a student group work to develop something we can use on future projects. This would include:

• prototyping a lab scale power meter and ensuring it can accurately measure power for a variety of real world load shapes (function of current transducer and voltage transducer response times, acquisition speed, etc. - non trivial)
• design a small scale version to make this unobtrusive. The goal would be something approaching the size of a wall outlet and an inch thick. Alternatively, instead of concentrating on outlet-based packaging, a powerstrip-based device that could measure several plug loads would also be valuable.
• design a logging and communication system.
  • a micro controller would be required to do signal processing and integration to determine real power
  • put the data in an onboard buffer to avoid data losses during temporary communication outages
  • communicate the data to a base station (through a mesh network is a plus)
• test product for accuracy
• test product for electrical safety