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New energy supplier pilot project

by Lucian Corduneanu

New project

The recent pilot project we started with an energy supplier puts our entire resources to test. We have to deliver 20 energy sub-meters at the end of the month.

We face significant challenges working to fix complex mechanical, electrical, and software issues. But we are confident we can deliver as planned.

Those sub-meters are capable of measuring energy consumption and production, from photovoltaic panels with an accuracy of over 95% and send data over WiFi or 3G connections. This way we help the energy supplier to collect and show real-time energy usage statistics to their residential and industrial clients via their mobile application.

The first batch will be used to measure three-phase energy production from photovoltaic parks.

Geeky stuff

We use SAMD21 with ATSENSE301 for the sensor unit, this helps us to collect 16k samples in one second for each of the 3x3 voltage and current channels.

The core unit uses an ESP32 with SARA-U2 to extend the network capabilities to 3G networks. WiFi capabilities are covered by the ESP32. Communication between the core and multiple sensor units installed in cascade are possible via differential I2C with ethernet cables up to 15m with RJ45 connectors.

We enjoy using PlatformIO with ESP-IDF, Mbed and Arduino frameworks for fast prototyping.

Thank you MedBase for your help.

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