Description
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Electricity consumption has become a central issue in managing global energy demand growth (Payne, 2010). In Nigeria, residential sector represents as one of major contributors of total high electricity demand. Many residential users use electric energy inefficiently because they are not aware about ways to use energy efficiently in their daily lives. Some performing fewer activities that use electricity to save energy. Others choose the right appliances which use less energy for the same tasks. Both groups are important for saving energy (Shao, 2017), however, monitoring theenergy consumption by user also plays an important role towards global energy efficiency.
The last decade have seen increasingly rapid deployment of smart meters in many countries, such as US, UK and China (Wang et al., 2018). Smart meter has been used for definite accuracy, usage efficiency, advanced features, user privacy, and energy usage visualization (Alahakoon et al., 2016). The main operational benefit of smart meter for residential sector is the ability to automatically collect energy consumption data that help to simplify the billing process without sending workers to residential to manually capture the energy consumption on the meter (Wilson, 2017).
Smart meter is an electronic device that record consumption of energy data and communicate the record to the electricity supplier for billing and monitoring. The smart meter record electricity consumption in intervals of an hour or less and report the electricity consumption at least daily. The smart meter is equipped with two-way communication between the meter and the supplier station(Misra et al., 2018).
Inthis work we are considering a smart meter that helps or display consumers energy consumption in real-time. The smart meters allow residential users to read their energy consumption that measured in kilo watt hour (kWh) on the LCD display of the meter (Yusoffetal., 2015). The residential users are required to submit the kWh reading to TNB(an electricity supplier) for calculating the total electricity usage. However, thepilot project not able to support real time monitoring of electricity consumption by users.
In this study, we develop a real time system called smart metering system for residential energy monitoring to provide residential users the ability to monitor theirown electricity consumption. This device provides a dash board visualization of electricity consumption through charts, graphs and detailed overview of user electricity costs. The device allows users to understand their daily electricity consumption and helpthem to keep track of real time energy usage per daily basis. The system also enables users to control the switching on or off for the electrical appliances in the residential remotely.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
The recent explosion in urbanization over the past few years has necessitated the need for sustainable, efficient, and smart solutions for monitoring energy consumption and management.
Energy efficiency play an important role in addressing the issue of inadequacy of electrical consumption. Energy monitoring is especially important for organizations that use a lot of energy, such as manufacturing facilities, data centers, and large office buildings. By implementing energy monitoring strategies, these organizations can significantly reduce energy costs and improve their overall sustainability (Sankar et al., 2015).
In Nigeria, residential users have been identified as one of major contributor towards high electricity consumption (Sankar et al., 2015).Due to this issue, device was invented that allow users to view the total of electricity consumption on the LCD display.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The aim of this study is to build a smart energy consuming monitoring system for residential energy monitoring. The objectives of this study are:
- To build the system prototype
- To optimize energy usage and reduce waste by developing a real time monitoring system of electricity consumption
- To proposed a system that will reduce energy consumption and costs, as well as increase the overall efficiency of electrical equipment.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
By implementing energy monitoring strategies, users can significantly reduce energy costs and improve their overall sustainability. The use of energy sensors to collect data on energy consumption in real-time. This data is then analyzed using energy management software to identify patterns and trends in energy usage.
This device will allow users to keep track and optimize energy consumption to save cost. With the use of this device, users can estimate their daily, weekly and monthly energy consumption and identify abnormal patterns of energy use.
The device allows users to understand their daily electricity consumption and help them to keep track of real time energy usage per daily basis. The device also enables users to control the switching on or off for the electrical appliances in the residential remotely
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this work covers building a smart meter capable of regulating power consumption via a priority-based load control system. Supply voltage and load current at the constituent units of the smart meter are measured with power monitor sensor (PZEM 004T) interfaced to an ATmega32 micro controller on-board an Arduino Nano development board. Software is developed with the Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) and programmed into the micro controller to consistently compare the instantaneous power being consumed by the connected loads to a user defined threshold. The software also facilitates power consumption level regulation by controlling the loads in order of priority via relays while performing other standard smart meter functions.
1.6 PROJECT ORGANISATION
The various stages involved in the development of this project have been properly put into five chapters to enhance comprehensive and concise reading. In this project thesis, the project is organized sequentially as follows:
Chapter one of this work introduces the study.
Chapter two is on literature review of the study. In this chapter, all the literature pertaining to this work was reviewed.
Chapter three is on design methodology. In this chapter all the method involved during the design and construction were discussed.
Chapter four is on testing analysis. All testing that result accurate functionality was analyzed.
Chapter five is on conclusion, recommendation and references.
