Power Quality Analyzer for Smart Grid-Smart Home Applications

Abstract

Smart Grid provides the manufacturer and consumer with real-time energy information, enabling them to make "smart" choices. Smart homes, on the other hand, realize the interaction between the end-user and the smart grid. With this infrastructure, new possibilities arise for the consumer: different prices for different types of energy, instant metering and costs, predictions about bill evolution, etc. In this paper, we focus on another important aspect, namely the quality of the electric energy received by a smart home from the smart grid. For this, we developed a power quality analyzer that besides the usually metering functions also records the period of time when the quality of the energy is lower than the threshold specified in the contract between the consumer and the provider. This information is accessible for both entities to improve the quality of the system and repay the consumer for poor quality energy.