Energy Conservation in fans using inverter technology

Inverter technology uses a variable speed compressor motor similar to a car. It simply slows down and speeds up as needed to hold a selected comfort setting. Inverter technology provides a more precise room temperature without the temperature fluctuations of fixed speed systems.

Air Conditioners are a pain point for most people in our country who are concerned about their electricity bills. The moment an air conditioner is added to the list of appliances used in a household, the electricity bills increase significantly. Although it is difficult to significantly reduce the “big” impact of an air conditioner on your electricity bills, but still some of it can be managed by choosing the right technology, doing the right installation/maintenance/operation and by doing the right insulation of the room where the air conditioner is used (more details in our articles listed at the end of this article). When it comes to technology, there were not many available till sometime back. When BEE actively started analyzing and labelling the air conditioners, we got some good one in form of 5 star air conditioners. The latest and the most efficient technology that is available in market today is the Inverter Technology for air conditioners. Inverter technology is designed in such a way that it can save 30-50% of electricity (units consumed) over a regular air conditioner. How does an air conditioner work?
What is benefit of Inverter Technology?
Are Inverter technology air conditioners slow in cooling?

For most people, air conditioner just throws cool air at the temperature one sets it at. But does it really work that way? In fact air conditioner during cooling process, takes the indoor air, cools it by passing it through evaporator and throws it back in the room. It is quite opposite to how our good old air coolers used to work. Air coolers used to take outside air, cool it with water and throw it in. But air conditioners just work on internal air. Along with evaporator air conditioner also has a compressor that compresses the gas (refrigerant) in the AC to cool it that in turn cools the incoming internal air from the room.

The compressor is either off or on. When it is on, it works at full capacity and consumes full electricity it is designed to consume. When the thermostat reaches the temperature level set in the AC, the compressor stops and the fan (in AC) continues to operate. When the thermostat senses that the temperature has increased, the compressor starts again.

In an Air Conditioner with Inverter Technology:

The inverter technology works like an accelerator in a car. When compressor needs more power, it gives it more power. When it needs less power, it gives less power. With this technology, the compressor is always on, but draws less power or more power depending on the temperature of the incoming air and the level set in the thermostat. The speed and power of the compressor is adjusted appropriately. This technology was developed in Japan and is being used there successfully for air conditioners and refrigerators. This technology is currently available only in split air conditioners.

Every air conditioner is designed for a maximum peak load. So a 1.5ton AC is designed for a certain size of room and 1 ton for a different size. But not all rooms are of same size. A regular air conditioner of 1.5ton capacity will always run at peak power requirement when the compressor is running. An air conditioner with inverter technology will run continuously but will draw only that much power that is required to keep the temperature stable at the level desired. So it kind of automatically adjusts its capacity based on the requirement of the room it is cooling. Thus drawing much less power and consuming lesser units of electricity.

Although air conditioner with Inverter Technology adjusts its capacity based on the room requirement, it is very important to install a right sized air conditioner in a room. Please make sure that you evaluate the room and air conditioner capacity before you make a purchase. Keep watching for this space as we are in process of creating a comparator for electricity savings in various air conditioners.

Several people have concerns that Inverter Technology air conditioners do not cool well or cool slowly. However let us take this image as reference to understand how inverter AC works:

Non inverter ACs are fixed speed ACs, where as inverter ACs are variable speed ACs. Non inverter ACs have compressors that go “On” and “Off”. Whereas inverter ACs have compressors that are “On” all the time. As non inverter ACs are sized for peak summer heat load, they are over-sized all the other times (in fact most of the time people oversize even for peak summer season). The drawback of the same is that the AC “Over cools” most of the time. So if you set AC at temperature of 25, it will cool it down to 23 or 22. Now one would question: then what is the use of thermostat? Well the thermostat (in a non inverter AC) switches off the compressor when the outside temperature has reached 25. But a lot has happened before that. In an AC, refrigerant moves from liquid to gas (by taking heat from the room) and then back from gas to liquid as the compressor compresses it. But if the refrigerant is more and heat in the room is less (which happens in over sized AC), it does not get enough heat from the room to convert from liquid to gas and it keeps moving as liquid. Now when the thermostat detects temperature and switches off the compressor, the refrigerant still remains in liquid state and thus has capacity to take heat from room to convert to gas. And so it takes more heat from the room and cools the room below the set temperature.

In comparison, the inverter tech AC changes the flow rate of refrigerant based on the heat of the room. When heat is less, the flow rate is less, when heat is more, the flow rate is more. And it does not switch off the compressor ever. It just makes sure that if temperature setting is 25, it is maintained at that level.

So the difference is: non inverter AC would over cool as shown in the picture. Whereas inverter AC will cool optimum. And thus one may feel that inverter AC does not cool or is slow.

Lesser known benefits of Inverter Technology

§  Regular motors need 3-4 times more current (more than running current) at startup. So the inverter/generator size needed to run any AC or Refrigerator increases significantly. But Inverter Technology air conditioners and refrigerators have variable speed motors that start up gradually needing much lesser current at startup. Thus the size of inverter/generator required to startup is less. For e.g. A 1.5 ton fixed speed AC that runs at about 10 Amp current may need up to 30 Amp current at startup and thus a 5 kVA inverter/generator. But an inverter technology Air Conditioner needs about 6-7 Amp current and not much more at startup and thus a 1.5 kVA or 2 kVA inverter/generator is good enough to support it.

§  Regular motors have much lower power factor. In commercial and industrial connections there is penalty for low power factor and rebates for higher power factor. An inverter technology motor will have power factor close to unity (or 1) which not only results in lesser electricity consumption but also help get rebates on better power factor.

§  If you are planning to use Solar PV for air conditioner, then it is the best to use inverter technology air conditioner or refrigerator as it not only reduces the size of PV panels because it consumes lesser electricity, it also reduces the size of inverter to be put along with the PV panel.

Inverter ACs are 20-30% efficient as compared to same EER fixed speed AC model. So if you find an inverter AC with EER of 3.3 then it is comparable to a fixed speed AC of EER 3.3/0.8 = 4.12 …. now most inverter ACs are efficient than BEE 5 star rated ACs, but some are not. For e.g if you get an inverter tech AC of EER 2.9 then its equivalent AC would be one with EER of 3.63. Now that AC would be a BEE 5 star rated one, but still you can get BEE 5 star rated AC with EER as high as 3.9. So it is not always that inverter tech AC is efficient than BEE 5 star rated AC.

BEE star rated does get updated every year as the efficiencies improve. We hope that soon BEE will include inverter ACs in the star rating as well. And then it will remove all ambiguity (Inverter Tech Refrigerators are already included in BEE star rating). What sized model are you looking for? We can suggest you some models that have high EER.

ACs are designed to cool enclosed space. So when you use an AC in a room you should keep the doors and windows closed (unlike a desert cooler). Even when sizing is done, it is done considering the volume of air to be cooled. Now if your kitchen is connected to the hall the AC will also try to cool the air in the kitchen. So for sizing the AC you will also have to consider the volume of the kitchen. Also kitchen will involve cooking which will increase the heat load on the AC.

Now fixed speed ACs have constant Energy Efficiency Ratio …. while inverter ACs have variable energy efficiency ratio. Inverter ACs are more efficient when they are running at lower capacities and less efficient when they are running at capacities higher than the marketing capacity or tonnage. If you have sized your AC as per your hall without including the kitchen then the inverter AC will always run at capacity higher than the marketing capacity and thus it will not provide you electricity savings that you expect. And that is why we suggested you to go for BEE 5 star rated AC as it will run at constant energy efficiency.

Mostly when the AC is sized for peak summer, it is sized in such a way that it can bring down the temperature to 25 degrees. And 25 degrees is the temperature in thermostat which is there on the internal unit of the AC (some ACs from bluestar have ifeel technology in which the thermostat is in the remote instead of the IDU). Now if in peak summer it can bring down temperature to 25, other times in the year it should be able to bring it down lower. Now when temperature of the air near IDU is 25, the room temperature will be about 26 (with good air circulation). If the circulation is not good then it can be higher as well.

Now I did not understand what you meant by AC is throwing cooling in between 10-12 degrees. All I can say is as long as the AC is able to make your room comfortable, it should be good. If your expectation is that it should bring down the room temperature to 16 or 18, then it will be difficult. It can happen only at nights when the heat load is less. But it should certainly bring down the room temperature to 24-25 which is more than comfortable. If it is not doing that, then there is a problem in the AC.

As far as current is concerned, Inverter AC starts with 0 and increases to highest current (9 amp in your case) and then settles to a stable current (most probably 6.77 in your case). If it is continuously consuming 9 Amp then it means that the AC is not cooling properly or is undersized. Improper installation can also cause improper cooling.[Courtesy]

LOW LOSS CONDUCTOR CABLE An answer to high T&D losses

  In the process of supplying electricity to consumers, technical losses occur naturally and consist mainly of power dissipation in electricity system components such as transmission and distribution (T&D) lines, transformers, and measurement systems. T & D losses have I2R losses as a major component, and if one can reduce the resistance,the losses can be reduced.So, while resistance depends upon metal area and its resistivity,there is a need to improve both without changing the physical area of the conductor. This is besides improving compaction % i.e. Metal area/Physical area. Also, normal compacted conductors have a compaction of 87-91% causing a limit on metal area that can be fitted inside the physical area. These issues have been sorted by a unique design using 2 layers of trapezoidal wires. The electricity sector in India had an installed capacity of 205.34 Gigawatt (GW) as of June 2012, the world's fifth largest. Captive power plants generate an additional 31.5 GW. Thermal power plants constitute 66% of the installed capacity, hydroelectric about 19% and rest being a combination of wind, small hydro, biomass, waste-to-electricity, and nuclear. India generated 855 BU (855 000 MU i.e. 855 TWh) electricity during 2011-12 The per capita average annual domestic electricity consumption in India in 2009 was 96 kWh in rural areas and 288 kWh in urban areas for those with access to electricity, in contrast to the worldwide per capita annual average of 2600 kWh and 6200 kWh in the European Union. India's total domestic, agricultural and industrial per capita energy consumption estimates vary depending on the source. Two sources place it between 400 to 700 kWh in 2008–2009. As of January 2012, one report stated that the per capita total consumption in India to be 778 kWh. In terms of fuel, coal-fired plants account for 56% of India's installed electricity capacity, compared to South Africa's 92%; China's 77%; and Australia's 76%. After coal, renewal hydropower accounts for 19%, renewable energy for 12% and natural gas for about 9%. Further, the 17th electric power survey of India report claims: In December 2011, over 300 million Indian citizens had no access to electricity. Over one third of India's rural population lacked electricity, as did 6% of the urban population. Of those who did have access to electricity in India, the supply was intermittent and unreliable.

 In 2010, blackouts and power shedding interrupted irrigation and manufacturing across the country. The per capita average annual domestic electricity consumption in India in 2009 was 96 kWh in rural areas and 288 kWh in urban areas for those with access to electricity, in contrast to the worldwide per capita annual average of 2600 kWh and 6200 kWh in the European Union. India's total domestic, agricultural and industrial per capita energy consumption estimates vary depending on the source. Two sources place it between 400 to 700 kWh in 2008–2009. As of January 2012, one report stated that the per capita total consumption in India to be 778 kWh.

DEMAND TRENDS As in previous years, during the year 2010–11, the demand for electricity in India far outstripped availability, both in terms of base load energy and peak availability. Base load requirement was 861,591 (MU[) against availability of 788,355 MU, a 8.5% deficit. During peak loads, the demand was for 122 GW against availability of 110 GW, a 9.8% shortfall. In a May 2011 report, India's Central Electricity Authority anticipated, for 2011–12 year, a base load energy deficit and peaking shortage to be 10.3% and 12.9% respectively. The peaking shortage would prevail in all regions of the country, varying from 5.9% in the NorthEastern region to 14.5% in the Southern Region. India also expects all regions to face energy shortage varying from 0.3% in the North-Eastern region to 11.0% in the Western region. India's Central Electricity Authority expects a surplus output in some of the states of Northern India, those with predominantly hydropower capacity, but only during the monsoon months. In these states, shortage conditions would prevail during winter season. According to this report, the five states with largest power demand and availability, as of May 2011, were Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

According to 17^th EPS

Over 2010–11, India's industrial demand accounted for 35% of electrical power requirement, domestic household use accounted for 28%, agriculture 21%, commercial 9%, public lighting and other miscellaneous applications accounted for the rest. The electrical energy demand for 2016–17 is expected to be at least 1392 Tera Watt Hours, with a peak electric demand of 218 GW. The electrical energy demand for 2021–22 is expected to be at least 1915 Tera Watt Hours, with a peak electric demand of 298 GW. Also, if the current average transmission and distribution average losses is around 32% then India needs to add about 135 GW of power generation capacity, before 2017, to satisfy the projected demand after losses. Item Value Date Reported Total Installed Capacity (GW) Available base load supply (MU) Demand base load (MU) Demand base load (GW) Available base load supply (GW) 201.64 837374 118.7 933741 136.2 April 2012 May 2011 May 2011 May 2011 May 2011 Electricity sector capacity and availability in India (excludes

McKinsey claims that India's demand for electricity may cross 300 GW, earlier than most estimates. To explain their estimates, they point to four reasons: sterlitetechnologies.com India's manufacturing sector is likely to grow faster than in the past Domestic demand will increase more rapidly as the quality of life for more Indians improve About 125,000 villages are likely to get connected to India's electricity grid Currently blackouts and load shedding artificially suppresses demand; this demand will be sought as revenue potential by power distribution companies THE CAUSE FOR LOSSES A demand of 300GW will require about 400 GW of installed capacity, McKinsey notes. The extra capacity is necessary to account for plant availability, infrastructure maintenance, spinning reserve and losses. India currently suffers from a major shortage of electricity generation capacity, even though it is the world's fourth largest energy consumer after United States, China and Russia. The International Energy Agency estimates India needs an investment of at least $135 billion to provide universal access of electricity to its population. The International Energy Agency estimates India will add between 600 GW to 1200 GW of additional new power generation capacity before 2050. This added new capacity is equivalent to the 740 GW of total power generation capacity of European Union (EU- 27) in 2005. The technologies and fuel sources India adopts, as it adds this electricity generation capacity, may make significant impact to global resource usage and environmental issues. India's network losses exceeded 32% in 2010 including non-technical losses, compared to world average of less than 15%. Both technical and non-technical factors contribute to these losses, but quantifying their proportions is difficult. Some experts estimate that technical losses are about 15% to 20%, a high proportion of non‐technical losses are caused by illegal tapping of lines, but faulty electric meters that underestimate actual consumption also contribute to decrease in payment collection. A case study in Kerala estimated that replacing faulty meters could reduce distribution losses from 34% to 29%.

In 2010, electricity losses in India during transmission and distribution were about 24%, while losses because of consumer theft or billing deficiencies added another 10–15%. Power cuts are common throughout India and the consequent failure to satisfy the demand for electricity has adversely effected India's economic growth. SUSTAINABLE OPTIMAL REDUCTION OF TECHNICAL LOSSES Optimization of technical losses in electricity transmission and distribution grids is an engineering issue, involving classic tools of power systems planning and modeling. The driving criterion is minimization of the net present value (sum of costs over the economic life of the system discounted at a representative rate of return for the business) of the total investment cost of the transmission and distribution system coupled with the total cost of technical losses.Technical losses are valued at generation costs. Technical losses represent an economic loss for the country, and its optimization should be performed from a country's perspective, regardless of the institutional organization of the sector and ownership of operating electricity utilities. LOSSES - RESISTIVE Transmitting electricity at high voltage reduces the fraction of energy lost to resistance, which averages around 7%. For a given amount of power, a higher voltage reduces the current and thus the resistive losses in the conductor. For example, raising the voltage by a factor of 10 reduces the current by a corresponding factor of 10 and therefore the I2R losses by a factor of 100, provided the same sized conductors are used in both cases. Even if the conductor size (cross-sectional area) is reduced 10-fold to match the lower current the I2R losses are still reduced 10-fold. Long distance transmission is typically done with overhead lines at voltages of 115 to 1,200 kV. STERLITE's SOLUTION Sterlite ULTRAEFF low loss MV Power Cables consist of conductor made from very compactly packed trapezoidal cross-section aluminium strands which are prepared from specially treated aluminium having improved conductivity, high performance XLPE insulated, armoured and unarmoured power cables as per IS-7098-PII and equivalent standards.

METHODS TO REDUCE RESISTANCE As resistance of a conductor is dependent on resistivity, length and area, we can improve the resistance by following: Improving the conductivity of aluminium by annealing and heat treatment. The metal is heat treated for a preset amount of time at a preset temperature improving the conductivity to 62.5 %. 1) Putting more metal area in the same physical area by improving the compaction of the conductor. 2) A stranded circular compacted conductor is made of wires, stranded and compacted to a form of conductor.Two methods of conductor making are prevalent: die compaction with a maximum possible compaction of 90-91 %, Roller compaction for sizes of 240 sq.mm and above with a max possible compaction of 92- 93%. This leads to presence of air gaps and limits the amount of metal area that can be put in the same physical area. If trapezoidal wires are used in place of circular wires, this compaction can be increased to 97 % increasing the metal area and thus effectively reducing the resistance and hence the losses. Sterlite with its background in metallurgy and conductor making adapted this concept for overhead conductors as well as underground cables. With enhanced conductivity and higher compaction, 300 sq.mm conductor with trapezoidal wires was produced to have a conductor resistance of 87% value of that specified by IS 8130.

Lower I2R losses for the transmission /distribution network for the same transmitted current. Higher current rating for conductor temperature of 900C. Higher short circuit rating because of higher metal area in the conductor. CONCLUSION With the extensive use of electricity, and the wide geographical distribution of users, an effective transmission and distribution system is essential. The history of electricity transmission can be dated back to 1883, when Thomas Edison first introduced an economically viable model for generating and distributing electric power. Edison's greatest achievement was perhaps not the invention of the light bulb or any other single application, but the universally applicable electricity transmission system which has lit up the whole world. Modern electrical transmission and distribution systems are the result of conscientious efforts and design skills of engineers to ensure high energy efficiency and safety. Thus, high energy efficiency means the loss of power through transmission is minimized.[  Pranav Vasani is Head – Quality Assurance, Power Cables Business, Sterlite Technology & courtesy-sterlitetechnologies.com]

Accuracy of Energy Meters

                       Reliable and accurate metering system is a vital link between a power utility and consumer, acquiring more significance day by day. In terms of Electricity Act 2003, CEA has notified a metering code for all the utilities to adopt appropriate metering technologies together with various associated methods to reduce commercial losses. Hence it is pertinent that the power utilities have to upgrade their metering system with the state-of-art technologies which are accessible, for reducing losses, improving financial status and better load management.

                        It is a standard utility practice to test consumer's metering equipments in situ and has many advantages over laboratory tests .The meters need not be de- installed and transported to other locations in order for the necessary tests to be performed. This is particularly important for transformated metering installations. If the measuring circuit is faulty the electricity meter receives voltages and currents which differ phase and/or amplitude from those it would receive. Faults may occur when metering equipments are under ongoing operation also. The surest way to find such faults is to check the meter as well as the associated instrument transformers.

                          The specification of LT, HT and EHT metering system in India are based on the guidelines of Central Electricity Authority (Installation and operation) Regulations (2006) which are already in practice all over India. Few area where electricity metering needs attention are

 1 3 phase 3 wire measurement system instead of 3 phases 4 wire meter.

2 Poor accuracy standards of Instrument transformers and Energy meters.

3. Installation of same rated CTs irrespective of contract demand.

1.  Effects of selection of higher burden values of   instrument transformers than actually required.

It can be seen that  at many instances the burden of CT is very high when compared to that of the associated metering equipment. (2-2.5VA).In EHT consumers, a slightly higher burden can be expected for pilot wires. However, a very high burden of instrument transformer gives a prima facie indication that the CT is not working in the defined accuracy range described in the IS. For eg. for a 20VA CT with a secondary current of 1A,  the load must be 20 Ohm. If only 3 Ohm loop resistance and digital relays with almost 0 Ohm impedance is connected, the accuracy may be outside specification since the accuracy is only guaranteed when the load is nominal (20 Ohm) or 1/4 of the nominal load (5 Ohm).Using CTs of burden values higher than required is unscientific since it leads to inaccurate reading (meter) or inaccurate sensing of fault / reporting conditions. Basically, such high value of design burden extends saturation characteristics of CT core leading to likely damage to the meter connected across it under overload conditions.

The CTs designed with a particular burden connected with lower burden application results to erroneous measurements. With the advent in technology, the burden of individual instrument has come down considerably.

                     It can be seen that for  indoor CTs, though the burden(VA) specified for the metering Core is 10-15 VA, it is unlikely to exceed even 3 VA. Hence, it is suggested that the rated Burden for the Metering Core of the CT may be a standard value as close to the connected Burden as possible. Even though a direct conversion of this abnormality into loss is not accurately estimated, a marginal error of 0.25 %   results into a substantial loss of revenue .

2) Adverse effect of using 3 phase 3 wire meters instead 3 phase 4 wire meters

Three phase three wire System of power measurement is in vogue in many utilities .This is two watt meter system of power measurement in which current of R& B phases are measured along with three line voltage. This system measures energy accurately both in balanced and unbalanced load conditions provided there is no neutral current flow. This system is just right so long as the conditions behind it are meticulously followed. However field conditions are entirely different. The present day practice of using star-star solidly earthed transformer permits the consumer to load on each phases heavily (for eg. single phase furnaces etc.) thus making erroneous reading, as current in Y phase of high voltage side is not recorded. If the consumer is intelligent enough to add single phase load deliberately at Y phase in above such condition, it is as good as a power pilferage situation. If a three phase four wire system is adopted, this tricky condition can be avoided. More ever, when CT/PT units of one phase becomes faulty, the total consumption of the system can be arrived more accurately. Hence it is high time for utilities to adopt three phase four wire system as already done elsewhere to plug the drain of revenue leakage.

3. Effects on adoption of Poor accuracy standards of Instrument transformer and Energy meters.

As per regulations 2, 5,8,12 and 16 of Central Electricity Authority (Installation and operation) Regulations (2006) and the schedules, the standards of measuring equipments have been specified. For HT consumers, class 0.5S or better is specified where as for EHT consumers its Class 0.2 S. The accuracy class of Current Transformers and Voltage transformers shall not be inferior to that of associated metes. The regulation states that the existing CTs and VTs not complying with these standards shall be replaced by new CTs and VTs. Thus the regulation is very specific in defining the accuracy class of both instrument transformer and Meters. However superior an energy meter may be, if the associated instrument transformers measure the actual energy with an element of error, the same will be replicated. The current transformer is Class 0.5 (HT) and Class 1.0 for EHT which is not in line with the standards of Central Electricity Authority, 2006.Though a direct conversion of this non compatibility is hard to achieve, revenue loss per month on installation of lower accuracy class CT and Energy meters on the EHT / HT consumers are significantly high.

Ezhilampala

 Ezhilampala (Indian Devil tree.)

The smell, that, comes from a tree named Alstonia Scholaris or Saptaparni or Ezhilampala (Indian devil tree) attracts the people of Delhi on the onset of winter. The presence of this tree just near to my office attracts people by smell of flowers and can be felt even 100 meters away. The tree bears a fruit which ripens and break open at night, spreading the aroma and the pollen. In Indian mythology, Yakshi the female goddess associated with the fertility of the earth, love, and beauty lives in Ezhilampala

                       In Kerala Yakshi is a very popular folklore character. Similar characters are known in many parts of the world. While the Yakshi of Kerala folklore prefers white robes, similar characters, the Scottish and Malaysian prefer green apparels. It is said that whenever a Yakshi appears there would be fragrance of Jasmine or Pala (Alstonia scholaris) - common name Indian devil tree.

                                                 A soft-stemmed tree with highly fragrant tiny flowers that open during night. Seven leaves arise from a single nod and several braches start from the same joint giving the tree a particular shape. Fruits are long shell that hangs in clusters. Ezhilampala is believed to be the habitat of fairies by Indian myths! The fragrance of its flower is sweet when light but causes giddiness when smelled; may be the reason for this innocent tree being called devil tree!

                                                                                                                              

This Ezhilampala is a dwelling place for parrots, dove, squirrel, crows, humming bird, pea cock apart from  Yakshi!!.

GOD'S OWN TRAIN

                                                              The northern state of India - Himachal Pradesh have the benefit of two narrow gauge Rail tracks - Kalka/Shimla and Pathankot/Jogindernagar. Kalka Shimla toy train run on these treks popularly called 'Toy Trains' by the tourists. Roundabout on Shimla toy train is a stimulating experience as one passes through the breathtaking landscapes of splendid Himalayas, tunnels, bridges and fertile green dale embroidered with pine, oak trees, leaving a long lasting memory of ecstasy and accomplishment.

At Shimla Station

                                                 The longest tunnel in the route is named after Barog, the engineer, responsible for scheming a tunnel near the railway station. He started digging the tunnel from both sides of the mountain, which is relatively common as it hustles up construction. However, he made mistake in calculation and the two ends of the tunnel did not meet. Barog was fined an amount of 1 Rupee by the then British government. This is equivalent to millions of dollars today. 

                                     Unable to withstand the embarrassment, Barog committed suicide. He was buried near the incomplete tunnel. The area came to be known as Barog after him and the tunnel is called unlucky tunnel. It is said that his dog upon seeing his master bleeding profusely ran in panic to a village, near the present Barog railway station, for help. However, by the time people reached the spot, Barog had breathed his last. There are different versions about the suicide as some say the dejected engineer shot his dog before he shot himself. He was buried in front of the tunnel, near the Kalka-Shimla national highway, about 1 km from Barog. It is now even difficult to locate the whereabouts of the dejected tunnel which has now been closed.

IN FRONT OF BOROG  TUNNEL

Later the mantle fell on Chief Engineer H.S. Harrington's supervison escorted by a local learned, Bhalku, in a short period from July 1900 to September 1903 at a cost 8.40 Lakh rupees (Rupees 840,000).This tunnel is the longest of the 103 operational tunnels on the route of the Shimla-Kalka Railway, which is 1143.61m long. Barog station is right away after the tunnel. Barog tunnel is the straightest tunnel in the World.Trains takes about 2.5 minutes to cross this tunnel, running at 25 kilometres per hour.Trains take about 2.5 minutes to cross this tunnel, running at 25 kilometres per hour.

MOTHERHOOD

                                                 JOURNEY THRO' JUNGLE.

Kalka Shimla Toy Train has about 7 coaches that can accommodate least 200 passengers in a single trip. The diversities of challenging weather do not extricate the pertinacity of the 700 horsepower B-B type diesel engines. They run vigorously taking up the hazards of adverse weather conditions - temperatures ranging from 0 to 25°C, heavy snowfall -average recording 2 feet during winters, and the annual rainfall of 2000-2500 mm, professed by the valley. The train acquires up a moderate average speed of 25-30 km throughout its passage imparting its travelers to delight in the full magnificence of the pleasing valley. 

                                                                                                            

^{Perhaps this is the only train in India which waited for me to finish my refreshments at Barog station  !}       

The Past, Present and Future of Single Phase Metering In India.

With the implementation of RGGVY scheme, the requirement of single phase meters has become more and more. The financially crunched utilities are struggling hard to buy good quality meters  with communication  facility , as returns from these meters are meager ,but at the same time they have to come up with the technology for electrical meters underway  in  many  other  countries.  Here an attempt is made to go through various phases of this sector over the past few decades and years to come.

                  From the century old rotating wheel or Ferraris meter or    electro mechanical meter,   Utilities   in   India are following the trend in utilities in other parts of the world. With the advent of electronics and IT, the technology behind electrical meters underway tremendously but there is still many unanswered questions surrounding the best implementation system.

          The statistics about metering in India is quite astonishing. One of our neighboring states has about 5 million mechanical meters still in service.30 per cent of the meters in India are still with counter type display system on which any tampering can be done. Many utililities have just only stopped purchasing electro-mechanical meters. Now the utilities are considering LCD meters as the most sophisticated one’s as many readings can be obtained at the same time. With this background an effort is made to analyze the latest status of metering in India .Since India lives in villages and electrification of villages have not landed up anywhere, only single phase metering are discussed.

                                 From electro mechanical meters the first development was static meters with ADE 7751 chips., being the first tolerant electronic meters by Analog Devices, monitoring both phase and neutral current and billing is based on the larger reading. Indian market also attracted towards it, by utilities changing their specifications to incorporate such features into tender documents. It also became a way for utilities to improve efficiency and for meter manufacturers to differentiate their designs.

          The next development was ADE 7761 meter in which brought new concept of attending neutral missing. During these days the meters were neither electromechanical nor electronic but ‘hyrid’  in nature having the draw back of both.

          By this time, Indian Power sector has adopted a new concept of AT&C losses leaving behind the age old concept of T&D losses.Low metering efficiency, tampering etc. were the main loss for the utilities. Through out the development of electronic energy meter, India has stood out as a feature rich, cost driven market where producing a meter that meets the advanced specifications the lowest cost is essential for the success.

Metering today

The  need for rich specification meters at very low cost has driven the single-phase metering market to widely adopt the system-on-chip (SoC) solution, which has rapidly become more popular than a two-chip solution .  SoC technology combines the metering metrology with a low cost microcontroller and peripherals into a single package, thus reducing the overall cost of the meter. The SoC has met mixed success in various regions of the world.

          A full range of measurement of active, reactive and apparent energy measurement is required to be done to prevent the various malpractices adopted by the consumers. This may be added up with a LCD driver also as a precaution. The presence of external battery input and related circuits ensures the system function in the absence of voltages also. Thus the simplified design along with ability to note down reading even in the absence of power has made the system acceptable to all utilities. Many meter manufacturers have come up with design suitable to above solutions.

The future

The automated meter reading (AMR) network have provided sufficient incentives for many utilities to  commence    wide - scale  deployments of such technology. KSEB is yet to commence AMR. Apart from metering cost, removal of existing meter, replace with AMR etc will be saved by the savings in man power required to manually read the meter. But due to the comparatively less labour rate in India, it’s possible when many utilities abroad done with high labour cost. A two way communication would also help to facilitate whether a particular consumer has to be disconnected or not. A lot of man power can be effectively utilized by adopting to AMR. When communication is incorporated, memory requirements also comes to play. This may be arrived in consultation with utility as it may vary from place to place. Thus before Indian utilities a number of options are available as far as single phase energy meter is concerned.

The reality

                                             The RGGVY scheme has revealed astonishing figures in certain states like Arunachal Pradesh, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Orissa etc. where majority of the house holds are still not electricfied. This shows the  future of single phase energy meter is quite reasonable in India. But it remains to be seen that how many   financially crunched states and utilities would change to such high end meters at the expense of few thousands and  that would fetch only  a couple of hundreds as revenue and this I apprehend  may lead to again hybrid meters and Ferrari meters to trust worthy consumers which will  continue to play a key role at least for a decade in Indian power sector. 

INDIA POWER :January-March Issue