Modular Smart Single-Phase Meter
ADD Grup has started certification of its 9th generation of ADDAX smart electricity meters. This is the latest development of the company at the moment, which has incorporated the most advanced technologies on the AMI solutions market.
We must not forget that the 9th generation was preceded by many years of work, the results of which can be found, in particular, at ADD Grup Museum. It is here that you can see with your own eyes the previous generations of smart electricity meters designed and made in Moldova.
Here we will tell you how the history of AMI smart electricity metering started for the company.
The idea to concentrate its efforts in the energy sector came to the management of ADD Grup back in 1998. The company’s first trial product was a totalizer that helped collect readings from the existing electricity meters. The main task of the product was to implement automatic remote meter readings.
The next important step that ADD Grup made in metering was the development of the concept of a smart meter of its own make, with the possibility of two-way communication and the presence of a disconnection relay. This allowed the company not only to enable utility companies to receive data from meters and issue invoices, but to also remotely disconnect the consumer from electricity in case of non-payment.
The first full-fledged large-scale project for the supply of 250,000 smart electricity meters was implemented by ADD Grup in Ukraine from 2001 to 2003.
At that time, it was the largest project in Europe on AMI.
Interestingly, the first electricity meters produced by ADD Grup were vandal-proof and were made in a metal housing. The idea was that if the task of smart meters is to deal with non-payers, then they, in turn, will try to “fight” the meters. Subsequently, the ADDAX case was replaced with a plastic one, which did not prevent the company from further promoting the idea of total protection of equipment from illegal opening and other types of fraud.
With each new generation, the ADD Grup electric meter was equipped with more and more new features, including an unauthorized access sensor (opening the connector cover and the cover of the meter itself), a magnetic field sensor, a differential current sensor, and many others.
As a result, ADDAX has become more and more full-fledged product that makes up the smart grid concept every year. In particular, it has features related to the measurement of electric power quality parameters (like sags, swells, THD, flickers etc).
Also in the meter, communication technologies were constantly improved. Until 2010, ADD Grup used its own software developments, but since 2012, the company has switched to implementing communication solutions based on Prime and G3-PLC open standards. We note here that this was a requirement of the power grids in order to exclude the monopolization of the market.
ADD Grup was the first company in the world to implement a universal platform that used both PRIME and G3-PLC technologies in one meter, and was the first to demonstrate the possibility of switching from one standard to another within its large project in Latvia on the same hardware. We also note that ADD Grup was the first to implement the Hybrid G3-PLC hybrid communication solution and to this day has real projects with a hybrid communication module with more than 70 thousand installed meters.
Today, as mentioned at the beginning, the 9th generation of ADDAX electricity meters is brought to the market, which includes meters with an integrated PLC and Hybrid PLC + RF, modular meters that support a wide range of communication solutions and DIN-Rail meters with a BLE interface (Bluetooth Low Energy) for capillary networks. As part of its creation, the company interacted very closely and continues to interact with its customers. Due to this, ADD Grup uses not only its own knowledge and skills, but also improves due to the wishes and recommendations from customers.
Thus, the vision of our customers makes a significant contribution to the development of the company as a whole and to the products that it creates in the market for high-precision measuring equipment.
The mission of ADD Grup is to produce the most advanced smart meters in the world.
Contact us at info@addgrup.com for more information about our products.