TECHNICAL VISIT TO MTI LABORATORY

The MTI or Metering and Testing Instruments laboratory, situated in Guwahati, is mainly
dedicated to the testing of various energy meters and other instruments for measuring various
electrical parameters. Dating back to the history of energy meters, we have
Electromechanical meters: They are available in single-phase or three-phase connections,
having voltage coil, connected in parallel and current coil, connected in series, respectively. They
consist of a rotating metallic disc and a braking magnet to retard the rotating action. The meter
constant is mentioned in Rev./kWh. They have low accuracy, low reliability and the load profile
of the consumers cannot be analyzed.
Hybrid meters: They also have single-phase or three-phase connections depending upon the
load connected to them. They have an earth tampering facility and are hence more reliable and
accurate. Load profile of consumers can be easily analyzed.
Static meters: They have a real-time non-volatile clock facility along with an optically isolated
port. These instruments are Common Meter Reading (CMR) type, as the meter data, i.e. the load
survey data of 45 days and data history of 6 months for the consumer can be easily downloaded.
The meter constant is mentioned in Impulses/kWh.
Prepaid meters: They have a telephone-keytab kind of system wherein the consumer has to buy
a 20-digit token beforehand through online vending system and punch it inside the meter slot for
recharging. It has an advantage that, if the sanctioned load capacity exceeds for the meter, an
alarm or relay switch trips and cuts the metering unit, thus ensuring reliability.
Load rating for meters can be classified as
Single-phase meters upto 5 kW.
Three-phase meters from 5-20 kW.
Three-phase LTCT meters from 20 kW-80 kW.
HT meters above 80 kW.
Ratings of various meters were displayed as
-/5A or -/1A, 3x240 V,50 Hz, 4-wire, 3-phase for LTCT meters;
-/100 V, -/5A, 50 Hz, 4-wire, 3-phase for HT meters;
The meter constant is mentioned as 8000 or 16000 Imp/kWh depending upon the number of
blinking pulses of the LED light on the meter display corresponding to 1 unit of energy
consumption. The accuracy classes of meters are Class 2, Class 1, Class 0.5S and Class 0.2S,
which is the most accurate one. HT and LT meters belong to Class 0.5S (IS-14697) while Class 1
meters and Class 2 meters have general ratings of 3x240/415V, i.e. LTCT meters (IS-13779). The
current ratings are mentioned as I max and Ib, namely maximum and basic currents respectively
upto which the meter can withstand within its accuracy class.
LTCT meters generally have 6 ports, 3 each for incoming supply and outgoing load end
respectively. 3 current amplifiers and 1 voltage amplifier is also attached for testing. A blue light
acts as a pulse scanner and records it in a counter. The various tests employed in an energy meter
are
No-load test or Creep test: It is performed at 115% of reference voltage and not more than one
pulse is encountered.
Starting current test: It is done at 0.2% of basic current and at least 2 pulses are encountered
before 20 minutes.
Pulse test: It is performed on various loads and at different power factor. 20 pulses are
encountered within the time frame set previously and error percentage is calculated within limits.
Voltage test: It is done within -20 to +30% of reference voltage at unity power factor and 0.5 p.f
lagging. The variation of error between the end limits and the reference parameter is measured.

Frequency test: It is done within -5 to +5% of reference frequency at unity power factor and 0.5
p.f. lagging. The variation of error between the end limits and reference parameter is measured.
Repeatability of error test: The meter consistency is verified by performing a similar measuring
test 6 times and the difference between the highest and the lowest errors is recorded.
High Voltage test: It is done for 1-phase meters wherein the neutral cable is detached from its
mother port and connected to any of the phases, and the phase-to-phase voltage is recorded
between the phase and the neutral wires. This high voltage must be withstood for 10 minutes
approximately within its accuracy class.
Over-current test: Here, 100% of maximum current is withstood by the meter for 2 hours.
LTCT panels are generally located below the distribution transformers.
A CT-PT (Class 0.5S) metering unit has 6 CT terminals, 4 PT terminals & 1 neutral grounding
terminal. The unit is connected in Y-Y mode between the incoming and the outgoing phases.
An IR tester box (Insulation Resistance Tester) records the results of Continuity test and the
Insulation Resistance Test. It is fed through a 5000V D.C supply. For Continuity Test, if both
the incoming and the outgoing adjacent bushing coils are shorted or continuous, the resistance
shows 0, else it displays . The insulation resistance is then done by IR test which recorded the
resistance near about 10000 using Meggar method. A CT-PT analyzer also records the ratio
error and the phase angle error. These CTs only have a metering core, while the protection CTs
also require to plot excitation curves. The metering data is analyzed using the BCS or the Base
Computer Software.

CT-PT Metering Unit

LTCT meter testing equipment

CT-PT analyzer box

Different types of energy meters