Flashlite 386Ex Energy Metering System

Ingenieria Punto Q Ltda, a customer in Chile, has been developing many different applications with JK microsystems DOS based, embedded single board computers.

The first project using a JK microsystems single-board computer was the VP15, a Ferris Wheel Energy Meter calibration system. The VP15 is based on the Flashlite 386Ex embedded controller and also includes an A/D peripheral board. It is used in the field to verify the calibration of home energy meters by comparing the actual energy measured with the energy counted by the meter under test.

The picture below shows the optical pickup used to detect the mark on the wheel.

Here you can see two VP15's during testing at our lab. After more then 3 years they are still in the field and so far we have not received a single complaint from our customers.

The Flashlite 386Ex SBC controls the A/D board, the display, the keyboard, a serial port used to download the generated files, the optical pickup and an optional serial printer. The program running on the Flashlite 386Ex microcomputer is written in C and some assembly language. In addition to calculating energy, the VP15 is capable of measuring RMS Voltage and Current, Active and Reactive Power, phase angle, frequency and temperature. The temperature measurement is also used for compensation.

Ingeniería Punto Q Ltda wrote the program that automatically downloads the results and maintains a database with the calibrated meters. Below are two screen snapshots.

Fig 4: Main Screen VP15 Software