As scientists scratch heads, students turn power police

For years, energy scientists have scratched their heads trying to find a way to prevent the pilferage of power. It now happens that two undergraduate students of engineering, Pranab Purkayastha and Aditya Mishra, both studying at the Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University, have come up with a prototype that could help detect energy theft.

These two bright wannabe techies, Pranab, in his final year of the course, and Aditya, in the third year, have outshone students from IITs and NITs to bag the prestigious ‘IIT Kharagpur Kshitij 2010’ award. This award was announced at the recently-held Techno-Management Fest at IIT Kharagpur. The two students of the electronics and communications course demonstrated a working prototype model of robust residential energy meter, built to Indian specifications. It can communicate directly with the utility operating centre in case of theft.

“Energy supplied through the block meter and energy received by the house meter is linked, so we can trace at which point energy has been lost,” said Pranab, the leader of the team that developed the meter. The meter comes equipped with Hall Effect current sensors that measure current, dual current sensors on both neutral and live wire and a ferro-magnetic shield for the Hall Effect IC against stray magnetic field. It also has a password-protected lock. “We are working together on a system to make our energy meter compatible for 3-phase supplies, so it can be used in industries. Another project we are working on would enable the usage of Web-based and mobile-based credit-recharge system for end-users. This would give us enough parameters to set up a central control room that monitors suspicious activity in the grid.”

A senior faculty member of the Electronic and Electrical department of the Manipal Institute of Technology who supervised the duo said, “We have heard that over 35% of power generated is lost in transmission. The boys discussed the matter and approached us with queries at different stages. When I saw the completed project, I knew right away that it was a winner. The readings it gave on simulated conditions were very near accurate figures. Both students worked diligently, and we are proud of them.”