Cambridge Consultants UMI Lowers Energy Consumption & Saves Money
by Renee Blodgett on July 21, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Below, I’m talking to Eric Wilkinson at Cambridge Consultants in the UK to better understand their UMI (Universal Metering Interface), a new low power board-to-board wired interface. UMI is primarily aimed at smart metering of meters (electricity, gas, water, heat), displays and gateways.
Many metering product developments are being held up because the communications standards have not yet been finalized by the relevant national authorities.
UMI solves this problem by separating the metrology and communications functions into modules with a wired connection between them. This unbundling is useful because the metrology standards and regulations are stable.
Manufacturers can develop smart-ready MID-approved meters today by including one or more UMI ports. These meters can actually be installed in the field now; the primary aim is at ultra low power applications.
UMI will be launched as an open standard later in 2009. The below video shows how this technology can be used to regulate kitchen appliances.
By monitoring energy consumption, UMI can automatically turn off higher energy consumption appliances during expensive times and run lower priced appliances when absolutely necessary, saving consumers money.
Consumers can actually select what they are ‘prepared to pay’ on a dial on their wash machine or other appliance. Click play to learn more.
