HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
The Holidays are once again upon us and how time flies! At this special time of the year, all of us at DENT Instruments and the wonderful and talented people around the globe who represent us, wish to extend the warmest of greetings. May you prosper and enjoy the fruits of your labor! ~YOUR FRIENDS AT DENT INSTRUMENTS~

Dranetz-BMI Dran-View 6.0 Software Imports and Analyzes ELOG Data Files
By Ian Murdoch, IMH Technologies

At a recent meeting in Brussels it was quickly realised by Chris Dent, CEO of DENT Instruments and Per Halvarsson of Trinergi, the Swedish Distributor for Dranetz-BMI, that it should be relatively easy to import data derived from the DENT ELITEpro and DATApro loggers directly into the new Dranetz-BMI Dran-View 6.0 software. Developed in the US and Sweden by a brilliant team of programmers lead by Robert Fransson, the Dran-View software used in conjunction with the Dranetz-BMI equipment is widely recognised as one of the world’s best for displaying the load profiles, waveform and harmonic details derived from energy and power quality measurement instrumentation. This proved to be the case…

IMH Technologies have immediately seized upon this new functionality and used the combined strengths of the products during a recent multi-instrument survey around an important UK Government site in Cornwall, England. Ten ELITEpro instruments were used–logging Electrical Load and Temperature over 7 days. The customer had demanded to see Total 3 phase Kilowatts and the individual phase current plotted on the same graph so that any unbalance in the supply as the load changed over the week could be quickly identified. This was easy using the Dran-View 6.0 Enterprise version. Also the built-in report writer enables the selected graph styles to be saved as templates allowing the next set of data to be displayed quickly in the identical manner. 

See Graph below

We feel the marriage of the DENT Instruments ELITEpro and the Dran-View analysis software is an excellent and cost-effective package for anyone creating intelligent reports in this field for their clients. 

IMH Technologies Ltd are the UK distributor for both Dranetz-BMI Power Quality analysers manufactured in New Jersey and DENT Instruments Energy Loggers from Oregon. As well as selling these instruments to a wide range of Commercial, Industrial and Government Businesses IMH Technologies also offer a consultancy service using these instruments. This gives us the ability to offer both power quantity and power quality information to our customers.

Analysts Rely on DENT Flexibility, Reliability and Cost Savings in Meeting Their Clients' Needs
By Kyla Merwin Cheney

The California Energy Commission recently hired KEMA (formerly Xenergy) to conduct their Residential Appliance Saturation Survey, a research project measuring the energy consumption of appliances in households across the state. To assist them, KEMA turned to DENT Instruments.

Erik Dyrr, Senior Engineer at KEMA, said that DENT Instruments’ DATApro  loggers were installed in 200 residences across the state of California for this project. The instruments are being used to measure whole house and air conditioning energy consumption, “There’s a substantial cost for us to install loggers at each site,” said Dyrr. “It’s not worth it for us to purchase equipment that is unreliable. It’s too expensive to go back in 3-12 months and not have recorded accurate data. DENT’s loggers have been very reliable. That’s one of the many reasons I continue to use them.”

The research project was subject to two constraints:  budget and space. The budget did not allow for metering true kWh using the DENT ELITEpro  7-channel recording power meter, as would have been desired. Instead, the lower cost DATApro 4C was chosen. The DATApro  allows for recording up to 4 channels of true RMS current simultaneously. To compute kWh the recorded current values were multiplied by a one-time measurement of the line voltage and power factor.

Since most of the sites had a combined meter base and breaker panel in an outdoor location the physical size of the recorder had to be as small as possible to fit inside the panel. Even the standard DATApro  (and ELITEpro ), at a diminutive 3”x 6”x 2”, was too large to fit in these small panels. That’s when KEMA asked DENT Instruments to redesign the DATApro  for this project.

“In only 45 days DENT was able to take all the functionality of the full-size DATApro  and squeeze it into a package that was just over 4”x 2” x 1”. This resulted in a reduction in volume of nearly 64% for the instrument. Without these small recorders the project would not have been possible.”

Dyrr also reported that the level of customer support DENT offers its customers is far superior to other instrumentation companies he has worked with. “They’re a relatively small company, and more responsive to my needs,” said Dyrr. “In larger companies, I’m thrown to their system. With DENT, I call up and talk to the one person who understands their products and our company.”

The instruments that DENT manufactures have also offered KEMA the flexibility they require in responding to the various needs of their different customers. “DENT has a whole line of products for research and evaluation,” said Dyrr, “and we’ve used them all. We count on DENT Instruments for a wide range of products, flexibility, and the willingness to customize their products for our specific requirements. It allows us to respond better to our clients.”

The consulting firm of KEMA, Inc. of Oakland, California, collects, monitors and evaluates data on energy usage.

Have a tech Question?  Ask our Resident TECH Guru, Mike Leno

Question: We are writing a Measurement and Verification Plan for an energy conservation program using your ELITEpro data loggers. One aspect of the M&V Plan is calibrating the metering equipment. Can you provide us with a description of how the ELITEpro is calibrated?

Answer: The ELITEpro design includes an internal reference voltage source and self-calibration circuitry. The firmware program in the ELITEpro instructs the instrument to recalibrate itself twice per day, at 12:00 noon and again at 12:00 midnight. The combination of a robust, inherently stable electrical design and its self-calibration feature make the ELITEpro highly resistant to aging and drift phenomena that cause calibration errors. Our experience with this device indicates that the calibration of the ELITEpro remains within the manufacturer’s specifications for a minimum of three years, and in most cases factory recalibration is never required.

The ELITEpro is calibrated using reference equipment and methods that are traceable to the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Got your own question you'd like to see answered in the DATAline?...click here.

FEATURE FOCUS:

Unattended and Automatic Data Retrieval from DENT Loggers

ELITEpro and DATApro instruments with modems can be configured to automatically initiate telephone data retrieval sessions (AutoHost, short for Automatic PC Host), as well as answer calls from the PC (AutoPoll). The AutoHost configuration function in ELOG allows storing of a call-out schedule, task-list and telephone number for the logger to call. At the time(s) specified in the configuration table stored in the logger, the logger will call a host computer at the telephone number in its memory.

Weather-tight Enclosure for ELITEpro and DATApro Instruments
Our Weathertight enclosure delivers stronger environmental integrity, separate 4mm voltage plugs, water-tight twist-lock connectors for both current leads and the power & communication cables.
This option for the ELITEpro and DATApro instruments will meet the most stringent requirements
of remote data logging.
Outer dimensions: Approx. 6.3” (160mm) x 6.3” (160mm) x 3.5” (90mm)

National Facilities Management and Technology
Baltimore, Marylland
March 7-9, 2006

West Coast EMC
Seattle, Washington
June 8-9, 2006

Electric West
Las Vegas, Nevada
March 1-3, 2006