Silicon Laboratories Inc., a
reputed company in the field of high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs, recently announced that Elster has selected the Si8422 5 kV digital isolator IC for its advanced AS1440 electronic polyphase meter intended for smart grid applications.
Elster presents a full suite of electronic and electromechanical polyphase meters that are aimed at residential, commercial and industrial applications. These can be effortlessly integrated into Automated Metering Infrastructure systems for smart grid deployment.
According to a report from ABI Research, by 2014, the number of smart electricity meters installed globally is anticipated to grow to 212 million. These numbers are almost three times the 76 million units deployed in 2009.
In a release Rainer Miermann who is the Design and Development Manager at the Elster Group said that "Silicon Labs' Si8422 digital isolator meets the very high performance, reliability and security standards of our electronic polyphase meters. Smart meters must operate safely and reliably in harsh outdoor environments prone to transient spikes. The Si8422 IC provides a robust isolation solution that is critical to the fail-safe operation of one of our most advanced smart electricity meters."
The Si8422 digital isolator is integrated in Elster's intelligent AS1440 polyphase meter. Elster's intelligent AS1440 polyphase meter offers accurate electricity measurement, anti-tampering features and trustworthy data transfer for industrial and high-power commercial applications. The AS1440 meter can be used to support both direct and current/voltage transformer (CT/VT) connections and 4-quadrant measurement.
In a release Mark Thompson who is the Vice President of Embedded Mixed-Signal products at Silicon Labs said that "Offering superior electrostatic discharge performance, robust tolerance to electromagnetic noise and high-speed operation, the Si84xx family provides best-in-class digital isolation technology that's critical to sophisticated smart electricity meters such as Elster's industry-leading AS1440. Growing deployment of smart metering systems will continue to drive demand for CMOS-based isolation solutions like the Si84xx ICs."
The Si8422 is a member of Silicon Labs' well-liked Si84xx digital isolator family. The Si84xx family helps to support high-speed data transmission to a maximum of 150 Mbps. At the same time, it offers up to 5 kV of isolation. It also offers enormously finer dependability and immunity to temperature and aging when compared with conventional optocouplers. Thus, it can be considered as the finest isolation solution for green energy and industrial applications.
Carolyn John is a Contributor to IoTevolutionworld. To read more of her articles, please columnist page.Edited by
Marisa Torrieri
