ABB Announces Enhanced Capabilities to Advanced Revenue Meters.

Business Editors/Energy Writers

RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2001

Features Include Enhanced Power Quality Measurements, Optical Metering

Compatibility and Increased Communications for the ION(R) 8400 and

ION(R) 8500 Power Quality/Revenue Meters

ABB Electricity Metering, a leading provider of electricity meters and system solutions throughout the world, today announced new options and features for their ION(R) 8400/8500 advanced revenue-class socket meters.

The ION meters are one of the most robust electronic meters on the market and feature high visibility displays, high accuracy measurements, power quality measurements, communications protocol support and compliance reporting. Improving on these features, ABB announces the following enhanced capabilities:

-- Power Quality Measurements ("9's of reliability" measurement)

-- Flicker Measurements

-- Transient capture down to 65us

-- Compatibility with optical CTs

-- Modbus TCP over Ethernet

These new capabilities further enhance the functionality of the ION 8400/8500 meters by simplifying operation, increasing flexibility and extending communication access -- all of which can add up to significant cost savings in substation automation as well as for ESCOs and energy marketers.

In today's era of deregulation and complex energy supply contracts, accurate measurement of power quality has become a key issue for utilities. Companies running mission-critical applications now expect seven nines of reliability (3.2 seconds of downtime per year). The ION 8400/8500 revenue meters now feature the ability to measure the number of nines (9's) of power quality and display that information on the front panel or through energy management software.

The sampling rate of the ION 8500 has also been increased to 256 samples per cycle on all voltage and current inputs from 128 samples per cycle. This improves transient capture capability to detect sub-cycle disturbances as short as 65us. Waveforms are recorded on all channels simultaneously for 7 cycles at 256 samples per cycle (and can be configured for other sampling rates and durations). This high sample rate also enables harmonic measurements to be calculated to the 63rd order on board the 8500 meter and to the 128th through software.

In addition to increased sampling rate and enhanced transient capture, the ION 8500 meter now has a flicker detection algorithm that conforms to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards.

A new functionality has been added to the ION 8400/8500 meters -- an ordering option that allows the user to select current inputs for a standard 5 Amp meter (ANSI class 20 meter, IEC 60687 0.2S 5Amp nominal, 20A max) or a 1 Amp meter (ANSI class 2 meter, IEC 60687 0.2S 1A nominal, 10A max). This option allows the meters to be compatible with the output of most optical current transformers.

In addition to these features, the ION 8400/8500 meters now include support for the Modbus TCP over Ethernet standard (in addition to the Modbus RTU protocol already supported). Additionally, the number of DNP slave modules has been increased to accommodate even the most data-intensive DNP applications.

The ION 8400/8500 meters are the world's first socket-mount energy meter to combine advanced power quality analysis, data/event recording and multi-port communications with revenue-class, three-phase metering. With this exclusive feature set, these meters provide information that can assist utilities, ESCOs and energy marketers in cutting operating costs by maximizing uptime and offering optimum value to customers in an increasingly competitive marketplace. These capabilities add up to a polyphase meter with the most advanced analysis and multi-port communications features available in a revenue-class meter.

The ION 8400/8500 meters are manufactured with the unique ION(R) technology, an object-oriented architecture developed by Power Measurement Ltd. of Victoria, BC Canada, that allows more flexibility and extensibility than any existing socket meter. This flexibility is important for simultaneously addressing the varied data and control needs of different departments and users. The ION architecture allows the meter to provide each party with the specific information or control functions required. Product specifications cited are those in effect at time of publication.

The ION 8400/8500 meters are available now from ABB. For more information, contact ABB Electricity Metering at 919/212-4800 or via e-mail at [e-mail].

ABB Electricity Metering of Raleigh, N.C. (http://www.abb.com/metering), a division of ABB Automation Inc. designs and develops advanced electricity meters and creates information technology solutions and infrastructure for meters and meter data management systems.

ABB serves customers in manufacturing, process and consumer industries, utilities, the oil and gas sector and infrastructure markets. ABB's U.S. operations (http://www.abb.com/us), headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., employ over 16,000 people at manufacturing and other facilities in 40 states. Worldwide, ABB employs about 160,000 people in more than 100 countries and reported revenues of $25 billion in 1999.