MEASURING AND RECORDING ELECTRICITY IN HORTICULTURAL RESEARCH

The paper briefly describes the principal methods of measuring electricity in order to have an analysis of the quality as well as the quantity of electrical energy. Under quality the following methods are mentioned:

1. Measurement of m-units (V - A),
2. Measurement of effect (W = energy per time),
3. Operation time recording (on-off control),
4. Running-time counting,

for the purpose of internal information about the stability of the supply (a + b), investigation of the characteristics of regulating equipment (c) and the total load time of consuming units (d).

The quantitative measurements are discussed under the points:

1. Total measuring,
2. Continuous measuring and recording,

(b1) Electromechanic impulse counting,

(b2) Electronic impulse counting,

and are emphasized as being indispensable for a true comparison of the effectiveness of, for instance, heating and irradiation installations.

It is pointed out that some investigations using electricity as a capacity factor - for example, the comparison of different irradiation methods - can have wrong conclusions without a quantitative measurement of the energy consumed.

The components in the measuring field are outlined in figures.