Heat Metering Retrofit Project for a District Heating Company

Project Background

A district heating company had 50 mechanical heat meters in service for over 10 years. Due to wear and scaling, measurement errors increased significantly, affecting billing fairness.

Customer Challenges

• Poor accuracy: actual deviation exceeded ±8%, beyond GB/T 32224-2020 limits.
• High maintenance: over 20% units required annual disassembly or replacement.
• No bidirectional measurement: return flow heat could not be monitored.

Solution

Adopted 50 sets of SIENCUN TDS-H clamp-on ultrasonic heat meters. Based on transit-time ultrasonic principle with PT1000 RTD, compliant with JJG 225-2001. Clamp-on installation avoids pipe cutting, suitable for DN50~DN300, supports forward/reverse flow and heat measurement, data transmitted via RS485/M-Bus.

Implementation

• Site survey: check pipe material, wall thickness, insulation.
• Installation: mount transducers, set parameters, perform zero-flow calibration.
• Data comparison: parallel operation with old meters for one week.
• System integration: connect to existing SCADA for remote reading and alarms.

Results

• Accuracy: measurement error stabilized within ±1.5%, meeting billing standards.
• O&M cost: annual maintenance reduced by 60%, no shutdown needed.
• Data application: real-time monitoring of temperatures and heat flow, aiding hydraulic balance, achieving about 5% energy savings.