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ROBUST AND ACCURATE METERING TECHNOLOGY
The HYDRUS 2.0 ultrasonic meter is resistant against deposits and measures consumption reliably, even at smallest flow rates. Non-revenue water is minimalized, for more sustainability and more profit.
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POWERFUL & DATA SECURE
mioty technology features extreme radio ranges of up to 11 km, with lower receivers at the same time needed. Data splitting ensures reliable data transmission.
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COST-EFFICIENT AND DIGITALIZED PROCESSES
Exact billing on any given day, paperless interim statements, digitalized processes and cost savings.
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THE CHALLENGE: MANUAL READING ONLY ONCE A YEAR, COSTLY AND NON-SCALABLE
About 39,000 mechanical water meters are actually installed in ThüWa’s water supply area, used exclusively for billing purposes. Manual reading – common practice so far – is extremely costly and time-consuming, with high personnel expenditure and a high number of meters. And: manual reading makes it possible to bill consumers only a specific date. However, a wish of many landlords is to provide their tenants with operating costs.
ThüWa therefore divided its supply area into 12 meter-reading districts in which meters are read at different times of the year. This caused a lot of work, especially in the preparation of the water utility’s annual financial statements, and high costs for IT and auditing companies. Furthermore, the existing water meters with moving measuring parts are susceptible to deposits, e.g., caused by calciferous water. This can reduce their accuracy over their current service life of 6 years and, in the worst case, to differences between actual and measured water consumption. And since data reading is only available once a year for each meter, it is difficult for ThüWa to implement topics such as optimization of the water supply or leakage detection.
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THE SOLUTION: DM’S IOT NETWORK PLANNING SERVICE RESULTED IN WIRELESS LPWAN mioty® TECHNOLOGY
ThüWa ThüringenWasser GmbH decided to replace all mechanical water meters with Diehl Metering HYDRUS 2.0 ultrasonic water meters over the next 2-3 years. This concerns the domestic water meters as well as the large bulk meters in the network.
The simple plug-&-play installation and minimal maintenance requirements make the HYDRUS static ultrasonic water meter the ideal meter for water suppliers. Thanks to an integrated radio module, drive-by or fully automatic readout via fixed network can be realized immediately.
The choice of communication technology plays a key role in fixed network readout. To evaluate advantages and possible applications of various IoT communication technologies, Diehl Metering’s IOT Network Planning Service was used. First, a situation analysis was carried out together with the customer. Targets and future possibilities of the network were defined, and different communication technologies evaluated. Based on this, a detailed network with all required antenna locations was planned.
The comparison of possible technologies showed: the wireless LPWAN mioty® technology convinced with best performance and costeffectiveness. Thus, ThüWa will implement the mioty® network together with the Stadtwerke Erfurt group within the next 2-3 years. A first site has already been established.
By setting up a network with the mioty® technology and communicating HYDRUS 2.0 domestic and bulk water meters, ThüWa will be able to fully digitalize its meter reading and billing process.
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THE BENEFITS: RELIABLE DATA TRANSMISSION, FAST & SECURE BILLING, COST-EFFECTIVE AND FUTURE-PROOF
Reliable, robust and ready for Smart city
The mioty® network will allow metering applications to merge with the IoT world. Special features of the technology are extreme radio ranges of up to 11 km and good radio penetration, allowing to read out meters in difficult installation situations without errors.
Another advantage is the high robustness. The mioty® telegram splitting ensures reliable data transmission of the meter data: captured data is not sent in one piece, but is split into many small pieces. If one data snippet gets damaged on the way to the receiver, the meter telegram can be found and restored completely thanks to error correction. This ensures a high level of operational reliability for the water supplier.Optimized radio range with only a few antennas
The optimized radio range plays a key role in terms of investment and operating costs. For radio coverage of the entire city of Erfurt, mioty® requires far less antenna sites than other technologies. A small number of antenna sites is needed to meet various requirements for a setup, like access authorization, installation permit, etc.Billing processes run faster, more secure and stable
End consumers are billed only for their actual consumption as of the due date. From the recording of meter readings to the transfer to ThüWa’s billing system, the overall process is faster, more secure and more reliable. An interim statement can be generated paperless at any time. Balance sheet accruals and the costs for ThüWa to prepare annual financial statements are also a thing of the past.Further potential
The advantages of the HYDRUS 2.0 ultrasonic water meter come into play. With a service life of up to 16 years, the HYDRUS series represents enormous economic potential for the utility company. Last but not least, mioty® offers a broad technical basis for future digital applications of the ThüWa and enables further steps in the field of SmartCity.
