District Cooling Smart Wireless Valve for Submeters

P

Thread Starter

Pulsar

Hello.

I am working on developing an application for a district cooling company. The company supplies chilled water to multiple high rise buildings and tenant side billing is done through BTU meters.

Now we intend to install valves for each tenant that can be opened/closed from a central location. This way, connection/disconnection of chilled water can be done remotely without anyone going in the field.

Main requirements of such a valve are

1. Should be battery operated with long battery life.

2. Should be wireless.

3. Good option: Should be able to take in M-Bus input from the BTU meter and communicate the meter reading on the same wireless channel through which the valve is being controlled.

I would like to know if members in these forums have ever come across a valve that can do all this?

Thanks for your help
Omer
 
Is "M" bus currently being used?
It seems to have a very low current draw, not enough to drive a motor or even charge a battery.
What size are the valves going to be?
Pressure difference across a closed valve?
Speed of open/close?

Why do you require wireless when "M" bus is a 2 wire system?
Could the valve be just a pilot operated solenoid or do you need a motorized option?
It seems as though a simple motorized butterfly or ball valve is what you need with a fail last actuator (no current draw unless moving)
 
J
Hi Omer,

sounds like an opportunity for someone to build a valve that takes some energy from the flowing water to charge a battery, or use the pressure from the line to move your valve.

IMO, no such valve exists...getting information to and from field devices gets easier by the year. Doing work(force x distance) remains constrained by physics.

At a minimum, you will have to have an electrically operated valve, presumably, that is the most likely utility that you have available.

I encourage you to seek out an engineering company and get a feasibility study performed. This will aid you in the pursuit of a budget with your superiors.

Cheers
Jason
 
Jason,

Thanks for your reply. I found this on the net which speaks on these lines

http://www.smartearthtechnologies.com/utilities/

Sounds interesting. The IoT is making new players enter in the market. I have my reservations on the ability to keep the valve moving for 10 years on a battery, but believe given the low frequency of operation and small size of valves (1 to 1.5 inch), it may be possible.

Regards
Omer
 
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