Clamp-on meters provide retrofit solution for energy metering
As part of its ongoing energy-management programme, the University of Manchester has installed 15 heat meters utilising Micronics UL2000 clamp-on, ultrasonic flow meters. The university’s heating requirement , including LTHW and MTHW, is supplied from shared energy centres via a network of steel pipes in diameters from 200 to 300 mm. The campus is monitored and managed by energy cost centres. Display Energy Certificates are required for all areas larger than 1000 m2, and 90% of the energy flow from the energy centres has to be accounted for.
Chris Cunningham, assistant mechanical and energy engineer, explains, ‘After considering the various options, clamp-on ultrasonic flow measurement was clearly the most cost-effective and least-disruptive solution for measuring flow in our distribution network. In-line meters would have been far more expensive and very disruptive, requiring system drain down and cutting pipework.’
The meters provide half-hourly consumption data for analysing via the university’s data concentrator over the campus’s Ethernet network.
Following this project, there are plans to use the same technology on chilled-water circuits.
