Wireless water meters
Conventional water meters require that someone physically go out and read the meter. Such a method involves avoidable costs, and introduces errors that create customer dissatisfaction. A more efficient notion is smart meters, which eliminate the need for manual reading by transmitting data to a central location. Many electricity meters across Europe already employ the concept. The EU-funded WIMBEX(opens in new window) project aimed to adapt smart metering to water meters, by building on the European standard for wireless metering buses (M-Bus). The nine-member consortium ran from December 2011 to November 2013, during which time it addressed nine technical objectives involving developing transmitters, energy harvesters and other components. Project members developed a core Automated Water Meter Reading (AWMR) technology. The work involved extending wireless M-Bus software, in part using new protocols. The team also completed a multi-band hardware platform, which enabled testing with the WIMBEX stack. The platform reduced the size and energy consumption of the previous model, while allowing use of various wireless bands. Another project outcome was development of a rotational energy harvester, which utilises water flow to generate the meter's electrical power. The meter is thus freed from external power supplies and batteries. The harvester's design was also adapted to standard water meter components, including housings and impellers. The harvester generated 720 mW at high flow rate, and 2 mW at low flow rates. All system components were tested and validated during the project's second year. WIMBEX provided a new concept for water metering that can help utilities companies compete in the market. The system is also easily adaptable to other metering applications, such as electricity and gas.