Objetivo ANOTHER HEAT METER HAS BEEN DEVELOPED WHICH IS BASED ON THE LORENTZ FORCE. IN WATER NORMALLY A SMALL QUANTITY OF IONS IS ALWAYS PRESENT. IN A FLOW OF WATER WHICH IS SUBJECTED TO A MAGNETIC FIELD PERPENDICULAR TO THE WATER FLOW DIRECTION, THESE IONS EXPERIENCE A FORCE WHICH IS PERPENDICULAR TO BOTH THE MAGNETIC FIELD AND THE FLOW DIRECTION (LORENTZ FORCE). WITH ELECTRODES, ONE WILL BE ABLE TO DETECT A SMALL CURRENT. IN THIS HEAT METER AN ELECTRIC FIELD OPPOSED TO THE LORENTZ FORCE IS REGULATED IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT COMPENSATES THIS FORCE RESULTING IN A ZERO CURRENT. THE ELECTRIC FIELD IS THEN A MEASURE FOR THE VELOCITY OF THE MASS FLOW AND THE MASS FLOW CAN NOW BE DETERMINED IF THE MAGNETIC AND ELECTRIC FIELDS ARE KNOWN. FIRST MEASUREMENTS SHOW A VERY SATISFACTORY OPERATION IN PARTICULAR AT LOW FLOW VALUES (0 - 0,5 M/SEC) WHERE MOST OTHER FLOW METERS ARE LESS ACCURATE. THE HEAT METER HAS NOW BEEN INTEGRATED IN A MICRO PROCESSOR BASED CONTROL UNIT WHICH IS CAPABLE OF IMPLEMENTING COMPLEX CONTROL LOGICS. THIS INSTALLATION OPERATED SATISFACTORY. LONG TERM TESTING IN NORMAL HEATING SYSTEMS IS STILL NEEDED TO DEMONSTRATE ITS FEASIBILITY. THE COST OF THIS HEAT METER WITH A COMPUTER CONTROL UNIT IS EXPECTED TO BE 500 ECU WHEN 10.000 UNITS PER YEAR ARE PRODUCED. THE PAYBACK TIME IS A FEW YEARS. Programa(s) PRE-ENNONUC 2C - Energy research and development programme (EEC), 1979-1983 Tema(s) Data not available Convocatoria de propuestas Data not available Régimen de financiación Data not available Coordinador Ottica Meccanica Italiana SpA Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección Via della Vasca Navale 79 00146 Roma Italia Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos