Steam plays a crucial role in modern industry and is widely used in heating, power generation, textiles, petroleum, chemicals, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and many other fields. However, steam’s applications extend far beyond these industries— it is often referred to as “the blood of industry.” Steam is essential not only in heavy industries but also in light industries and our daily lives. Its efficiency, convenience, and low cost make centralized steam supply the most common method for supporting production in industrial enterprises.
However, several common issues in traditional steam trade processes often lead to disputes between steam suppliers and users. These issues include:
- Limited Measurement Range of Traditional Flow Meters: Flow meters with a small measurement range may fail to capture peak and low steam flow periods, resulting in missed measurements and energy losses.
- Challenges of Manual Meter Reading: Traditional manual meter reading faces difficulties such as hard-to-access sites, high workload, long cycles, inefficient manual settlement, and frequent errors.
- Slow Payment Collection: Steam charges are usually settled on a monthly or quarterly basis, which slows down cash flow, and in some cases, steam buyers delay payments.
- Illegal Operations and Steam Theft: As more industrial enterprises shift from self-supplied steam to externally sourced steam from combined heat and power plants, issues like unauthorized pipeline connections, steam theft, and malicious power cuts, which prevent accurate metering, lead to financial losses for the steam supplier.
AOBO Instrument’s Solution:
In 2008, AOBO Instrument developed and launched an intelligent IC card prepaid metering control system that integrates alarm, anti-theft, and power-saving functions. This system enables a “pay first, use later” model, thoroughly addressing the challenges of billing, meter reading, and management in thermal power plants. It has been widely adopted in the heating and power supply industry, receiving widespread praise and generating both economic and social benefits.
AOBO Instrument’s Steam Trade Metering System uses a modular metering approach and is composed of components such as an intelligent electric control valve, vortex flow sensor, temperature sensor, and pressure transmitter. The system’s functions include:
- Automatic Alerts: Alerts for low balance, unauthorized box opening, power loss, and other issues are sent via SMS and visual/audio alarms from the master control system. The system allows setting custom alarm limits for real-time monitoring of the pipeline and generates automatic reports.
- Remote Data Monitoring: Supports real-time monitoring of data remotely. The system controls excessive steam use, and the valve position feedback mechanism ensures accurate flow control.
- Maintenance and Inspection Recording: Automatically records inspection times and uploads data for real-time tracking, enabling single-user, multi-card operations.
- Flexible Charging Methods: Various billing modes are available, including remote top-up, tiered pricing, and time-based metering. The system can integrate with bank systems to allow remote recharging of prepaid balances to the intelligent controller.
- Valve Control and Safety: The system simulates manual valve operations with intermittent valve opening settings to prevent issues like condensation or steam shock. It also includes photo/video documentation during box opening to ensure proper operation and security.
