Development of an Energy-Autarkic Water Meter

Inhalt:
Efficient, low-cost, secure and reliable communication solutions are a major stepping stone for smart metering and smart grid applications. This especially holds true for the so called primary communication or local metrological network (LMN) between a local meter or actuator and a data collector or gateway, where the highest requirements with regard to cost, bandwidth, and energy efficiency have to be taken into consideration. Multiple developments and field tests are going on in this field, however, energy autarkic devices are hardly found, yet. This contribution describes the development of an automatic water meter reading (AWMR) technology based on Wireless M-Bus to provide water utility companies with an automatic remote water meter reading solution. It addresses the special needs of home utilities by providing a remote metering solution independent from the electricity infrastructure, both in terms of data communication and in terms of power supply. For this project, a cost efficient integrated energy harvesting system powered by the available water flow was developed, to enable operation independently of the mains grid, and eliminate the need for battery replacement for near-zero maintenance costs.