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imPRovEd sECuRity with AutomAtiC lEAk suRvEillAnCE
By web editor, Mr. gert skriver, Kamstrup A/s
At the cHp Feldborg-Haderup in central Jutland, the operating
Manager svend Jensen is pleased with the strong position of his
utility and its services in the mind of the heat customers. the
utility is not only supplying the 500 residences with heat, but is
in addition offering leak surveillance.
recently one family’s house in the village Feldborg was saved from
destruction because of the leak surveillance.
some three years ago the utility invested in new heat meters and
a radio mesh network for automatic meter reading for the sake
of getting monthly readings of the consumption.
But the automatic reading has provided extra opportunities for
information gathering, and especially the leak surveillance has
proven to be a manifest service that strengthens the role of the
utility in local society.
in 2009, a customer experienced a genuine bursting of the heating
installation. one late evening svend Jensen called the residents to
inform them that they had a problem. shortly after, he appeared
at the residence and opened up into the basement from where
steaming hot water was pouring out. Quickly the supply was cut
off, and the day after the plumber exchanged the corroded pipes.
A disaster had been averted.
the reason for the operator’s quick arrival at the residence – even
before the residents themselves found out there was something
wrong – lies in the automatic meter readout and in his own sense
of responsibility.
the meters are linked together in a radio network. each meter
contains a radio module transmitting consumption data to a
centrally placed concentrator. From the concentrator the data
are being transmitted via the gsM net to the server located at
Kamstrup.
Kamstrup runs a permanent operation surveillance which for
svend Jensen is ideal as he is the sole member of staff at the
utility: “i have nothing to do with the actual operation of the
radio network. i just receive the information. Kamstrup notifies
me if a module needs to be exchanged somewhere or mounted
an extra antenna.”
Among the collected data figures the actual as well as the accumulated
consumption can be accessed directly by the operating
manager from a computer at the utility.
the principle of the leak surveillance is that the meters register
the actual flow by comparing forward flow with return flow. A
normal flow amounts to 50-70 litres/hour. if the flow exceeds 300
litres/hour the system will automatically generate a leak alarm.
the first person to receive the leak alarm via sMs is the operat-
ing manager who can then pay a visit to the installation. the sMs
contains the address. in the recent case the actual flow showed
no less than 1,200 litres/hour. But a quick response ensured a shut
down of the water supply after just 20 minutes from the time of
the alarm. svend Jensen received the alarm at 9.45 p.m. which is
actually a good deal past normal working hours. But as he points
out: “it is important to respond with equal urgency every time;
even in the middle of the night or on sundays. But it feels good
to be able to offer that kind of service too. it gives the utility a
stronger position in the community.”
in this way svend Jensen has detected three serious leakages in
the past two years. small leakages used not to be detected at
all, but the system is so sensitive that they are being picked up
too. in that case the operating manager receives the alarm by
e-mail. He can then contact the customer by phone and inform
them of the problem.
often the alarm is caused by plumbing work where the heating
system is being emptied. in one case a plumber had disconnected
the meter from the return flow pipe which resulted in about 50
leak alarms within two hours. “But i would rather turn out once
too many times, than once too few,” says svend Jensen.
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