SmartMeasurement’s products have been used successfully in many Building Automation flow measurement and energy measurement projects. Our ALSONIC-EG and ALMAG-EG energy flow meters have been used in water and energy measurement for chiller optimization, hot water consumption monitoring, and primary & secondary heat exchanger flow monitoring. SmartMeasurement’s ultrasonic flow meters have been used for energy balancing optimization while our electromagnetic flowmeters have been used for chemical addition optimization and other water & energy control applications. The ATMF series thermal flowmeters have been used for air handling, fan coil control, and hot air measurement. Our ALVT vortex flow meters are commonly used for evaporation losses and other building steam measurement applications. SmartMeasurement provides a one-stop shop for all of your energy meter and flow metering requirements in the Building Automation industry.

smart metering factory building automation

HVAC (Heat Ventilation & Air Conditioning)

A comprehensive metering program is essential to effectively manage and conserve HVAC resources in buildings. While traditional methods using a building control system are used to calculate energy building optimization, SmartMeasurement’s wide range of energy flow meters offer superior accuracies with N.I.S.T. traceable calibration for the entire measurement system in HVAC industries. With an integral display and multiple outputs, SmartMeasurement wide range of energy flow meters provide flow, temperature, energy consumption, etc. The SmartMeasurement ALSONIC-EG ultrasonic energy meters have been used to effectively measure and control hot & cold water to optimize building cooling systems. Operation costs as high as 30% have been saved in effectively controlling the usage of hot and cold water.  The uses of SmartMeasurement wide range of energy flow meters can lead to system capacity analysis; individual building cost allocation and energy efficiency; hydronic system optimization (kw/ton) and troubleshooting, etc. 

Advantages:

  • SmartMeasurement’s wide range of energy flow meters provide flow, temperature, energy consumption, etc.
  • The SmartMeasurement ALSONIC-EG ultrasonic energy meters have been used to effectively measure and control hot & cold water to optimize building cooling systems.
  • SmartMeasurement’s wide range of energy flow meters offer superior accuracies with N.I.S.T. traceable calibration.

Hot and Chilled water

Universities, Hospitals, Shopping Malls, and all commercial buildings have central energy plants that provide chilled and hot water distribution throughout the buildings. The energy plants are often times managed by facility management companies that bill their customers for the amount of hot water or chilled water being used. Often times Internal utility bills were based on the square footage of conditioned space and this fixed-cost method offered no incentive for energy conservation by individual building managers. SmartMeasurement offers a wide variety of Energy flow meters. Our ALSONIC-EG ultrasonic energy meters are used as a non-intrusive energy flow meter without interrupting the flow of heating and cooling water to the buildings. This saves a considerable amount of installation and operation costs since there is no need for flow shut down or cutting the pipe to install.  However should water pipes have some particulates or bubbles while needing higher accuracies than ultrasonic energy meters, the SmartMeasurement energy flow meter also comes in electromagnetic technology, the ALMAG-EG will be the instrument of choice. 

The installation of the SmartMeasurement energy flow meter systems provides critical information needed for the planning of future buildings while providing accurate billing for the entire building or each floor. A system that uses multi-technology SmartMeasurement energy flow meters it promotes energy conservation by identifying problem areas and large energy users and billing them accordingly. “This is a win-win situation for everyone. Building maintenance managers who have control over their budget and energy costs can recover the cost that is incurred by the use of less energy which is also better for the environment.

Advantages:

  • SmartMeasurement offers a wide variety of Energy flow meters coming in both ultrasonic and magnetic technologies which offers application flexibility to plant managers.
  • When water pipes have some particulates or bubbles while needing higher accuracies than ultrasonic energy meters, the SmartMeasurement energy flow meter also comes in electromagnetic technology, the ALMAG-EG will be the instrument of choice. 

In combined heating and cooling applications the SmartMeasurement ALSONIC-EG ultrasonic energy flow meter is the best choice. The ALSONIC-EG provides highly accurate energy measurements for applications such as specially treated water with low electric conductivity and magnetite and buildings where the air-conditioning can’t be turned off. The ALSONIC-EG enables retrofitting of transducers under pressure with clamp-on non-intrusive installation methods for a cost-effective solution.

Control Rooms

The ALSONIC-EG ultrasonic thermal energy flow meter is a non-intrusive instrument, which is used to accurately measure flow, temperature, and thermal energy consumption (BTU). The transducer can be clamped onto any pipe from ½ -40” (15-1000mm), without cutting the pipe or shutting down the flow at various temperature ranges. The ALSONIC-EG does not have any moving parts to wear and tear, thus, saving maintenance costs.  

The ALSONIC-EG energy flow meter utilizes transit-time technology and a patented digital signal processing algorithm for better accuracy and turn-downs and with its low flow capabilities as leakage detection in complicated pipeline networks. A number of ALSONIC-EG units can be installed on the chiller distribution pipelines with their signals going to the control room for optimization. The ALSONIC-EG sends a vast amount of data in Mbus, Bacnet, MODBUS, and other protocols to the BMS system for usage analysis.

Advantages:

  • SmartMeasurement ALSONIC-EG ultrasonic energy flow meter is a non-intrusive instrument, which is used to accurately measure flow, temperature, and thermal energy consumption (BTU).
  • The ALSONIC-EG sends a vast amount of data in Mbus, Bacnet, MODBUS, and other protocols to the BMS system for usage analysis

Energy Flow Meters With More Than 1-2% Bubbles or Particles in Pipe

Electromagnetic Energy Flow Meters are used when there are more than 1-2% bubbles or particles in the pipe or wherever higher accuracies of greater than 1% are required.  The ALMAG-EG series Electromagnetic Flow Meter complete with integral or remote flow transmitter offers higher accuracies than the ultrasonic energy flow meters. 

The flow transmitter includes a backlit graphic display and keypad. Connections to the piping are usually ANSI class flanges (DIN or JIS is also available). The flow tubes are epoxy-coated steel; the sensing electrodes are 316SS; the liner can be polypropylene or ebonite for low-temperature service and PTFE for hot water service. Each flow meter is individually wet-calibrated and accurate to within ±0.2% of reading from 0.3 – 32 feet/sec (0.1 – 10 m/s) velocity. An N.I.S.T. certificate of calibration will be provided with each energy flow meter.  

The ALMAG-EG energy flow meter calculates energy consumption, and energy loss as well as many other important functions suited for thermal energy applications. The ALMAG-EG energy flow meter is also well suited for cooling applications with low differential temperatures as well as general cooling and heating systems. Outputs can be 4-20mA and programmable pulse as well as various digital signals such as MODBUS, BACNET, MBUS, etc. The ALMAG-EG energy flow meter is also capable of measuring bi-directional flow.  Each AlmagEG energy flow meter is factory-programmed for its specific application and can be re-programmable using its keypad.

Advantages:

  • The SmartMeasurement ALMAG-EG Electromagnetic Energy Flow Meters are used when there are more than 1-2% bubbles or particles in the pipe or wherever higher accuracies of greater than 1% are required 
  • The ALMAG-EG energy flow meter is also well suited for cooling applications with low differential temperatures as well as general cooling and heating systems. 

Steam Flow Measurement for District Heating

District heating distributes heat generated from a centralized location to residential or commercial for heating requirements such as space heating and water heating. The heat is often obtained from a cogeneration plant that burns either fossil fuels or biomass.  District heating plants can provide higher efficiencies and better pollution control than localized boilers. Facility managers often times estimate steam flow by measuring condensate or using vortex meters to measure the total output of steam generated and distributed to each building.  Since steam flow is greatly affected by changes in pressure and/or temperature, an integral steam mass flow solution such as the SmartMeasurement ALVT-MASS.  The ALVT-MASS with its capability of measuring five flow parameters with one process connection calculates true mass flow directly by using its integral temperature and pressure sensors.  By capturing virtually all district energy market worldwide, mass flow vortex meters such as the ALVT-MASS has become the “steam meter” for industries.  Other features include insertion style for large pipes, high turndown, field-configurable with onboard diagnostic electrons, and no moving parts to prevent wear and tear. 

Advantages:

  • The SmartMeasurement ALVT-MASS with its capability of measuring five flow parameters with one process connection, calculates true mass flow directly by using its integral temperature and pressure sensors  
  • The SmartMeasurement ALVT-MASS has become the “steam meter” for industry because not only does it measure mass flow directly, but it also comes in insertion style for large pipes, high turndown, field-configurable with onboard diagnostic electrons and no moving parts to prevent wear and tear.

Measuring Low Flow Steam with Existing Piping

Building engineers always over-engineer their systems with oversized piping. The oversized piping in steam flow meter applications makes it very difficult to measure low flows should process engineers deem it necessary for their analysis. Oftentimes times a smaller flowmeter capable of measuring lower flows is needed but existing piping may be too difficult to change. However, the SmartMeasurement  ALVT inline vortex flow meters are designed to fit in any existing pipe but measure lower flows than other vortex flow meters. The flanged type ALVT vortex flow meters can have a much smaller flow section down to ½ of the inlet section, enabling it to measure very low flows. Moreover, when there is a reduction in steam requirements, customers can save thousands of dollars in installation costs by not having to downsize the piping. The ALVT-MASS integral vortex mass meters can measure the wide range of demand between the summer and winter months where temperatures or pressure changes thereby effective steam usage.

Advantages:

  • The SmartMeasurement ALVT inline vortex flow meters are designed to fit in any existing pipe but measure lower flows than other vortex flow meters for building steam metering.
  • The ALVT-MASS integral vortex mass meters can measure the wide range of demand between the summer and winter months where temperatures or pressure changes thereby effective steam usage.