People's daily lives are inseparable from water. Every household needs water for cooking, bathing, and so on. Generally, the tap water in the home is water from the river that is pumped to the water treatment plant, evolved through various processes, and then transported to the tap water pipeline. In the middle, there are also some booster pump stations to increase the pressure of the water. Then it flows out from the faucet at home. The instrument used to calculate the water consumption of each household is the water meter.
In recent years, with the rapid development of science, "smart water meters" have gradually begun to integrate into people's lives. Below is a detailed explanation of the differences between smart water meters and traditional water meters?
Difference 1:
Traditional water meters are instruments used to measure water flow, mostly measuring the cumulative flow of water. They are generally divided into two types: volumetric water meters and velocity water meters.
Smart water meter is a new type of water meter that uses modern microelectronics technology, modern sensing technology, and intelligent IC card technology to measure water usage, transmit water usage data, and calculate transactions. Compared with traditional water meters that only have the functions of flow collection and mechanical pointer display of water consumption, it is a great improvement.
In addition to recording and displaying water usage electronically, smart water meters can also control water usage according to agreements, automatically calculate water fees for tiered pricing, and store water usage data.
Difference 2:
Traditional water meters generally use wireless meter reading methods
Smart water meters generally use wired meter reading methods
There are two wired transmission methods: 485 transmission method and M-BUS transmission method. The main feature of the 485 transmission method is four wires (two power lines, two signal lines), which need to distinguish the polarity of the wires; The main feature of M-BUS transmission method is two wires, which serve as both power supply and signal loading, and the two wires are not polarized.
Wired meter reading can be divided into pulse type (active), camera type (passive), resistive type (passive), and optoelectronic type (passive) according to different technical implementation methods. In terms of technological reliability, development direction, and market share, optoelectronic technology is the mainstream approach.
Relatively speaking, although the price of smart water meters is relatively high, they are indeed cost-effective for large residential areas and apartments.
