Wireless reading of energy and consumption meters – the simple way
November 2009
A new product, aiming at utilities, housing associations and others in charge of reporting electricity, water, or heat/cooling consumption, dispels the myth that automatic meter reading is an expensive investment.
The product is called USB Meter Reader and as the name indicates, it is a small USB stick with a power supply. The size of it not bigger than it fits into a pocket.
The concept is very simple. When the USB Meter Reader is in physical proximity of an energy or consumption meter, equipped with a radio module, it automatically identifies the meter. If the identification number of the meter is known in the system it reads all necessary consumption data.
In this way you can collect the water consumption data from an entire residential area, just by walking up and down the street.
One USB Meter Reader can hold consumption data from 200 meters. If you have more meters you can use several USB sticks or just do the reading process with the USB Meter Reader mounted in a portable PC. This way the capacity is increased to 800 meters.
The system software can be downloaded from the internet directly to a PC, and in order to transfer data from the USB Meter Reader to the system software, the USB Meter Reader is simply put into the PC USB-port after which the data transfer starts automatically.
Behind the product is the Danish supplier of energy meters and meter reading systems – Kamstrup. With the USB Meter Reader Kamstrup responds to the demands from utilities and housing associations with a moderate number of meters. It is an inexpensive and simple alternative to the existing meter reading systems on the market, which often prove to be an investment out of proportions for this segment.
The product will be available on the market from the middle of November.
For further information contact Kamstrup on +45 8993 1000 or look at www.kamstrup.com
