The status quo and development direction of residential IC card water meters

Abstract : This article gives a brief review of the status of China's IC card water meter development, and believes that China's IC card water meter products have reached a relatively complete, basic and practical stage, but as an industry is not fully mature, data security, data interface compatibility and data feedback Real-time and networking still need to be improved and improved. This paper analyzes the four natural advantages and two structural defects of the IC card water meter, and proposes two directions for current development and four hardware changes.

[Keyword] IC card water meter remote meter data secure transmission of real-time data interface

text: IC card water meter appear 10 years old. In the past 10 years, the IC card water meter has experienced a complete process from scratch, rapid improvement, and gradual maturity. At present, China's development of measurement and settlement products with complete intellectual property rights can be said to have reached a relatively complete, basic and practical stage. It has become the most mature technology in various types of smart meters, has the most extensive market development, is the simplest to install, and the most convenient to use. A product. The adaptability of its technical capabilities and functional characteristics to the economic development level of most regions in China cannot be compared with other types of smart meters. Therefore, when other types of smart metering instruments are still discussing the pros and cons of various solutions, IC card water meters already have a large user base.

I. Advantages and disadvantages of IC card meters compared to other types of smart meters

At present, various types of smart meters are competing in the market. Divided by information transmission, it can be roughly divided into three types: remote transmission metering, IC card metering, and code metering. The code meter, the original method of information transmission, and the cumbersome operation, the general users do not classify it as a smart meter. This article does not compare.

In a nutshell, there are four significant advantages of IC card meters that cannot be replaced by other types of smart meters:

1, direct user transparency. How much water is used, how much money is deducted, when the user wants to watch it, when he wants to watch it, and how long he wants to see it, the satisfaction of this transparency makes the direct user feel pragmatic.

2, direct user participation. Whenever you pay, how much you pay, direct users have some initiative. It is no longer a matter of deductions and deductions. The management department has the final say; early delivery fails, and late delivery fails completely in a passive situation.

3, the convenience of installation. It does not have to be like a long-distance transmission meter to pass holes through the wall, and it does not need to adjust the position of the concentrator like a wireless telemeter, or connect to a power line lead like a low-voltage power line carrier remote meter. Basically connected to the pipeline or line can be used.

4, real-time settlement, in particular, available ladder water price (or time-of-use price, time-sharing gas prices, etc.) real-time settlement.

Direct users who have deep-rooted distrust in management departments and management personnel, using machine measurements, using machines for settlement, holding cards to pay fees, and how much they use, are not subject to control by management departments and management personnel. This is a mode of change. , is the psychological release, is the use of the IC card meter for direct users.

The IC card meter also has the following innate defects that cannot be ignored:

1. The data feedback was not timely, causing the management department to not be able to collect statistics on water consumption in real time.

2, data transmission automation, network degree is not enough.

The advantages and disadvantages of the IC card meter determine its market positioning and improvement direction.

Second, the current product status

In general, the current IC card water meter has basically solved the reliability of the valve, the durability of the battery, the low-power design of the circuit and the unification of the anti-jamming design. The products have begun to tend to the same value. Product features are similar and gradually converge. With competition among manufacturers' products, R&D components have gradually decreased, and the components of production organization, management, and quality control have gradually increased. The quality and stability of product quality competition has begun to be determined by the scale of production, the modernization of production organization and the advanced and effective management methods. This is a sign that the industry is getting mature.

The maturity mentioned here is a goal that is approaching. There is still a lot of work to do. There are three main areas:

1. To really solve the reliability and durability problems of IC card water meters;

2, to solve data security and data interface standardization issues;

3. Try to solve the real-time and network problems of data feedback.

With regard to the reliability and durability of the IC card water meter, the performance is one, the failure rate of the whole machine is still high, and the mean time between failures (MTBF) is less than 5×104, which is unsatisfactory. Second, product batch consistency and industry consistency cannot meet advanced standards and increase the cost of quality control. The important reason is that many parts and components need to be perfected and innovated.

1, the valve. The valve is the key component of the IC card water meter, and it is also the bottleneck that restricts the development of the IC card water meter for a long time. The development of residential IC card water meter valves from pilot valves to electric ball valves and electric ceramic valves has now solved practical problems. However, the required control energy and power supply methods still do not match, and there is still room for improvement and innovation in its long-term stability and reliability.

2, power supply. The power supply is also a key component of the IC card water meter and is another bottleneck restricting the development of the IC card water meter. The current power supply for IC card water meters is generally batteries, which are generally disposable lithium batteries. There is a conflict between the small current discharge performance of such batteries and the large currents required to drive electric ball valves or electro- ceramic valves. The method of reconciling contradictions is to activate the battery periodically so that it can maintain a large current. However, the energy consumed by activation will shorten the battery life. Moreover, there are many uncertainties as to whether the battery can be activated or activated later in the life cycle. Solving power supply durability and reliability issues, as well as solving power environmental issues, is an important issue that the IC card meter industry must face.

3, the base table. At present, the IC card water metering component is still a traditional speed type mechanical water meter. Under the premise of very strict cost control conditions, this is undoubtedly a better solution acceptable to users. However, the accuracy and longevity of such metering components are incomparable with other parts of the IC card water meter. The current IC card water meter, like the previous electromechanical IC card meter, should only be a transitional product that accompanies the current market and cost. The development of a long-life, high-accuracy base meter, or the development of a long-life, high-accuracy, all-electronic IC card water meter must be the direction of the IC card water meter industry.

4, sampling method. The popular sampling method for IC card water meters is still the reed switch and Hall devices, which are called magnetic sampling. Cheap, low power consumption, long life, simplicity, and reliability are the root causes of its popularity. They are vulnerable to strong magnetic attacks; their interaction with metrology tables is relatively large, affecting the initial flow of the base tables, and are their common shortcomings. The development is free from magnetic attack, has no force or force with the metering base table, has negligible impact on the start-up flow of the base meter, and is cheap, low power consumption, long life, and reliable sampling method. This is another direction for practitioners.

With regard to data security and standardization of data interfaces, the industry of IC card water meters has not attracted enough attention. As a result, the IC card water meter market only pays attention to the “IC Card Cold Water Meter” standard, ignoring data security and data interface standards. The products of different manufacturers are incompatible with each other and cannot be replaced with each other; data security measures are different, they cannot be tested, and they cannot be supervised; product functions vary and cannot share a management platform. These are the evidence that the industry is not yet mature, and it is also an obstacle to the further development of the industry.

The poor real-time data feedback and incomplete network problems are two structural defects of the IC card water meter. From the perspective of information transmission, the IC card is an information carrier, and the movement of the IC card to transfer information between the management information system and the watch forms an artificial channel. Because of the randomness and uncontrollability of this artificial channel, the above two defects are caused. The IC card water meter industry can only open up a broader market by facing problems only, proposing programs and overcoming shortcomings. There is no way out to adopt the ostrich policy. At present, there have been a number of attempts by manufacturers to solve this problem. However, because the importance of the test is not clearly defined, and the scale of the experiment is not sufficient to attract attention and the intensity of demonstration is insufficient, the effect is not significant and the impact is not great.

Third, the development direction

1, IC card water meter represents a management model. This management model is conducive to interaction between managers and users, is conducive to mobilize the enthusiasm of users to participate in management, is conducive to the rational use of water resources and conservation of water resources. Its advantage is that other management methods (such as remote water meters) cannot be simply realized, and are compatible with China's economic development stage and social mentality. The IC card water meter will inevitably continue to develop rapidly to the advanced stage.

2. Gradually unify security levels. Unified data interface, unified basic functions, and unified transaction flow are the inevitable development trends of IC card water meters. It can be said that at present, the IC card water meter industry has only initially reached the practicality of the hardware of the equipment, and the hardware has to continue to improve and innovate. The software has to go standard and compatible, and the road is still very long. Data security, data interfaces, and the unification of card transaction processes and basic functions have long been proposed. There are also a certain number of CPU card water meters that are manufactured according to four unified requirements. Whether from the manufacturing point of view or from the use of point of view, this kind of IC card water meter has shown initial vitality. Manufacturers and users of the original worry about the cost of manufacturing, with the gradual reduction of the SAM module and CPU card costs disappear. Statistics show that the failure rate and maintenance of this kind of table are low, and the service cost saved can partially compensate for the increased raw material costs.

3. Data remote interface is installed on the water meter of the IC card to realize real-time feedback of information so that data transmission can be automated and networked. The real-time requirements for data transmission are not only necessary for the management department, but also essential for the information society for basic management information sources. The designers and producers of IC card water meters cannot and cannot avoid them. Therefore, adding data remote transmission interfaces and increasing the data transmission function are the inevitable improvement directions for improving the vitality of IC card water meters and expanding market share.

The combination of IC card settlement and basic management data remote transmission can be as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2.

The system shown in Fig. 1 is a superposition system with two functions of IC card settlement and basic management data remote transmission. The cost of the product is slightly higher than that of the IC card water meter, but the normal operation of the system is not affected by interference or failure of communication lines (channels). reliable.

The system shown in Fig. 2 is an organic combination of two functions of IC card settlement and basic management data remote transmission. All the meters under the concentrator share a set of IC card reading and writing components and display components, so the cost is low and the cost performance is high. , But the normal operation of the system is easily affected by interference or failure of communication lines (channels).