Substations, distribution networks and consumer telemetry.

A district-heating network distributes hot water (typically 70–120 °C in supply, returning at 40–70 °C) from a central plant or CHP to thousands of consumer substations across a city. Every substation needs to report supply and return temperature, flow rate, pressure, valve position, and billing-class energy consumption — and any unexpected drop in supply temperature, sudden pressure transient or measurable leak needs to be flagged to the operator in real time.

AutoLog® RTUs handle substation supervision and telemetry as a single integrated job. The on-board 16-bit analog inputs read the supply and return temperatures (typically Pt100 or Pt1000 RTDs via a small signal-conditioning module), the flow rate (Vortex or ultrasonic meter with mA loop output), and the pressure transmitters. Digital inputs supervise pump status, valve position and substation cabinet alarms. The GSM-RTU sends measurements to ControlMan™ over GSM or GPRS continuously; SMS as the alarm-priority fallback.

Network-level applications layered on top of substation telemetry include leak detection (mass-balance comparison between supply and return flow on a section), heat-loss profiling (supply-temperature drop along a feeder), and consumption reporting for regulatory and billing systems. ControlMan™ stores historical data indefinitely and exports to the billing system on a configurable schedule.

The Finnish district-heating market is one of FIPANDC’s deepest reference bases. The product line has been deployed in Finnish heat networks since the AutoLog family existed.