Water Meter

Overview

The Water Meter totals how much water passes through a service connection, and on this smart variant it also reports the reading over radio for automated meter reading. Water spins a small impeller; a sealed counter tracks the turns and converts them to cubic metres on the dial, while an electronics module emits the same total over a wireless network so a utility never has to send a reader to the curb. The wetted Meter Body, the Measuring Element, the Register and the Electronic Module stack into one tamper-sealed unit.

How it works

Water enters the Meter Body, a lead-free brass casting with threaded tails and an inlet Inlet Strainer that catches grit. Flow passes into the Measuring Element, where a Flow Straightener aims a single jet at the vaned Impeller. The impeller's speed is proportional to flow rate, so counting its turns counts volume. The impeller carries a Neodymium Magnet on its spindle.

The Register reads that rotation without any shaft crossing the pressure boundary. A Follower Magnet follows the impeller's magnet through the chamber wall, so the counter stays bone-dry on the other side. The follower turns a Gear Train that scales the many impeller turns down to readable units, and an Odometer Dials roller totalizer shows cumulative cubic metres under the sealed Register Housing.

The Electronic Module is what makes the meter "smart". A Flow Pickup Sensor, a reed or Hall sensor, detects the rotating register magnet and emits a pulse per unit volume to the Metering Control Board, which totalizes the count, drives an LCD Panel, and runs for a decade on a single Li-ion Cell, 18650. The Radio Module transmits readings over LoRa or NB-IoT to the utility's network. A wire-and-lead Tamper Seal flags any unauthorized opening of the meter.