District heating is a system for distributing heat generated at a centralised location into several other residential and commercial buildings to satisfy their heating requirements, such as space heating and water heating. The heat is often obtained from a co-generation plant, which is typically a waste incinerator or a coal, gas or biomass fired power station. Combined heat and power (CHP) plants can provide higher efficiencies and better pollution control than individual boilers. In summertime, available heat can be used to provide cooling using a single-effect absorption chiller system.

In the distribution of heat and cold, various custody transfer measurements are required. For example, measurements of the heat transfer from the power plant into the district heating network and from the network to each individual user premises can form the basis of a charging system. Due to seasonal changes the flow rate may change enormously. KROHNE’s core competence is the production and calibration of flowmeters for custody transfer purposes. For the district heating and cooling market KROHNE offers ultrasonic and magnetic flowmeters according to MI-004 and OIMLR75/EN1434. Unique flowmeter designs offer a high dynamic flow range: they are insensitive to scaling and require no or only a minimum straight pipe length at the installation point.