A new “wireless on-off control” technique for adjusting and metering household heat in district heating system

Field test results show that 20%–30% of thermal energy is wasted because of poor heating system regulation in China. In order to solve these problems, a new “wireless on-off control” system for adjusting and metering household heat is proposed. The technology works in the following way: 1) a calorimeter is installed in each building to measure the total heat consumption of the building; 2) on-off valves are installed in each household with an individual indoor temperature control provided. The room temperature can be maintained by controlling the valves according to the on-time ratio which is predicted by the thermal strategies; and 3) the heating cost of each household can be allocated according to the heating area and the accumulative open time of the valve. The proposed technique has been applied in twenty-five residential communities with a total area of 2,500,000 m2. The test results show that: 1) indoor temperatures were accurately controlled within ±0.5 °C of the set point; 2) the temperature difference in different rooms is less than 1 °C; 3) energy consumption in the households using a controlled system was approximately 30% lower than a similar within a similar building type with an uncontrolled system.