Mueller Systems

Last updated
Mueller Systems
Industry Utility metering
Predecessor
  • Arkion Systems
  • Hawes and Hersey Co.
  • Hersey Meter Co.
  • Hersey-Sparling Meter Co.
Founded1859 (1859)
Headquarters
Cleveland, North Carolina
,
United States
Key people
  • Hassan Ali (vice president and general manager of Mueller Systems)
  • Scott Hall (president and CEO of Mueller Water Products)
Products
  • Mi.Net
  • Mi.Hydrant
  • Hot Rod
Parent Mueller Water Products, Inc.
Website www.muellersystems.com

Mueller Systems is a manufacturer and distributor of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and automatic meter reading (AMR) technology, as well as residential, commercial and fire-line meters and related products. It is a subsidiary of Mueller Water Products. [1] Founded as Hawes and Hersey Company in 1859, Mueller Systems is the oldest manufacturer of water meters in the United States. [2]

Contents

History

Mueller Systems was founded in 1859 as Hawes and Hersey Company in Boston, Massachusetts and was a manufacturer of bolts, rotary pumps, and other machinery. [3] [4] In 1885, the company received a patent on the rotary displacement meter and began manufacturing water meters under the name Hersey Meter Company, offering its first rotary and disc meters for sale in 1886. [3] [4] [5]

In 1959, Hersey Meters merged with Sparling Meter Company and began operating as Hersey-Sparling Meter Company. [2] The company operated under this name until 1988, when it was placed under the Mueller Water Products subsidiary, Mueller Co. and re-assumed the name Hersey Meters. [4] [6] Following the Mueller Water Products' acquisition of Arkion Systems in 2009, Hersey was combined with Arkion and began operating as Mueller Systems in 2010, to reflect the broader range of utility management products offered by the combined entity. [4] [5] [6] However, Hersey Meters remains Mueller Systems' brand for water meters. [7]

Solid State Registers

Installation Case Studies / News

Asheville, NC

The Water Department for the City of Asheville, North Carolina, uses smart meters from Mueller Systems. [8]

Chillicothe, Missouri

Chillicothe Municipal Utilities (CMU) in Chillicothe, Missouri implemented the Mi.Net AMI system as part of its initiative to replace over 4,000 water and electricity meters in its system, with the goals of improving customer service, automating meter reading and billing, and preparing to meet future service demands. [9] The Mi.Net AMI system has improved conservation of both water and electricity by providing both CMU and customers with a nearly real-time monitoring capability of usage, which improves consumer awareness of consumption and more immediate notice of potential water leaks and electricity outages to the utility provider. [9] CMU's system upgrade also increased its revenues by reducing the lag time between the beginning of meter reading and the issuance of bills from 15 days to three. [10]

Davie County, North Carolina

Davie County installed the Hot Rod AMR system to reduce the time and expense of discovering water leaks. The automated system saved the county in meter-reading time and resulted in increased revenues. About half of Davie County's customers have converted to the Hot Rod system, and it will be completely deployed throughout the county by 2015. [11]

Frankfort, New York

A 2009 Community Development Block Grant funded a meter replacement program in the village of Frankfort, New York. The $500,000 grant covered the replacement of all water and electric meters in the service area, and the upgrade instituted Mueller Systems' AMI system. [12] According to Frankfort Mayor Frank Moracco, the AMI system reduced the number of man-hours required to collect meter reads without eliminating any jobs. [12] The project was awarded first place in the public works category of the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials' 24th annual Local Government Achievement Award Program. [12]

Hudson Oaks, Texas

The city council approved a pilot program in February 2013, which includes the installation and implementation of Mueller's advanced meter-reading systems for the Red Eagle neighborhood. The pilot program will test 50 meters from the start. [13] [14]

Kannapolis, NC

The City of Kannapolis, North Carolina upgraded [15] its water system with Mueller Systems' advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network. Mueller Systems is a provider of innovative water infrastructure products and services and technologically advanced metering systems for water and electric systems. In addition to the Mi.Net System, the City installed approximately 18,000 Mueller Systems water meters throughout the City in 2014. A portion of the residential meters are Mueller Systems' 420 Remote Disconnect Meter (RDM), a fully integrated remote disconnect meter designed to enable the City to remotely manage water services through the Mi.Net System. The City also offers its constituents tools to manage their water consumption by implementing Mi.Data™, Mueller Systems' consumer portal that provides information about water usage and improved communication between households and the City.

Maumee, Ohio

To replace its old metering system with smart meters, the city of Maumee installed the Mi.Net two-way advanced metering infrastructure network for operational efficiencies. [16] The network links the meters, distribution sites and control devices into one data center that will help the water department automate meter readings, identify abnormally high water usage that may indicate water leaks and provide insight for customers regarding their water bills or usage. [16] The city's water customers can monitor their household's water usage and bills using an online portal and set goals to conserve water or save money on future bills, receiving alerts if consumption exceeds their goals. [16] The city is replacing all current compound water meters with HbMag, which will integrate it with the Mi.Net system to monitor the amount of water going in and out of the city. [16] The water department is expected to deploy 6,500 meters in 2013. [17]

South Mesa, California

South Mesa Water Co. (SMWC) provides water service to about 3,000 customers in Calimesa and Yucaipa, California. [18] The desert-based utility has struggled for years to minimize and reduce consumption, implementing higher rates on customers who used more than 3,500 cubic feet of water every two months. [18] However, this system increased the amount of time spent reading meters and processing bills—it took two meter readers six days every month to read every meter in the system. [19] [18] When the state of California mandated that all water systems reduce usage by 20 percent in 2009, SMWC implemented an initiative to replace its existing metering system with Mueller Systems' Hot Rod AMR System. [18] The amount of time spent collecting meter reads was reduced from six days to four hours, and consumption within SMWC's service area dropped by 22 percent, largely due to the AMR system's real-time monitoring that can detect leaks earlier and provide more detailed usage data to both SMWC and its customers. [19] [18]

Weatherford, Oklahoma

The city of Weatherford, Oklahoma replaced all 5,500 water meters in its service area and implemented the Mi.Net AMI system in order to upgrade and automate its meter-reading and billing processes. The two-way AMI system is hosted and supported by Mueller and helps the city monitor, manage and streamline the meter-reading process. [20] Weatherford also used Mi.Hydrants to overcome transmission problems caused by steel meter boxes and large distances between some meters. The improved leak detection, consumer information, and billing accuracy afforded by the upgrade of the city's metering system resulted in better conservation and fewer consumer complaints about usage and billing. [21] Water & Wastes Digest named the "Weatherford Customer Service & Efficiency Improvement Project" as one of its top projects for 2012. [22]

West Virginia American Water

In October 2014, West Virginia American Water announced that they would install the Mi.Echo remote leak detection system along a 10-mile stretch of the Kanawha Valley River. Upon its completion, this will be the largest deployment of the Mi.Echo system to date, and will include the cities of Charleston and South Charleston, Kanawha City, and Dunbar, West Virginia. [23]

Yonkers, NY

Mayor Mike Spano announced the City of Yonkers is partnering with Mueller Systems to overhaul its aging water meter infrastructure and improve the level of service provided to residents. [24] The project includes implementation of Mueller System's MegaNet System—a high-powered, long-range, fixed-network, advanced metering infrastructure ( AMI) system. The communication system is capable of delivering long-range results with a reliable communication infrastructure. The MegaNet technology has been in existence for 25 years and has nearly two million transmitters installed in more than 80 countries. [25] In addition, the City is scheduled to install approximately 30,000 Mueller Systems water meters throughout the City by the end of 2014. The City will also offer its customers tools to manage their water consumption by implementing Mi.Data, Mueller Systems' consumer portal. This consumer portal provides utility customers with access to information about their water usage, enhancing service levels and communication between the City and its water consumers.

Related Research Articles

Automatic meter reading Transmitting consumption data from a utility meter to the utility provider

Automatic meter reading (AMR) is the technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data from water meter or energy metering devices and transferring that data to a central database for billing, troubleshooting, and analyzing. This technology mainly saves utility providers the expense of periodic trips to each physical location to read a meter. Another advantage is that billing can be based on near real-time consumption rather than on estimates based on past or predicted consumption. This timely information coupled with analysis can help both utility providers and customers better control the use and production of electric energy, gas usage, or water consumption.

Water supply Provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations or others

Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. These systems are what supply drinking water to populations around the globe. Aspects of service quality include continuity of supply, water quality and water pressure. The institutional responsibility for water supply is arranged differently in different countries and regions. It usually includes issues surrounding policy and regulation, service provision and standardization.

Net metering

Net metering is an electricity billing mechanism that allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use that electricity anytime, instead of when it is generated. This is particularly important with renewable energy sources like wind and solar, which are non-dispatchable. Monthly net metering allows consumers to use solar power generated during the day at night, or wind from a windy day later in the month. Annual net metering rolls over a net kilowatt-hour (kWh) credit to the following month, allowing solar power that was generated in July to be used in December, or wind power from March in August.

Electricity meter Device used to measure electricity use

An electricity meter, electric meter, electrical meter, energy meter, or kilowatt-hour meter is a device that measures the amount of electric energy consumed by a residence, a business, or an electrically powered device.

Demand response Techniques used to prevent power networks from being overwhelmed

Demand response is a change in the power consumption of an electric utility customer to better match the demand for power with the supply. Until recently electric energy could not be easily stored, so utilities have traditionally matched demand and supply by throttling the production rate of their power plants, taking generating units on or off line, or importing power from other utilities. There are limits to what can be achieved on the supply side, because some generating units can take a long time to come up to full power, some units may be very expensive to operate, and demand can at times be greater than the capacity of all the available power plants put together. Demand response seeks to adjust the demand for power instead of adjusting the supply.

Smart meter Online recorder of utility usage

A smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor. Smart meters communicate the information to the consumer for greater clarity of consumption behavior, and electricity suppliers for system monitoring and customer billing. Smart meters typically record energy near real-time, and report regularly, short intervals throughout the day. Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system. Such an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) differs from automatic meter reading (AMR) in that it enables two-way communication between the meter and the supplier. Communications from the meter to the network may be wireless, or via fixed wired connections such as power line carrier (PLC). Wireless communication options in common use include cellular communications, Wi-Fi, wireless ad hoc networks over Wi-Fi, wireless mesh networks, low power long-range wireless (LoRa), Wize ZigBee, and Wi-SUN.

Utility submeter Tenant utility billing system

Utility sub-metering is a system that allows a landlord, property management firm, condominium association, homeowners association, or other multi-tenant property to bill tenants for individual measured utility usage. The approach makes use of individual water meters, gas meters, or electricity meters.

Non revenue water (NRW) is water that has been produced and is "lost" before it reaches the customer. Losses can be real losses or apparent losses. High levels of NRW are detrimental to the financial viability of water utilities, as well to the quality of water itself. NRW is typically measured as the volume of water "lost" as a share of net water produced. However, it is sometimes also expressed as the volume of water "lost" per km of water distribution network per day.

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Smart grid Type of electrical grid

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Mueller Co. is a Chattanooga, Tennessee based industrial manufacturing group that manufactures fire hydrants, gate valves, and other water distribution products. Mueller Co. which moved to Chattanooga from Decatur, Illinois, in 2010 is the largest supplier of potable water distribution products in North America. Mueller Co. is a subsidiary of Mueller Water Products, Inc. A manufacturing facility remains in Decatur.

A Distribution Transformer Monitor (DTM) is a specialized hardware device that collects and measures information relative to electricity passing into and through a distribution transformer. The DTM is typically retrofit onto pole top and pad mount transformers. A pole top or pad mount transformer commonly powers anywhere from 5-8 homes in the US and is the last voltage transition in stepping down voltage before it gets to the home or business. Standard positioning of DTM devices occurs at the transformer bushings, but sometimes they are attached directly onto the secondary electricity lines. DTM devices commonly consist of highly accurate non-piercing or piercing sensors, onboard communications modules to transmit information, and a power supply provision. The DTM device reports to a collection engine, and/or existing SCADA/MDM system where relevant transformer data is stored and presented to the user; analytics platforms are oftentimes employed to interpret the information being captured and reported by the DTM.

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Wize technology is a low-power wide-area network technology using the 169 MHz radio frequency. It was created by the Wize Alliance in 2017. Derived from the European Standard Wireless M-Bus, it has mainly been used by utility companies for smart metering infrastructures (AMI) for gas, water and electricity but is equally open to other applications in industry and 'Smart City' spaces.

References

  1. ↑ "SIPCO and Mueller Systems Sign First Major EWM(TM) Patent License Agreement for the Water Industry" (Press release). Mueller Water Products, Inc. 2011-02-01. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
  2. 1 2 "Hersey, Sparling Meter Announce Merger Plan". Chicago Tribune . 1959-09-08.
  3. 1 2 "Hersey Water Meter, Hersey Meters". Water Meter Guide. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Company History". Mueller Co. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  5. 1 2 "History of Innovation". Mueller Systems. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  6. 1 2 "Hersey Meters Becomes Part of Mueller Systems". Water & Wastes Digest. 2010-01-15. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  7. ↑ "About Us". Mueller Systems. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  8. ↑ "Mueller - Water". www.muellersystems.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22.
  9. 1 2 Ali, Hassan (2011-09-01). "Utility Improves Customer Service, Operational Efficiencies". Utility Products. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
  10. ↑ Case Study.pdf "Chillicothe Municipal Utilities Improves Customer Service, Operational Efficiencies with the Mi.Net System" (PDF). Mueller Systems. August 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-17.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  11. ↑ "Meter-reading system to cut time, expense in finding leaks". Triad Business Journal. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
  12. 1 2 3 Kellett, Linda (2011-06-21). "Frankfort receives award for 'smart' meters". Little Falls Times. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  13. ↑ "New water meters coming to Red Eagle residents". Weatherford Democrat. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  14. ↑ "Automated meter-reading program OK'd". Weatherford Star-Telegram. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  15. ↑ "Mueller - Water". www.muellersystems.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "AMI network automates city water system". World Water. 2013-03-01.
  17. ↑ "Maumee installs two-way electronic water meters". Toledo Free Press. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 Witham, Trude (September–October 2012). "100 Years of Excellence". Water System Operator. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
  19. 1 2 "Meter Replacement Program, Other Moves, Reduce Utility's Water Consumption 22%" (PDF). Water/Waste Processing. April 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
  20. ↑ "A Reliable Network". Water and Wastes Digest. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
  21. ↑ Thomas, Matt (2012-07-31). "Weatherford, Oklahoma Improves Customer Service & Efficiency with Advanced Metering Infrastructure". Utility Intelligence & Infrastructure. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
  22. ↑ Simeonova, Neda (22 October 2012). "2012 WWD Top Project Winners Announced". Water & Wastes Digest. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
  23. ↑ "Mueller Systems Selected by West Virginia American Water for Continuous Leak Detection Monitoring". Reuters. 2014-10-28. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-11-26.
  24. ↑ "Mueller - Water". www.muellersystems.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22.
  25. ↑ Mueller Systems#MegaNet
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