HAGIHON Company LTD
Jerusalem Region Water & Wastewater Corporation
Octave Ultrasonic Water Meter Manufactured by Arad Dalia
Summary of Pilot Installation at Hagihon Company Ltd
Forward
Hagihon Company Ltd – The Jerusalem Region Municipal Water & Wastewater
Utility (Hagihon) - is Israel's largest and most experienced municipal water utility,
providing close to 1 million customers advanced 24/7 water services, achieving
NRW of about 13% citywide with levels of 6% in some areas.
The following summarizes the operational results of the Octave Ultra Sonic Water
Meter (manufactured by Arad Ltd - TASE: ARD) "Pilot Installation" performed at
Hagihon during the years 2009 – 2012. The pilot results were requested by and
presented to the Israel Water Authority.
Disclaimer:
The results presented in this summary represent the subjective assessment of Hagihon and
Hagihon's water professionals and relate to the specific characteristics of Hagihon's system. In no
way does this "Pilot Installation Summary" attempt to simulate or represent all possible or potential
installation and operational scenarios of the Octave Ultra Sonic Water Meter. Municipal water
systems vary greatly in geography, technical complexity, hydraulic engineering, water supply and
demand. Results experienced by Hagihon, do not necessarily indicate/guarantee similar results by
the Octave Ultra Sonic Meter in other water systems / localities. The results presented shall not be
regarded as a recommendation to purchase or not to purchase the Octave Ultra Sonic Water Meter.
A potential purchaser shall make its own tests and assessments prior to its purchase. Neither
Hagihon nor Hagihon's employees are and/or will be responsible for any damage incurred
(physical, monetary or otherwise) by the purchase or installation of the Octave Ultra Sonic Water
Meter.
A. Background
The measuring principle of an ultrasonic meter is based on measuring the
time difference between two ultrasonic signals sent by two piezoelectric
sensors in opposite directions, that is to say downstream and upstream,
the sensors are called "Downstream Transducer" and "Upstream
Transducer".
The flow rate is proportional to the measured time difference; integration of
the flow rate over time gives the volume of water transferred through the
water meter.
Hagihon: Pilot Installation Summary the Arad Octave Ultra Sonic Water Meter
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HAGIHON Company LTD
Jerusalem Region Water & Wastewater Corporation
B. Advantages of the ultrasonic meter:
 Exceptionally wide measuring range
 No moving parts, therefore lower expected failure rate
 Accurate bi-directional measuring capability, with separate volume
display for each direction and total net volume for the chosen
direction
 Continuous flow rate display
 Enables calibration at the installation site (as per the manufacturer's
declaration. As of this writing, no tools are available for field
calibration.)
C. Following are the three types of tests run at Hagihon Company
1. Serial mounting of Octave meter with mechanical water meter in the
measuring systems of four of Hagihon's large customers.
2. Replacement of 100 mechanical compound main meters with
Octave meters, in cases where the compound main meter was
showing a negative measurement (vis-à-vis the sum of the submeters installed downstream of the main meter). This test checked
the ability of the Octave meter to measure low flow rates that were
allegedly not being measured by the compound meters.
3. Installation of Octave main meters in 64 new buildings
D. Following are the test results:
1. Serial mounting test, 4 units:
1.1. Large bus company garage, washing facility and parking lot. 4" Octave
meter installed in series with a Meitwin type compound meter 2" x 1/2":
Installation date: March 10, 2009
Total consumption until June 18, 2012
Measured by Compound meter: 15,703 m3
Measured by Octave meter: 16,098 m3
Measuring difference: 395 m3
Measuring difference in %: 2.51%
Hagihon: Pilot Installation Summary the Arad Octave Ultra Sonic Water Meter
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HAGIHON Company LTD
Jerusalem Region Water & Wastewater Corporation
1.2. Regional water meter (DMA meter for residential neighborhood), 4"
Octave meter installed in series with a WPD 4" meter:
Installation date: April 16, 2010
Total consumption until June 24, 2012
Measured by WPD meter: 372,440 m3
Measured by Octave meter: 381,298 m3
Measuring difference: 8,858 m3
Measuring difference in %: 2.38%
1.3. Large apartment compound:
3" Octave meter installed in series with
a 2" multi-jet meter:
Octave meter Installation date: May 24, 2010
Total consumption, m3, until February 29, 2012
(During the test, the multi-jet meter was replaced with a 2"
Meistream Plus meter, as part of a routine replacement
program, and according to the Hagihon policy of replacing 2"
multi-jet class B meters with class C meters)
Total Consumption:
Measured by 2" multi-jet + Meistream meters: 7777.0 m3
Measured by 3" Octave meter: 8,243.6 m3
Measuring difference: 466.6 m3
Measuring difference in %: 6%
1.4. Large hi-rise apartment complex; water supplied directly to ground
reservoir tank and thereafter pumped to roof tanks. 3" Octave meter
installed in series with a 3" WST meter:
Installation date: May 17, 2010
Total consumption, until October 21, 2010
Measured by 3" WST meter: 23,123.5 m3
Measured b 3" Octave meter: 22,151.9 m3
Measuring difference: (-)971.6 m3
Measuring difference in %: (-)4.20%
Hagihon: Pilot Installation Summary the Arad Octave Ultra Sonic Water Meter
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HAGIHON Company LTD
Jerusalem Region Water & Wastewater Corporation
The Octave meter was replaced on 2 December 2010 by a new Octave
meter in order to examine the first meter for possible faults.
Consumption data following the meter replacement:
Total consumption, from Dec. 2, 2010 until July 31, 2012
Measured by 3" WST meter: 45,332.9 m3
Measured by 3" Octave meter: 43,920.4 m3
Measuring difference: (-)1,412.5 m3
Measuring difference in %: (-)3.12%
The negative difference decreased but did not disappear.
During site inspection carried out by Arad engineers on
September 5, 2012, it was observed that when the apartment
complex's ground reservoir is filling, and the flow through the
Octave meter exceeds 100m3/h, the Octave meter displays zero
flow! It turns out that the meter displays and registers flow only
when the flow rate is lower than 100m3/h!
The Arad engineer, Mr. Zvika Shani, explained that the installed
meter was from the first manufactured batch, while all later
manufactured meters are proagremmed to measure and register a
maximum flow rate of 120m3/h. Nevertheless, when the flow rate
reaches this value or exceeds it, the meter displays zero flow.
The Arad Dalia engineer re-programmed the meter in the field on
Sept. 5, 2012 to measure up to 120m3/h. The measuring
difference recorded for the subsequent period, Sept. 5, 2012 to
Nov. 13, 2012 was +0.4% as compared with the 3" WST meter.
In a letter sent (Nov. 25, 2012) by the Arad Dalia's VP Marketing ,
Mr. Yanai Regev to Mr. Aharon Rosenberg, Hagihon's VP Water,
it was clarified that starting with the software version 3.15 (the
version number appears on the meter) distributed from Apr. 19,
2012, whenever the flow rate exceeds Qmax, the Octave meters
are programmed to record the maximum flow rate allowed by the
standard and this will be added to the total quantity billed (instead
Hagihon: Pilot Installation Summary the Arad Octave Ultra Sonic Water Meter
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HAGIHON Company LTD
Jerusalem Region Water & Wastewater Corporation
of recording and adding "Zero" quantity, as done by the previous
series) . It should be noted that if the actual flow rate exceeds the
said Qmax, this quantity above Qmax is neither recorded by the
meter nor added to the customer's billed consumption.
2. Installation of 100 water meters of the Octave type in place of compound
main water meters that displayed a negative measurement as related to
the total sub-meters. Octave meters of 2", 3", and 4" diameters were
installed in accordance with the large diameter of the previous compound
meter.
2.1. Results:
2.1.1.
73 of the installed Octave meters displayed positive
differences (as opposed to the negative difference
recorded by the previous compound meter),
while 27
Octave meters remained "negative", with a percent of
negative measurement varying between (-)0.1% to (-)8%.
2.1.2.
The comparison of the measurement differences generated
before and after the switch to the Octave meters, for the
group of 27 meters that still showed negative measurement
differences, showed an improvement of 3.15%.
2.2. Conclusions:
The switch from negative to positive measurement of the main meter
indicates an improved measurement ability of the Octave meter as
compared with the compound meter previously installed. This provides
an economic benefit to the Hagihon Company.
3. Installation of 64 Octave meters in new buildings (with no mechanical
meter in series).
63 of the above meters performed with no faults. One of the 64 meters,
and another from the 100 installed in place of the compound meters,
failed, as follows:
3.1. Main water meter installed on 28 June 2012 in a building of 48
apartments. The meter failed to record consumption, (zero reading)
Hagihon: Pilot Installation Summary the Arad Octave Ultra Sonic Water Meter
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HAGIHON Company LTD
Jerusalem Region Water & Wastewater Corporation
On Sept. 5, 2012, Arad engineers checked the meter on site. The
meter was removed and sent to Arad for examination.
3.2. Main water meter installed June 213, 2011 replacing compound meter
that showed negative measurement vis-à-vis 11 sub meters. The
Octave meter began to record consumption, and then stopped
progressing. The meter was removed and sent to Arad for
examination.
3.3. The tests run by the Arad showed that both meter failures were due to
a fault in the coating process in the sensors area. The above water
meters belonged to the April 2011 manufacturing batch, during which
a problem was detected in the coating process in the sensors area.
E. Summary
1. Our experience indicates that the Octave meter is more sensitive than
the comparable mechanical meter (results of 4 meters tests).
2. According to our test results (replacement of 100 compound meters with
Octave meters), the Octave meter measures about 4% more than
mechanical compound meters;
2.1. 73% of the Octave meters that replaced main compound
meters with negative differences showed positive differences.
2.2. 27% showed an improvement of 3.15% in the measurements
as compared with the compound meters, but remained with
negative differences.
3. Of the 164 Octave meters that were installed during the tests, two units
failed (1.25%). According to Arad, this was due to a failure in the coating
process in the ultrasonic sensors area. Arad examined the units and sent
a clarification letter concerning the manufacturing batch where the
problem occurred during the manufacturing process. (Arad subsequently
replaced all meters of the same batch at Arad's expense).
4. Octave meters are programmed to cut off the flow measurement and its
accumulation for values that are higher than Qmax. If actual flow
exceeds this value, the utility will incur financial loss. Since the meter is
not physically damaged at flow rates higher than Qmax, there is no
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HAGIHON Company LTD
Jerusalem Region Water & Wastewater Corporation
indication that a problem occurred (unless the meter is connected to an
AMR system that alerts when flow rates exceed Qmax).
5. Arad has not yet provided a technological solution approved by the Israel
Water Authority, for field testing and calibration of the Octave meter (at
this stage, Hagihon will have to physically replace the water meters of the
Octave type every five years, in conformance with temporary approval
given by the Water Authority, revision of the Israeli Standard for Water
Meters SI63 (April 2012) part 1 and part 3, effective as of September
2012 and declared the official standard.)
6. The Water Authority has requested Arad to ensure the compliance of the
Octave meter with the above standard, as required by the Standards
Law-1953, before the end of 2013.
Dec. 2012
Avner Madar
Hagihon Company Ltd
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