Cadillac Meter · Thermal energy management
Consolidate energy measurement with the HEATX-2
Managing heating and cooling energy often means bringing together measurements from several circuits and instruments. The Cadillac HEATX-2 combines dual-loop thermal energy calculations, additional measurement inputs, communications, and onboard archiving in one platform.
This article explains its capabilities for hot-water, chilled-water, and condensate-based energy measurement, along with the role of shared data access and historical records in building energy management.
Dual-loop measurement
Monitor two heating loops, two cooling loops, or one of each with a single device.
Connected energy data
Make measurement information available to building management and control systems.
Onboard history
Archive measured and calculated values locally, with retention depending on logging settings.
01 — Dual-loop measurement
Measure two heating or cooling loops with one HEATX-2
The HEATX-2 supports two BTU energy measurement loops within a single device. This allows a building’s heating and cooling measurements, or two circuits of the same type, to share one energy-calculation platform.
The arrangement can be selected to suit the circuits being monitored:
Two heating loops
Measure thermal energy transferred through two hot-water heating circuits.
Two cooling loops
Measure thermal energy transferred through two chilled-water cooling circuits.
Heating and cooling
Monitor one hot-water heating circuit and one chilled-water cooling circuit.
02 — Measurement consolidation
Bring additional energy and utility measurements together
Beyond calculating heating and cooling energy, the HEATX-2 can collect inputs from other measurement devices. This provides a way to bring several types of operating data into one platform for communication to a building management or automation system.
Utility measurements
Collect compatible inputs representing steam flow, domestic hot or cold water, and electrical usage alongside thermal energy measurements.
Operating conditions
Bring in compatible pressure and temperature measurements to provide additional context for the systems being monitored.
Building-system access
Pass collected information to a building management or automation system through the supported communications arrangement.
03 — Condensate-based energy measurement
Assess heat transfer using the HEATX-2 Total Heat calculation
In suitable steam-to-water heat-exchanger applications, the HEATX-2 supports a condensate-based Total Heat calculation. The arrangement described by Cadillac Meter uses one condensate meter and two temperature sensors to assess energy transfer.
This approach uses liquid condensate measurement as an alternative to directly metering steam flow. The calculation provides information about the heat supplied to the exchanger, heat transferred to the heating-water loop, and heat remaining in the condensate.
Heat supplied
Assess the thermal energy supplied to the heat exchanger within the configured calculation.
Heat transferred
Calculate the energy delivered to the heating-water loop served by the exchanger.
Heat remaining
Identify thermal energy retained in the condensate rather than transferred to the heating loop.
Potential to simplify the measurement arrangement
Where the application supports this method, condensate-based measurement can reduce the need for separate steam-flow and heating-water flow instruments. The potential reduction depends on the existing arrangement and the measurements required.
The HEATX-2 can also combine the Total Heat calculation with measurement of a chilled-water cooling loop, bringing these heating and cooling functions into one platform.
04 — Communications and integration
Share HEATX-2 data through BACnet/IP and Modbus TCP/IP
The HEATX-2 communications arrangement described by Cadillac Meter supports simultaneous BACnet/IP and Modbus TCP/IP access, with an internal five-channel hub mounted in the enclosure.
This allows different systems to access the same measurement platform through their supported protocols. For example, a building management system can retrieve energy information through BACnet/IP while a programmable logic controller accesses data through Modbus TCP/IP.
Building management access
Make energy measurements available to a building management system for monitoring, reporting, or use within an energy-billing workflow.
Control-system access
Allow a compatible PLC or other control system to retrieve measurement values for its configured operational functions.
Reduce dependence on intermediate data transfers
Direct access through both protocols can avoid passing information from one receiving system to another simply to share the same readings. The required network arrangement and any gateways still depend on the wider installation.
05 — Onboard archiving
Keep a local history of measured and calculated values
The HEATX-2 provides onboard archiving for measured and calculated values. This creates a local record within the device alongside the information made available to connected monitoring systems.
The archive operates on a first-in, first-out basis: as storage fills, newer records replace the oldest records. Retention therefore depends on how many values are logged and how frequently they are sampled.
Choose the recorded values
Select the measurements and calculated values needed for operational review. Recording more points uses the available archive capacity more quickly.
Set the sampling interval
Shorter intervals provide more frequent records but reduce the history retained for a given set of logged values.
Plan the retention period
Cadillac Meter describes retention ranging from a couple of weeks to over a year, depending on the selected points and sampling intervals.