An innovative project of a monitoring system for the district heating networks of the Municipality of Mantua was implemented by Sei, a company of the Tea SpA Group, manager of the service together with Sfera Energy Solutions, a company specialized in products, plant engineering and services for district heating/cooling and renewable energy.

The aim is to create a “smart” supply of district heating in terms of efficiency and cost reduction.

Mantua, whose network heats a volume of 7 million cubic meters, had a leading role in the pilot project, started in December 2019, which saw the implementation of a system consisting of two Vexve iSENSE™ valves equipped with special sensors. These sensors provide essential information in terms of operation, leak-detection, energy consumption and forecast of resources used to ensure maximum efficiency of the entire plant.

The setting up of these innovative valves equipped with sensors has been designed and developed to meet the increasingly looming need of knowing in real time the status and operation of district heating systems. The underground pipes are often difficult to monitor and the system guarantees a rapid intervention in case of breakdowns and a cost efficiency in the supply of the service.

This new system had an enormous success in terms of efficiency and usability, so that in December 2020, Sfera Energy Solutions was commissioned a second supply of four new valves equipped with iSENSE ™ technology designed by Vexve, a worldwide supplier of valves for the energy sector.

The pilot project carried out in 2020 has been implemented in the Lunetta district in Mantua, where the heating network has been active since 1978 and is managed by a sub-station with special hot water production that can make the entire district completely independent. With these two valves, it is possible to “isolate”, if necessary, the network of the Lunetta district from the rest of the city. Other two new valves have been placed in the Mantua hospital area and a further pair will be installed within the year in via Solferino. Currently the underground network extends for about 70 km in total of double piping and the heat introduced is almost entirely taken from the Enipower Mantova heat exchange plant and from the high-efficiency cogeneration plant installed at the city hospital.

Vexve’s iSENSE ™ self-powered valves, of which Sfera is the exclusive distributor in Italy, have been positioned at strategic nodal points in the piping line. The real “brain” of the whole system is the Smart Unit, a battery-powered control unit with a very low energy consumption and a small size, which collects all the information from the sensors and, through a LoRaWAN technology, communicates in encrypted mode with the iSENSE Online Cloud service. This service can be reached by Sei technicians at any time and from any device connected to a network. The iSENSE Online Cloud also offers the ability to set alarm thresholds for each individual parameter and is able to send notifications in case of anomalies. The data monitored relate to the flow of the heat transfer fluid, the temperature of the fluid, leak-detection, the temperature and humidity of the chamber in which the valves are placed and a vibration index that detects the mechanical stress peaks of the pipeline.

This type of system represents a winning solution in all aspects, both for Sei that manages the service and for the end-users, the citizens of the Municipality of Mantua. In fact, the system guarantees a lower risk of “out of service” which means, in practical terms, never having to run out of heating; it also allows greater efficiency and consequent energy savings in terms of lower CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Thanks to this technology, the management of the entire system becomes “smart” in terms of efficiency and cost reduction and “green” making Mantua a true Smart City.