I. What the Sector Covers
1.1 Scale and what is included
Urban district heating in northern China covers about 15 billion square meters, run by more than 5,000 heating companies. It is both a livelihood service and a large energy use. Smart heating uses IoT, big data, and AI for plant dispatch, pipe monitoring, heat-exchange station control, and room temperature at the flat. The aim is heat to demand and a tighter adjustment, so energy falls and rooms stay comfortable.
The 14th Five-Year Plan for a Modern Energy System pushes smarter heating. The Code for Design of Urban Heating Networks sets monitoring and control. Dual-carbon targets are why retrofit and a smarter network are in demand.
1.2 Rules and standards
The Technical Specification for Heating Metering pushes household metering and room-temperature control. NB-IoT and 4G fit heat meters and room sensors that are spread across a city. The gear has to survive winter cold and harsh spots such as pipe pits and trenches.
II. Where Firing by the Sky Wastes Heat
2.1 A plant that cannot see the rooms
The old habit is to set the fire by the look of the sky. That overheats (waste) or underheats (complaints). Without room temperature and heat use, there is nothing to adjust to. Room sensors and heat meters send that user-side data back so dispatch can follow the load.
2.2 A pipe and a station nobody is watching
Pressure, flow, and temperature on the network are not live, so a leak, a blockage, or hydraulic imbalance shows up late. Stations are scattered, and walking them is expensive. Sensors and controllers put them on one screen and let valves be moved from elsewhere.
2.3 A flat that cannot turn the heat down
A vertical single-pipe riser is hard to adjust at the flat, and household metering has moved slowly. Room sensors, heat meters, and thermostatic valves have to be installed in large numbers. The link is what gathers those readings.
III. Where the Link Is Used
3.1 The room and the meter
Room sensors and heat meters report once a day over NB-IoT or 4G. That feeds a load forecast, heat to demand, and household metering. The platform turns the same data into a dispatch suggestion and a bill.
3.2 The station and the pipe
A station's PLC and its pressure, flow, and temperature sensors stay on the network. Valves and pumps can be moved remotely so the branches balance and the station uses less. Pressure points on the pipe catch a leak or another fault.
3.3 The plant
Boilers and the primary station send their data up. Combined with the load forecast and the weather, that becomes a dispatch curve. The link is what carries the instruction back down in time.
IV. Numbers and Where It Has Been Used
The numbers: a room sensor is accurate to ±0.5°C and reports 1–2 times a day on NB-IoT. A heat meter is Class 2, with a household flow of 0.6–2.5 m³/h. Secondary supply and return at a station are usually 40–60°C and 30–50°C, at 0.2–0.6 MPa. Flat-end devices sit indoors or in a pipe pit and have to work from −10°C to +50°C. Gear in a pit also has to live with damp, closed air.
Where it has been used: one company heats about 30 million m², with about 150,000 room sensors and more than 200 stations on NB-IoT and 4G. A load model plus the weather draws the dispatch curve. Heat use (GJ/m²) fell about 8%, and complaints fell about 25%. A pilot block with household metering and thermostatic valves let residents adjust their own heat, and saved about 15% on average.
V. Who Builds It, and Which Rules Apply
The chain runs from meter and sensor makers (room temperature, heat meters, pressure and flow) through controls and the platform to heating companies. Technical Specification for Heating Metering, JGJ 173, covers heat meters and room sensors. Code for Design of Urban Heating Pipe Networks, CJJ 34, sets where monitoring points go. NB-IoT heat meters and room sensors have to pass the carrier's admission for power and coverage.
VI. Terms
- Heat-exchange station: where heat moves from the primary network to the secondary network.
- Hydraulic imbalance: flow that is uneven across branches, so the near end is too hot and the far end is cold.
- Household metering: heat measured per flat, so the bill follows use.
VII. Where It Is Heading
AI dispatch follows the load forecast and the weather. Cleaner heat brings heat pumps and solar into the same control. The flat gets thermostatic and smart valves, room by room and by time of day. The city platform takes heating into urban operations.
VIII. Summary
Smart heating ties room sensors, heat meters, stations, and pipe sensors so the load is visible, dispatch follows demand, and the network can be watched from elsewhere. NB-IoT fits a heat meter: low power, and many of them.
SimtoLink supplies NB-IoT and 4G SIM cards and industrial communication modules for low temperature and pipe pits, so a heating company can run from the room readings.