Electric buses for passenger transport – On a regular bus service in Hamm with a Katronic flow meter

Following a positive feasibility study last summer, Katronic implemented the project shortly afterwards. Last autumn, a KATflow 150 ultrasonic flow meter with a modem was successfully installed on a public service bus operated by Verkehrsbetriebe Hamm, and this is now providing the first measurements of energy consumption.

The project, run by Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with Stadtwerke Hamm, aims to determine the heat consumption of electric buses’ heating systems in order to accurately calculate their actual ranges. This should provide insight into how many electric buses will consequently need to be purchased.

In line with the customer’s specific requirements, a bespoke solution based on the modular KATflow 150 ultrasonic flow meter was deployed. Whilst the buses are in operation, two heat flow measurements and two temperature measurements – taken inside and outside the passenger compartment – are recorded and made available at any time via remote data transmission. 

To this end, the external and internal temperature sensors were calibrated. Both the temperature and heat flow measurements have so far been carried out without any problems. The data is transmitted live to an online platform for better analysis. This marks the completion of Part 1 of the project. Initial measurement results are available and will be analysed, evaluated, plotted and published in a second phase of the project, which is now getting underway.

Further updates and results from the project will follow. Click here for a review.