Electric Buses for Passenger Transport – Riding a Route Bus in Hamm Equipped with a Katronic Flow Meter

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

The project, a collaboration between Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences and Stadtwerke Hamm, aims to determine the heat consumption of electric buses’ heating systems in order to accurately calculate their actual range. This information will help determine how many electric buses need to be purchased.

In accordance with the customer’s specific requirements, a customized solution based on the modular KATflow 150 ultrasonic flow meter was implemented. During bus 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. 

The external and internal temperature sensors were calibrated for this purpose. Both the temperature and heat flow measurements have been carried out without any issues so far. 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 analyzed, evaluated, graphically presented, and published in a second phase of the project, which is now beginning.

Further updates and results of the project will follow. Click here for a recap.