Intelligent Transformation of Heating Projects

Project Description:

At present, traditional heating stations are located in remote areas, and their operation and maintenance (O&M) work is confronted with three core challenges.

First, high operational risks and low efficiency. Energy supply equipment is scattered across sites, requiring manual inspections to cover key facilities such as boiler systems in boiler rooms and heat exchange units in heat exchange stations. The daily inspection scope per staff member is limited, and the remote locations and high-temperature environments of these facilities pose significant safety risks to inspectors. Traditional manual inspection often takes hours to identify faults, severely impairing the efficiency of problem resolution.

Second, delayed data transmission and incomplete monitoring. The existing O&M model relies on localized PLC control systems for data collection, with data sampling intervals as long as several hours, which fails to meet real-time monitoring requirements. Additionally, inconsistent data interfaces across different devices result in data silos, making it difficult to achieve collaborative analysis across the entire system.

Third, extensive management and weak hidden hazard identification capabilities. O&M decision-making is overly dependent on manual experience, leading to insufficient ability to detect early equipment fault risks, which in turn causes unplanned shutdowns and affects energy supply stability. Meanwhile, the lack of precise energy consumption control methods results in prominent energy waste issues.

In response to the above problems, in 2025, we launched the intelligent transformation of heating projects with the core approach of "Hardware Upgrading + System Empowerment + Platform Integration", establishing a full-process intelligent management system for heating facilities,a total of 1,160,000 square meters of transformation work has been completed..

1.Establishment of Basic Data Collection System

Sensors have been installed on key equipment, including boilers, water pumps and fans in boiler rooms, as well as heat exchange units and valves in various heat exchange stations, to collect 15 categories of core operating parameters such as temperature, pressure, current and voltage. Data remote transmission is realized through Internet of Things (IoT) modules, addressing the difficulties of dedicated line access and slow deployment in remote areas, and achieving real-time collection of equipment operating data with the sampling interval shortened to less than 1 second.

For example, at the source end of boiler rooms, high-precision remote transmission instruments, electric valves, security cameras and other basic hardware monitoring devices have been added to realize real-time collection and dynamic adjustment of boiler operating parameters. In addition, advanced intelligent devices including explosion-proof macro cameras, temperature-sensing cables, water immersion detectors, dual-spectrum thermal imaging cameras, intelligent inspection and early warning terminal systems, and voice broadcasting systems have been deployed to build a demonstration project for intelligent heating.

2.Deployment of Monitoring Platform

(1) On-site Automatic Control System Level

Centering on the goals of safety, energy conservation and high efficiency, automatic operation methods have been adopted to build localized monitoring terminals. Newly added functions include:

• Remote start-stop of equipment, enabling one-click remote control of boilers, circulating pumps and other devices;
• Boiler group control, realizing coordinated operation of multiple boilers through algorithms;
• Climate compensation, automatically adjusting energy supply parameters based on outdoor temperature;
• Time-sharing and zoning control, supporting differentiated regulation according to heating demands in different time periods and regions;
• Constant-pressure water supply and automatic drainage, ensuring stable pipeline network pressure;
• Differential pressure control of circulating pumps, optimizing hydraulic balance;
• Fan interlocking, guaranteeing the safety of the operating environment;
• Equipment interlock protection, timely cutting off hazard sources through logical interlocking;
• Operational over-limit alarm, realizing real-time display of equipment operating parameters and alarm prompts for abnormal data. When parameters exceed preset thresholds, the system notifies on-site personnel through sound and light alarms.

(2) Cloud Platform Level

An independently developed smart heating module has been built to create an integrated digital foundation for "Monitoring-Analysis-Decision-Making-Management". Core functions include:

• Real-time monitoring: presenting the overall picture of the heating system through dynamic visualization technology and supporting automatic alarms for abnormal parameters;
• Core control: enabling remote control of the operating status of boilers, circulating pumps and other equipment from the company's dispatching room based on the remote command issuing mode;
• Data analysis: integrating multi-dimensional reporting tools to digitize project energy consumption information and assist O&M personnel in identifying energy consumption patterns;
• User management: realizing centralized platform user management, supporting permission-based access control for view-only and view-and-control roles.

3.Establishment of Standardized Management Processes

At the project O&M level, inspection cycles, inspection contents, fault reporting and disposal procedures have been clarified to standardize manual inspection and fault handling behaviors, improving the standardization of O&M work.

At the company's centralized management level, a "decentralized control and centralized supervision" model has been constructed. A central dispatching room has been set up at the company headquarters, equipped with display systems and operation terminals, allowing dispatchers to remotely monitor and issue instructions while on-site equipment execute tasks autonomously, forming a closed-loop system of "cloud decision-making and edge response".

In addition, a dispatching security system has been added, which enables remote monitoring of cameras (including access control cameras) in the transformed projects, supporting real-time video viewing and historical video retrieval at any time. The system also allows remote uploading of facial images to the access control system, facilitating personnel permission management, and enables real-time checking of attendance records to achieve efficient personnel management. Under fault-free conditions, camera feeds from each project are played in a rotating manner to ensure full coverage of monitored areas, providing strong support for the safe operation of projects.

Estimated Savings

Savings Narrative

Comparison between the Same Periods of 24-25 and 25-26 Heating Seasons (Nov. 15 to Jan. 3)

Based on the per-square-meter gas consumption of the 24-25 heating season as the benchmark, combined with the outdoor temperature in the same period and the converted heating area, the theoretical per-square-meter gas consumption of the 25-26 heating season was calculated. The reduction range of the actual per-square-meter gas consumption compared with the theoretical value is shown in the table below.