Economical AquaFlex Valve Approved To Operate With Itron AMI Networks
The AquaFlex(AVS) from Aquana is a serial actuator remote shutoff valve product in the company’s Water IoT platform.
Designed and manufactured in the U.S., the Aquana AquaFlex valve is an IP68-rated remote disconnect ball valve designed to integrate with any existing Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) platform.
The Aquana AquaFlex provides an affordable solution for water utilities seeking to incorporate remote water shutoff into their service territory. AquaFlex helps improve employee safety while reducing operating expenses for water utilities by allowing remote start, stop, or reduced water delivery to specific locations without sending service personnel to the field.
While universally compatible with existing AMI platforms, AquaFlex has been approved for use with Itron’s AMI network and is also compatible with AMI solutions from other vendors. This eliminates the need for a separate wireless connection to enable remote shutoff capabilities.
“Our collaboration with Aquana enhances the value of our offerings to water utilities with a solution that improves management of critical water resources,” said Ty Roberts, VP Product Marketing at Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), which is innovating the way utilities and cities manage energy and water. “We are pleased the AquaFlex valve is approved for use with our 100W and 500W ERTs. Itron is privileged to collaborate with Aquana as we expand our presence in the Smart Water IoT marketplace. As part of our ecosystem, AquaFlex’s remote connect/disconnect capabilities can be deployed to simplify utility operations, and is controlled directly through our customers’ existing Itron AMI interface.”
“Given the rapid growth in the smart water technology market, we sought to expand our offerings to include an economical, simple to install valve for municipalities seeking to keep pace with the smart city movement domestically,” said Steve Askew, President of Aquana. “By some estimates 20% to 30% of all water produced by utilities is non-revenue. Our Aquana AquaFlex helps utilities quickly respond to leakage events and more quickly resolve non-payment issues.”
The Aquana design team focused on shorter and easier installation time with the AquaFlex product. The two-piece design allows for separate installation of the valve body and the actuator. While the NPSM Swivel Nut feature supports flexible installation orientation. AquaFlex offers up to five different valve positions including open, closed, and up to three reduced-flow options that utilities can customize to their needs. AquaFlex includes built-in tamper detection that provides alerts in case of potential intrusion.
The new AquaFlex product expands the Aquana smart valve portfolio of products targeted at the water utility market, joining the AquaFlowSmart Valve. AquaFlow offers a fully integrated solution with either LTE-M cellular or LoRaWAN connectivity, automatic leak detection, and access to the Aquana Cloud for a full AMI platform including meter reading, remote connect/disconnect, and billing system integration. Both products significantly contribute to smooth operations especially at small to mid-sized utilities where staff resources are tight.
As a way to best understand the near-term benefits of incorporating smart water valves, Aquana offers qualified utilities access to a pilot program. Through this unique trial program, a utility works with their preferred integration partner to install smart water valves at frequently engaged service connection locations. The pilot program uses the same cloud-based software and hardware as a full-scale deployment, but is aimed at helping utility operations teams build a business case for funding a deployment across a large portion of the service connections. Aquana’s research has shown that applying smart water remote shutoff valves to approximately 10% of service connections, especially those of repeat non-payers, yields a return on investment within the first year.