Smart Metering Case Study: Yung Loong Gas Meter Network Controlling Unit
According to the Bureau of Energy, 37.3% of Taiwan’s electricity is currently generated from natural gas. In its pursuit of a more sustainable future, Taiwan aims to increase this share to 50% by 2025. While the government is encouraging conservation to manage natural gas demand, gas consumption data from households is still collected manually on a monthly basis—an approach that is both labor-intensive and inefficient. To
enhance energy efficiency and improve safety through faster leak detection, it is vital to accelerate the digitalisation of gas meters across Taiwan.
Challenges
Acquiring and collecting data is expensive, and despite significant R&D efforts, no technology has yet proven reliable for consistent data
transmission. Additionally, any solution must be earthquake-resistant to minimize damage and
ensure operational continuity.
Solution
A cost-effective retrofitted Network Control Unit (NCU) that remotely reads consumption data and issues alerts when anomalies like gas leaks
are detected, helping to prevent potential disasters.
Results
Enhanced data accuracy, reduced operational costs, improved service offerings, and the creation of new revenue streams.
Yung Loong Engineering Corp. is a leading natural gas engineering company in Taiwan dedicated to the equipment supply and engineering for Taiwan’s Oil and Gas Industry. As a pioneer in the industry with over 60 years of experience and multiple awards under their belt, such as the 108 Excellent Industrial Agricultural Construction Engineering Award, the company had an early start in Digitalisation.
The company’s digital journey started 10 years ago when Michael Fu, Chairman of Yung Loong, decided to capitalise on the 3.8 million natural gas users in Taiwan. Yung Loong’s goal was to design a microcomputer gas meter to stay ahead of its competition, and prove that gas meters made in Taiwan are superior.
AN UPHILL BATTLE
Yung Loong invested NT$45 million across three generations of microcomputer gas meters, including the ICM1000 and YS series. However, persistent transmission issues and network instability
hampered progress.
Despite efforts to source communication modules from Germany and France, and even attempting
in-house development, no reliable solution was found, leading to the eventual suspension of the
project.
A JOINT INNOVATION
In 2020, Yung Loong met UnaBiz and learnt that they had deployed a major gas metering project in Japan.
Yung Loong decided to partner UnaBiz to solve its transmission issue with Sigfox’s Ultra Narrow Band network, a low-power wide-area network communication technology that UnaBiz operates in Taiwan. This energy and cost efficient network connectivity allows the gas meter reader battery to last for 10 years.
UnaBiz eventually designed a custom antenna for the Yung Loong’s gas meters to help them optimise the transmission quality of their reader at a
reasonable price point.
UnaBiz’s attention to detail was really impressive. While designing the casing for the gas meter reader, they also considered installation conditions so the casing didn’t have to be disassembled for installation. Saving time is saving labour and saving cost for Yung Loong.
Michael Fu
Chairman of Yung Loong Engineering
A PERSONALISED GAS BUTLER
Smart Dashboard & User Friendly Interface
Personalised Management Interface
Usage Analysis
Alerts & notifications for abnormal flow/leakage/low pressure interruption
Device Management
User Management
REDUCING MANPOWER, LOWERING COSTS & CO2 EMISSIONS
The Smart Gas Meter Reader allows gas operators to
- Collect consumption data of its customers remotely every day
- Reduce the cost of data collection and automate its billing
- Monitor gas demand over time and forecast consumption more accurately
- Provide warnings when anomalies are detected
Yung Loong is not your typical traditional gas meter player in the industry. They are forward thinkers who believe in the power of digital transformation and the development of Yung Loong’s NCU is a testament to that belief. UnaBiz is not only proud to be Yung Loong’s partner in digitalisation, but also a partner in their transition to becoming a more sustainable company.
Jonathan Tan
Managing Director Southeast Asia and Taiwan of UnaBiz
WHAT’S NEXT?
After successfully completing the proof of concept (PoC) phase in Taoyuan City in 2022, Yung Loong’s solution has gained strong positive feedback. Since then, more than 5,000 NCUs have been deployed across Taiwan.
