Investigation on the uncertainty analysis of heat meters with a novel method of integral calibration

Heat meters have become an important measurement technology in the national energy conservation and emission reduction project in meeting the requirements of energy consumption monitoring and the charging of heating systems. Different from the conventional separable calibration method for heat meters, a novel integral calibration method with the aid of a high-precision electric meter was proposed in this paper, which can solve the difficult problem of calibrating inseparable heat meters. The composition of integral calibration uncertainty in metering thermal leakage capacity and internal energy change is analyzed from theoretical and practical perspectives based on experimental results. Compared with the maximum permissible error (around 2.6%) of heat meters calculated under multiple actual operating conditions according to relevant standards, the accuracy of the integral calibration method is around 0.06%, proving it is accurate, intuitive, and efficient.