Inner Mongolia Institute of Metrology builds a safety barrier for heating supply during the heating season with "precision and efficiency"
In autumn, the temperature in Inner Mongolia drops sharply. As the province in northern China with the longest winter heating period and the widest coverage, the 12 leagues and cities in the region have successively entered the heating season since mid-October, and some alpine areas even started heating as early as early October. For the heating system, the boiler is the "heart", and the boiler pressure gauge is the "core sensor" for monitoring the "heart health": the accuracy of its indication directly determines whether the boiler will face the risk of explosion due to overpressure, or whether the heating temperature will fail to meet the standard due to insufficient pressure. It is no exaggeration to say that every qualified boiler pressure gauge is an invisible guarantee for the "heating temperature" in citizens' homes.
A sudden increase in the testing volume: A "time test" under dual pressures
Before this year's heating season, the Inner Mongolia Institute of Metrology has a heavier testing task than in previous years. The superposition of two core factors has led to an explosion in the testing volume:
I. Concentrated expiration of the cycle: The mandatory verification cycle of the boiler pressure gauge is one year. September and October each year happen to be the expiration window for the verification of the previous year. In Hohhot alone, 12 heating enterprises have submitted verification applications for more than 800 pressure gauges.
II. Increase in samples sent for inspection by leagues and cities: The heating enterprises in leagues and cities such as Baotou and Ordos preferentially choose to send samples to the Inner Mongolia Institute of Metrology at the provincial level for inspection because the local metrology institutions lack high-precision calibration devices. Since September, the number of pressure gauges sent for inspection by leagues and cities has increased by 35% compared with the same period last year, reaching more than 500 units.
Under the double pressure, the testing volume of the Inner Mongolia Institute of Metrology has doubled compared with normal times, which is equivalent to "completing the workload of two normal months in one month".
Overtime + Optimization: Seize Heating Time with Efficiency
To avoid delaying the heating season, the inspectors from the Inner Mongolia Institute of Metrology voluntarily switched to the "wartime mode".
Scraping out time: Since mid-September, all inspection personnel have given up their weekends. They arrive at work at 8 a.m. and leave at 9 p.m. every day. Each person inspects more than 50 pressure gauges per day (1.5 times the usual amount).
Optimization in the process: The original linear process of "registration - detection - calibration - report issuance" has been changed to "parallel processing". The registration staff checks the enterprise information in advance. The testing staff operate 3 verification devices simultaneously. In the calibration process, automated equipment is used to replace manual recording. The detection time for a single pressure gauge has been reduced from 30 minutes to 20 minutes, with the overall efficiency increased by 40%.
In the words of the inspectors, "For every 10 minutes saved, one more meter can be inspected; for every additional meter inspected, the heating enterprise can start debugging the boilers one day earlier."
24-hour hotline: Turn "urgent needs" into "immediate responses"
In response to the "urgent, difficult, anxious and expected" issues of heating enterprises, the Inner Mongolia Institute of Metrology has specially opened a "24-hour service hotline" and set up a "green channel":
The "triple roles" of the hotline: Two senior verification personnel take turns to be on duty, mainly handling three types of problems - 60% of which are answering inquiries about "verification procedures and progress", 30% are receiving applications for "urgent submission for verification", and 10% are guiding the "troubleshooting of pressure gauges".
"Immediacy" of the green channel: For enterprises with urgent inspection needs, for example, a heating enterprise urgently needed 20 pressure gauges for boiler commissioning. After receiving the application through the hotline, the relevant department immediately reserved workstations. The enterprise sent the pressure gauges for inspection in the afternoon of the same day, and the inspection was completed that night. They could pick them up early the next morning. Since September, there have been 12 such "send-and-inspect-immediately" cases, directly helping enterprises "regain" the commissioning time.
Result: From Qualified Report to Warmth for Citizens
As of the early October, the Inner Mongolia Institute of Metrology has completed the verification of all over 800 pressure gauges of heating enterprises in Hohhot and the testing of over 500 gauges sent for inspection from other leagues and cities. The passing rate of verification reaches 98%. More importantly, these accurate verification results have been directly translated into "safety" and "warmth":
- During the commissioning of a heating enterprise, a verification by the metrology institute found that the "indication deviation of one pressure gauge exceeded the allowable range". After timely replacement, the risk of "boiler overpressure" was avoided.
- The person in charge of another enterprise said, "Thanks to the quick work of the Metrology Institute, we completed the commissioning of our boiler three days ahead of schedule. On the day when the heating was turned on, the temperatures in all 10 residential communities under our charge reached the standard."
In the final analysis, the "speed" of the Metrology Institute is to enable heating enterprises to act "early"; the "accuracy" of the Metrology Institute is to make the "warmth" of the citizens more stable. During this heating season, the Inner Mongolia Metrology Institute has transformed the delicate work of "pressure gauge verification" into the solid support for "ensuring heating" with "technology + efficiency".