|
|
XE8000 SMS Controller Case Studies by M2M Tech |
Water Take and Booster pump control
Water Take and Booster pumps that feed water treatment stations are fitted with the XE8000 and a GSM modem to provide remote control of the pumps as demand requires it. This saves considerable man-hours as these pumps are situated a distance from the plant and previously required someone to travel to site. The XE8000 also alerts staff of pump failure and unauthorized site entry.
Water Take Monitoring and Replacement
To comply with Regional consents the council was required to record the water take from the river. The draw was not to exceed the consent requirements and the amount taken had to be replaced from a catchment some kilometers upstream from the pump site.
Both locations were fitted with GSM capable PLCs and cellular modems.
The pump PLC was connected to the pump IO for control and an electro-magnetic flow meter to record pump flow. This enabled remote control of the pump by cellular phone, as well as status and alarm messages for operators. The total draw and flow is logged to prove compliance to the resource consent.
At regular intervals in a 24-hour period the daily take is relayed to the dam PLC by SMS.
The dam PLC is connected to a motorized valve for control of the discharge outlet, an electro-magnetic flow meter to record the discharge and an ultrasonic level transmitter to measure the water height behind the dam. The PLC can discharge the exact quantity required to meet the consent and also logs daily and total quantities to the AIN web gateway. This also proves compliance.
Remote control of the discharge valve by cell phone is also possible.
Both sites also provide notice of unauthorized access and equipment malfunction.
Potable Water Treatment Monitoring
Potable Water Treatment Plants are now fitted with GSM capable PLCs and cellular modems. The PLCs not only control the process within the plant, such as dosing and pump speeds and valve position. But monitor FAC, pH, turbidity and reservoir levels. This information is logged to AINs web gateway for access by Council as well as Consultants and contractors employed to manage the water assets. The AIN web server provides a daily summary of plant conditions to the engineer in email format as a means of checking plant performance.
Plant operators can be at other sites and still check plant conditions by cellular phone. This is done as part of the daily routine or in response to alarms texts sent from the plant. The status information can be used to diagnose a problem before proceeding to the plant. Senior operators also have the ability to remotely stop, start or backwash by cellular phone.
As the new Drinking Water Standards come into force the ability to have accurate accessible data will be invaluable.
To the present system it is planned to add date time stamped event logging of calibrations and compliance breaches such as those associated with turbidity.
Reminders of due calibrations can also be sent to operator cellular phones by the plant.
Waste Water monitoring
Oxidation ponds are also now fitted with GSM capable PLCs and cellular modems. The PLCs monitor in flow, out flow, dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH and in some cases conductivity. This information is also logged to AINs web gateway for access by Council, Consultants and contractors.
Regular daily emails can offer confirmation of correct synchronization of discharge with tides and provide confirmation of compliance with regional consents.
Operations staff are alerted to aerator and valve failure by SMS direct to their cellular phones.
Alarming of Solar Powered Environmental Monitoring Site
An existing logger at a stream between a landfill and a Quarry was not designed with sufficient capacity in the cooler period of the year. Low voltage and other unknowns would cause the logger to stop recording. The cycle for downloading the information at the site was quarterly. Sometimes the logger was found to have stopped for most of the period and data was lost. An XE8000 with a cellular modem was fitted and wired to the logger fault output. The first input of the XE8000 was also set to monitor supply voltage.
This enabled alarms to be generated to maintenance staff if:
- The site voltage dropped below 10V
- The logger faulted or stopped
|
