Monitoring of Pumps located at multiple Remote sites

Introduction

Water pumps are installed at places where water source is available. It is usually located at far off places, reaching the places takes time and approach to the location may not be smooth. Assuming the pumps were installed without any online monitoring or control, thepumps’ health needs to be checked before switching ON. This requires a visit to the site to switch on or switch off, if the sites are not connected to the network and SCADA system.

Monitoring of pumps

Since the pumps are switched ON/OFF on a daily basis at least one visit to the site is unavoidable if not two if the remote sites are not connected to central SCADA system. If daily visits to Pump sites to be avoided then there are two options (a) go for full fledged SCADA system with automated switch ON/OFF (b) cost-effective solution but requires minimal manual intervention.

Adding SCADA based solution

This would require upgrade of sensors, wiring, adding a PLC with Communication Modem and a server with SCADA software and associated customization. Cost of adding a full-fledged SCADA system will be feasible and viable only if the number of pumps are large. Moreover the pumps old and one may not want to change/revamp the setup at the Pump site in order to hook it to SCADA system.

Remote Monitoring through Mobile Phone

The visit to the site can be avoided if one can verify the pump status, power availability at site and whether the Storage tank where water needs to be stored are full etc. Typically, these are digital status which can be easily captured in an IOT board and sent to a MQTT broker. With small extensions the received data can be stored in the server for later viewing. The MQTT data can also be viewed from mobile phone. By connecting multiple pump sites to the server through IOT, the operator can view all pump sites from single mobile phone.

Remote Control of Pumps from mobile phone

Additional security

If sufficient bandwidth is available few cameras with DVR can be added to record/monitor the pump site. This enables viewing of the site from remote. It is also easy to add access monitoring/control mechanism.

Advantages of adding simple IOT Solution

(a) It is easy to add the IOT solution to the old pump house setup.
(b) Saves cost of one visit if not two visits to pump site – thus saving time and money.
(c) Single operator can manage multiple pump houses located near and far off places.
(d) With small extensions to the backend, one can also generate reports on Pump ON/OFF events, how many hours pump was run etc.
(e) If Energy meter is installed, it is easy to monitor power consumption also remotely.
(f) If enough bandwidth is available at site, it is easy to add camera to physically monitor the site.
(g) Above all, it is highly cost-effective compared to SCADA system

Water Management solution for Industrial environment

Introduction

Water slowly becoming a scarce resource require prudent usage to reduce consumption and wastage. With the demand for water going to go up in the coming years it is essential to measure, monitor and control its usage. It is also essential to benchmark usage patterns with standard industry practice to remain efficient and competitive. As a simple first step it is essential to measure water related parameters at appropriate places, store, track and control.

Sources of water

Typically,any industry will have multiple sources of water each having distinct cost structure. Apart from external/municipal source, other sources are water recycling plant, sewage treatment plant , ground/rain water.

Consumption

In certain industries, water is a major ingredient for manufacturing while in others water assist production by cooling, refining, cleaning etc. Apart from this water is required for drinking, cleaning, cooling, washing etc.

Sustainable water management

Industrial water management is becoming a critical factor in determining overall cost and production efficiencies. It is essential to optimally match the supply and demand, eliminate wastage and leakage. It is also essential to monitor the quality of water so that water with requisite quality is made available for usage.

IOT based monitoring

Water supply is characterized by its quality, pressure and availability of required quantity. This requires measurement of pressure, quality, flow, level , water qualityetc. using relevant sensors at both source, consumption and key locations. It is also essential to monitor health of pumps, treatment plant related parameters etc. Installation of appropriate sensors and dataloggers at measuring points is essential and the collected data is sent to a database server either inside or to the cloud on a continuous basis. In locations where power is not available the sensors and data loggers may have to be battery operated or solar powered.

With the availability of real-time data, IOT application can give insight into

a. Actual vs planned consumption at every consumption point
b. Actual vs. estimated source – municipal, treatment plant output, ground water
c. Whether pumps are in good health – any potential breakdown can occur.
d. Leakage points

The data and insight will assist industry water managers in automating operations and assist in decision making to reduce consumption and cost. Also helps them in ensuring that consumption, cost of water source, distribution costs remain within the budget.

Summary

Installing IOT based monitoring framework for industries will bring following benefits:

• Identify major consumption points – helps in planning reduction
• Leakages
• Real-time consumption data helps in matching the source and helps in determining appropriate tank storage requirement.
• Identity potential failure of pumps or other assets/
• Delivery of appropriate quality and quantity of water to critical consumption points.
• Automation of operations
• Planning/budgeting for future.

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Monitoring of Pumps located at multiple Remote sites

Introduction