Case Study - October 2021

Case Study - October 2021

Interested in Flow Control?

Get Flow Control articles, news and videos right in your inbox! Sign up now.

Flow Control + Get Alerts

Direct pump station flow monitoring improves collections system modeling

Problem: 

U.S. municipalities working to understand and manage the variance between design and operational capacities of their pump stations are often forced to derive input flows solely from pump runtimes recorded by the SCADA system — data insufficient to accurately model surging and other dynamic flow characteristics. This was the case in several connected municipalities outside Detroit.

Solution: 

Chris Davis, a member with Lower 48 Instruments, worked with Michigan-based Project Control Engineering to install dozens of In-Situ Mace Doppler Insert Velocity Sensors to measure flow from lift stations supplying three regional plants. The sensors, which are designed to operate in full pipes from 6 to 100 inches in diameter, can directly and accurately measure flow at the discharge side of the pump. The Mace Doppler Insert Velocity Sensor connects to the Mace FloPro XCi meter and uses an I/O card to deliver flow data to the plants’ SCADA systems for 24/7 monitoring and alarming. In addition, a WebComm card can be used for remote meter management and to transmit directly to the cloud. As many as five Doppler sensors can be monitored with a single FloPro XCi meter.

Result: 

“Mace sensors are quick to install, and for a relatively low cost, deliver really high-quality data,” Davis says. “For a municipality on a budget, they’re a great option that I’ve used for years.” In Michigan, the data coming from the sensors via the meters has been exactly what the municipal customers need to get a more complete picture of flows from the stations. 800-446-7488; www.in-situ.com


A safe and reliable solution for clarifier upkeep

Problem: 

The City of Florence, New Jersey, was in need of a more reliable system for their primary circular clarifier, which was frequently out of commission and required unsafe and unsanitary methods to get the system up and running again. For the health and safety of all those who work on the city’s meters, it was best to find a solution that was safe and cost efficient.

Solution: 

As repair and commission costs continued to rise, the city decided to purchase Pulsar Measurement’s Sludge Finder 2 Controller and the corresponding Viper Sensor Transducers. The Sludge Finder 2 uses high-frequency ultrasonic technology through echo processing algorithms to reliably identify the sludge interface level. Viper Transducers are self-cleaning, which reduces the need for regular inspection, saving time and money in the long run.

Result: 

The trial results showed that the instruments can provide the proper sludge level readings that the city was expecting to see in the clarifier, producing a safe, reliable, cost-effective solution to reduce the amount time spent in the field for installation and maintenance. 888-473-9546; www.pulsarmeasurement.com


Weir solution prevents waterway flooding 

Problem: 

Situated in British Columbia, Kelowna’s Wastewater Treatment Facility is responsible for a network of 370 miles of wastewater mains and 49 lift stations. On a peak day, treatment exceeds 11 mgd of domestic and industrial wastewater from homes and businesses. Kelowna’s original SCADA system was ill-equipped to accommodate the rapidly growing population and increased challenges of monitoring creek flooding, cleaning optimization and hydrogen sulfide levels.  

Solution: 

Kelowna’a plant deployed SmartCover technology to remotely monitor their creek diversion structures and mitigate downstream flooding while accurately managing hydrogen sulfide levels.

Result: 

The city now has real-time visibility into their remote weir assets using instant infrastructure monitoring. This has resulted in significant savings, successful resource allocation and has minimized staff trips to the field. They use the versatility of their system to monitor surface water, manage inlet and outlet diversions, and monitor flow over weirs. For CSO sites, the start time, stop time and incident flow volume is logged and reported in real-time. The system can detect rising levels, notify when an overflow starts and stops as well as quantify volume discharged for regulatory compliance and public reporting capabilities. 760-291-1980; www.smartcoversystems.com 



Discussion

Comments on this site are submitted by users and are not endorsed by nor do they reflect the views or opinions of COLE Publishing, Inc. Comments are moderated before being posted.