How Remote Monitoring Can Improve Water Treatment Management

In any pump installation, the amount of current (amperage) the motor draws correlates directly to the size of the load. Adding a current transformer (CT) on the pump’s incoming power will monitor the pump’s current draw. A severe increase or decrease as described above indicates a pump problem that requires immediate attention.

In pump installations, problems like suction loss and jams can cause serious damage to the motor or pump long before the thermal overloads trip. These problems can be detected within milliseconds of the occurrence by monitoring the drive motor current with a current transformer.

4. Acquire and Review Data

As noted above, advanced remote monitoring systems are equipped with data acquisition capabilities that automatically provide real-time and historical operating information on pump and equipment performance. This lets employees collect and record precise data, including flow rates, run times, and all of the operational principles involved in pump monitoring. Because the system automates the recordkeeping, personnel can easily generate accurate information required for regulatory reports and internal review.

Operators can also configure flow meters with multipliers to determine how much flow a station is outputting. These values can be recorded and archived, so operators can create monthly and yearly reports. Important run times to include for data measurements include total hours a pump has worked, how much accumulated time it has operated per day, and work cycles on pumps.

Other reports such as alarm logs can be crucial tools to determine how much time the system was offline and when it came back online.

Clearly, it is vital for food processing facilities to keep water treatment and wastewater processing operations running as efficiently as possible. A remote monitoring system with integrated and external sensors is a low-cost way to provide early warning of malfunctions. These alerts enable operators to conduct predictive maintenance and automate data acquisition and reporting. Monitoring systems provide an extra layer of protection to make sure equipment is running properly to keep the pumps working and water flowing.

Fusco is the director of business development at Sensaphone and has been working in the remote monitoring industry for nearly 25 years. Reach him at [email protected].