Summary
Client industry:
Utilities
Challenge:
The client sought a solution that would enable the monitoring and control of a self-contained water treatment unit. Live monitoring of input & output water quality, output flow rate, control of the water purification unit with the live status transmitted and ability to change the water quality settings remotely.
Solution:
BlueCube IoT with integral ancillaries control module and data architecture platform
BlueCloud. A Microsoft Azure based information delivery backbone
Results:
Automated health status alerting
Remote updateable operation sequence profiles
Faster response time to potential safety & quality issues
Lower cost of inspection
Unified information dashboard
Typical solution size (85mm x 110mm x 30mm) less than 300grms
Solution area:
Barnbrook’s BlueCube solutions help clients incorporate emerging technology into their business operations to help improve reliability, safer inspections and overall improve the service for customer experience.
The Details
The mobile Water Treatment Unit was installed into a 40-foot shipping container and had been designed to be in remote locations or disaster zones. Because of the physical location of these units, the ability to remotely monitor and control was critical to ensure that it could be supported easily. Live monitoring of the unit would allow predictive operation analysis to be done and to alter the way the unit worked to reduce any failures and plan support activities.
Given that the unit would be converting potentially contaminated water into drinking water, it was especially important for health and safety that the Barnbrook control solution could also operate autonomously.
The sub systems monitored, as part of an initial activity were: –
Pump operation
Flow monitoring & control
Water quality (Input & Output)
Overall health status
Temperature/Humidity & Barometric pressures
Power systems monitoring
Environmental conditions
To enable workers to focus on actual maintenance, the company sought a solution to minimize the time required for personnel to be visually inspecting operational status. The company also wanted real-time alerts to better plan maintenance & support activities.
Matching solutions to desired outcomes
A central dashboard and smart APP technology made sure that the alerting and visual situation for each asset was delivered directly to the designated personnel for timely and appropriate actions.
Our server systems constantly analyse the incoming data streams and delivers ‘traffic light’ information. This ‘traffic light’ information together with event driven alerting allows activities to be planned in when appropriate and safe rather than a totally reactive support situation.
Addressing challenges
Live data transmission from remote locations can often be a challenge due to lack of inherent reliable data communications infrastructure. BlueCube products are totally self-contained systems, they can work equally well where there is a reliable data communication available or generate their own using GSM or Satellite.
This ability to autosense the most expedient means to get data off the unit rather than the more traditional method of data logging delivers immediate benefits.
The client sought a solution that would enable real-time alerting if the servers identified an issue requiring maintenance or checking.
Delivering meaningful outcomes
The company partnered with Barnbrook to address all its challenges. Our Innovations team designed a solution around our BlueCube modular IoT and data architecture platform enabling WTU monitoring & control, initiating real-time alerts and streamlining maintenance activities, all delivered via our BlueCloud, Microsoft Azure based information delivery platform.
By partnering with Barnbrook, the client can transform its maintenance & support process to increase reliability & optimize its support network.
Barnbrook developed the IoT and data architecture platform to:
• Utilise our Azure cloud-based, scalable, and centralized data repository.
• Reduce the number of manual inspections needed and, consequently, reduce labour costs associated with inspection.
• Speed time to avoid operational issues without the need for frequent inspections, leading to a reduction in in-service incidents, costs and most important maintaining constant availability of clean drinking water.
• Accelerate time to discovery of conditions indicating a need for preventive maintenance in advance of a failure condition.
• Improve consistency and quality of inspections relative to the variation that can occur in manual inspections.
• Enable the collection of sufficient time-interval data to deliver preventive maintenance guidelines, further reducing incidents.
Maximising Investment
Barnbrook’s BlueCube range of IIoT solutions are of a modular and expandable design. As the units auto configure, adding another sensing capability can be as simple as plugging in another sensor and wait for the extra information to start flowing into the client dashboard.
Key Partners & Clients
● Porterbrook ● Angel ● Icomera ● DG8 ● Scotrail ● GWR ● Chiltern Railways ● Bombardier ● Merlin Power