Wireless Municipal P & T Sensing

[coldcanuck]

Hello,

A municipality I am working with wants to monitor Press & Temp in it's water and sewer system at remote locations, such as access vaults and manholes. Currently the readings are taken by workers who have to access the piping physically, often with some difficulty (cold, snowy climate). The desired solution is to have a worker arrive at the location by vehicle, receive the readings from street level, record them and drive to the next location. Some of the locations are quite far from a small, existing SCADA system serving the municpality and impractical to connect to this system.

I have investigated wireless systems offered by Honeywell and Accutech Instruments which could potentially work but would be, in-elegant in their solution to the problem. These systems seem intended to transmit their data to a non-portable 'base' radio which is in constant connection with an HMI system. I am looking for manufacturers or municipalities who may have similar solutions already in place. I appreciate any help or advice, thank-you.

 

[dpc]

http://www.selinc.com/sel-3022.htm

If you have something with a RS232 serial port you can talk with, this will work over standard Wi-Fi.

If you're dealing with hard-wired transmitters, it shouldn't be too hard to connect their analog outputs to a small PLC or remote I/O system, then from there to a serial port.

 

[waross]

If you have power available, look at the small dual controllers from Omega engineering. They have an optional internet connection. You may be able to pair one with a wireless router and access the system with a laptop. If you are in wireless range of a phone line, you can go online with the system and read it from home.
Check it out and decide if it will work for you.

http://www.omega.com/newsearchengin...y=yes&sort=rank&search=internet&submit=Search

respectfully

 

[coldcanuck]

Power is available at some locations and if necessary will be brought to all of the locations.

I have looked at the suggested products, either could provide a solution. My biggest question/concern is how rugged this type of equipment is for remote location use. Tampering/vandalism isn't the concern, however I assume we would need to have suitable enclosure built to house this equipment as often the locations are cold (as low as -45degC) and not terribly dry.

 

[Ashereng]

coldcanuck,

Yes, you will need to build a panel for your radio and geal - insulated, and probably with a small strip heater. Any local panel shop will build one for you. Most likely, they will have one in stock that you can buy.

I suggest NEMA 4X if you are locating it out there in the bush, and visited only occasionally.

If you don't have power, we sometimes use solar panels, but more often than not, use a propane bullet with a TEG (more reliable, more costly too).

The battery box can be located on the same frame as the TEG and the local panel.

I used Bentek components, Fiser RTUs, and Core Lab for down hole.

I did a whole bunch of these for observation wells in northern Canada. As far as I know, they are still there working.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[dpc]

The Schweitzer device should be quite rugged, assuming it meets the same environmental specs as the rest of their equipment. It is tested to operate down to -40 deg C. I'd be more concerned about whatever it is you're going to plug it into.

 

[controlnovice]

My utility just installed something in my house for this same reason. No need to enter our house. They can just drive by and pick up the reading. This is for the water meter and is battery powered. It's been installed for probably 5 years now and still running fine. I'm sure something can be done for the others. I'll check tonight to see who makes the device.

______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

 

[mmassa]

Two products to look at:
Cirronets I/O Radio- Samll compact and 20 miles line of site, 900 or 2.4 Ghz

http://www.cirronet.com

ICL SCADA Bridge Radio has I/O in it.

http://www.iclinks.com

We do alot of municipals SCADA

http://www.bcsco.com

Good luck
Mark Massa

 

[powerjunx]

You may try for Wireless Application of Siemens Profinet.