Halma Water Management News - from Halma PR - visit www.hwm-water.com

Athenea is the new chlorine monitoring system for potable water networks from Halma Water Management (HWM). It is an autonomous, battery powered chlorine analyser that provides continuous monitoring of concentration levels and transmits data automatically via cellular telemetry. This greatly reduces the need for time-consuming on-site ‘spot’ testing, and obviously allows for much more frequently updated results.

New Continous Battery Powered Chlorine Monitor for Water Networks from Water Management Specialist HWM

The product uses proven amperometric technology for chlorine measurement, and also records pH and temperature levels for complete and accurate analysis. By using an innovative power-saving process, battery life is maximised and a full charge will power the analyser for at least 6 months. By drawing fresh water from the network for each reading, results are always current, and as no chemicals are used in the test the water can be either re-introduced into the network or siphoned off as waste.

The result is a system that requires no external power source, can be deployed anywhere, sends results automatically to a chosen remote location, and produces accurate results comparable to those used at a mains-powered treatment works. Athenea is therefore ideally suited for installation in tanks, reservoirs and non-powered network locations. A portable version, housed in a Pelicase, is also available for survey use, where the unit’s waterproof IP68 rating could prove particularly useful.

The analyser can be calibrated and programmed remotely, and operates at a range of 0-20ppm, effective within 0-50 degrees Celsius and pH 4-8. Logged readings are then transmitted by a Radcom datalogger using GSM/SMS telemetry, providing open-protocol results compatible with any SCADA system. Athenea has already been extensively tested in Spain, where over 50 units have been deployed successfully in numerous cities. HWM also has a demonstration system installed at their test site in Cwmbran (South Wales), where interested parties are invited to view it in action and find out more about the features and benefits it can offer.

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- £100m earmarked for acquisitions -

Halma p.l.c. (www.halma.com), the leading global safety, health and sensor technology group and parent company of Halma Water Management, has announced record results with profits up 9% to £86m and revenue rising by 1% to £459m. The UK-based group has posted strong financials to raise shareholder dividends by 7%, the thirty-first consecutive year of increases greater than 5%. The company plans to augment its organic growth efforts through acquisition of complementary technology companies, as it has done for many years.

Halma’s subsidiaries operate in three main market sectors: Health and Analysis, Infrastructure Sensors, and Industrial Safety, creating shareholder value with consistent organic growth and sound acquisitions. Halma companies operate as independent entities under the day-to-day direction of their local management, while reaping the capital and network benefits of a larger multi-national parent.

The company is seeking successful and profitable companies that are closely allied to any of its current market sectors, although Photonics, Water, Fluid Technology and Health Optics are a particular focus. It has £100m earmarked for acquisitions.

“In recent months we have increased our acquisition search activity,” said Allan Stamper, Chief Executive of the Water & Asset Monitoring Division. “Our experience has been that vendors of good quality businesses are now keener to talk but that many remain cautious about whether to sell now or to wait, in the hope that markets will recover in the medium term. Our task is to convince them that they will achieve even greater success by being part of Halma and to structure deals accordingly. We continue to search for businesses in all of our existing market sectors and in all geographic regions.”

Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Halma is a holding company of approximately 35 worldwide subsidiaries that develop and manufacture products that protect lives and improve quality of life for people worldwide. The company’s business groups focus on industrial safety, health and analysis and infrastructure sensors.

To present potential acquisitions opportunities, please contact:

Allan Stamper – Chief Executive, Water & Asset Monitoring Division
Email: allan.stamper@halma.com
Tel:  +44 (0)1494 721111
Fax:  +44 (0)1494 728032

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Device allows set-up and operation from single PC or laptop

Milford, OH (June 25, 2010) –  Fluid Conservation Systems (FCS) simplifies wireless leak detector data collection with the new Patroller II system.

The FCS Patroller II eases drive-by collection of Permalog data.

The Patroller II system works in conjunction with the widely used FCS Permalog + acoustic leak noise detector.  Permalog + detectors attach magnetically to valves throughout a utility’s distribution system and use advanced algorithms to discern the acoustic signature of leaks from background noise.

Once leak noise is detected, the Patroller II collects the data transmitted by Permalog+ leak noise loggers wirelessly from onboard a moving patrol vehicle.  Its system software allows set up and operation from a single PC or laptop, with no requirement to program and retrieve data using a PDA device before uploading it to a separate PC for analysis.  Multiple loggers can be configured simultaneously and settings are saved and loaded, enabling complete District Metered Areas to be set up quickly and efficiently.

The Patroller II’s large display allows the user to customize data presentation including serial number, location number, level and spread, leak status, patrol time, address and GPS coordinates.  The dedicated radio receiver is equipped with a rechargeable battery, leak alarm and LED display for battery life and communication status.

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Veolia Water, the major water and wastewater management company, has been making use of recent developments in water leak detection technology to effectively manage water networks at an increased efficiency and lower cost. Halma Water Management’s (HWM’s) Permalog+ noise loggers have been employed by the company in a ‘lift and shift’ method to quickly, easily and accurately find and repair leaks.

The Permalog+ Technology

Permalog+ noise loggers are small devices deployed at points around the water network, where they monitor the noise levels on the pipes themselves. Changes and distinctive patterns in sound indicate the presence of leaks, often including ones that would otherwise go completely undetected. Mounted directly onto the pipes by a strong magnet, and battery-powered, the Permalog+ units can continuously monitor the section of piping around them for tell-tale signs of a leak. Once found, various telemetry and communication methods are available to alert leak detection operatives either immediately or at a specified time.

In a typical usage scenario, the data will either be collected or sent back to a central database, where each logger’s location is displayed on a map with either a green flag for ‘all clear’ or a red flag to indicate a leak. Each logger’s serial number, noise level and noise spread (the leak ‘signature’) is displayed alongside them on the map.

A noise logger technician installs a Permalog+ water leak detection device

A noise logger technician installs a Permalog+
 

‘Lift and Shift’

Veolia Water has 9 Noise Logger Technicians to carry out ‘lift and shift’ operations, with an average of over 80 individual Permalog+ units deployed and retrieved by each technician every day. The ‘lift and shift’ temporary installation method allows the use of a smaller number of units to cover a large area, effectively ‘auditing’ the network for leaks. As an alternative to a permanent installation, where the loggers would sit waiting and monitoring for new leaks in order to address them immediately, ‘lift and shift’ deployment actively searches for leaks throughout the network in a ‘sweeping’ pattern.

Leakage Teams will deploy loggers throughout the next targeted area (typically divided by DMA*), where they will remain overnight. The following day, the loggers are collected by the team, with a centralised record being made of where there are leaks and where the system is clear. These loggers can then be deployed to a new area, and so a rolling, sweeping search for leaks quickly progresses throughout the network.

In contrast to a ‘permanent’ deployment pattern, Permalog+s for use in a ‘lift and shift’ operation will be either pre-programmed at the factory or by the user with specially designed software to only transmit their recorded data when an operative swipes them with a magnet. There is no radio interference from other loggers nearby (stored in the car, for example), and the data is kept both secure and easily compartmentalised. This is obviously useful when the same loggers will eventually be deployed in many different locations – the fundamental point of the ‘lift and shift’ method.

Ease of Use

The Permalog+ units and system incorporate several recent technological innovations by HWM to make them more efficient and easier to use than ever before. The loggers can be pre-programmed, and can automatically record each deployed unit’s serial number and location by GPS tracking. This means that deployment is very quick, and there is no longer a danger of misplacing loggers – or the maps of where they are – which of course means that retrieval is easy too.

The new Permalog+ version can also utilise the extended logging functionality of Aqualog. This records noise levels at set intervals over a longer time period of up to 29 days. This allows easy trending analysis and graphical representation of the data, providing for more detailed leak analysis and definite confirmation. User-configured or preset alarm threshold settings can be applied for different pipe types and diameters.

Results

Veolia Water has had excellent results from this operation, finding leaks with great speed and ease, leading to reduced costs from resources. The new GPS mapping technology tracks and makes visible the effort being applied by the one-man teams, and has resulted in a higher deployment rate than previously seen. It also gave the company an audit trail of loggers, ensuring accountability and precise location tracking.

The Permalog+ noise logger's location is recorded with GPS tracking

The Permalog+ noise logger’s location is recorded with GPS tracking
 

With over 80 loggers per technician per day being deployed and collected, the speed of the activity means that detection time can be reduced when compared to other, more traditional leak-finding technologies and methods. A recent Veolia project that involved targeting 15 DMAs, covering some 28,000 properties, took only 32 days to sweep, and 96 leaks were detected. Because time lost is water lost, the speed of the search and therefore the swiftness of the response is key to minimising waste and reducing NRW** levels. Certainly, given the right application, noise loggers in the ‘Lift and Shift’ mode provide an excellent return on the investments of both time and funds. The fact that the Permalog+ system is very accurate in terms of both location and detection, as well as sensitive enough to find even ‘hidden’ leaks, makes it a powerful and effective tool in the ever more important fight against water loss.

* District Metered Area
**Non-Revenue Water

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Over 60 Senator+ datalogging systems are currently being used to collect, collate and transmit data about various environmental conditions in some of the remotest areas of Scotland, where traditional telecoms are unavailable or impractical. Reservoir levels, compensation channel levels and flows, and pipeline flow rates from treatment works to compensation returns all need to be monitored, but they can often be located in hard to access and non-GSM covered places. The Senator+, developed by HWM in conjunction with satellite communication specialist Wireless Innovation Ltd., is purposely designed for just such situations.

The Senator+ datalogger from Halma Water Management is currently being used in over 60 of the remotest locations in Scotland for environmental data monitoring

Where there is no infrastructure for more traditional telemetry services – no GSM/SMS signal, too remote for PSTN lines – the Senator+ is able to use its MicroSAT satellite data transmission technology and solar-charged battery power to provide reliable and maintenance-free datalogging services. Scottish Water has been using the product extensively to retrieve important environmental monitoring information remotely: many of the installations can only be reached by various combinations of all-terrain four-wheel-drive vehicles, quad bikes and even hiking.

Fortunately, after the initial installation (easy with the all-in-one cabinet), the units are self-sustaining, and no subsequent maintenance has been needed or undertaken. Significantly, until now this monitoring was effectively impossible – requiring time-consuming and costly manual site visits for each individual reading at each location. Now, the satellite system transmits recorded data as often as every 5 minutes, straight to the user’s computing device of choice, wherever they may be. At the heart of the system is the Multi-Channel Senator+ data logger; each logger records from up to 9 separate inputs, can store up to 48,000 individual readings and has programmable alarm condition parameters. The unit is also available with more traditional cellular or PSTN communication options.

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Scottish Water has praised Halma Water Management’s (HWM’s) SonicSens ultrasonic level sensor, which is being used extensively by the company to monitor flow rates in a wide variety of situations – siphon chambers, Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), overflow and storm tanks, weirs, reservoirs and compensation channels. It is a non-contact, highly accurate level sensor and flow meter.

The technology behind ultrasonic level sensors is founded on a simple principle: an inaudibly high-frequency sound wave is emitted, directed towards the surface to be measured. This surface reflects the wave back, and the time taken for the reflected wave to return is in direct proportion to the intervening distance. So, with a known total distance between the sensor and the bottom of the vessel or channel, the depth of the water is found by simple subtraction. Flow rates can then be calculated easily if the volumetric dimensions of the channel are known, faster flow raising the fluid level accordingly.

Gerard O’Hara, Project Engineer for Scottish Water, commented on the technology: “The design team here are very happy with the performance of the instruments, and the SonicSens system has been used many times as a part of our award-winning Water Framework Directive contract.” The WFD was introduced in 2000, and made into Scots Law in 2003; its purpose is to maintain, protect and improve the quality and management of all Scotland’s water resources.

One major benefit of ultrasonic measurement is that it is non-contact, and so non-contaminating and low-maintenance. The SonicSens builds on this with a package that includes millimetre resolution, a long (5-year) battery life and the facility for versatile remote telemetry options such as GSM, GPRS, radio or satellite communications. The sensor itself connects to a separate datalogger via a choice of standard, ATEX-rated, wired and wireless combinations, with or without a Barrier box.

These features make the product very well suited to ‘fit and forget’ operations in hard to access locations – once it is installed, it will continue to function as programmed without the need for local maintenance or interaction. Because of this, Scottish Water is using the product for a wide range of applications across its wide area of responsibility, which includes places beyond the reach of telephone lines, cellular reception or even normal access by anything less than a dedicated off-roader.

A recent installation at a compensation weir down in a secluded valley (Image 1) presented potential problems with signal reception. The sensor itself is obviously suspended over the weir – with a known width for flow calculation – and connected to a short-range TRX20 relay unit (IS approved) safely raised above. The datalogger was installed high up on top of the dam (Image 1 inset), where the GSM signal reception is strong enough for the long-range data telemetry.

CSOs are common installation sites for the Scottish Water’s SonicSens systems, as they must be monitored for spill events where heavy rainfall will raise the water level above the storm screen. When this happens, the SonicSens will alert Scottish Water that a storm condition has occurred, and that the screen will need cleaning. Image 2 shows a fairly typical installation, with the sensor looking down at the side of the screen and the logger and barrier box installed in the ‘safe’ area outside the manhole itself (inset).

All ultrasonic level sensors have a ‘blanking’ distance – this is a minimum distance between the sensor unit and the measuring surface. This is required for the device to receive a clean reflected sound wave, one that will be unaffected by the vibrations caused by emitting the sound in the first place. In Image 3, another CSO application, there was not enough room to site the SonicSens in the same chamber as the overflow screen. A new chamber was built over the pipe itself, to measure the water levels from there – but there was still not much space, and the 300mm blanking distance would not be cleared if the water level were raised by a storm condition. In a creative workaround, the sensor unit was installed on its side, along with a reflector plate mounted at a 45 degree angle, situated far enough away to account for the dead-band. Although an uncommon situation, it is a simple and effective solution which further highlights the versatility of such measurement technology.

Accurate level sensing is important for a vast range of different applications. The reliability and remote communications capabilities offered by the SonicSens make it a preferred choice for many of these projects both throughout Scotland and around the world. Beyond the product itself, Halma Water Management provides knowledge and expertise with its comprehensive training and after-sales support, helping to make sure that any remote level sensing needs are satisfied as effectively as possible.

For more information on the SonicSens or other datalogging, environmental monitoring, flow-measurement, water management and leak detection technology please visit www.hwm-water.com or email sales@hwm-water.com .

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The PermaNet system transmits leak data collected from Permalog+ loggers directly to an office computer wirelessly via network radio or SMS repeater. The effectiveness of Permalog® technology has been proven all around the world – from Las Vegas to Beijing – and in some of the harshest conditions on earth. Easily installed on pipe fittings, the loggers listen for the noise made by water leaking from pipes and, when a potential leak is detected, they enter an alarm state and transmit a radio signal to indicate a “LEAK” condition.

PermaNet from Halma Water Management Detects Leaks and sends the data to your desktop

Loggers can be quickly deployed and used repeatedly with no disruption to the surrounding area or to the water supply, and the precise location of each logger can be recorded onto detailed GPS mapping software as it is put into the ground. Each is immersion-tested to IP68, enabling continuous operation even in flooded chambers. They are powered by low cost, replaceable batteries and are tough enough to ensure that long-term low leakage levels can be achieved and held easily, with minimum maintenance.

PermaNet can be configured to send an automatic alert whenever one of the loggers reports a potential leak, meaning leakage teams’ speed of response and accuracy of deployment can be maximised. This increased efficiency means that both new and existing leaks can be targeted more quickly; saving more water, and reducing the risk to surrounding infrastructure. A complete network of devices creates a powerful system to supply up-to-date flow data and effective water management. Leak sizes can be determined by matching daily leak alarms with flow data, and problem zones can be brought quickly and effectively under control.

A new development called ALMOS (Acoustic Leak Monitoring Online System) now uses this data, in conjunction with popular online mapping technology, to provide a live, on-screen tracking application for deployed Permalog loggers from any internet-connected PC, without any specialist software. The location and leak status of each logger is displayed directly and accurately on a map of the area, with further information available at the click of a button. Find out more about this and other water management equipment at www.hwm-water.com .

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Permanent network delivers regular leak detection reports to office desktop PC

Milford, OH (February 10, 2010) – Fluid Conservation Systems (FCS) reduces water lost from leaks while saving time, money and labor with the PermaNet wireless network.  The network allows immediate responses when leaks are detected, while eliminating the need for municipal water utility maintenance crews to perform site visits and drive-by patrols. 

The PermaNet wireless network from FCS saves water, labor and money.

PermaNet works with FCS Permalog leak noise loggers; wireless devices that attach magnetically to pipes and “listen” for noises caused by water leakage.  With the PermaNet network, leak reports generated by Permalogs can be sent directly to a customer’s PC or mobile phone.  Customers can choose to receive monthly, weekly or daily updates.  The system can also be configured to send a leak alert whenever a logger detects a potential leak, enabling a rapid response and minimizing water loss.

PermaNet uses either radio signals or SMS telemetry to transmit reports.  The radio version collects data automatically with radio boosters mounted above ground, which then retransmit to the control data hub.  SMS versions receive signals from Permalogs with a built in radio receiver, and then transmit the information to the monitoring station via SMS.

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The PermaNet system from Halma Water Management (HWM) receives data from Permalog+ noise loggers deployed on water pipes to listen for leaks, and transmits this information wirelessly to an office computer. A new development called ALMOS (Acoustic Leak Monitoring Online System) now enables live, onscreen display of PermaNet data tracking from the PermaNet system from any internet-connected PC with using a new graphical interface and the latest digital mapping technology – without the need for any specialist software.

ALMOS is a New Online Leak Mapping Service for PermaNet, provided through any web browser from any internet-connected PC

Users of the system simply have to visit the website (www.almosleak.com) and log in to see the precise location, condition and noise levels of their deployed Permalog+ loggers. This information can be displayed either in a list form, or overlaid onto a detailed map, terrain or satellite view of the area. Loggers in a non-leak state appear in blue on the map, those transmitting a leak alert are shown in red, and those with anomalous readings display a yellow warning sign. Each logger can be individually highlighted to view more detailed information, including its serial number, noise level, signal strength and acoustic spread. This enables problem areas to be quickly and accurately identified, and offers the potential for in-depth analysis of the leak situation. The list view allows loggers to be sorted by a number of variables, and historical leak data for each one is available at the click of a mouse.

Users can be set up to have different levels of access to data and administrative functions, so several people can view the data simultaneously but only administrators will be able to make changes to it. A demonstration of the system is available at www.almosleak.com, which shows a district of Copenhagen where the system has been used for several months successfully to achieve and maintain a 10% reduction in leakage.

The ALMOS system can be used to view and manage integrated data from several sources, including PermaNet and Automatic Meter Reading Readers (AMR’s) systems, with all data running through an extensive web server-based algorithm analysis post processing function (patent pending). This offers currently unparalleled water management functionality to save time, water and money.

Water suppliers can now monitor 100% of their distribution system confidently and effectively, knowing that the combination of Permalog® technology, PermaNet data communication and ALMOS online data presentation enables them to identify potential leak sites quickly, accurately, conveniently and automatically.

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More detailed product information and new interactive sales rep map

Milford, OH (December 8, 2009) – Further improving customer access to product literature and sales representative contact information, Fluid Conservation Systems (FCS) has launched a newly redesigned website.  The new website at www.fluidconservation.com features detailed information for the company’s full selection of leak detection technology products.

The new FCS website is designed for customer convenience.

The new easy-to-navigate FCS site includes a complete library of manuals, descriptions and specifications for all FCS products.  Downloadable software updates are available for FCS equipment.  The website also includes an interactive map for customers to find local sales representative or distributor contact information, simply by clicking on their state.  Coming soon, the website will feature online ordering as well as a promotions page with current special offers.

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