Intelligent discharge control system
high precision — from 5–5000 l/s –
modular extension

The Challenge

Mod­ern sew­er net­works require intel­li­gent and flex­i­ble reg­u­la­tion con­trols. Mea­sured data must be read­i­ly avail­able and val­ues such as Q_ab con­fig­urable by remote con­trol. Ide­al­ly, the con­trol sys­tem must be inex­pen­sive and suit­able for easy retro­fit. Only robust and pre­cise sys­tems are suit­able for mod­ern waste­water conditions.

The Way

Pro­vi­sion of pre­cise flows and allow­ing the abil­i­ty to vary flow (Q_ab) set­tings, togeth­er with remote con­trol facil­i­ty with high oper­a­tional safe­ty, etc. call for intel­li­gent PLC-pro­grammed sys­tems like that of the Elec­troSlide Flow Reg­u­la­tor, with upstream con­trol and requir­ing min­i­mum space for retro­fit with­in exist­ing chambers.

The Solution

The Elec­troSlide Flow Reg­u­la­tor is a spe­cial­ly designed pen­stock enabling accu­rate flow cal­i­bra­tion. The pen­stock is dri­ven by an actu­a­tor, and can be installed in either upstream or down­stream con­fig­u­ra­tions. With high pre­ci­sion, the valve con­trol – see illus­tra­tion on the left – cal­cu­lates from the impound­ed water lev­el, the desired flow rate required (Q_ab); dri­ving the slide posi­tion to pro­vide the aper­ture area required. Depen­dent upon the type of con­trol pro­vid­ed, it is pos­si­ble that flow para­me­ters can be adjust­ed remote­ly; how­ev­er, in most cas­es the flow changes can be made direct­ly into the plc unit on site. In most appli­ca­tions, a sec­ond sen­sor can be pro­vid­ed down­stream of the Elec­troSlide Flow Reg­u­la­tor which mea­sures the water lev­el in the dis­charge chan­nel to ensure flow is being main­tained. When the down­stream flow is restrict­ed the con­trol recog­nis­es that a block­age has occurred and will pulse the Elec­troSlide pen­stock unit open in steps until the block­age is cleared before return­ing to con­trol. The Elec­troSlide Flow Reg­u­la­tor opens the valve grad­u­al­ly to pre­vent exces­sive flow pass­ing down­stream. Obstruc­tions larg­er than the valve open­ing can trig­ger alarm (option­al as GSM sig­nal). Sew­er flush­ing can also be pro­vid­ed with­in the pro­gramme con­trol if required. A spe­cif­ic impound­ing lev­el can be input and when reached with pulse the Elec­troSlide Flow Reg­u­la­tor will open ful­ly for a set peri­od before return­ing to flow con­trol. 

A CP com­mu­ni­ca­tions proces­sor with eth­er­net inter­face is option­al for con­nec­tion to the con­trol centre.

The Advantages

• con­stant flow regulation
• open, freely pro­gram­ma­ble PLC control
• block­age recog­ni­tion and clearance
• no sole jump
• exact flow con­trol, even with backwater
• infi­nite­ly vari­able set­point adjust­ment, also in situ
• remote con­trol ter­mi­nals included
• upstream or down­stream installation
• mea­sur­ing sys­tem has no media contact
• robust stain­less-steel design
• option­al crest measurement
• option­al dis­charge measurement
• option­al data logger
• option­al GSM detector

Cost-effectiveness

• cost and space-sav­ing as no mea­sure­ment con­struc­tion or set­tling area is necessary
• retro­fittable in shafts and basins
• flush­es channels
• inte­grat­ed flood protection