TECHNIQUIP

Non-Revenue Water prevention

Technimex introduces Non-Revenue Water (leakage) prevention by intelligent water management. We refer to it as non-revenue water (NRW), or water that is pumped and then lost or unaccounted for.

Non-revenue water (NRW) management allows utilities to expand and improve service , enhance financial performance, make cities more attractive, increase climate resilience and reduce energy consumption

By managing water pressure as an intermediate solution we are able to get instant results without replacing pipes.

Water loss reduction

The pressure level in the network has to be kept and controlled on a minimum level, which is necessary to maintain the actual water demand. Too low pressure can cause pipe vacuum, as booster pumps of high rises suck too much water from the pipeline that causes ground water to leak into the pipeline.

Reducing pipe bursts

With the variations in the demand of water during the day, week, month and year, the pressure in the water networks varies accordingly, with a wide amplitude.

The amplitude of the pressure variation should be kept as small as possible to prevent the network from damages. Pipes always break at night when demand is low and pressure relatively high.

Leak detection

Technimex facilitates leak detection to determine the area with unacceptable water losses. Together with the water utility a District Metering Area (DMA) is determined.

Solution

Based on our findings Technimex will present her solution to reduce NRW. Depending on the agreed scope-of-work it is possible to either purchase the required equipment or lease it on a no-cure-no-pay basis.

Management

As soon as both hard- and software are commissioned water will be saved. The software will be remotely optimised for the specific network and management reports an evaluations will be planned accordingly.

Implementation

The implementation and scope-of-work is developed together with the water utility. This includes the development of open-source management software for the pipe-network within the DMA and the delivery and installation of the required hardware.

Hardware

Technimex delivers an almost ‘plug-&-play’ container or manhole which will be installed at the input-side of the critical area. This container or manhole includes the plunger valve which is used to control the pressure: 1% reduction in water pressure results in approximately 1.2% reduction of lost water. It also includes the actuators, pressure- and flow sensors that are needed for the water management system. Additionally, to power the actuators and control system, a hydro-generator with battery back-up is installed.

Water management system

Our open-source software measures flow and pressure which are used as input for the management algorithm. The actuator on the valve is controlled accordingly to regulate (reduce and increase) the pressure at the critical point in order to reduce leakage in the DMA. To prevent shocks, eventually causing water hammer, the opening- and closing speed of the valve can be adjusted separately.

User interface

Our user-interface allows real-time monitoring and shows besides an alarm and event list, extensive timeseries, bar graphs and data-history which can be used for predictive analytics.

The water management system is able to work independently using a PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) and algorithm which is used for automatic valve control. The operator can manually adjust all control parameters through the remote TeleControlNet user interface by adjusting settings and/or by directly controlling the valve.