Remote Management More than a Wireless Communication

Increasingly, municipal wastewater companies, water supply operators and farmers are discovering the benefits of remote monitoring, but not all take advantage of the advanced management possibilities they offer.

Grundfos (Denmark) offers a range of communication components and total solutions that save time and costs - and perhaps most importantly address the real concerns operators have about remote management.

One is the need to make best use of limited resources. With pumping installations spread all over the countryside, onsite inspection is simply a poor use of time. With a wireless telemetric system, monitoring and control tasks can be performed from a PC anywhere anytime.

When a pressure drops, a pump blocks, or a flow decreases you will be the first to know. As equipment succumbs to wear and tear, you'll have time to plan maintenance. As renovation projects draw nearer, you can draw on hard facts to make your decisions.

Grundfos Remote Management is an internet-based telemetric system that provides operators with timely information. This allows them to keep their wastewater and water supply systems operating cost-effectively. Grundfos hosts the system on its own corporate hosting centre, which saves customers the cost of hosting, servicing and maintaining both software and hardware. System managers only need Internet access, a standard browser and a password to monitor and manage their pump installations.

Grundfos Remote Management has been fully developed within Grundfos - including the software platform. This reduces interface issues and also means that each component is developed with pump installations in mind. A first impression of the GRM user interface users get is the unique overview of all the many pump installations in their system. Users can upload a map or own photo, and drag-and-drop installations to their location. The start-up screen shows if there is a problem, what the problem is and the location of the affected installation. Then you are able to deep dive into the details.

When an alarm occurs or a value triggers a warning limit the system will send an alarm SMS or email to your mobile phone or computer.
Managers can plan on-call schedules months in advance. The schedule determines who is to receive alarms at any given time of the day or night all year round. From a PC, a Smartphone, and a Tablet PC anywhere the recipient can log on to the system and determine the course of action to be taken.

Changes in pump performance can easily be tracked using trend graphs automatically generated by the system. This can give an indication of wear or damage in the installation, service and maintenance can then be planned based on the actual conditions. Timely service and maintenance has a direct and positive impact on the system energy consumption and operating costs. The graphical overview of the system can be customised by the user.

Different GSM/GPRS modem variants allows connection to Grundfos e-pumps, controllers, VFD's as well as third party pumps, sensors, alarm contacts, switches etc., and to the GRM system and also enables wireless data communication. That allows the monitoring tank levels, pressure gauges, sensor values and pump condition and accessories.