Water quality, a major stake

The widespread use of computing through the PC/Windows couple has enabled these last few years surprising evolution in terms of process control: the slightest anomaly, the slightest defect impeding levels of performance is now highlighted and carefully analyzed by production managers.

Water control is no exception, and the Pollutec exhibition offers us an opportunity to assess the latest trends and developments in this field.
In processing plants, TOPKAPI collects data, enables process supervision and control, monitors failures and forwards them (standby duty), stores production monitoring information in local logs, forwards data to database management systems. TOPKAPI performs all this, not only for local equipment (drinking water production plant, water processing plant), but also for related remote equipment: drilling, water intakes, drinking water distribution network, and collection network, used waters pumping stations.

In the meantime, quality requirements and increase in need are leading to closer resource monitoring, and this cannot be limited to the stations' close environment: to cite only a few examples, drinking water producers need to know immediately of any accidental river pollution, control the evolution of ground water wells; water processing network operators must monitor rejections, anticipate high rain periods, local authorities must also coordinate resources management.

Within the development of metrology applications, TOPKAPI is at the forefront. In addition to their ability to acquire data locally and remotely by supporting communication protocols for many pieces of hardware, it will ensure the vital control of the proper operation of measurement equipment and transmission of alarms to standby duty operators.

Considering its many players, the trend in the water treatment industry today is to interconnect operating stations to exchange useful information, a process Topkapi ensures very well without waiting for the still embryonic development of the Internet for this type of applications.

From now on, the data processed by TOPKAPI will be more and more seldom used exclusively locally: the water quality information is transmitted to local authorities and operators, drinking water plants exchange information among themselves to coordinate distribution network management, water treatment stations control their rejections, and are monitored by city technical departments or from the SATESE, etc.

The operating principles are simple: a TOPKAPI station on a given site authorizes remote client stations to access certain parts of the application and enable optimized transfer of data files.

By extending the scope of the fields involved in water management, we can cite for example the coordinated management of hydroelectric plants on the same river, meteorology. But this type of use is not restricted to this field; the process supervisors enable remote control and troubleshooting by engineering departments or production managers; the computers ensuring the centralized technical management of a site transmit information to the maintenance services of generator sets, compressors or lifts; which can then monitor remotely the proper operation of the equipment and be immediately advised of any anomaly occurring.

Did you say "spider's web" ?