After two years of testing at Affinity Water’s Kings Walden water treatment works, datumpin debuted its data technology designed to enhance existing Telemetry and SCADA information systems.
The UK-based datumpin specialises in the research, design, build, and operation of data systems that optimise complex water treatment, distribution, storage and disinfection equipment performance.
Known as the eDM, the datumpin system uses embedded processors and proprietary software to capture and format fast sample rate equipment information into small data packs designed for process scientists, asset managers, field service operators and performance reporting to regulators. The dramatic data volume reduction achieved with the eDM eases the burden on Telemetry communications while providing up to one-second sample rate data collection.
The eDM data technology was resilience tested at Affinity Water Kings Walden 4MLD facility in Hertfordshire, England. Over the two-year performance measurement program, Affinity Water has validated that the eDM and reactive technical support has realised significant operational cost reductions. Before the eDM program, Affinity Water operators visited the Kings Walden plant weekly to investigate repetitive alarm shutdowns.
Now, the Kings Walden plant runs reliably with a single monthly preventative maintenance visit, waste brine volume from the treatment process has reduced by half, output treated water volume increased by 48 per cent and overall operational cost savings exceed £40,000 annually compared to baseline performance before the datumpin eDM installation.
Richard Lake, Business Lead – Production Innovation at Affinity Water, said: “The datumpin team took time to understand our unique requirements and brought deep expertise and knowledge to the entire process. The technical data solution is comprehensive. It starts with a characterisation of our current operation to set a baseline, critical to our asset management planning, then with data-driven prioritisation, we have together systematically eliminated recurring faults. Most importantly, it does the job of meeting our water treatment cost reduction targets without the high costs of comparative systems we examined.
“The proprietary software breakthrough at the core of our eDM technology is the collation and transmission of high-volume information in exceptionally small data packs,” said datumpin Principal Sean Finney. “Our proprietary software dramatically increases the visibility of complex system sequencing to remote viewers, enabling real-time decision making to identify and eliminate repeating faults, and that’s where the cost savings start to multiply.”
The datumpin eDM system is already seeing steady adoption in England and in the USA, where customers are compelled by the availability of comprehensive data in smartphone app compatible formats. Finney added, “We’ve worked diligently to understand the needs of water utilities and communities fighting rising operational costs to deliver safe and wholesome water to their customers at an economic cost. We believe our technology has a key role to play in addressing that problem.”
