Electromagnetic Flowmeter for Data Accuracy

Aguas de Saltillo is a water utility responsible for supplying drinking water and wastewater treatment to residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout Saltillo. This company utilized Siemens Electromagnetic Flowmeter for Data Accuracy. 

The utility is a public-private partnership between the city and Aguas de Barcelona, a Spanish company dedicated to providing water services across four continents.

Saltillo is a desert city and is home to more than 823,000 people. It is also touted as a manufacturing hub as it exports terracotta floor tiles, home appliances, trucks, and next-generation cars among many others. For all this, Saltillo requires an uninterrupted water supply to support the public and the city's bustling economy. The weather and lack of rain, make water distribution a challenge. The city requires a reliable and complete water management system.

The water management system chosen by the company consisted of mechanical meters to measure the flow. This could not handle the high mineral content in the hard water and required continuous maintenance and monitoring to remove the mineral deposits. The company wanted to further enhance the network efficiency. This impacted the accuracy by wearing down the mechanical parts and rotor, resulting in a drag during the low-flow conditions. This led to added expenses due to installation of separate data logging devices to record measurements over time. The company wanted a better and enhanced measurement technology. With this in mind, the water utility chose Siemens in 2012, with the assistance of JAR Electronics, a Siemens Mexico channel partner. Together, they tested the first battery-powered SITRANS F M MAG 8000 electromagnetic flowmeter. This was equipped with a built-in GSM/GPRS wireless communication module and optional radiometric pressure transmitter. During the test, the MAG 8000 logged flow and pressure measurements every five minutes and transmitted this data to the OPC server. This helped in providing uninterrupted information available to the OPC clients.

The Siemens IP 68 (NEMA 6P) enclosure provided accurate data and was consistent in all-weather conditions, including flooding caused by rain.  Apart from this, the water utility gained remote capabilities that provide the users with real-time data in the measurement without a need to visit the site. The maintenance of this solution was negligible and the meter consisted of high resistance to mineral deposits. This was equipped with a long battery life and provided placement flexibility. The product also provided bi-directional flow monitoring. After the test was concluded the new meter was standardized for use across the water distribution zones; and now more than 100 electromagnetic flowmeters are in operation, with plans to install additional units in the near future.

Source: ARC Advisory Group

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Taxonomy

• Flowmetering
• Measurement
• water treatment
• Data