Remote Monitoring – Logbook Digitization

Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IOT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), ML (Machine Learning) and Remote Monitoring have become the buzz words. This is due to the advancement in technologies of connectivity, data transfer in IT and Telecom industry. We have moved from the Stone age, Steam age, Electrical Industrial age, Electronics age to the Internet Age. The competitiveness in the internet age is driving industries to increase productivity, reduce operating cost, prevent failures, improve operational equipment efficiency with emphasis on environment, health and safety. The industries having adopted the emerging technological advancement in field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IOT), combination of these technologies is forging ahead of the competition and exceeding the value goals set.

Post COVID-19 scenario, remote monitoring would become game changer in the industrial sector. As mobility and restrictions will continue to stay, access to the data from anywhere would become necessary for smooth running of business and plants. Today with high speed connectivity, cloud servers, pushing and publishing data over a wide network has become cost effective. The Smart Phones, Computers used have become affordable and paved way for newer smart application used in day-to-day activities. The data charges are becoming competitive as every network operator is trying to increase the market share, helping in growth of internet users exponentially.

The driving force to be sustainable and competitive today is the reach to external and internal customers, by put into use the data and connectivity, Data is available in every industry, but is it made to use to the best or is in the dust is a big question. The data could be even a logbook of water and wastewater treatment plant, which has never been used for improvement in operating efficiency. The data of a water and wastewater treatment plant is scrutinized only when factory shuts down for want of water or when notice served by statutory bodies.

. As the conditions are becoming favourable with advent of SMART equipment’s, first, and easiest approach would be to look at the logbook digitization, so that data can be seamlessly viewed from anywhere on mobile, tablet or computer with the internet connection. It would also help to get notified with instantaneous alerts for immediate actions to be completed.

Water and wastewater treatment plants today are facing various challenges such as skilled operators, manual data collection, limited tracking of equipment’s operation efficiency, supply chain integration and break downs. Logbook cloud digitization, powered by IoT and advance analytics will help the plant operations quickly and effectively remote monitor, track operator log, equipment OEE and plant chemical consumption to reduce the cost of operation and maintenance effectively. The data if used with IoT and AI will prevent the problem with an early warning. The recurrence of the same problem with AI in place can predict the reason and time of next occurrence. The data analytics will help improve the operation efficiency, reduce the operation and maintenance cost of the plant.

. CLOUD BASED LOGBOOK DIGITIZATION

1. No additional Software required, works on Android Phones, Web pages.

2. Highly secured cloud server, user-based screens and dashboard.

3. Fully customizable based on-site and plant requirements.

4. Daily, weekly, Monthly and Annual report generation by click of button.

5. Comparison reports of chemical, electrical consumption on graphical trends.

6. Automated alerts, e-mails notifications on priority basis.

7. Shift handover with track of open events, instructions for smooth continuity.

8. Preventive maintenance schedule, maintenance issue tracker which can be integrated with CMMS.

9. Eliminates and decreases human error in entry of values, compare with design values.

10. Approval mechanism for chemical, consumable ordering with historical data interpretation.

11. Run hours, operation efficiency mapping of plant equipment.

12. Reference manuals for process operation and maintenance as ready reckoner.

. DAHSBOARD VIEWS

I. LOGGING IN TO SYSTEM

Anybody, from anywhere can log into the software provided has the valid userID and password to get into the app in android phone or web page on the internet. The home screen would consist of the software provider logo, company logo and box to key in the userID and password. The user ID & password registers the IP address, any change in logging from other device will give an alert for the same.

I. HOME SCREEN

Once logged in, the home screen dashboard will pop up with the required trends, charts based on the user level authentication. The same can be customized based on the priority charts, measurement values and alerts to be notified.

ENGINEER VIEW would broadly consist of the following

1. Effluent / Water Treated

Today, Yesterday, Week and month. High and Low values in the month.

2. Power Consumption

Today, Yesterday, Week and month. High and Low values in the month.

3. Plant Run Hours

Today, Yesterday, Week and month. High and Low values in the month.

4. Chemical Consumption

Today, Yesterday, Week and month. High and Low values in the month.

5. Plant Running cost

Today, Yesterday, Week and month, High and Low Values in the month.

6. Alerts and Notification.

7. Report Generation – Monthly, Selected Period, Yearly.

8. Trend Graphs / Charts – Weekly, Monthly, Yearly for comparison.

. OPERATOR VIEW would broadly consist of following

1. Log-Book Entry Module

Start & Stop time, Flow reading, Instrument Reading, Chemical Stock level.

2. Notes Entry Module

3. Action Entry Module

4. Maintenance Schedule Module

5. Manual – Operation & Maintenance

. USER SECURITY

The cloud servers have high level of security inbuilt, any change in login system from a different system, mobile will immediately shoot an SMS/E-Mail. Control access on who can view, create, delete can be modified by the master/administrator rights. Inputs, values can be made read-only after set period, any change will be only authorized by administrator. All values entry will have time, date and user ID stamping.

DATA ENTRY CHECKS

Eliminates the manual error, compares the value entered for any mismatch. Alerts while entering of any deviated values to check for the correctness of instruments. Colour coding for values beyond range to double check.

DATA ENTRY ALERTS

Pop-up / Rolling bulletin on dashboard instantly for the out of range values or exceeding set values by sending an alert notification. E-mail or SMS configuration based on the level of the alert can be set. User acknowledgement of the alerts can also be made as built in function.

DATA ENTRY REMINDER

Set reminders on data entries for specific task, time bound instrument readings. Delay notification reminders for non-data entry by the operators/ Engineers.

DATA ENTRY TRENDS

The historical trends with upper limits, lower limits, average values, maximum and minimum values displayed in single chart. Compare trends over set period of date and study the variation over the set limits.

Manual Logbook may not have minimum or maximum design limit, Typical RO High Pressure Pump operated for 16 hours and chemical cleaned once in 15 days as per the instructions. Manual logbook would have just shown the values, on digital logbook the interpretation to trend chart give more insight shown below.

. a) It would have sent an alert for exceeding the limit.

b) It would have sent a notification for RO cleaning.

c) Trend chart would have shown the increasing values for corrective actions.

. DATA DISPLAY REPORTS

Standard template reports are available to generate insightful data representation for the management on week, month and yearly trends. The robust database enables for designing of your own reports by selecting the date criteria, values in display criteria, type of display (table, graph, bar) criteria and generate the same. Generated reports can be exported to a pdf file.

. DATA INTEGRATION

Existing instrument, meters with RS485 connectivity, Data from Compatible PLC can be integrated with IoT gateways and data integration to the digital logbook can be made for online remote monitoring.

. REMOTE MONITORING – DIGITAL LOGBOOK- THE FUTURE

The water and wastewater treatment plant of the future will be having digital logbook, hooked onto Internet of Things (IoT), SMART sensors and interpreting the data continuously for remote monitoring.

1. Digital logbook will monitor the energy used by the pumps, provide insight into the most power consuming pumps, help in improve the efficiency and reduce the operating cost.

2. Digital Logbook will monitor the flow, Dissolved Oxygen (DO) levels and blower’s energy consumption in aeration system. Operators can optimize the use of aeration based on DO levels and reduce the running cost of blowers.

3. Digital Logbook will capture more valuable data over a given period of time. The historical data shall be applied with machine learning algorithm for predictive and preventive forecast of equipment failures. Can be applied for the forewarning of Scaling/Fouling of RO membranes.

4. Digital logbook will enable data insights to fix the failures before it happens to prevent the downtime, reduce operational cost and Improve plant efficiency.

Remote Monitoring – Logbook Digitization

Chekitha Hombali C

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