When a service provider responsible for the operation, maintenance and servicing of an evaporative cooling plant wanted to have greater pump control while increasing employee safety and technical service efficiency it turned to ProMinent’s smartphone app, DULCONNEX.
As a service provider, Suez Water Technologies & Solutions (WTS) France is responsible for the operation, maintenance and servicing of all kinds of plants with solutions and services, including evaporative cooling plants. In the case described below, Suez is not only responsible for the technical equipment and maintenance of the plant, but also for on-site technical service in the event of system failures or process malfunctions.
Hygienic operation Evaporative cooling systems carry an increased risk of microorganisms and pathogens, such as legionella. Warm temperatures between 25° and 50°C favour germination. The disease-causing bacteria are transmitted through the evaporating water. The droplets with the pathogens spread in the air and are inhaled. Even a small number of germs is sufficient to cause serious illnesses such as Legionnaires’ disease, Legionella pneumonia.
It is therefore important to ensure hygienic operation of the evaporative cooling systems. This is done by means of appropriate biocides, which are dosed into the cooling water in small effective quantities. Their use is necessary to rid the interior of the cooling towers of legionella and to disinfect the cooling water.
ProMinent GmbH’s gamma/ L series solenoid diaphragm metering pump has been used for years to feed chemicals into the system. Suez employees, who check the pump settings on site and make adjustments if necessary, have been exposed to high risks with every use to date due to the chemicals, which are considered hazardous to health.
Therefore, the French company decided to use the intelligent gamma/ X dosing pump with integrated Bluetooth module. The proven bestseller not only impresses with its user-friendliness, integrated pressure measurement and precise dosing performance. The gamma/ X also has an integrated Bluetooth module that enables remote control of the pump from a safe distance via smartphone using the DULCONNEX Blue app. All staff need is an Apple or Android-based mobile device (smartphone or tablet) and the free app from ProMinent.
The DULCONNEX Blue App With the help of the DULCONNEXBlue app, service technicians can easily control the pumps of the gamma/ X series via smartphone from a safe distance. The mobile app allows central access to all data of the connected devices. This means that the current performance data of the system can be called up remotely, settings can be adjusted in real time or the delivery rate and dosing quantity can be regulated directly. This offers a great advantage especially in industrial application areas where pumps are sometimes difficult to access or protected by high security measures. The use of the DULCONNEX Blue app not only increased safety for their service technicians, but also made the previously complex and time-consuming process considerably more efficient. This is best illustrated by the description of the service situation with a conventionally monitored and controlled metering pump compared to a service call with a smart app-controlled metering pump.
Without remote access Generally, in any application where hazardous chemicals are processed, pumps should be equipped with an appropriate safety cover to protect employees. Making changes to the pump settings or viewing the current performance data in these applications is always associated with a high safety risk for the service technician.
Therefore, before using the gamma/ X, when a service case or error/problem message occurred, a plan of measures and safety measures had to be drawn up first and approved by the operator of the evaporative cooling system before a service technician could make his way to the system. On site, he then had to identify himself, register for access to the plant and put on suitable protective equipment.
Only after donning the protective equipment was access to the evaporative cooling plant concerned granted. There, the service technician read out the pump values and settings and recorded them manually. After removing the protective equipment and leaving the system, the manually recorded data then had to be transferred to a digital report.
Remote access via app Since switching to the innovative gamma/ X solenoid-driven diaphragm metering pump with DULCONNEX Blue, the effort required for on-site service has been simplified. If no maintenance work needs to be done, the service technician can drive to the vicinity of the factory building, authenticate himself from the vehicle and establish a secure connection to the pump via his mobile device. He accesses the pump values and settings via app and exports all relevant data to a digital report at the touch of a button. The entire creation and approval process within the framework of a measures and safety plan in coordination with the plant operator is eliminated. The risk from contact with chemicals in the process is not only reduced, but avoided altogether.
Win-win situation For the past year, SUEZ WTS France has been using the proven gamma/ X solenoid diaphragm metering pump with Bluetooth function for the safe and precise feeding of biocides into evaporative cooling systems. Thanks to the innovative pump control via app, it was possible to significantly shorten the operating and maintenance processes at the plants in service, thus saving time and costs. At the same time, the safety of the company’s own employees was increased and the risk significantly reduced during each operation.
