Innovation Centre for Sensor & Imaging Systems

www.censis.org.ukProject Profile

Decision support for the management of water and wastewater assets Partners:Scottish WaterCENSISUniversity of Strathclyde

The ChallengeScottish Water is one of Scotland’s biggest businesses, with thousands of assets spread across remote locations and demanding environments. Among these are tens of thousands of water and wastewater pumps which produce vast amounts of data – so much that it is difficult to monitor and analyse all of the information. As a result, opportunities to gain real insight into the operation of these assets are being missed.

Due to technological constraints, traditionally the water industry has operated in a reactive way to breakdown events or the requirement for maintenance on these assets – only once a problem has occurred can something be done. This places a large strain on resources, the water network and the organisation’s finances. If a more planned and preventative approach could be taken, it would result in significant benefits to Scottish Water and other water companies.

The OpportunitiesRecent advances in condition monitoring mean that proactive maintenance can be used through the detection of signals which indicate when a failure in mechanical devices is likely to occur. Yet, decision support environments remain a relatively new platform in the management of water infrastructure. The refinement and analysis of very large volumes of data would allow Scottish Water to move away from reactive maintenance towards operating more predictively.

With planned repairs usually significantly cheaper than replacements of the equivalent machine, this would allow significant efficiencies and cost savings to be realised. Equally, resources can be better planned and allocated to remote locations, with sufficient notice, and assets could be monitored to ensure they are operating as effectively as possible – particularly useful during times of great need.

If a solution were to be developed, it could have wider application for other utilities and any other industries which use a large number of machines which regularly require maintenance.

This software has the potential to make proactive maintenance a much easier task. We will be in a position to schedule maintenance for when and where it is really needed, which will minimise asset downtime. We can then plan our resources more effectively. At the same time, we’ll be able to monitor the performance of all our assets to ensure each operates to their specifications.

Robert White, Water Operations North Team Manager Scottish Water.

PROJECT FUNDING:

£50,000

INDUSTRY / APPLICATION

Utilities

The PartnershipStarting in September 2014, the University of Strathclyde has been collaborating with Scottish Water to develop a software solution which will help the utility to identify signals generated from assets which could indicate potential breakdown events.

Through the interpretation of data, the software being developed aims to help Scottish Water realise significant cost savings, improved equipment reliability, reduced outages, lower operating penalties and ultimately higher margins. In addition, the variability of water supply will be minimised as potential failures will be more effectively managed and there will be lower reliance on backup water pumps.

CENSIS InterventionCENSIS supplied funding, consultation and research support to the value of £50,000 to help bring the organisations together. The innovation centre will also provide ongoing advice and mentorship as the project progresses to the research and development through to potential commercialisation.

SCOTTISH WATER CENSIS UNIVERSITY OF

STRATHCLYDE

Join the CENSIS mailing list at www.censis.org.uk

Follow us on Twitter@CENSIS121

Contact details:CENSISThe Inovo Building121 George Street GlasgowG1 1RD

Tel: 0141 330 3876Email: info@censis.org.uk