Integrated Monitoring and Control of Water Pump Engines
Company
An industrial and environmental service provider that supports companies across North America. They operate a mobile tank truck fleet that handles water removal from industrial and mining sites.
Challenge
Tank truck drivers were required to exit their vehicles and manually start and stop the water pumps filling their trucks. This was a very inefficient process, taking a significant amount of time and exposing drivers to less-than-optimal conditions within mining sites and brutal Canadian winters. Visibility into engine status, pipe vacuum and pressure, water levels, and flow rates was limited, making their job even more difficult.
They also needed to ensure that their 20+ trucks could fill at three different pumping stations without disruption. They needed a faster, more convenient method for drivers to fill their mobile tanks that worked in conjunction with various engines from different manufacturers. The solution would need to be capable of pairing the transmitters and receivers across the truck fleet and locations.
Solution
To improve operator safety and streamline the tank filling process, Cattron developed an integrated monitoring and control solution that combined engine control, wireless remote control and remote telemetry and monitoring into a single control system. The goal was to give drivers complete visibility and control of pumping operations without requiring them to repeatedly exit their vehicles.
The foundation of the solution was the CANplus™ CP1000 engine control panel. Because the customer operated pumping stations powered by engines from multiple manufacturers, the CP1000 provided the flexibility needed to support different engine configurations while maintaining a consistent operator experience across all locations.
To improve operational visibility, a Messenger BLE telemetry device was connected to the CP1000 and integrated with the RemoteIQ™ cloud-based monitoring platform. This provided real-time access to engine status, water levels, vacuum and pressure readings, flow rates and other critical operating data. Operators could remotely view equipment status, receive alarms and monitor system performance from virtually anywhere.
Finally, a Remtron™ 411 wireless handheld remote control was integrated into the system, allowing drivers to start and stop water flow directly from their trucks. Custom programming enabled seamless communication between the remote control and the engine control panel, eliminating the need for operators to repeatedly leave their vehicles during the filling process.
Results
The integrated solution provided operators with a safer and more efficient method for managing water transfer operations. Drivers could monitor engine and pump performance, control water flow and respond to changing conditions without leaving their vehicles. The combination of CANplus™, Messenger BLE, RemoteIQ™ and Remtron™ technologies also standardized operations across multiple pumping stations and engine platforms, simplifying equipment management and improving visibility into critical operating conditions.
