New condition-based monitoring framework
06/07/2023
Anglian Water in the UK has announced a new framework with Asystom, Flowserve, Samotics, Seepex and SKF to install condition-based monitoring (CBM) sensors on its pumping assets.
Anglian Water’s CBM programme will use temperature, vibration and electronic signature analysis (ESA) sensors to monitor the condition of rotating and pumping assets and optimise asset performance. This will allow the company to move towards a more proactive condition-based approach to maintenance, constantly monitoring the health, performance and efficiency of its assets to carry out pre-emptive work when needed to avoid costly repairs and extend asset life.
Charlotte Stewart, Smart Water System Engineer for Anglian Water, said: “Delivering a reliable service for our customers and protecting our environment from leakage and pollution are the key tenets of what we do at Anglian Water. Condition-based monitoring will allow us to monitor the health of our pumping assets on both the clean and wastewater networks much more closely than ever before, meaning we can act quickly to prevent disruption for customers and damage to the environment.”
Anglian Water is moving towards building a smart water network, aligned with the Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN) model. Condition-based monitoring forms an integral part of a smart water network, providing insight and opportunities for early intervention and data-driven decision-making. It will allow Anglian Water to monitor and maintain assets based on their condition, to improve their efficiency, lifespan and reliability. CBM will help to enable a more resilient service for the company’s more than
6 million customers across the east of England.
In the future, CBM will be central to Anglian Water’s maintenance strategy, using advanced algorithms to be able to identify potential failure signatures. This will allow engineers to act far earlier than was ever previously possible. CBM provides the opportunity to drive down unplanned failures (alongside any associated health and safety risks) and their impacts on customers, while reducing costs associated with reactive maintenance.
Ian Peverill, UK Business Unit Manager at SKF, said: “SKF continues its mission to be a sustainability leader within the industrial environment of rotating equipment. This is achieved through expanding our clean technology business and offering solutions that reduce customers’ environmental impact and energy use, as well as aiding their transition towards a circular carbon-neutral business with sustainable rotation. We are proud to partner with Anglian Water in this five-year condition-based monitoring contract, which will enable the future-proofing of water resources. SKF’s wireless and advanced continuous monitoring technology will continue to provide Anglian Water with actionable insights that return value, by enabling predicted repairs and equipment optimisation and realising equipment life extension.”
This development comes as Anglian Water teams are also working to install more than 20,000 new pressure monitors on the company’s sewer network, providing another key element of the SWAN smart water network. These monitors will detect problems and troublesome blockages within sewer pipes, meaning issues can be found and fixed early, protecting the environment from pollution. The system uses weather forecasts and hundreds of sensors to detect any areas where the network is not operating at full capacity, which usually indicates that a blockage is forming, and proactively clears blockages before they cause pollution in the wider environment.
Alongside the CBM framework, Anglian Water will continue to support the technical development of vibration and temperature CBM provider 8power, a technology start-up that operates within the company’s region in Cambridge. The water company has been working with 8power for more than five years. Anglian Water has now extended an existing agreement to continue monitoring 150 critical motors and pumps for three further years, while 8power matures its solution to meet the challenges faced by water utilities.
