Solutions Podcast Series

How Motors Impact Water Operations

April 26, 2022 ABB Motors and Drives US Season 1 Episode 26
Solutions Podcast Series
How Motors Impact Water Operations
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode, host Mike Murphy is joined by Todd Huston, Global Segment Manager for Process Industries, to discuss Water Week. Listen today to learn about water operations and ABB’s new smart sensor technology.

Learn more about our solutions for the water industry.

To learn more about ABB's Baldor-Reliance motors, please visit baldor.abb.com.

Mike Murphy:

Welcome to another episode of The ABB Solutions Podcast, where we speak with experts on concerns facing the industry. I'm your host, Mike Murphy, speaking to you from Greenville, South Carolina. We have a special topic today that ties into Water Week, which begins April 25th. I'm excited to have with us Todd Huston, Global Segment Manager for Process Industries. Todd brings over 25 years of expertise to the industry. Thanks for joining us, Todd.

Todd Huston:

Happy to be here, Mike. Thank you.

Mike Murphy:

Yeah, great. Great having you. So I've asked Todd to come and talk to us about water operations, and how critical uptime is to the industry. All too often we take for granted the simple act of flushing our toilet or turning on your faucet and expecting clean drinkable water. So Todd, let's start things off with what are some of the ways water operations can be interrupted?

Todd Huston:

Well, certainly any equipment failure that is critical to the operations is certainly the biggest way in which a water operation will be interrupted. The equipment that meters in the various chemicals and so forth. If they're upset, then the quality of the water is interrupted. The communications between the operators and the equipment, if that's interrupted, that will cause an upset in the operation. So, there's many critical factors that need to all fall in place for the water operation to continue to develop clean water and deliver clean water, as you mentioned, to our toilets, in our showers and our kitchen sinks.

Mike Murphy:

Okay, great. So motors obviously play a huge role in all industries. But Todd, how are motors impacting the water industry today?

Todd Huston:

Well, the pumps that deliver water everywhere are almost always driven by electric motors. All of the equipment within a wastewater treatment facility are generally driven by electric motors. So motors play a huge role in water operations. It's critical that those motors continue to run for years and years and years, uninterrupted. With regard to motor technologies, over the years, we've continued to increase the efficiency because over 90% of the amount of money that you will spend in owning a motor will be in the operation of the motor; the consuming of the electricity. So we continue to improve on efficiency. There are certainly mandated minimum efficiencies, but we strive to continue to develop technologies that exceed those high efficiency levels that the government demands. We go above and beyond with, with some of the technologies that we have. We've also improved technology on protecting the motor from the environment. Some of the motors in water operations are in extremely harsh environments. And so we have developed enclosures and bearing protection to make sure that that motor is able to operate in the harshest of environments.

Mike Murphy:

Okay, you brought up technology. Todd, let's talk digitalization. Can you share with me how ABB is improving water operations with regards to digitalization?

Todd Huston:

Absolutely. ABB has developed what we call a Smart Sensor on our ABB ability platform. That sensor is a wireless device. It's battery operated. It communicates via Bluetooth. One thing that the water industry understood during the pandemic is that communications with equipment is vital. And being able to communicate with the equipment remotely is also vital. Because during the pandemic, people were moved away from their office to home. And that created an issue where the visibility into the operation became limited as a result. So there is a hunger for information and being able to view it remotely. So with the Bluetooth communication, our Smart Sensor gives the operators a view into their equipment that they currently don't have, typically. It will measure vibration. It'll measure temperature. It will measure load. It will give you information on starts and stops. And it will also deliver recommendations on things that may need to be looked at from a maintenance perspective. It allows the user to move from a time based maintenance schedule to a condition based maintenance schedule. And it does a much better job of preventing failures and also optimizing time used in maintaining your equipment.

Mike Murphy:

Okay, that sounds great. Now how is this done? How are people getting all this information?

Todd Huston:

There's a couple of different ways - you can use a

handheld device:

your phone or an iPad and communicate directly with the Smart Sensor. Or you can utilize a gateway that will automatically deliver the data to the cloud. And then also, in turn to the dashboard that you will have available to you to monitor the equipment.

Mike Murphy:

What is the screen look like? Is it easy to follow?

Todd Huston:

It's incredibly easy to follow when you download the data via a handheld device. The data is stored in the smart sensor for 30 days. So as long as you're collecting the data, roughly once a month, you will have all of the data available to you. When you first download the data, you will get an easy - green light - yellow light - red light - indication of the health of the equipment. But when you're on your desktop, and you're looking at the control panel, you'll have trend lines of temperature, vibration, and you'll also have indications of whether you're in a yellow or red condition and what maintenance activities are recommended to take place.

Mike Murphy:

Okay, great. Sounds very easy. Okay. So Todd, where do you see this industry moving in the future?

Todd Huston:

Well, I think the demands for clean water will only continue to grow. And as with most things, the technologies will continue to improve and the quality of the water will continue to improve. And with that, efficient operations are critical as we move towards more green operations. It's vital that efficiency is is part of the equation. So the utilization of a motor and a drive will tremendously reduce the amount of energy consumed. And I think that will be a focus because so much of their budgets are spent on energy consumption; that it's one way that they can deliver a more green solution, a more efficient solution and reduce costs at the same time.

Mike Murphy:

All right, great. So I think that's a good place to stop. We hope you were able to take something away from our discussion today. Remember, if you'd like more information, contact your local ABB sales representative or follow us on www.abb.com and search for water under the industry drop down tab. There's a ton of great information out there. Thanks everyone, and have a great rest of your week.