Krishna Prashanth: Global Product Line Manager- Electromagnetic flowmeters · ABB
Water is one of the most precious resources on Earth, yet it is often taken for granted. With the world’s population continuing to grow, the demand for water is increasing at an alarming rate, putting pressure on the availability of clean and usable water. Moreover, the effects of climate change are causing unpredictable weather patterns, leading to droughts and floods that disrupt water supplies. These extreme weather events also make it even more difficult to treat and distribute water.
Another reason digital water management solutions are essential is the ageing infrastructure. We know that water technology is evolving rapidly, and this is why now is the time to upgrade water infrastructure to something more relevant to contemporary times.
Digital water solutions deliver a much more efficient water network system than non-digital solutions by offering better water quality and lower costs while taking action to protect our world’s water resources from pressures such as water ageing infrastructure and the effects of climate change.
ABB’s Role in the Water Industry
Whether you are a typical water management company or a municipal corporation, digital water management solutions involve making sure that there is good water quality, reducing the number of water losses by ensuring there are minimal leaks, and financial transparency when it comes to customer billing.
Overall, when you look at ABB’s presence in the water space, they are a strong player in both industrial water and utility water industries. From providing industrial water supplies for high-flow environments that require accurate flow control, to desalination and wastewater treatments, they are a company that takes the sustainable use of water resources seriously, especially in areas where water is scarce.
The Role of Electromagnetic Flowmeter in Digital Water Management Solutions
Flowmeters play a critical role in water storage and transmission, wastewater treatment, leak detection, and pump management. Mechanical flowmeters have been a typical working principle for ages, however, the problem is that they have moving parts that can encounter maintenance issues. Therefore, the innovation of electromagnetic flowmeters has revolutionised accurate water flow measurement.
Electromagnetic flowmeters are the simplest example of the working of Michael Faraday’s law. Faraday’s law explains that if you have a conductive fluid like water, you can effectively measure flow with high accuracy.
What Makes ABB’s AquaMaster4 Unique from Other Electromagnetic Flowmeters?
ABB’s AquaMaster4 comes from a need for innovation. Due to rapid international development in economy and technology after the Second World War, electromagnetic flowmeters became increasingly popular, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that there was an identification of the need that we need to be able to use flowmeters over long distances where there is no power supply.
ABB identified the need for the first battery-operated flowmeter, eventually coming up with the first flowmeter to have the ability to run on solar power. This makes ABB’s AquaMaster4 one of the lowest energy-consuming electromagnetic flowmeters. The AquaMaster4 has been an innovative leader for years, and today, it has come far ahead of the days when it was still the world’s first battery-operated flowmeter.
Currently, the AquaMaster4 is likely the only world’s first bidirectional connectivity on a cellular network, like a 4G or an NVIOT network. The bidirectionality means that there are certain things that are now possible in a flowmeter that were not possible in the past.
“For example, the bi-directional communication now means that you can upgrade the firmware remotely, or request details from the AquaMaster4 of what flow was being measured in the past.” – Krishna Prashanth
But, it is not only the bidirectional connectivity on a cellular network that makes the AquaMaster4 a unique innovation of digital water management solutions. Secondly, it offers pressure management and night flow measurements, and therefore, it makes it that much faster for detecting leaks and discerning a change in flow etc.
Thirdly, the cybersecurity features that are implemented in AquaMaster4 mean that it cannot be easily tampered with.
“For security, it is not possible to just go to an AquaMaster4 and push some buttons and change the configurations. All configurations happen through the Velox app, which is protected through a lot of cybersecurity layers. It ensures that no unauthorised changes can be made to the configuration and the information stored. This is particularly important as you need to be sure that whatever reading you’re getting is not being tampered with 100 miles away in a pipeline by someone who’s not supposed to be affecting it.” – Krishna Prashanth
How ABB’s AquaMaster4 Helps to Avert Water Loss
Many cities are facing water loss, and this is happening because of specific climate change events like droughts. One particular city reached out to ABB after comparing the AquaMaster4 with other solutions available on the market, and they took a liking to ABB’s digital water management solution because of its low flow accuracies and ability to manage pressure management with the built-in pressure control.
“A problem is water shortage and a solution is controlling flows to meet that demand without affecting water availability to customers.” – Krishna Prashanth
CASE STUDY: ABB’s AquaMaster4 Helps Bangkok Save Precious Water
ABB’s AquaMaster4 has been integral to the overall water management solution, actively serving the Bangkok Metropolitan area. The 400 AquaMasters are helping optimise the management of the water distribution network in the city.
The reliable flow measurement and remote monitoring capabilities of the AquaMaster4 provide significant benefits to advert water loss. The digital water technology (GSM-SMS radio) enables accurate, early warnings on leaks to be sent to the MWA central control room. Immediate access to a host of critical data eliminates the time, cost and potential errors typically associated with manual flowmeter management solutions. The durable design of the AquaMaster4 ensures it can be buried directly underground. This is vital in a densely populated urban environment (like Bangkok), or submerged in water without the need for expensive protective chambers.
Link to read more:
https://new.abb.com/news/detail/39096/abb-flowmeters-help-cut-water-loss-in-bangkok
ABB’s Future in Digital Water Management Solutions
ABB realises the importance of sustainability in the water sector. Their presence in the water and wastewater industry is a lot more strategic, and they are looking into continuing to invest heavily in technology advancements, which Krishna said is “quite an exciting time”. He continued to say:
“ABB is committed to its goals when it comes to sustainability. And that makes our presence in the water and wastewater industry a lot more strategic as well.”
Currently, there is a considerable transformation in the water industry, going towards smart water grids and digital water management solutions like that. We believe that ABB plays an active role in contributing to that change as well. So that’s where they currently are, and we look forward to what other digital water management innovations they come up with next!
To find out more about ABB’s digital water management solutions:
