FLUID HANDLING
CLEAN WATER QUALITY
BURKERT
SMART CUBES FOR SMARTER WATER NETWORKS
Maintaining clean water quality is extremely
important for both consumers collecting
it from the tap and for manufacturers that
rely on it as a key constituent part of a
process. Efficient measuring and monitoring
of parameters such as pH, iron content
and turbidity, is a constant challenge for
many water utilities and food & beverage
producers. Now there is a flexible, modular
system that uses smart cube technology to
save space, time and money.
Traditionally, clean water analysis equipment
has been bulky and time-consuming to
install, not to mention the resource required
to monitor and calibrate it regularly. Due
to the importance of quality standards and
compliance with statutory regulations that
are applied for the safety of the general
public, these shortcomings have been
unavoidable -until now.
Experts in flow control technology at Bürkert
have been applying some innovation in
this field and as a result the company’s Type
8905 Online Analysis System is setting new
standards in terms of flexibility, ease of use,
installation time and reduced operating
costs. As a compact, modular system it
is far easier to integrate into an existing
control infrastructure than typically in-line
alternatives and can be adapted almost
instantly for individual applications.
SMART CUBES
The secret to its success is plug-and-play
sensor cubes that are capable of measuring
pH, reduction potential (ORP), conductivity,
free chlorine, chlorine dioxide, iron, and
turbidity. Each cube, irrespective of its
capabilities, has the same dimensions and
connections and can be plugged in, or
removed, from the unit while it is operational,
thus providing a ‘hot swap’ facility.
Each cube holds all the calibration data
and mapping data that is required for it to
operate without additional input from the
operator. This onboard ‘intelligence’ means
that any cube can be installed in a base unit
and it will automatically configure itself and
make its presence known to the rest of the
system.
This benefit is enhanced when it comes to
ongoing calibration because now a process
that was rather drawn out and time-
consuming, can be completed in a matter of
seconds.
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PECM Issue 39
All cubes can be calibrated in a cleaner
environment using a laptop and the
associated calibration equipment. The
‘hot-swap’ function of the cubes means that
an operational cube can be replaced with
a recently calibrated cube from another
sampling station. This allows a spare cube to
be rotated across any number of sampling
stations, all the time carrying its calibration
with it.
Looking at the individual sensor cubes
and their calibration processes in detail it
is possible to gain a better understanding
of the advantages they have over more
traditional monitoring systems.