Remote monitoring and control
Remote monitoring is a central element of many pump control systems. It makes it possible to centralize monitoring and, if necessary, control.
This is realized by measuring sensors on or in the system, whose values are combined. This results in further interesting possibilities such as remote maintenance, remote action and remote alarming.
Remote maintenance
Remote maintenance is the administration of systems from remote locations for the purpose of maintenance. This principle has several advantages:
- Cost savings due to short distances
- Personnel savings and higher efficiency of the technical department
- Faster response times, thus less risk of breakdowns
- Delegation of maintenance tasks is possible
- Remote maintenance can be carried out by specialists
To realize remote maintenance, the system must be equipped with appropriate sensors. They are the technicians’ measuring sensors. Consequently, humans can only check what the technology provides them with in terms of data. For this reason, when commissioning systems, precise consideration must be given to which sensors are useful for remote maintenance and remote control.
Remote action
Remote action generally describes the influencing of a system from a remote location. This makes it possible, for example, to change parameters such as temperature, pressure, flow, etc. in a process. If sufficient data and controllers are available, complete systems can also be controlled centrally in this way. It is also possible to automate the remote action and in this way reduce operating costs even further. Closely related to remote control is monitoring or web monitoring; the up-to-date retrieval of sensor data, possibly including visualization.
Remote alarm
Remote alarming is a part of remote monitoring. For this purpose, sensors continuously or discontinuously determine specific measured values. If a value exceeds a previously defined tolerance, the system automatically triggers an alarm. Depending on the requirements, the alarm can have different consequences: an automatic reaction or forwarding to technical personnel.
In the field of pump control, for example, remote alarming is important to prevent the pump from running dry. In the context of remote control, the technicians can then react accordingly. Remote alarming must be distinguished from completely automated systems such as emergency shutdown, which can also be integrated into a pump.
Remote control
Remote control of systems describes the regulation and control of a system from outside. The prerequisite is extensive automation and monitoring of the system. Once this is established, there are several advantages: reduction of operating costs, minimization of effort, short response times, access to external expertise if required.
