News

60% energy saving with Innovative pool pump controller

Robert Quinn, founder of ecoDATA Services and the N2Ndata platform, introduced a new approach to controlling pumping rates in large commercial and public pool water treatment systems. A smart plant monitoring system, called an ecoHUB, ensures water clarity, water chemistry, turnover rate and pressures are all taken into account BEFORE pump speeds are automatically reduced. Energy savings of 40-60% have been achieved for most typical operating days without impacting water quality or bather safety. The ecoHUB and poolSMART system is a retrofit package that overlays existing specialist PLCs such as for the UV system and chemical dosing controller. An investment of $35,000 on a typical pool system will see a pay back of just 2 years, or even less if there is an existing VSD on the pump motor.

The STANDARD ecoHUB integrates with N2Ndata’s poolSMART Module which provides cloud-based monitoring and reporting. Users have easy access to the system’s web information portal using a laptop, tablet or smart phone. The poolSMART module visualises and reports using live data for all pool water treatment plant parameters such as kW, kWh, flow rate, turnover period, pressures (screen, filter inlet/outlet and differential), turbidity, pH, Free Cl, Total Cl, Chloramines, ORP, and TDS. This STANDARD installation can easily be expanded to the PRO version to include the UV plant (power %, kW, kWh, lamp life), makeup water, backwash water, mechanical switchboard loads, Power Factor Correction (PFC) unit etc, etc. It can also accommodate multiple pumps and multiple pools too.

It provides a common, Master Monitoring system sitting above and reporting on all meters, sensors, local controllers and the BMS but does NOT interfere with their operation, However, the ecoHUB does have limited control capabilities which allows it to serve as a mini BMS.  The poolSMART module can handle an unlimited number of sites so giving Users access to a single system that can cover a portfolio of many pools.

Retirement Village installs iPOWER smart submeters

The Whiddon Group is a major provider of aged care services in NSW. Their Glenfield facility is one of the largest in Australia and its electricity and water usage are a major operating cost for this not for profit group. ecoDATA has been monitoring and reporting water use at Glenfield over for 5 years and now two 12-channel iPOWER meters have been fitted to monitor major loads so that usage can be better managed. Thier data is being integrated with NEM12 interval data from multiple NMI supplier smart meters. ecoDATA assisted in developing the metering single line diagram to suit their reporting requirements and the switchboard layouts. Facility managers now have Internet access to live 5-minute interval data for voltage, current, kWh, kW and Power Factor which will enable them to identify and prioritise energy savings opportunities. The iPOWER solution cost 1/3 that of conventional submetering and was up and running in just 3 hours for 8 subcircuits.