Samotics, a provider of real-time actionable insights to eliminate industrial energy waste and unplanned downtime, has been selected by South East Water, the UK water supplier, to complete a 12-month trial of its SAM4 system. This proof-of-value pilot forms part of South East Water’s proactive maintenance strategy, enabling the delivery of safe drinking water services to approximately 2.2 million people across the south east of England.
The remote, hard-to-reach and submerged locations of assets within drinking water treatment present a challenge for organisations looking to adopt a proactive maintenance approach. South East Water needed a solution to overcome this, especially for its fleet of borehole pumps which are partially submerged and difficult to regularly lift and monitor. SAM4 monitors and reports on asset performance without needing to install sensors on, or near, submerged assets.
“South East Water is trying to reduce the reactive nature of maintenance in favor of a more planned and predictive approach. Samotics’ SAM4 technology [is] easy to install with minimal downtime,” said Zoe Swan, business information systems project manager at South East Water. “It can be installed onto our remote sites when communication is an issue. It can be fitted to submersible assets without the need of costly removal of these assets out of tanks or boreholes.”
Samotics’ SAM4 technology uses a technique called electrical signature analysis (ESA). It analyses the current and voltage signals of electric-driven equipment such as motors and pumps to detect over 90% of developing mechanical and electrical faults up to five months in advance. The system’s sensors install in the motor control cabinet, rather than on the pump itself, enabling remote capture of high-quality performance and efficiency data.
South East Water will also deploy Samotics’ SAM4 Energy solution to deliver detailed performance and efficiency insights to identify where energy consumption, cost and efficiency losses are largest and implement data-driven recommendations across monitored assets. This analysis will help the company identify the assets with high energy savings potential and optimise its operations accordingly. This data-driven approach could reduce energy waste by up to 15% and help the water company achieve its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Swan added: “Since it went live, the SAM4 dashboard has provided us with useful information. For example, it has already picked out a number of our larger assets that have a high potential of operational savings, which in our current climate is another positive.”
Jasper Hoogeweegen, CEO at Samotics said: “Samotics’ technology is being adopted by major players in the water industry, helping to deliver proactive maintenance strategies.”
SAM4 will monitor the performance and energy efficiency of dozens of critical assets, including intermediate pumps, borehole pumps and boosters, spread over five locations in the region.
