{"id":1387,"date":"2013-01-31T11:53:09","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T11:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/?page_id=1387"},"modified":"2013-01-31T15:44:57","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T15:44:57","slug":"water-tank-management-system","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/portfolio\/water-tank-management-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Tank Management System"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tanktronic-no-logo\"<\/p>\n

The brief here was for a control system for cold water storage tanks in commercial buildings. These tanks hold up to a million litres of water, and require careful management of water levels, plus temperature monitoring and dump features to avoid the build-up of harmful bacteria. The system can handle multiple tanks, and offers remote monitoring and alarms via BMS interfaces or the internet. The control panel has an intuitive menu-driven user interface, plus a USB port for automated setup, firmware upgrades etc.<\/p>\n

\"3831diag1_1600x800\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We used an ARM Cortex M3 micro on the main board, a powerful 32 bit processor with all the resources we needed (72 MHz core, 128kB Flash, 20kB RAM, 7 timers, 12-bit 16-channel ADC, multiple USARTs, USB2.0, etc.). The ARM Cortex range is proving an excellent choice for embedded control applications – available from a wide range of manufacturers, with a huge choice of features, plenty of development tools, a healthy support community, and great value for money – what more could you ask for! And being so popular means they will have a long production lifetime, always important.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As ever we took great care over the PCB layout. To minimise cost we went for a 2 layer board, yet careful layout allowed extensive power and ground planes on the bottom layer, thus providing the low noise and high current capabilities of a 4 layer board. Aesthetics also matter to us – a tidy board performs better, is easier to manufacturer and exudes quality.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Software – because reliability is crucial in this application, we developed a bespoke single-threaded operating system from scratch. A conventional multi-tasking OS may be more flexible, but is more prone to bugs and timing problems. <\/b>We also developed various PC-based tools for system programming and configuration, and a web interface for remote monitoring, control and configuration. Care was taken to ensure the various user interfaces are clear and intuitive, thus minimising user training and mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The system is modular, from both a hardware and a software point-of-view, allowing the client to expand and develop the system easily, as new requirements arise. We used various free-topology data buses between modules, to maximise flexibility and minimise wiring costs. Optional internet connectivity is provided by a bespoke plug-in module running embedded linux, with an ethernet port plus a USB port for wireless adapters such as WiFi, GPRS, 3G, 4G etc.<\/p>\n

\"3821straight_1600\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We used immersed pressure and temperature sensors for water monitoring, with an embedded micro-controller providing local signal processing for optimal accuracy and noise immunity. This approach also allows automatic calibration, fault and error detection, and fail-safe behaviour, essential for a high-reliability application such as this.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The diminutive (15mm wide) PCB sits inside a robust stainless-steel pod that is dropped into the tank from above, thus avoiding any drilling of the tank below the water line. The sensors connect to the main panel via a bespoke low-cost 2-wire power and data bus, thus minimising wiring complexity and cost. Multiple sensors can be daisy-chained using a simple 2-core cable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The system has been through extensive testing, approvals and field-trials, and has proven to be highly effective and reliable – another happy customer!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ben Mack, January 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The brief here was for a control system for cold water storage tanks in commercial buildings. These tanks hold up to a million litres of water, and require careful management of water levels, plus temperature monitoring and dump features to avoid the build-up of harmful bacteria. The system can handle multiple tanks, and offers remote […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":942,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"page-full.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1393,"href":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1387\/revisions\/1393"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/designerds.co.uk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}