The Flovac Monitoring System has been developed to monitor the reticulation network of a vacuum sewerage system. It can operate independently of the monitoring systems already put in place the monitor the activities of the Vacuum Pump Station. These systems can be joined together if preferred by the client.
A vacuum collection system is made up of a vacuum piping network (the Vacuum Mains) and of Collection Pits which house the vacuum interface valves. Technology advances have made it possible to monitor the activity of the vacuum collection pits and the vacuum pressure within the vacuum mains
To determine what information the operators or managers would like, you can read that in this section on alarm information.
The communications platform sends information about the system from the collection pit to a central location, usually at the vacuum pump station, but this is not always the case.
A node with antenna at or near the collection pit communicates with a gateway which has an antenna and can be placed up to 4 miles away (6 km) away in distance depending on what the built environment is like and how high your gateway antenna is located.
LoRaWan is a new, private and spread-spectrum modulation technique which allows data transmission at extremely low data-rates to very long ranges. LoRaWan is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) specification intended for wireless battery operated Things in a regional, national or global network. LoRaWan targets key requirements of Internet of Things such as secure bi-directional communication, mobility and localization services. The LoRaWan specification provides seamless interoperability among smart Things without the need of complex local installations and gives back the freedom to the user, developer, businesses enabling the roll out of Internet of Things.
FLOVAC’s LoRaWan supports different frequencies for each country where the system is to be installed. Modules automatically connect to the closest gateway, which can cover an area of up to 4 miles (6 km). In larger areas, multiple gateways could be installed to increase the coverage area. The gateway is connected to the WAN by default, through a GPRS/GSM connection or a local ethernet connection. The gateway only communicates through a secure server, which collects and sorts all data collected from the modules into databases.
Components
The FLOVAC gateway communicates wirelessly with the monitoring modules in the field. All information received from the modules is transferred to the FLOVAC control server through GPRS/GSM or by wired LAN (figure 3). The best spot to install a gateway is in the center of the coverage area. The gateway needs power 100-240VAC-1A and ethernet connection when the GSM function is not utilized. Large coverage areas may require multiple gateways.
FLOVAC has developed a smart LoraWan module specifically for vacuum sewage monitoring. Our module is powered by 3.6 volt batteries and can be custom programmed to handle many different I/O’s. The module is IP68 weatherproof rated and can be installed outside or inside the valve pit (installation inside the valve pit may require a shorter distance between the module and the gateway).
Once the information is received at the gateway, a sim card in the gateway can send all of the information to the cloud and onto a server hosted either by Flovac or the client. The gateway could also transmit information via an Ethernet connection at the station.
Flovac host a web based server which could deliver all of the information to the client via a web page on their browser or send the information to the SCADA network of the client. Alarms can be sent directly to operators or to a centralized operations base.
Flovac can also offer operational support with regular guidance and support from our main operations center which has experienced operators who can assist and give advice on improvements to your system.
