Standard and 4.0 equipment for the renovation and new construction of stormwater tanks
IntelliNet management systems - have fluctuations under control!
Introduction
The demand for resources such as gas, electricity, water and mobility is more or less fluctuating.
It is related to requirements, habits and events. Most areas of the infrastructure are used in different ways. The motto is to have fluctuations intelligently under control!
The demands with the fluctuations in water management can be illustrated by the different daily consumption of water with the domestic demand peaks in the early morning, midday and evening hours. Added to this are the equally fluctuating demands from trade, industry and agriculture.
When planning pipelines and system technology, it is important to dimension accordingly for short-term peak consumption. However, this inevitably means overdimensioning during periods of low demand
How can the fluctuation and dimensioning dilemma be addressed?
One solution would be scalable pipe and system technology. Ideally, this means expandable pipelines – but there are technical and economic limits here.
The solution to fluctuations is therefore to provide storage and control facilities in almost all areas of infrastructure. For electricity, this means batteries or pumped storage plants, for gas, caverns, for water supply, elevated tanks and water towers, for wastewater, rainwater basins, and for water, flood polders. Grid management is the key to success when it comes to making maximum use of a grid’s storage capacities, reducing energy costs to a minimum and optimizing operational reliability.
Use/functionality
Infrastructure is a fluctuating economy!
With data collected over as long a period as possible on the load situations that occur, storage facilities can be dimensioned accordingly and managed using control devices. The management and targeted use of the storage systems is usually carried out by local measurement, automation and control equipment. If the systems and their use are interconnected, they must be networked using information and communication technologies.
The water supply of cities and municipalities was already organized and networked decentrally in the earliest times, as the locations of wells and springs are distributed throughout the supply area. A possible extension through a more intelligent control process would be the even utilization of well systems by taking into account the groundwater levels of the individual wells and thus an even groundwater load.
What is common practice in water supply, i.e. the automation of processes networked using communication technology, is now the exception rather than the rule in sewer networks.
The storage tanks constructed in the combined sewer systems in the form of rainwater basins and storage sewers serve on the one hand as hydraulic storage in order to reduce the size of pipelines and on the other hand as a retention device for water protection. If the storage volumes are exhausted during heavy rainfall, they overflow and discharge the excess wastewater into the watercourse. Untreated discharge into natural bodies of water is harmful, particularly due to the increasing contamination of rainwater with pollutants such as microplastics.
The discharge controls at the stormwater tanks, which ensure that the storage tanks are backed up and emptied, are operated statically with a fixed target value approved by the water authorities, although precipitation events can result in a load on the storage volumes in the networks and stormwater tanks that deviates from the design case. This deviating load can occur during normal and unevenly distributed precipitation as well as during heavy rainfall events.
This is not the optimal solution from the point of view of water bodies, as it can lead to wastewater overflowing into water bodies, even though there may still be storage space or discharge capacity in the system. How can I find out whether and how much storage and discharge potential is available and can be activated in my drainage and storage system?
The first step is to record the runoff events in combination with the precipitation over longer periods of time. Once this data is available, an initial evaluation and analysis of the data is carried out using existing data – such as structural and geometric parameters, network plans and the parameters and control variables set on the control equipment – in order to determine the unused storage potential. This analysis serves in particular as a basis for decision-making when planning a network management system.
Assuming that there is sufficient potential, what does such a system look like and how does it work?
First of all, the automation, monitoring or telecontrol systems already in use receive some IntelliNet add-on components in the form of hardware and software. These components ensure that all process data is available online as an overall process image on a higher-level management system.
The IntelliNet management system has software that makes it possible to predict runoff and inflow events by means of constant forecasts and actual comparisons. According to the forecast and the network and storage structure mapped in the system, the system can determine how the discharge controls should be set in a targeted manner in the event of forecast precipitation in order to utilize the volume and discharge capacities available in the network, to avoid discharges or to regulate the inflow volume to the wastewater treatment plant.
The IntelliNet management system should always be operated with a SCADA system. With the help of the SCADA system, the current process can be viewed and evaluated, it provides support in the event of faults and documents the operating behavior in the form of hydrographs and reports. It is therefore possible to verify the functionality of the management system at any time.
Upgrade
In order to maintain the additional control bandwidth usually required for the statically dimensioned discharge controls, these are extended, modernized, adapted or replaced.
Purely mechanical drain regulators are upgraded with adjustable electric control valves. The use of any existing emergency bypasses, also by retrofitting electric gate valves, is a frequently possible, economical and effective measure.
Storage tanks and stormwater tanks that are emptied by pumps can achieve the discharge bandwidth through speed control. HST has a complete portfolio of flow and discharge control solutions on the market, both for new builds and for renovation and retrofitting.
In combination with IntelliNet, the storage areas and discharge capacities of an entire drainage system can be managed according to the objectives. 4.0 equipment required, HST’s scope of services also includes evaluation and analysis services as well as setting up and parameterizing the management system.
Application examples:
Schwelm - Basin management
The aim is to utilize the existing storage volume in the sewer network, which is mainly generated by 4 of 6 inflow lines to the wastewater treatment plant. An inlet line is a section of the sewer network consisting of several rainwater basins, some of which are arranged in a cascade. Another key objective is to reduce discharges into the receiving watercourse, the Schwelme. Subject to the condition that the maximum inflow to the sewage treatment plant is adhered to, approval has been granted for the dynamic control of the throttle water volumes of the stormwater tanks. The plants, which are already networked via DSL / radio and TeleMatic telecontrol technology, have been expanded to include an IntelliNet master control system, which implements dynamic control of the throttle water volumes based on the filling level. The management system is permanently monitored by SCADA V10.
As a result, backwater volumes in the sewer network are better utilized, discharges are reduced and thus protection of the receiving water, the Schwelme, is achieved.
Oberhausen - Sewer network management
The aim of sewer network management is to avoid water leakage or discharge in denser urban areas and instead tolerate unavoidable water leakage in green areas. Five existing control points in the sewer network were selected for implementation. The sewer network provides sufficient retention volume by widening it. A simulation of the sewer network was then carried out with design rainfall of different return periods (annuality). The result led to the retrofitting of measurement technology at prominent points to increase the data situation and to adjust the parameters at the selected control points. As a result, the urban area is protected from water leakage by targeted relief in the green area.
Regulations:
- DWA-M 180
- DWA-A 102
- DMA-M 176
