For the past 3 years, Navionics Research has partnered with French Gerleman (St. Louis MO, Quincy IL, Columbia MO, Kansas City MO, Springfield MO, Washington MO) and Rockwell Automation/Allen Bradley to offer premium VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) solutions to our rural water customers. Rockwell Automation/Allen Bradley PowerFlex-Series Premium VFD’s… Through Rockwell’s PowerFlex-series VFD’s, we are … Read More →
The Summer months are an excellent time to take advantage of the favorable weather and schedule NRI onto your calendar for a tune-up or preventative maintenance for your Wireless Telemetry & Control System! Coaxial Cable Tie Maintenance As a wireless telemetry system ages, the cable ties that were used to secure the radio coaxial cables … Read More →
Water Utility Pumping Stations and Filtration Plants are heavily reliant upon the electric power grid, and therefore it is often desirable to closely monitor the quality of the incoming power. As a general rule, NRI has always offered basic power fault tracking at all Telemetry-monitored stations. However, at certain critical stations, it is desirable to … Read More →
Thank you! to all who stopped by and visited with us at the 2017 Illinois Rural Water Annual Conference in Effingham IL! This year, we had two special guests, Tony Beuke (President, JFlow Controls Inc.) and Brian Isom (Product manager, JFlow Controls Inc.). Tony and Brian generously lent their expertise as we led an advanced … Read More →
Occasionally, a new water district pumping station will be installed in a location that is not served by 3-phase power. The options to run the pumps on 3-phase include (but are not limited to): Pay the electric utility a fee (often prohibitive) to bring 3-phase power to the site. Generate the 3-phase power on-site. To generate 3-phase … Read More →
Ice Storm Preparations When meteorologists are predicting an imminent Winter Ice Storm, it is highly recommended that the Water Utility perform certain preparations to minimize the potential impact to the production and distribution system. Freezing rain and Ice Buildup on Antennas can cause temporary loss of radio telemetry communications. So it is highly recommended that … Read More →
Altitude Valve Automation at Potable Water Districts Valve Automation serves a vital role in Potable Water Telemetry Control System Integration. Valves are used in a variety of applications, which broadly include OPEN/CLOSE applications for ON/OFF flow control, as well as MODULATING applications for variable pressure and flow control. This article will address an interesting ALTITUDE CONTROL problem … Read More →
Historical Data Presentation is one of the primary functions of a SCADA System. Today, I am excited to introduce a significant upgrade that extends the usefulness of the History Database Module of your SCADA System! — a new, powerful Data Export Module that provides the Operator and his Civil Engineers with access to raw, time-stamped data. The exported … Read More →
The SCADA Server is a vital component of the Water Utility – providing 24×365 critical services in the areas of realtime monitoring, historical trending, alarming, remote access, and supervisory control. It is noteworthy that Navionics Research’s SCADA Server design is not based upon a master/slave architecture. Therefore a loss of the Server will not cause … Read More →
One of the benefits of a well-designed SCADA System is the wealth of data that is made available to the Water Utility operator. Data is presented in the form of realtime graphical displays, historical trend charts, and alarm displays. However, the large amount of data has created a new problem: How to fit it all … Read More →
Navionics Research Inc. Is Pleased to Introduce a Premium Online/Double-Conversion Battery Backup System. NRI’s new online Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) with LCD control panel and sine wave output is offered as a power safeguard for SCADA Servers, RTU’s, and any communication/networking hardware that requires seamless power correction. Traditional (Standby) UPS Technology: In a traditional (standby) UPS, … Read More →
Valve Automation at Potable Water Districts Valve Automation serves a vital role in Potable Water Telemetry Control System Integration. Valves are used in a variety of applications, which broadly include OPEN/CLOSE applications for ON/OFF flow control, as well as MODULATING applications for variable pressure and flow control. This article will address an interesting problem that we recently … Read More →
RTU Enclosures Can Trap Heat During Summer Months During the summer months, the internal air temperature of outdoor-installed RTU Enclosures can become very hot — especially at locations where the enclosure is subject to direct sunlight. And while the RTU electronics are industrial-rated, and designed to withstand extreme temperatures, the longevity of the equipment can be … Read More →
PC-Based Water & Wastewater Telemetry Solves Early-Obsolescence Challenge Since 1995, Navionics Research Inc. has based its Telemetry & Control RTU system upon an industrial-hardened PC architecture, which is arguably the most stable hardware standard in electronics history. With many competing source manufacturers, availability is anticipated for many years. The design philosophy is based upon the idea … Read More →
Navionics Resarch Inc. is pleased to introduce a minor feature upgrade that can improve your Telemetry History Viewing experience! In the past, pressing the History button for a particular telemetry site has always opened up a new History Viewer window by default in the middle of the screen and with the scroll bar positioned at … Read More →
Has your SCADA system suffered a hard drive failure, resulting in a loss of critical telemetry historical data? Would you like to attempt to recover the data from a failed/damaged hard drive, RAID, or solid-state drive? Navionics Research is now proud to offer SCADA system data recovery services. Through our nationally-recognized data recovery partner, we … Read More →
Are you heading over to Effingham this week to the Illinois Rural Water Association Annual Conference? If so, please stop by and visit! On Tuesday at 11am-Noon, I am leading a training class that you won’t want to miss: “How to Track and Minimize Pump Energy Consumption by Leveraging VFD’s, Flow Meters, & Telemetry” In … Read More →
Navionics Research Inc. is pleased to introduce a new, unique antenna mounting kit designed and optimized for water tower painter rings. The kit is easy-to-install, corrosion-resistant, and sturdy. Increased Lightning Protection Because an antenna that is staged at the peak of a water tower is a more attractive target for lightning strikes, it is often … Read More →
Extreme Cold and Pressure Sensor Protection During extremely cold temperatures, it is important to keep in mind that the pressure sensing devices in your system — and the tubing that feeds them — should be prevented from freezing. Often times — especially at Water Towers — the pressure transducer is protected from freezing via installation in a … Read More →
When NRI’s VFD & Energy Analytics is implemented in a water plant or pumping station, VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) fault alarms are passed as numerical codes to the SCADA system via an industrial communication protocol (e.g. Modbus, DF1, EtherNet/IP, etc.) and then to the operator. A code of ‘0’ (zero) signifies no fault condition, whereas a non-zero code signifies that a fault … Read More →