Jim Mimlitz, NRI<\/p><\/div>A topic of continual concern for today’s water utility is Pumping Station\u00a0Energy Efficiency<\/strong>. And to put this\u00a0subject in laymen’s terms, how better than to relate it to fuel efficiency for\u00a0the familiar\u00a0automobile?<\/p>\n First, let’s look\u00a0at the work that each produces\u00a0\u2014 With a car, the unit of work is expressed as a driven “Mile”<\/strong>; whereas in a pumping station, the unit of worked is expressed as a pumped “Gallon”<\/strong> of water.<\/p>\n Next, let’s look at their respective energy sources\u00a0\u2014 The unit of energy for a car is a “gallon of gasoline”<\/strong>, whereas the energy unit for an electric pump is a “Kilowatt-Hour (KWH)”<\/strong>.\u00a0At the time of this writing, a gallon of gasoline is around $2.00, and a Kilowatt-Hour is around $0.12.<\/p>\n When shopping for a car, one seeks the vehicle that offers the highest work\/energy ratio\u00a0\u2014 expressed in the familiar MPG<\/strong>, or miles per gallon of gasoline. After purchase,\u00a0the driver\u00a0can control the speed of the vehicle so as to maximize the MPG.\u00a0We know that a car achieves its highest MPG at moderate speeds, and\u00a0worst MPG at high and low speeds.\u00a0And as drivers, don’t we balance our desire to complete our trip in a short time against our desire to achieve the highest possible MPG?<\/p>\n These principles apply to pumping stations, as well. Here, we also wish to complete the work quickly\u00a0\u2014 for example: fill a water tower\u00a0\u2014 but we also wish to minimize energy costs.\u00a0As with a car, we often discover that moderating the\u00a0pump speeds can lead to lower energy costs.<\/p>\n Before energy optimization can be attempted, we first need a method of quantifying the energy efficiency of our pumping system.<\/p>\n In the automobile example, we use the work\/energy ratio\u00a0\u2014 MPG.\u00a0In our pumping system, we propose to use the work\/energy ratio of gallons of pumped water per kilowatt-hour\u00a0\u2014 I propose we call it “GPK”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For a car, it’s often just called “mileage”<\/strong> for short… So for our pump station, let’s just call it\u00a0“gallonage”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n To help the\u00a0driver monitor and maximize fuel efficiency, certain\u00a0automobiles even display the current MPG on the console.\u00a0To provide this reading, an\u00a0internal computer divides the speed (miles per hour) by the metered fuel consumption rate (gallons of gasoline per hour) to provide “miles per gallon”.\u00a0For example, if a car is traveling 60 miles per hour, and its fuel consumption rate is 3 gallons per hour, then its computer calculates the\u00a0“mileage” to be 60\/3 or 20 miles per gallon.<\/p>\n Automobile Trip Computer: Fuel Efficiency Display.<\/p><\/div>\n Knowing the cost of a gallon of gasoline, we can put this in terms of dollars\u00a0\u2014 20 (miles per gallon) \/ 2.00 (dollars per gal) = 10 miles per dollar.<\/p>\n In a pumping system, the “gallonage” (gallons\/kilowatt-hour) is calculated by dividing the pump flow rate (gallons per hour) by the energy consumption rate (kilowatt-hours\/hour\u2014same as kilowatts).\u00a0For example, if a pump’s flow rate\u00a0is 30,000 gallons per hour, and the energy consumption is 20 Kilowatts, then the “gallonage” is 30,000\/20 or 1500 GPK.<\/p>\n Knowing the cost of a Kilowatt-Hour, we can also put this in terms of dollars\u00a0\u2014 1500 GPK \/ 0.12 (dollars per KWH) = 12,500 pumped gallons per dollar.<\/p>\n Much like\u00a0an automobile that\u00a0displays MPG on the console, Navionics Research can now display GPK within\u00a0the telemetry\/SCADA interface.<\/p>\n![\"Pump_Station_001\"](\"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Pump_Station_001.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 ![\"Electricity_Meter_002\"](\"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Electricity_Meter_002.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nEnergy Efficiency<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Energy Efficiency Calculation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>