Anglian Water's Condition-based monitoring (CBM) programme will use temperature, vibration, and electronic signature analysis (ESA) sensors to monitor the condition of rotating and pumping assets and optimise asset performance. This will allow the company to move towards a more proactive, condition-based approach to maintenance – constantly monitoring the health, performance and efficiency of its assets to carry out pre-emptive work when needed to avoid costly repairs and extend asset life.
CBM seeks to better predict and manage vulnerabilities in water and wastewater systems, such as leakage or blockages, through increased automation. While CBM has traditionally been used by petrochemical and pharmaceutical organisations, the water company is deploying it in this new way to transform how it understands and maintains its assets.
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Charlotte Stewart, Smart Water System Engineer for Anglian Water, said: "Delivering a reliable service for our customers and protecting our environment from leakage and pollution are the key tenets of what we do at Anglian Water. Condition-based monitoring will allow us to monitor the health of our pumping assets – on both the clean and wastewater networks – much more closely than ever before, meaning we can act quickly to prevent disruption for customers and damage to the environment.
"We are really pleased to be working with Asystom, Flowserve, Samotics, SEEPEX and SKF on this new framework. Each company provides distinctly unique monitoring solutions to suit a wide range of Anglian Water assets, meaning we have a more comprehensive view of our asset health than ever before – allowing us to drive down failures and improve our service to customers, all while reducing the costs associated with reactive maintenance."
Anglian Water is moving towards building a Smart Water Network, aligned with the SWAN model. Condition based monitoring forms an integral part of a Smart Water Network, providing insight and opportunities for early intervention and data driven decision making. It will allow Anglian Water to monitor and maintain assets based on their condition, to improve their efficiency, lifespan, and reliability. CBM will help to enable a more resilient service for the company's more than 6 million customers across the East of England.
In the future, CBM will be core to Anglian Water's maintenance strategy, using advanced algorithms to be able to identify potential failure signatures. This will allow engineers to act far earlier than was ever previously possible. CBM provides the opportunity to drive down unplanned failures (alongside any associated health and safety risks) and their impacts on customers, while reducing costs associated with reactive maintenance.
