Saving water saving money

October 2013 System Integration & Control Systems Design

KIT Wassertechnik of Switzerland develops environmentally friendly water utilisation systems for a wide range of applications. The company places particular importance on the use of rain and spring water and the recycling and treatment of water, especially process water. For many years KIT has used components from Eaton to control its plants. This is also the case in one of its latest projects, a plant for a car wash centre in which the water is completely reconditioned and the water loss replenished with rain water. Part of the installation includes an illuminated fountain that serves as an ornamental feature in the grounds of the wash centre.

Challenges

“Our client wanted a water conserving and environmentally friendly solution for its new car showrooms and connected car wash, which would also reuse the waste water produced during operation,” says Roland Graf, CEO of KIT Wassertechnik. “They also wanted a fountain system as a special feature of the new building which was required to run at night with a precisely controllable variety of colours.”

Solution

The core of the installation is a central localised, multi-stage water treatment plant. From here the water is pumped to the car wash and the fountain and to the consumers of the car showroom several hundred metres away. “Rain water and the waste water returning from the plant is first collected in the raw water storage tank,” explains Graf. “This raw water is cleaned using filters and kept in a storage water tank with a capacity of 7500 litres. The 100 000 litres of rain water is stored in two additional tanks and used to compensate for the water lost via the car wash centre.

The stored water is also enough to run the installation on its own during periods of drought. “Replenishment with fresh water is really only necessary occasionally,” says Graf. “The system is also impressive in terms of the financial investment, the plant paid for itself in three and a half years through the saving in fresh water.”

Water treatment is a complex process that requires permanent water analysis and process control to be reproducible. KIT chose to use eight Eaton easy819 control relays that are interconnected at distances up to 300 m. The simple and inexpensive networking capability and expandability of the easy800 system made it possible to create an impressive decentralised control system. “Several devices are connected to easy618 expansion modules via easyLink, so that we are able to operate over 250 I/O points,” explains Graf. “The extensive fountain system at the entrance to the car wash is really eye-catching. Three more easy819 control relays provide a delightful water display for visitors. As soon as it gets dark, these trigger the fountains to change colours. For this we use the easy806 with SmartWire-DT, because we needed analog outputs for automating the LED dimmers. We have complete freedom to program the colour changes as we like and can generate a precise 0 – 10 V control signal that enables a slow and precisely defined colour change.”

Results

Ecology and economy were key criteria for the end-user. The solution supplies a perfect symbiosis as it puts less strain on the environment and on cash flow. “Our customer is very satisfied and the installation is totally reliable. Eaton technology is making a decisive contribution here. In all the years we have never had a report of a failure in any of our projects,” concludes Roland.

For more information contact Mark Strydom, Eaton Information Response Service, South Africa, +27 (0)11 824 7400, [email protected], www.eaton.com

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