Water Control, Weir & Gates
Two gates on each side of this canal & weir structure are remotely operated for Flood Control purposes. Headwater and tailwater gauges monitor the status of the incoming water, and allows calculations to be performed for flow estimates through the gates.
Water Control, Overshot Gates
These six overshot, also called tilting weir gates, are all controlled separately with Campbell data loggers. With advanced "Super Two-Way" programming, they are subject to one of two operational modes; "Gates Rule" or Flows Rule".
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With Gates Rule, an operator can move them to any position and they will stay put.
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In Flows Rule, the operator sets a flow that is desired, say, 500 cubic ft / sec., and any one gate, or combination of gates, will pass those flows continuously. With the system reading the upstream and downstream water levels, the flows are constantly calculated and the gates move by themselves to maintain the desired flow.
The intricate system for controlling the six gates shown above required a dependable "failsafe" system.
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The site is critical enough that having one controller be responsible for all six gates was unwise.
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Therefore, three separate controllers were installed to operate just two gates each. In an event that any one controller was disabled, four other gates would remain functional.
Pump Stations
Pumps can also be Two-Way operational. Generally controlled by upstream water levels, these systems will monitor that and start pumps at certain levels. If levels continue to rise, another pump, then another, will turn on in sequence. The duration of pumping can be controlled as well, for instance 12 hours ON then 2 hours OFF.
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Campbell programming is flexible enough to help with balancing the usages of each pump. When one pump is needed, the program can determine which is the "youngest", with the least hours of use, and turn that one ON first, then the next youngest, etc., etc Conversely, if several pumps are running and water levels drop to the first OFF level, the pump with the most hours can be turned off first.
As we say in a few places of this web site, there is basically no limit to what the Campbell programming can offer your systems. If you can think it, we can do it!
Weather Stations
The Campbell system can interface with many, many, kinds of weather sensing equipment. The system above monitors conditions at 300 ft up a tower to assist with mosquito control spraying. All SCADA systems are intended to give operators information that is needed for decision making. In this case, if conditions are not optimal, spraying of expensive chemicals would cost LOTS of money but produce no results.
The graphic above is an example of the Campbell RTMC system (Real Time Monitoring and Control) HMI. Any information entering the Campbell gear can be represented by this type of "pretty" graphical picture.
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Water & Air Quality
Most agencies are concerned with the quality of water, air, or both, and are funded to monitor them. Campbell can monitor and analyze these parameters for you.
Types of Installations
Battery / Solar
Any area can get equipment installations. This is a stand-alone system, running only on battery power that is charged by a solar panel. The Campbell instruments have been refined over the years to be low power consumers, so small installations like these can run from solar power only.
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If commercial power is not available, remote sites can still be outfitted with monitoring devices. Keeping a battery charged with a solar panel is relatively easy because of the low power consumption of Campbell gear.
Three-Mast Installations
Some sites may need to be self supporting, and we've found a three-posted structure provides all the support needed.
Standard "tipping bucket" rain gauges are essential to a Smart SCADA installation. Remember, control of systems can rely on any input, even rainfall.
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Rain Gauges
Camouflaged
Some customers have aesthetic areas where visible machinery is frowned upon. In these cases we work with them to install required equipment while being sensitive to their surroundings.
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Water Level Indicators
Staff Gauges
Any site that has to observe and report accurate water levels should have precise elevation data. Survey information must be available at or near the site, so that staff gauges can be calibrated to reflect precise levels. The elevation data in the monitoring or control system should be set to these observed levels when maintenance is performed.
Water level information is provided to the monitoring or control stations via two methods, generally.
The most used is the pressure transducer in the left picture. With no moving parts, it is simply lowered into the water through a pipe or tube that is securely affixed to a supporting structure. Changing water levels are sensed by the change in water pressure readings, and that data relayed to the recording equipment.
An older method that can still be used is this shaft encoder. Equally accurate with proper maintenance, it uses the "float and weight" method to turn the shaft and display water levels.
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