End User

NLC India Limited (NLC) (formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited) is a ‘Navratna’ government of India company in the fossil fuel mining sector in India and thermal power generation. It produces about 30 million tonnes of Lignite from opencast mines at Neyveli in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India and at Barsingsar in Bikaner district of Rajasthan state.

Scope

Supply, Installation, Testing & Commissioning of Cloud Based Centralized Management System of Water Pumps at various Borewell stations at NLC Townships.

Background

There are multiple borewell pump stations spread-out in an area of approx. 30kmsq which takes a major role in supplying fresh water to the NLC township. These were manually operated pump stations. Hence, the operator had to go to each station 2-3 times a day (as per requirement of water in the Township) to operate the pumps. The water requirement varies according to the day and season, so the pump operating schedule also varied with day/season changes. Sending an operator to each station multiple times was expensive and a waste of time.

System Description

CONSYST  implemented a centralized management platform by installing a DAQ Panel at each pump station – which has an Intelligent Edge Gateway, IO Modules, Energy Meter etc. The existing pump starter panel is connected to this DAQ system, and the DAQ system automatically operates the pumps as per the configured schedules. The system also captures various critical parameters like Pump status, Earth Leakage status, Overload status, and Power Parameters (Voltage, Current, Energy Consumptions etc). The system is also equipped with sms alerts on configured events. The DAQ system is then connected to a Centralized Management platform using 4G SIM Card, where the data will be stored and monitored.

Features of Centralized Management platform:

• Monitor the status and parameters of each pump station using dashboards and reports.
• Analyze the pump operation, energy consumption and power parameters of individual pump stations.
• Configure/modify pump operating schedules for each pump station. The modification/configuration changes are authenticated using OTP sent to registered phone numbers.
• Monitor the alarms.
• Access the platform from smartphone, tablet or laptop.

Result

• The operation of the pump station is automated and hence the operator intervention is not required.
• Periodic visit to each station became inessential as all stations can be monitored from a single point.
• Quick maintenance action can be taken as the trips/alarms are notified through SMS and monitored through the platform. 
• With the sensors and data logging system, operators can carry out predictive maintenance and prevent unscheduled shutdowns, thereby optimising the efficiency of the pump.