IOT News

A university dormitory complex receives its water supply from the municipal city water network. The incoming water enters an underground secondary water supply pump station, where it is pressurized and delivered to various facilities throughout the dormitory buildings. The pump station houses three booster pump sets, each consisting of a PLC-controlled variable-frequency pump unit and a water supply tank, designated to serve the low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise floor zones respectively. However, the station faces several pain points in daily water management:

1. The pump station is located two floors underground, far from the administrators' regular office area, making it impossible to monitor the operating status of the three pump sets in real time. Key parameters such as tank water level, outlet pressure, and VFD frequency can only be obtained through manual rounds and meter readings—leaving faults undetected until they escalate.

2. Inspection records are kept on paper forms and stored in filing cabinets within the duty room, making historical data difficult to retrieve and compare. There is no systematic compilation of maintenance schedules, replacement cycles for consumable parts, or fault frequency for the three pump sets, so performance degradation often goes unnoticed and unaddressed.

Solution

To address these challenges, WideIOT offers a lightweight, practical digital management solution based on a visual configuration cloud platform for the university's secondary water supply pump station. By deploying edge data acquisition gateways within the station, the system connects to the PLC controllers, variable-frequency drives, pressure transmitters, level sensors, flow meters, and smart power meters of the three booster pump sets. It collects real-time data on inlet and outlet pressure, tank water level, pump operating frequency, three-phase current and voltage, motor temperature, instantaneous flow rate, and cumulative water volume—then transmits everything to the configuration monitoring cloud platform via 4G/5G or wired networks. The platform features a graphical HMI interface that recreates the pump station's actual operating environment through process flow diagrams, dynamic dashboards, and trend curves. Administrators can access the system from a computer or mobile device and gain an immersive, at-a-glance view of the entire pump station's status, effectively shifting from "waiting for a breakdown report" to "actively monitoring the condition."

Key Features

Visual Configuration Monitoring: Dynamically renders the pump station's process flow with configuration screens, displaying real-time operating status, pressure, tank level, frequency, current, and other critical parameters for all three pump sets. Multi-dimensional dashboards provide a consolidated overview of the entire operation on a single screen.

Smart Alerts & Remote Control: Customizable alarm rules for pressure overruns, low water level, overload conditions, and more. When anomalies occur, alerts are pushed via WeChat, SMS, or email along with a fault snapshot. Supports remote start/stop of pumps and adjustment of VFD parameters, enabling rapid emergency intervention within seconds.

Closed-Loop Maintenance Management: Establishes a digital equipment registry, with the system automatically generating maintenance work orders and assigning them to designated personnel. Technicians can receive, log, and upload photo evidence via mobile devices, while the back office tracks progress in real time. When a fault occurs, the system automatically retrieves relevant historical cases and repair solutions to assist with rapid diagnosis.

Energy Consumption Analysis: Provides multi-dimensional statistics on power consumption and water usage per unit volume for each pump set, identifying inefficient operating conditions and abnormal time periods. Generates optimization recommendation reports to support energy-saving retrofits and operational strategy adjustments.

Digital Records & Full Traceability: Maintains a full lifecycle digital file for each equipment unit, automatically aggregating operational logs, alarms, work orders, inspection records, maintenance activities, and spare parts replacement history. Supports multi-condition search and report export, ensuring full data traceability and accurate asset inventory management.