MechChem Africa July-August 2022

Technology to remotely monitor and manage pumps Water pumping systems frequently provide critical services to an industrial facility or building, so any downtime will invariably cause serious disruption and impact the bottom line. The only way to avoid this, says Grundfos senior service sales specialist, Nicolette Gomes, is preventative maintenance – underpinned by real time remote

work,” she says. “Even the details of each maintenance intervention – including the parts to be replaced – can be logged onto the system so that good records are maintained.” There is evenanelement of remote control in the GRM, which allows the user to man age the equipment – for instance, stopping and starting the pumps – without having to physically stand in front of the machinery, she notes. This can help to avoid catastrophic failure from conditions such as dry-running. “We can connectGRMto aGrundfosMGE motorwithan integrated frequencyconverter or a CUE external frequency converter to monitor operational data,” she says. “This includes the power consumption, speed and set points, so customers can see how their systems behave over time, and can use these insights to minimise downtime.” Gomes concludes that customers gain in estimable value from these technology tools, as they not only ensure optimal performance but also avoid costly repairs and unscheduled downtime. www.grundfos.com/za

on other pump brands, after updating the controller on their system.” She explains that GRM provides a real time overview of the pump system, generat ing valuable data on key performance indices and transmitting that to the portal. The user can view the data and monitor exactly how the pumps are performing at any given time. “Thebenefits of this portal include theabil ity to track energy consumption and flowvol umes and to generate reports on this activity,” she says. “Arangeof alarms canbeactivated to alert operators to issues such as over-voltage or under-voltage, as well as water shortages and other problems.” The GRM will also send a notification to Grundfos and the customer when the pre-determined service intervals have been reached, ensuring that regular maintenance is conducted to optimise pump longevity and performance. “This gives us the opportunity to order in the necessary spares and to have them available as soon as the customer’s opera tion provides the opportunity to conduct the

D igital technology is taking the reliability of water pumping solu tions to another level, with remote monitoring and control nowgiving users more insight into operations than ever before. The result, according to Nicolette Gomes, senior service sales specialist at Grundfos, is that users have the ability to assess their equipment performance at all times – and to plan well in advance for the necessary servic ing interventions. “We facilitate this process with our Grundfos Remote Management (GRM) sys tem, which is a cloud-based portal that users can log into fromanywhere,” saysGomes. “The required module just has to be installed onto a pump controller We can even install GRM Installed onto a pump controller, the Grundfos Remote Management (GRM) system is a cloud based portal that users can log into from anywhere.

Grundfos Remote Management (GRM) and digital technology are taking the reliability of water pump solutions to another level with remote monitoring on mobile devices.

10 ¦ MechChem Africa • July-August 2022