Not Spending Money Like Water: Eaton Controls New Plant for Car Wash Centre
09/09/2014 Eaton Electric Sales Ltd
KIT Wassertechnik AG, (canton Bern), Switzerland, develops environmentally friendly water utilisation systems for a wide range of different requirements. 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 Wassertechnik 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", 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 meters away. "Rain water and the waste water returning back from the plant is first collected in the raw water storage tank", Roland Graf explains, "this raw water is cleaned using band filters and multi-layered active charcoal filters and membrane filters. It is then kept in a storage water tank with a capacity of 7,500 litres". The 100,000 litres of stored rain water in two tanks is used to compensate for the water loss of the car wash centre.
The stored water is also enough to run the installation on its own during periods of drought. The car wash is operated almost exclusively with treated water and with rain water: "Replenishment with fresh water is really only necessary occasionally" says a pleased Roland Graf of the highly environmentally-friendly system. The KIT system is also impressive in terms of the financial investment involved: the plant paid for itself in just over three and a half years simply through the savings made in fresh water and drain water costs alone.
Water treatment is a complex process that requires permanent water analysis and process control to be perfectly matched and reproducible. Subsequently, KIT chose to use eight Eaton easy819 control relays that are interconnected at distances of over 300m. The simple and inexpensive networking capability and expandability of the easy800 system made it possible to create an impressive decentralised control system. "Seven devices are also connected to easy618 expansion modules via easyLink, so that we are able to operate over
250 I/O points with this system" Roland Graf explains. The extensive fountain system at the entrance to the car wash centre 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. It fits in precisely because we needed analogue outputs for automating the LED dimmers" says Roland.
"We are completely free 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".
KIT Wassertechnik also appreciated the space saving design of the SmartWire-DT system: "The system combines the functionality of an easy800 relay with the direct connection to the communication for switchgear. This is perfect for our application" Roland Graf adds.
Results
Ecology and economy were key criteria for the end user. The solution supplies a perfect symbiosis: 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, please contact:
Eaton Information Response Service
Grimshaw Lane
Middleton
Manchester
M24 1GQ
Tel: +44 161 655 8900,
Email: literature-info@eaton.com
Web: www.eaton.uk.com/electrical
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