A CUSTOMISED SOLUTION FOR
ÖHRINGEN WATERWORKS
For the past 25 years, the city of Öhringen has continuously invested in modern water
treatment facilities to guarantee a
reliable and clean supply of water for
its population of some 22,000. In this
context, Öhringen Waterworks knew
that this represented a commitment that
spanned generations, and one that had
to be developed for the long term in a
future-proof and reliable manner – a
challenge that Bürkert was happy to
accept.
A modular solution with a future
A modern water analysis system
must reliably evaluate water qualities
from various sources, initiate control
and regulation tasks, introduce early
warning and alarm systems and
monitor the condition of the treatment
technology. Hitherto, the Öhringen
Waterworks was only able to measure
overall turbidity, pH value, residual
ozone and chlorine dioxide content at
the inlet and outlet of the waterworks
and all data was transferred using
analogue signals – which meant there
was extensive potential for optimising
the plant.
With this in mind, our customer
opted for a future-proof solution, the
Type 8905 Online Analysis System, in
order to display reliable and continuous
information about all key drinking
water parameters at a glance. For the
waterworks supervisor, the status of the
water quality and technology is visible
at all times via a display – with very low
consumption of sample water.
Online analysis system in practice
In the Öhringen Waterworks, an
entire wall of measuring equipment
has now been replaced with a tailor-
made, compact stainless steel cabinet
containing a total of 14 sensor cubes
and two automatic purifcation units to
ensure reliable water analysis in a very
compact space. Unlike the glass probes
widely used previously, the microchips
for the sensors do not require constant
replacement.
This results in maintenance free
and reliable operation. In total, seven
different water samples with the
matching individually combined sensor
cubes are analysed in this system for
turbidity, pH value, redox potential,
conductivity and chlorine dioxide.
Thanks to automatic purifcation
units, all parts in contact with water
samples can be cleaned without manual
intervention.
Horst Geiger, technical director of
Öhringen Waterworks, said: “This
delivers clear cost savings due to fewer
inspections of measurement points and
lower maintenance expenditure. Staff
members have more time for more
important tasks.”
Good things come in small packages
The miniaturisation of sensor elements
is the key innovation of the Online
Analysis System. The ultra-compact
sensor cubes can easily be installed in
the basic module and use the EDIP –
Effcient Device Integration Platform
– to register their confguration and
sensor specifcation automatically with
the system.
This modular design makes it
possible to retroft new sensors easily
and in any combination. Thanks to this
miniaturisation, the individual sensor
cubes only require very small water
samples to deliver reliable results.
Geiger added: “The internal water
consumption of the old system was
around 15 times higher. It also required
high inspection expenditure and
consumed signifcant quantities of
reagent. In this respect, the decision to
procure the Bürkert analysis system as a
replacement was an easy one due to the
short amortisation period.”
www.burkert.com
