Instrumentation Monthly Test | Measurement | Control
Tournesol Property Care in Charente, western France offer property management services, specialising in expat properties, often second homes or holiday rentals, so that occupants are left stress-free to enjoy their time in this beautiful region.
They manage and maintain a former water mill, now a cherished home. The mill still has a water channel running through the grounds and right underneath it, with level controlled by three lock gates.
After heavy rain the water level can rise rapidly, potentially flooding river banks upsteam and the mill itself, if the gates are not opened in time. Equally, there are many anglers on the river and they need enough water to ensure fish migrate upstream to spawn.
It is a heavy responsibility to both the property owners and their neighbours and consequently Tournesol made frequent visits to physically check the water level. This proved time-consuming and also expensive for the customer.
In 2017, Tournesol came to Powelectrics to find an automated solution. They used a solar-powered Metron telemetry device and SPS hydrostatic level sensor. Water level readings are taken hourly and reported via our MetronView IoT platform. As well as regular level data for historical understanding and predicting future conditions, there three high level and three low level alarms.
Now Tournesol only need to physically visit the site when the gates needed opening or closing, saving them a lot of time that would normally be charged to their client.
In 2020, Tournsesol intend to expand this m2m solution. Under the new set up, the Metron also has relay outputs, to control the gate activity automatically if water levels are too high or low.
Simon Davison, owner of Tournesol, said: “The Powelectrics kit is just what we needed. Its robust, reliable and affordable. It came pre-configured to our requirements, can be reconfigured remotely and is intuitive to use. This telemetry is solar-powered and completely independent.
“When we have needed technical support, particularly for this recent upgrade in functionality, the response was great.
“The impact of having the Metron telemetry is to save us a great deal of time, which in turn saves our customer considerable expense. On a larger scale, the solution dramatically reduces the flood risk to this home and neighbouring property and also any consequences of inadequate water supply to the river ecosystem. This is a community and the Powelectrics system is working well for everyone!”
Powelectrics Metron4 supports 2G and 4G for global deployment! It offers four analogue inputs, expansion cards for pulse counting and RS232 and options to develop RS485 and CANBUS interfaces. With solar, battery and external power options, IP67 enclosure and operational temperatures – 25 to +65°C, its able to deliver sensor data & alerts into many global applications!
MetronView offers customisable dashboards and reports, but also offers a common API, so that data may be drawn into other platforms for application-specific processing. These can be developed by Powelectrics or by our customers.
Powelectrics acts as a connection between the world of sensors and the Internet of Things. The company offers 30 years’ experience in sensors, remote monitoring and connectivity. Powelectrics’ ‘connected sensor’ solutions are employed in many industries including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, Adblue, fuels, oils, LPG, lubricants, food and beverage, waste and recycling, landfill and leachate, agriculture, utilities, pumping and environment, rail and security.
Please get in touch with the team at Powelectrics to discuss your application on +44 1827 310 666 or at sales@powelectrics.co.uk
