Instrumentation Monthly Test | Measurement | Control
Stork Solutions has delivered a Powelectrics IIoT solution to ensure that cattle always have a good supply of fresh water to drink.
Stork supplies bespoke end-to-end instrumentation solutions, encompassing water, waste and power management systems, remote site and environmental monitoring. More https://stork.solutions/
For this project, Stork’s customer is a mixed arable and cattle farm in a remote area, which is not on mains power. The water trough is fed from a large tank located near the farm buildings, but some distance from the grazing areas. The trough has a simple float which opens a valve when water drops and closes it once the trough has refilled.
Prior to automatic remote monitoring, the feeder tank needed to be checked regularly by busy farm employees and could run out during periods of heavy usage before this happened. This would mean the cows had no water in the trough, which could compromise the welfare of the herd, especially during a prolonged warm, dry spell, such as the Spring and Summer of 2020.
Stork has now installed a submersible pressure sensor in the tank and Powelectrics’ Metron4 telemetry hardware. Level readings are reported regularly to Powelectrics’ MetronView cloud and visible on any web-enabled device.
MetronView also generates alerts to both Stork and the farm management, if water drops below a user-defined level, allowing for a timely refill and ensuring the cows never go thirsty.
Sam Drury, Stork Solutions MD, commented: “This solution had delivered exactly what the customer needed. Since the installation they have always known when to refill the water tank and the cows have always been supplied.
“The Metron4 technology is pretty much ‘fit and forget’, requiring very little maintenance.
“I have tested the device thoroughly. It is reliable, robust and flexible with the 4 channels and I am offering it into a range of process control and automation applications with great confidence.”
For this project, Stork installed a solar-powered Metron4 due to the lack of external power. It is completely independent and can report as frequently as every 10 minutes. Metron4 telemetry hardware can also be battery and externally powered.
It supports 2G & 4G, offers operational temperatures – 25 to +65°C for global deployment and comes in an IP67 enclosure.
MetronView is a secure, scalable, intuitive and customisable cloud delivering sensor data & alerts on any web-enabled device. It also offers a common API to allow data to be drawn into other platforms.
Powelectrics offer 30 years’ experience in sensing and remote monitoring.
Powelectrics’ ‘connected sensor’ solutions are employed in many industries including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, Adblue, fuels, oils, LPG, lubricants, food and beverage, waste & recycling, landfill & leachate, agriculture, utilities, pumping and environment, rail and security.
For further information or to discuss your application, please call Powelectrics on +44 (0)1827 310 666, use this contact form or send the team an email – sales@powelectrics.co.uk 
