IoT or the “Internet of Things” is the latest buzzword and is becoming a growing topic of conversation, not only in tech circles but even outside of it. Before we head into today’s article of how IoT impacts the Pump Industry, let’s start with understanding a few key aspects.
What’s IoT?
The broad idea of IoT is that a whole lot of traditional appliances are increasingly built with wireless internet connectivity. This means you can now monitor and control these devices over the internet with the help of a mobile app.
Why is IoT popular all of a sudden?
The reason for this depends on a lot of factors – increased broadband coverage, decreasing costs of building devices with Wi-Fi capability, Smartphone penetration and so on.
Ok, what does it have to do with Pumps?
As more and more devices are turning smart, from coffee makers to cars, the pump industry is no exception. Digital transformation and internet are changing the face of the pump industry completely. More and more manufacturers are experimenting with adding sensors and Wi-Fi devices to pumps. This helps in predictive analysis and equipment monitoring, thereby reducing high, unpredictable maintenance costs and expensive downtime.
Let’s take a look at the factors that are driving the move towards IoT enabled pumps.
- Convergence of Industries
Long gone are the days when industries were considered as stand-alone. In the era of globalization and rapid digitization, the lines between industries are blurring. The proliferation of smart devices and emergence of new business models are disrupting traditional industrial practices. Additionally, with increased access to the cloud and reduced prices of sensors, more and more pump manufacturers are looking to implement these new technologies in their products.
2. Emergence of Digital Technology
Three trends play a crucial role in the increasing move to IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things):
- Aging workforce coupled with aging systems. There is a severe shortage of skilled labour all over the world.
- Global volatility and increasing competition mean that manufacturers have to adopt new technologies to stand apart from competitors.
- Exponential dependence on data. More and more organizations are looking to collate data and use it to enhance operations further.
3. Increase in the number of connected devices
From Smartphones to smart cars, all the devices that we use and interact with, are increasingly becoming smart. These technologies are no longer the domain of Hollywood science fiction. They are a reality and are frequently used by us.
From lights that you can switch off/on even when you aren’t at home to fridges that alert you to purchase milk on your way home, more and more devices are becoming smart. All thanks to the rapidly decreasing costs of IC chips and sensors.
Additionally, with the rapid proliferation of wireless technology, companies can now quickly transform conventional devices into smart ones by utilizing the power of the Cloud. Consumers are expecting more from their devices. They don’t want an appliance that performs just the primary function, but they are looking for extra features.
This means, more and more pump manufacturers are looking to provide smart solutions to enhance the overall experience of the end-users.
4. Evolution of Service Models
Traditionally, most businesses followed a preventive maintenance service model. However, one major drawback of this model is OPEX (unnecessary Operational Expense). This has forced more organizations to move to a proactive maintenance model.
When combined with the lack of a skilled workforce and the efficiency of predictive analytical solutions using data points means that more and more pump manufacturers are looking to adopt these new technologies to offer enhanced solutions to their users.
So, how will a Smart Pump of the Future look like?
Here, we give you an example of what pumps will do shortly.
Your system pump will be outfitted with several sensors that measure everything from flow rate, pressure, vibration, temperature, current and voltage. All the data from these sensors will be passed to an IIoT gateway. There can be several such gateways depending on the complexity of your application. The gateway (or gateways) then aggregates the data from the sensors and decides whether to trigger any pre-set event alarms.
When you move from a manual maintenance routine to an online monitoring system, like the one illustrated above, you get plenty of benefits.
- Your workforce need not spend their working time, moving around, checking existing systems and measuring data. Instead, they can use the accumulated data managing and diagnosing assets.
- Real-time data analysis is possible. This means you get the chance to spot any malfunctioning as and when it occurs, instead of further damaging the system.
- Additionally, sensors send data to the cloud only when something is out of the normal range. This means you don’t require a huge bandwidth to operate your pumps. After all, there’s no point streaming terabytes of data from a healthy pump all the way to the official cloud.
You can increase pump uptime and reduce overall operating cost with the help of these self-diagnosing sensors.
Simply put, the sensors continuously monitor both, “What’s going to break?” and “When it’s going to break?” This is highly helpful to maintenance engineers in a power plant, water treatment plant or any other industry. They get a clear idea of what’s wrong and how long it will take for them to fix it. Additionally, the pumps of the future will be able to tell you explicitly what’s wrong with them, so you can fix them quickly and get the system up and running in no time.
Are you ready for the pumps of the future? Get in touch with
Sintech, the leading industrial pumps manufacturer, and distributor in India, for customized solutions across industries. Ring us at
+91-120-4176000 or drop in a line at
sales4@sintechpumps.com for more info.
