Location
Eppingen
Year
Since 2014
Products
FW-50, codeIT
Protocol
IEC 60870-5-104
Water is the world’s most vital natural resource, and as such is irreplaceable. Thanks to prudent care, drinking water of excellent quality is available in Eppingen and its localities. There is no need for chemical or physical treatment. With around 29,000 inhabitants in the associated area situated between Odenwald and Schwarzwald, they pump 61 % of the drinking water from their own wells, while 35 % originates from Lake Constance and 4 % from the Sulzfeld municipality.
The company is responsible for maintaining the supply plants (approx. 238 km pipe network, six deep wells, ten water towers and twelve pumping stations/pressure booster systems).
The complete water supply is monitored by the administration union for water supply Upper Elsenztal based in Eppingen using SAE telecontrol and process control technology.
First commissioned in 2000, the plant was modernised in 2014 when it was upgraded to the current net-line / series5 telecontrol system with significantly higher performance. This entails greater operational safety for the plant and creates an ideal basis for responding to future developments while allowing system extensions in intelligent networks. Modernisation measures are usually associated with costs. What is noteworthy in this project is that all input and output modules of our existing telecontrol system could be adopted thanks to the modular design. Only the housing and CPU boards had to be replaced – not even the wiring needed major modification. These are clear cost benefits, but this is by no means the end of the story. IT security in data networks has become an increasingly hot topic recently. We already started early with the development and implementation of appropriate security technologies in our systems. If the administration union requires, pursuant to Section 11 paragraph 1a Energy Industry Act, that data networks be protected adequately against security threats, we have already integrated corresponding security concepts in our telecontrol systems. Thus for instance user administration, VPN encryption and the use of firewalls can be set up immediately. In the complete water network, 25 net-line FW-50 remote terminal units assume the monitoring of all gate valves and pumps, which can be controlled remotely if need be. The logging of pumping volumes, flow rates of individual MIDs and diverse pressure converters are also part and parcel of this. Private cable sections are used for data communication from the outstations to the control centre, and the GPRS technology is VPN encrypted. All external structures are monitored for visits and unauthorised entry. The ProCoS process control system from Kisters provides a structured overview of all data. This involves a Windows-based SCADA control system established according to the client-server principle and used for the complete process control and monitoring. This ensures that everything is always under control. The system also allows secure remote access by the standby service using a notebook, the team receiving notification about important fault messages via a remote alarm system. Process data and states are visualised clearly in the form of reports and archive graphics. In addition, pipe break monitoring, leak loss inspection and monitoring of tank emptying are available to customers as a functional module. The administration union of the WV Upper Elsenztal is another satisfied customer who has long valued one-to-one, professional consultation services and also our reliable yet innovative technology.