The electrical heart of the pumping station

Monnickendam pumping station will soon operate largely autonomously and will be managed completely remotely. As a specialist in automation for water management, Vlaar Techniek will provide the complete electro-technical heart of the pumping station.

Vlaar has been well known in the region for over thirty years and has also developed the controls for pumping station C. Mantel, for example, from engineering to installation and commissioning. This pumping station was commissioned in 2017 just north of Schardam. "We are in that sense the right hand for the Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier and have been working on the automation and telemetry of pumping stations and dams for more than 30 years," says Jeroen Diekema of Vlaar. "It's definitely a profession in its own right; you have to know what you're talking about."

Passion for water management

Thirty years ago, remote management and monitoring of technical installations for water management was still in its infancy, Diekema knows. "We are therefore among the pioneers in this field. We have grown from a club of technicians with a passion for water management to an electrical engineering company that develops and installs control boxes and installations on bridges, locks, pumping stations and dams. We also produce our own products for daily water management, such as a solar control system for small dams or solar measuring tubes to perform standalone measurements. We develop, produce and install all these things ourselves. This leads to innovative, sustainable and robust products that we not only sell, but sometimes also retain ownership of. In that case, we can relieve clients of all management and maintenance tasks and deliver the data on a silver platter. Such IOT and cloud solutions are gaining ground."

Blueprint

The control design of pumping station C. Mantel has served as a blueprint for pumping station Monnickendam, according to Diekema. "We are familiar with the wishes and requirements of the district water board; as a preferred supplier, the necessary security measures allow us to implement the controls and software directly at HHNK's main substation. All parameters of the installations and peripheral equipment come in on the control system. At a certain level difference between the basin and Markermeer levels, the pumping station will automatically switch on. The same applies to the cleaner, which will automatically switch on at a high level behind the duckweed fence (dirt). If an installation is not running properly, a fault message is generated. The control system is designed so that a minor malfunction on Saturday, for example, can wait until after the weekend. This is in contrast to a crucial malfunction that can lead to failure and is reported immediately. The control system is thus a very complex feature and forms the heart of the pumping station. That is why it is also nice for the district water board to be able to rely on a party like Vlaar that is familiar with the wishes, requirements and standards," concludes Diekema.