Page 5 - Industrial Technology EXTRA 16th August 2021

The solution allows the team to continue to
train, while the club can maintain the condition
of its training pitch to the required standard at
no extra cost or inconvenience.
Parc y Scarlets' training pitch requires
watering three times a day, with the irrigation
pumps drawing water from the mains and
running for four to six hours during that period.
The pumps are speed controlled using a single
ABB drive, installed by an irrigation company
several years ago. The irrigation system
features a valve control system which opens
sprinkler heads on the pitch, allowing a
measured supply of water which can be
changed based on the condition of the pitches.
Rather than programming the VSD to power
down when not needed, APDS used a PID
macro with the drive’s sleep function. Thus,
when all the sprinklers were closed, the system
reached a set point for pressure and went
sleep, ready to spray again at a moment’s
notice.
However, when a leak was detected in the that ground staff no longer need to visit during
under-pitch pipework, the system was unable to inconvenient hours to manually stop the drives.
reach the required pressure set point to trigger the An additional benefit is that the VSD reduces the
sleep function. With no spare outputs on the amount of water waste as the RTC switches the
sprinkler system, the VSD ran continuously, even system off at the correct time, while the pumps no
though the irrigation cycle had finished, causing the longer run dry when the water runs out, prolonging
pumps to run dry and frequently burn out. Ground their lifetime.
staff would have to turn the systems off manually Luke Jenkins, Scarlets’ Head Groundsman, was
late at night and at weekends, which was highly pleased with APDS’ intervention: “Having to come
inconvenient. in late at anti-social hours was really frustrating and
Digging up the pitch to locate and fix the leak spoilt many a family dinner. Using the drive to fix
was costly and would impact on the team’s ability the problems may only be a temporary stop gap,
to train, and potentially affect team performance but it at least means the ground staff can get our
throughout the duration of the work. As a lives back. APDS had fixed the problem within 24
temporary, yet quicker and cost-efficient solution, hours of our enquiry, so we were extremely pleased
APDS used the VSD’s onboard real time clock (RTC) with the speed of their response, and thanks to their
to stop and start the sprinkler system. efforts we’ve had no issues with the irrigation
While permanently fixing the leak will mean that system since.”
the pitch is dug up, this short-term solution ensures www.abb.com

August 2021 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA • p5