Sediment Monitoring
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Sediment Monitoring With flow measurement RISONIC modular • continous online monitoring Hydro Power • cost efficient Water Supply Sewage Water • protection of equipment (turbine) • protection against flooding Cost-efficient monitoring When it comes to hydro power plant operation, maximum productivity and assured revenues come first. Therefor, it is essential to detect potential reasons for equipment damage at an early stage. This protects operators from the high costs due to power generation outage and the time-consuming and expensive replacement of damaged turbine parts. Sediments floating in the water are one of these potential risks for water turbines. They can scuff turbine parts and ultimately lead to a complete outage in the worst case. Monitoring sediment is important for the management of water resources, too. Sediment monitoring data can be used to determine effectiveness of sediment reduction actions in the watershed and guide adaptive sediment management. Research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zürich) and the University of Lucerne have shown that the ultrasound pulses can also be used to monitor the amount of suspended particles in the water. This feature has many technical, economical and ecological importance for the operation of a hydropower plant as it can reduce turbine scuffing and storage sedimentation. In addition to closed pipe systems, this feature can also be used for sediment management programs for open channels such

Description The flow measurement is based on the acoustic discharge measurement (ADM) method. Sensor A and B alternately send and receive an ultrasonic waveform. The measured transit time difference of the two waveforms is directly proportional to the mean path velocity. From the mean path velocity in conjunction with the pipe geometry the flow can be determined. If there is suspended sediment in the water, the acoustic signals get attenuated. Normally, this existing information from the measurement is not evaluated. RISONIC modular enables this evaluation and provides a powerful and easy way...