AVK sustainability report 2023 with links A4 - Flipbook - Page 21
The LEAKman project
(LEAKage MANagement) intents to
demonstrate Danish solutions to reduce the
loss of clean drinking water and to pave the
way for new Danish water technology.
Read more in the partnerships section or at
https://leakagemanagement.net/.
help prevent unmeasured flow between DMAs,
and thereby ensuring more reliable data and
calculations.
Pressure adjustment techniques to
minimise leaks and reduce energy
consumption
Pressure adjustment is considered the single
most important, and cost-effective leakage
management activity. The higher the pressure,
the more water is lost through bursts and
leakages. Furthermore, most pipe bursts occur
not only due to high pressure, but rather due
to pressure fluctuations that cause pipes to
constantly contract or expand, resulting in
stress fractures.
Improved NRW calculations and support
for active leakage control with VIDI
Positioner
As part of the LEAKman project, VIDI
Positioners are installed on valves positioned at
the boundaries between the DMAs. From these
positions, they will provide reliable data for the
water balance and NRW level calculations.
The LEAKman partners identified at an early
stage the need for knowing if - and when
- the DMA boundary valves are operated,
as this affects NRW management and often
leads to false results when conducting the
water balance assessment and the minimum
nighttime flow monitoring.
Water balance calculations are highly
dependent on valid data. It is a well-known
issue that if the boundary valves have been
opened for maintenance, they are sometimes
not brought back to the closed position
afterwards. In other words, monitoring the
open/closed position of boundary valves can
CASE
To ensure reliable data for water balance
calculations, VIDI positioners have
been installed as part of the LEAKman
demonstration facilities at HOFOR, on three
strategically important shut-off valves acting
as boundary valves between DMAs.
Today, many Pressure Relief Valves (PRVs) only
have manual monitoring, meaning the utility
must go to the valve location and manually
check the pressure gauge.
This is time-consuming and, in principle, PRVs
can fail within minutes of being manually
inspected, meaning the pressure is not reduced
correctly.
VIDI Positioners contribute to an improved
overview at Denmarkâs largest utility
HOFOR, the largest utility company in
Denmark, has approximately one million
customers in Greater Copenhagen. They
have divided their area into 50 DMA zones,
which, among other things, make it possible
to calculate the water balance and monitor
water loss.
Pressure adjustment is also an effective way to
reduce unnecessary energy consumption. By
allowing lower pressure in general, especially
during off-peak hours, energy consumption for
pumping can be reduced. The pressure can
be adjusted to the critical point at a strategic
consumer in the DMA, which means that no
energy will be used to pump water to a higher
level than necessary.
The VIDI Positioner is an IoT sensor that
indicates the degree of opening or closing
of the valve, and it reports all operational
activities that open or close the valves. Data
is automatically sent to HOFOR at regular
intervals and whenever the valve is operated,
and data is easily integrated into thirdparty software through an open Application
Programming Interface (API).
Using wireless battery-powered pressure
sensors, PRVs can be monitored every minute
or every five minutes. This way you achieve
constant online monitoring of your PRV.
AVK Sustainability report 2022/2023 | 21
