DECEMBER | 2020
DECEMBER | 2020
We’re excited to launch our new digital format of the Mueller Innovation
Newsletter. Every quarter we select some of our recent projects,
share new products and keep you informed on news that keeps us working
hard to support you!
We hope you enjoy the new layout and find it easy to navigate. For
best viewing results of the new format, add Marketing@muellerwp.com to your safe sender list in Outlook.
We welcome your feedback and look forward to continuing to serve
you!
Best Regards,
Yolanda Kokayi
Senior Director of Marketing & Communications
United States of America
Robert Criste - Regional Manager, Water Management Solutions
|
Southeast
Brock Spencer - Infrastructure Territory Manager
| Western Utah, Nevada, Idaho
Boris Mira - Infrastructure Territory Manager
| California
Cheryl Mauffray - Infrastructure Territory Manager
| Louisiana
Mike Millard - Infrastructure Territory Manager
| Southern California
Mike Nowak - Metrology Sales
| Florida
Georgina Loginow - Metrology Sales
| South Texas
Berry Thompson - Metrology Sales
| North Texas
Bernie Evers - Pratt Industrial
| Eastern U.S.
Canada
Gareth Price - Metrology Sales, Regional Manager
| Canada
Nick Weiseman - Specialty ValveRegional Manager
| Canada
Evan Kelman - Sales Manager
| Canada
International
Claus Møller-Nielsen - International Area Sales Manager
| Europe
Joe Zhong - Area Sales Manager
| Western Provinces – China
Shmuel Lerer - Central District Sales Manager, Krausz
| Israel
Newport News Waterworks, the second largest water utility in Virginia
with nearly 130,000 customers, is installing the Mueller Mi.Net®
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system throughout the city
including the largest deployment of Remote Disconnect Meters (RDM)
in the United States. The Mi.Net system will leverage the Sentryx™
water intelligence platform which provides data insights into a water
utility’s distribution system. Ferguson and Mueller will collaborate
to deliver the project over the next four years.
The Sentryx software platform along with our RDMs will provide enhanced
customer service and operational efficiencies in metering, with the
capability to generate insights across the water distribution system
in the future for leak detection, pressure monitoring and water quality.
The City of Durham has several DMA’s to control water flow from the
source to treatment plants, into storage tanks and through 1,400
miles of watermains, but not every zone was being monitored for pressure
fluctuations. At about the same time, the City was planning to upgrade
its sampling stations to provide a higher level of water quality
monitoring and better access for staff, that in some cases needed
to cross property lines to take a sample.
After having an average of 12 main breaks a month over the last several
years, the City identified the need for 21 Hydro-Guard stations to
perform a combination of flushing, sampling and pressure monitoring.
The remote pressure monitoring units have a cellular connection allowing
city personnel to see the pressure in the system at anytime from
anywhere using a connected device. Users can choose a setting
which records standard state pressure readings every 15 seconds,
or they can choose to measure transient pressure at a rate of 256
reading per second. If there is a spike in the system, an alert is
sent, and a crew can be dispatched to investigate. This allows the
City to respond quicker, and usually before they receive customer
complaints about a hydrant being hit or a water main break.
“The Hydro-Guard units have given us more visibility into the system
with remote pressure monitoring, and improved efficiencies in water
quality sampling and flushing capabilities,” said Junior Mobley,
Superintendent for Water & Sewer Maintenance for Durham Water
Management. With continued success, the City anticipates adding more
units over the next five years.
PipeRank virtual condition assessment enables water utilities to get
visibility into pipe failures before they happen. The PipeRank technology
identifies pipe segments that are likely to fail in the future and
assigns a corresponding business risk score. A condition assessment
is then performed on the pipelines using the Echologics ePulse® technology
to diagnose specific problems. This condition assessment makes it
easy for utilities to plan operations and engineering programs by
prioritizing their course of action, capital expenditures, and focus
their resources on the highest risk assets.
Current industry best practice is to leverage as much desktop data
as possible to identify trends and generate data-supported decisions
for failure planning and capital deployment. The PipeRank technology
pairs available pipe degradation factors with a proprietary machine
learning model to prioritize every pipe segment analyzed by likelihood
and consequence of failure.
For more information on PipeRank Virtual Condition Assessment, visit
https://www.echologics.com/services/virtual-condition-assessment/
The Town of Gilbert, AZ needed to do some repairs on their fire hydrant
infrastructure and chose the HYMAX GRIP for its repair efficiency
and ease of use in a confined space. The HYMAX GRIP has only two
bolts to tighten compared to six on traditional mechanical join restraints,
meaning workers spend less time in the ditch. Also, when you don’t
have to dig underneath to reach bolts close to the ground, it means
that the ditch is more stable with a lower chance of cave-ins.
The HYMAX GRIP has a radial closing mechanism that holds pipes tightly
in place during installation to give installers full control over
the gap between pipes. As the pipe applies axial pressure, the GRIP
chain increasingly tightens around the pipe to prevent pullout. It
also has a universal gripping system designed to restrain metal and
plastic pipes and has a transition capability of up to 1.1” so the
utility has more flexibility to repair a variety of pipe. When you’re
working with pipes and connections that can be decades old, it’s
good to have the flexibility to fit and secure a coupling with whatever
pipe sizes you might find.
The HYMAX GRIP radial closing design and sealing system gives installers
the flexibility to connect to out-of-round pipe shape and not be
perfectly aligned, while still ensuring a secure connection. The
coupling’s dynamic deflection also reduces the risk of damage and
cracking from ground shifts. The HYMAX GRIP’s patented gasket effectively
transforms the pipe joint into a flexible connection and allows dynamic
deflection of up to 4 degrees per side.
The Town of Gilbert has installed more than 100 HYMAX GRIPs in the
last three years and continues to use the product in any situation
where pipes need to be restrained.
Singer model DA140 is a high capacity globe style Direct Acting Pressure
Reducing Valve (PRV) designed for installation in potable water systems.
The Singer DA140 Direct Acting PRV provides direct pressure system
control and protection to conserve water, preserve and extend valve
life, and regulate water pressure in compliance with industry standards.
It is engineered to instantaneously reduce high inlet pressures to
a steady lower regulated outlet pressure, regardless of fluctuation
in flow rate and/or variation in inlet pressures. This operating
function is achieved by using an adjustable spring-loaded diaphragm
to open and close the valve. In the event of increased outlet pressure,
network personnel can simply adjust the downstream pressure by turning
the built-in adjusting screw. This product is used when lower flows
and space constraints are of concern and is an economical alternative
to our outstanding industry leading pilot operated valve solution.
The Singer DA140 PRV is a lead-free valve that is provided with an
integral strainer to help prevent malfunction caused by debris in
the system or reduced life span due to debris deposition. Manufactured
to NPT and BPST industry standards, this valve can also be installed
in any position for all types of applications. The Singer DA140 PRV
is designed to operate in several pressure ranges and comes with
a variety of sizing options to give network personnel a higher level
of control.
The City of Sheridan, Wyoming, sought to implement a turn-key AMI solution
that would not only help achieve accurate meter reading and billing,
but also enhance customer relations. The rollout of Mueller Mi.Net AMI system on more than 10,000 service connections resulted in an
estimated 65% drop in labor-hours previously spent on servicing water
meters and an improved daily read of 99.6%.
“One of the many things we set out to achieve was an efficient unit
that is equipped with the ability to carry out meter reading instantaneously
at any time of the day, and be able to identify leaks in the system”,
said Ken Hirschman, Utility Maintenance Superintendent - for the
City of Sheridan. “We also wanted to upgrade to smart water meters
that are less mechanical and with less moving parts – effectively
enabling us to get rid of mechanical meters and not be stuck with
a load of inventory and a meter rebuilding process,” saidHirschman.
“With Mi.Net AMI system, I can do a quick water
audit at any time of the day. The meter reading tells me how much
water we have metered that day. Subsequently, I can look at our SCADA
system which has our water treatment plant discharge flow to make
sure that they are fairly accurate,”noted Hirschman.
Sheridan’s Mi.Net System is continuously monitored
in Mueller’s state-of-the-art Network Operations Center (NOC). The
NOC analyzes all communications and identifies patterns, trends,
and conditions allowing utility engineers to respond in near real-time
and adjust remotely when required.
“We are able to serve our city and community much better than before.
In a year, we saw our fire hydrant maintenance jump over 800 hours
that we never were able to do; we had an extra 500 hours for sanitary
sewer maintenance that was also unprecedented. Overall, our system
maintenance has really improved. There have been less sewer plugs
and claims against the city, and more time for replacing fire hydrants
to safeguard our residents.” Hirschman concluded.
Norfolk County has a few communities that are fed from well sites via
single feed transmission mains, so when a pipe fails or needs repair,
the community feels the impact of water stoppages. This lack of redundancy
in the distribution system, coupled with aging infrastructure led
the county to implement a condition assessment of its watermains
using Echologics® ePulse technology.
For this project, Echologics tested approximately 6.9km (4.3 miles)
of the ductile iron transmission main running primarily along Front
Road. Norfolk selected this section of pipe due to its lack of redundancy
and previous break history. After a 12-day assessment period, ePulse
results indicated that 12 of the 54 segments were in poor condition
with an average wall thickness loss greater than 30%. 30 segments
appeared to be in moderate condition with 10% to 30% loss in original
wall thickness. 11 segments appeared to be in good condition with
less than a 10% loss in original wall thickness.
Based on the results collected by the Echologics field team, a customized
renewal decision tree along with budgetary cost estimates of some
renewal options was developed. Incorporating ePulse inspection results,
the decision tree was based on the three condition categories: good,
moderate, and poor.
“We are pleased that the project provided the data we required to
prioritize and make an informed schedule for replacement based on
the watermain’s remaining wall thickness. Furthermore, the cost of
the assessment was considered minor as it provided Norfolk County
with the required data to prioritize the replacement of our transmission
main network over the 10-year capital plan. Based on a ‘worst first’
replacement schedule, we were able to align the timing with our required
financial planning,” said Jeff Demeulemeester, CET, Project Manager
– for Norfolk County.
Copyright © 2020 Mueller Water Products, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mueller refers to one or more of Mueller Water Products, Inc., a
Delaware corporation (“MWP”), and its subsidiaries. MWP and each
of subsidiaries are legally separate and independent entities when
providing products and services. MWP does not provide products or
services to third parties. MWP and each of its subsidiaries are liable
only for their own acts and omissions and not those of each other.
MWP brands include Mueller
Echologics,
Hydro Gate,
Hydro-Guard,
Jones,
Krausz,
Mi.Net,
Milliken,
Pratt,
Pratt Industrial,
Singer,
and U.S. Pipe Valve & Hydrant. Please see www.muellerwp.com/brands to learn more.
