Investigation of integrated waterlevel sensor solution forsubmersible pumps : A study of how sensors can be combined towithstand build-up materials and improvereliability in harsh environment

Sammanfattning: Monitoring water level in harsh environment in order to handle the start and stop function of drainage pumps has been a major issue. Several environmental factors are present, which affect and disturb sensor measurements. Current solutions with mechanical float switches, mounted outside of pumps, wear out, get entangled and account for more than half of all the emergency call outs to pumping stations. Since pumps are frequently moved around, a new sensor solution is needed which can be integrated within the pump house and is able to continuously monitor water level to optimize the operation of the pump and to decrease wear, cost and energy consumption. This thesis presents an investigation how different sensor techniques can be combined to improve reliability for monitoring water level and handle the start and stop function of drainage pumps in harsh environment. The main focus has been to identify suitable water level sensing techniques and to investigate how sensors are affected by build-up materials building up on the pump surface and covering the sensor probes. A support vector machine algorithm is implemented to fuse sensor data in order to increase reliability of the sensor solution in contaminated condition. Results show that a combination of a pressure sensor and a capacitive sensor is the most suitable combination for withstanding build-up materials. For operating conditions when sensors are covered with soft or viscous build-ups, sensors were able to monitor water level through the build-up materials. No solution was found that could satisfactorily monitor water level through solidified build-up materials.