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July August 2015 Marina World

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The magazine for the marina industry

PUMP-OUT Usage, Repairs

PUMP-OUT Usage, Repairs and Maintenance, operator management: Any marina or marina group that records equipment usage over specific periods of time and maintenance intervals will find remote monitoring displays like these very useful. from sensors to record specific events associated with the equipment, such as number of pump starts and motor operating time. Depending on the sophistication of sensors, software and database, different systems can report information in different formats and may monitor and report how much volume is being pumped with each pump-out; like pulling data such as an SMS text message from a cell phone. This is done in different ways, e.g. from a main database server, which sends an SMS text message asking for stored data, or via a local device programmed automatically to send the information periodically, triggered by an event. This data is sent to the Cloud, stored and manipulated in a database and eventually transmitted to a website. Microsoft offers ‘Microsoft Azure’, a cloud computing platform and infrastructure, for building, deploying and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centres. There are other alternatives to Microsoft Azure but, as with many of their products, this one is certainly a dominant player in that space. The last big step in an IOT remote monitoring system is getting the data to the user via a website or User Interface (UI) graph user interface, where the operator, any service provider or any stakeholder can see the data as it is displayed for various uses. The accompanying images give some examples of what can be seen by way of an IoT remote monitoring user interface. They depict data collected daily or randomly in a system of devices and communication technologies, databases and websites and result in a pretty sophisticated network combing website and interactive application software, database and communications. IoT services and technologies offer today’s marina managers and owners more automation in filed reporting, energy consumption and equipment management and maintenance. The use of monitoring systems like PumpWatcherCloudapp. net on pump-out systems is likely to increase operating efficiencies, lower pump downtimes and provide many management tools for operators and stakeholders alike. Tom Callahan is president of Florida-based EMP Industries, Inc. He can be contacted by email: tom.callahan@empind.net Regulatory and Environmental Reporting: Multiple pump reports like the ones below with customisable history periods are excellent for specific regions to report waste pumped versus dumped, or in cases where equipment leasing companies or grant agencies, such as Clean Vessel Act funds, require pump usage logs. These kinds of multi location reports are also useful for companies that own multiple marinas. www.marinaworld.com - July/August 2015 21

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