In Florida, and probably in lots of other areas that face power outages regularly, there are lots of generators on lift stations.

One of the requests we had was for the capability to limit the number of pumps that could run when in generator mode. We incorporated this into the Profiles feature of MultiSmart.

What’s a profile? In MultiSmart, a profile is mainly about setpoints but includes a few other parameters for pump control.

The idea behind setpoint profiles was to make it much easier for a water or wastewater utility to switch between different setpoints at different times or under specific circumstances. There were many requests for changing setpoints at different times automatically, for SCADA control and for operator intervention when on site. In another post we’ll look at spill management using profiles, which is another great use for the function.

Because of the requirement for Generator Profile, or GenSet Profile as it’s known by default in Multismart, we incorporated some pump control functions as well.

• max pumps to run
• max run time
• max off time (usually used for odor control in wastewater, but has other applications)

This allowed a utility to have a 3-pump station where all three pumps could run normally, but under a generator-powered condition they could only run two pumps. It would be just as easy to have a 3-pump station which could normally only run two pumps, but under generator load, only run one pump. MultiSmart simply has a parameter called Max pumps to run which applies to each profile, including the default profile. You simply change the parameter for each profile (or leave it at the default which is “no limit”)

We also setup this profile so that by default the setpoints were a lot lower in the well, but this is easily changed through the setpoints menu.

Changing setpoints on MultiSmart

How do you switch to this profile?

Generally profiles can be switched by:

• Digital input
• SCADA control
• Date/time (there are 4 timers for each profile)
• Operator interface
• Customer logic, e.g. from the PLC extension to MultiSmart

So in the case of GenSet Profile you would probably configure it to become active when the Generator Transfer switch activated.

By the way there are 6 profiles in MultiSmart. Two of them are labelled up already: spill management and genset. However, if you wanted to use profiles and didn’t these you can change them –  any profile can be renamed and configured exactly how you want it.

Can the setpoints be changed via SCADA?

Yes, as well as switching profile via SCADA, all of the setpoints for each profile can be read and written to by a SCADA system.

How do you configure ”Max pumps to run” in a profile & when a Profile will be selected?

Because it’s a relatively advanced feature, not surprisingly it is under the “Advanced” menu. 

Locating the Advanced screen in MultiSmart

 Press Settings – Advanced and expand out Pump Control to select Profiles. Then you select the profile you want to configure and all the options are in there, including the pump control options, selecting a Digital Input on which to make it active or choosing timers.

In another post I’ll look at the Spill Management Profile.

admin In the well generator, genset, profiles, setpoints