The contracts for the first three emergency retrofits have made it to the RTU vendor, and we have advised them of the specific requirements for these stations. It is now up to the RTU vendor to deliver us a sub-panel to take the next step. We are anticipating all can be completed in the next 60-90 days on these 3 stations.

There has been some action in other areas as well. The program modifications for several of the booster pump stations (an add-on project) are complete, but awaiting some rain for us to get some operation of the stations - this has drug on several months now. We have notified those interested in witness testing that we have to be prepared to do this work on a 7x24 basis - we have several cell numbers we can notify people by after hour now.

Recall there were 4 emergency station retrofit requisitions in process - these are to retrofit stations where the existing RTU controller has failed resulting in impairment of the pumping ability of the stations. You'll also recall no spare parts or repairs are available for existing RTUs, hence the emergency.

Three of these four requests submitted from June to November 2008 have now made it back to us as requisitions. Of course, this requires the City supply us an RTU on another contract, which have not yet made it to that vendor....

We've reviewed in the last few weeks a product from a major electrical manufacturer equivalent to a very small PLC. These are generally referred to in the market as programmable relays. In fact, they are about the size of an old-style industrial control relay.

The unit we reviewed, available to us for under $100, had 8 DI or 4DI and 4 AI (voltage or ma) user selectable, 4 relay DO rated 10A, and a small integral LCD display with keys to allow monitoring of I/O and basic register setpoint changes. The software is powerful enough to implement most all the traditional small PLC functions in both function block and ladder.

The I/O can be expanded on this unit to 24DI, 16DO, 8AI and 2 AO, and there is an optional LCD display that can be remotely door mounted with function keys, which is integrally programmed with the programmable control software.

Even though most engineering firms have been specifying control systems around open communications and hardware platforms for a decade or more, we are still seeing numerous specifications for old-style proprietary hardware and software. Examples include dedicated custom PCBs to implement liquid level controllers, motor monitoring or single loop motor control replete with LEDs, push button switches, 7 segment and simple LCD displays. Mostly this is the game of "specsmanship" played in this industry - come up with a unique way of solving the problem that no one else can exactly replicate and get it written into as many specifications as possible. This continues to work with certain engineers who rely on these vendors to write the controls portions of their specifications. The rea...Read More

While a lot of the economy is in rough shape, seems that utilities is holding it's own. After all, people are still turning on the lights, using water and flushing their toilets. Vendors we serve who are focused on these markets have remarked in recent visits how some of their big vendors, once aloof to them due to their relative size, have now placed them on center stage. New alliances are being formed by some in our industry, tending to remap customers allegiances for us all. A generally good situation for those of us with a good reputation and a low cost structure.

Remember Hurricane Katrina? It wiped out much of the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coastlines in September 2005. Most capital spending stopped for a year after this event. Municipalities were too busy just patching things back together enough to manually operate their systems. State and federal environmental quality agencies granted emergency exemptions to standards. Engineering firms and other like us focusing on this market braced for a dry spell.

We just completed our first project funded by FEMA hurricane relief dollars, begun at the beginning of 2008 and have recently started on another due to be complete by 2010.

Evidence indicates private industry works a little differently. The casinos on the beach in Mississippi got their operati...Read More