HOTELS AND REAL ESTATE
Through the deployment of Automatic Tank Gauge, Level Switches, some engineering parts and crafting a fuel/fluid management solution, Smartflow blocks off leakages and optimizes the fuelling process for high performance.
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BOURDILLON TOWERS AUTOMATED LEVEL & PUMP CONTROL FOR GENERATOR FUELING
The Nigerian commercial capital of Lagos has experienced a remarkable resurgence in its real estate industry in recent times and this has led to a surge in the development of high-end architectural masterpieces. No. 4 Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos, was conceived to be the largest residential building in Lagos and in the top twenty (20) tallest structures in the country.
With the challenge of developing such an unprecedented structure also comes the challenge of ensuring efficient and uninterrupted power supply to the facility. Of course, there had to be multiple generators with standby units but the even more pertinent challenge was how a system could be put in place to ensure automatic and seamless supply of diesel fuel for these generators to continually operate.
There was quite a unique tank setup at 4 Bourdillon with two (2) underground bulk storage tanks and two (2) day tanks serving diesel to the generators. The underlying principle behind this setup was to achieve interchangeability and to mitigate redundancies, i.e. any bulk tank could feed fuel into any day tank and likewise, any day tank could serve as the fuel source for any generator.
The client essentially had two (2) requirements that they approached Smartflow to solve. The first was a means of automating the fueling setup on this site with the primary aim of ensuring that diesel can seamlessly move from the underground bulk storage tanks to the day tanks and then to the generator without requiring any form of manual intervention from an operator. The second requirement was a means of monitoring the precise fuel volume in each of the tanks both physically and remotely on a cloud platform.
To achieve the first requirement, we utilized NIVOPOINT level switches on each of the four (4) tanks, all of which were connected to a central control panel which was responsible for actuating the pumping units, solenoid valves and alarms based on the respective tank levels. Besides this, the control logic we implemented also ensured to provide protection to the respective pumping units from running dry in instances of very low fuel volume in any particular tank.
For the second requirement, we offered the client an Automatic Tank Gauging (ATG) solution with two (2) NIVOTRACK magnetostrictive transmitters on the underground bulk tanks and two (2) EASYTREK ultrasonic transmitters on the day tanks. All these sensors were linked to a central MULTICONT console which displayed the respective tank levels.
Our installations on this site have been functioning consistently for over a year now. The facility was officially commissioned for residential use towards the end of 2019 and all the feedback Smartflow has received from the client has been all but positive. This project implementation was particularly unique and unprecedented for Smartflow due to the complexities in control that it required but it was also a big accomplishment that we could execute the project from start to finish utilizing products from Nivelco that we have grown to trust and rely on over the years. It is a worthy partnership that we at Smartflow hope continues for a long time.