TAKING CONTROL WITH THE TITAN
N2P are big on innovation. It’s how they’ve solved pump problems all over the world, and how they continue to develop and refine fit-for-purpose solutions across a range of industries.
One such example is the Titan pump controller, an easy-to-use, ultra-durable controller that offers total flexibility for any pump application.
The Titan was developed in partnership between N2P’s managing director, Niki Johnstone, and Peter Carroll who is now the managing director of water reticulation specialist company, Aquate.
Peter explains that the Titan pump controller was initially developed for a large housing development in Riverhead on a low-pressure system. “Like many intensive housing development sites, the Riverhead homes don’t have the fall necessary to allow waste and storm water to drain by gravity.
“So every house in the Riverhead development required a pump station which connects to a combined pressure main rather than a gravity system, hence the development of the Titan.
As a universal pump controller, the Titan is very versatile and is also used in commercial pump stations for single and two-pump applications and for either single or three-phase pumps. Some of the innovative key features of the Titan include:
- an LCD alarm panel that shows pump status, active alarms, real-time voltage, current and analogue signal, and allowing for setting of parameters
- water level and current monitoring with pre-set alert levels
- customisation and viewing of operating parameters
- inputs that let you connect multiple floats for greater control over hydraulic design.
DEMAND-BASED SOLUTIONS
Like all of N2P’s solutions, the Titan was developed to meet a demand from those on the front lines in need of a practical solution. “N2P does a great job of then staying involved with those people, listening to their feedback, and continuing to make refinements and modifications to improve and tailor their solutions further to the needs of that specific industry or business,” says Peter. Some of those solutions include:
Sleep function
An irritating alarm issue was the driving force behind the development of the Titan’s innovative ‘sleep function’. Peter explains, “We found that the network in the Riverhead development was getting overloaded at certain times, for example on Saturday mornings when everyone is doing their washing and the water usage goes up considerably.
“When the network is very busy and overloaded, the pressure gets too high which means the pump can’t discharge the water in the chamber and it would stop pumping which would activate a pump alarm. This wasn’t an issue at all for the households in terms of water pressure or drainage, but having the alarm triggered regularly wasn’t ideal, and it meant that often a technician was called about the alarm.
“To solve the issue, we modified the software so that when the system gets overloaded, rather than activating an alarm, the pumps effectively go into hibernation mode for 45 minutes and then wake up and try again. Usually at that time the pressure has dropped and it works perfectly. It’s a very smart piece of technology that has saved a lot of hassle by not having to send out a technician, and more importantly, the homeowners don’t get bothered by alarms.”
Run window
The run window basically allows the pump to run only between certain hours of each day. Its development was driven by the changes in zoning around Auckland that has resulted in multiple residences on one site.
“We’ve done a lot of these pump stations in places like Papatoetoe and Otara where the gravity network is overloaded generally. With the more intensive housing developments we’re now seeing, there are restrictions on when the pump can run – between 11pm and 7am. The run window means we can program the hours of the day when the pump is allowed to turn on”.
Dose flow
Another feature that has been added as standard allows the pump to discharge steadily over 24 hours. “For example, we can set the pump so that it will activate on the hour and run for three minutes then turn off again until the next hour. That way the flow is spread out over that 24-hour period.
“Features like the run window and dose flow are excellent to have incorporated into the controls,” says Peter. “The alternative would be to have an electrician come out and install something like a timer box which would then turn the whole controller off and on which is not really something you want.” This would also cost significantly more.
ALWAYS EVOLVING
As Peter explains, N2P refine their solutions through a process of continuous development. “The Titan has evolved over 8-10 years and now has a number of very smart technology and design features that are unique, as far as I’m aware there is no other universal pump controller quite like it.”
To find out more about the Titan pump, visit N2P Pump Controls today.