Back to school for Detectronic

PRESS RELEASE

11th April 2018

Monitoring to support innovative drain water heat recovery project

Flood and pollution prevention specialists, Detectronic, are supporting a collaborative project – Dŵr Uisce – between Bangor University in Wales and Trinity College Dublin in Ireland that aims to improve the energy efficiency of the distribution of water resources in both countries.

Dŵr Uisce is focused on developing and demonstrating integrated, smart and low carbon technology and includes hydropower, energy recovery, drain water heat recovery and smart network control systems.

Explains Phill Tuxford, technical support manager for Detectronic: “The part of the project we’re involved with is drain water heat recovery at Penrhyn Castle.

“In order to determine the actual potential for heat recovery in this particular area of the network, we need to gather flow and temperature profiles at various locations in and around the site.”

Comments John Gallagher, lecturer at Trinity College Dublin and researcher on Dŵr Uisce project: “We don’t realise the energy that simply goes down the drain through hot water and waste.

“Our project goes beyond most goals of improving efficiency in the water system itself and, thanks to the National Trust, we are working closely together at Penrhyn Castle to determine how much additional potential there is from drain water heat recovery.”

Continues Phill: “To capture the specific data required by John and his team, we have installed one of our MSFM S2U unit monitors. This monitor is highly effective and will provide us with both depth and velocity information from its initial location within the sewer network.

“The project will run until September 2021 and this work is expected to run for the next 12 months and during that time our data analysts will review and process the data received and, in turn, deliver a comprehensive report for John and his team to work with.”

Adds John: “It’s great to have Detectronic on board for our monitoring campaign on site, as working with experts like Phill helps us deliver the heat recovery system sooner rather than later.

“We hope that this is the first of many sites that can deliver drain water heat recovery in Wales, and indeed further afield, and as we move forward the success of this project will be a good template for others wishing to do the same.”

Concludes Phill: “It’s a real privilege for Detectronic to be involved with such an informative and potentially influential project for water companies everywhere – we look forward to seeing the results over the coming months.”

Ends.

About Dŵr Uisce
Dŵr Uisce is a €3.4 million collaborative project between Bangor University in Wales and Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, and is supported by European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation Programme 2014-2020. It follows the successful HydroBPT project funded by the previous Ireland Wales Programme (2007-2013) which focused on examining the potential for hydropower energy recovery in water services.
Website: www.dwr-uisce.eu; Twitter: @Dwr_Uisce.