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Spring, the water sector innovation acceleration hub, has launched a competition to attract multi-sector input focusing on how to monitor the condition of pumps and valves used in the treatment and supply of water.
Together with Innovate UK KTN, the organisation will bring innovators together to develop new solutions for companies to monitor the health of electro-mechanical assets and predict where faults may occur.
The challenge is linked to the ambition to deliver resilient infrastructure systems that adapt to future challenges, as set out in the sector’s 2050 Water Innovation Strategy. The resilience of pumps and valves will be an essential component of maintaining critical water infrastructure that relies on these and other electro-mechanical assets.
David Butler, professor of water engineering at University of Exeter, is co-leading Spring’s delivering resilient infrastructure theme. He said: “A key goal of the water sector is to strengthen the resilience of its infrastructure, particularly to exogenous shocks.
“An essential part of achieving this is to enable the timely monitoring, collection and analysis of performance and condition data to locate and diagnose faults. The key challenge is how to then use that data to predict when and where faults may occur under a variety of operating conditions. This challenge seeks to draw from solutions developed in other sectors which have similar issues to address.”
Through the competition, Spring and Innovate UK KTN hope to see innovations that can provide near real-time condition monitoring and predict asset failure such as entries utilising advanced sensors, data-led systems, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Carly Perry, managing director of Spring, said the platform would give innovators the chance to showcase their work to the sector and added: “Innovations which work in the UK and Ireland are also likely to be applicable to international markets, as utilities across the globe are experiencing similar issues.”
The challenge is now open for entries until 14 November. To apply, click here.
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