TF-284S Smart Staff Water Level & Sediment Profiler

With multi-layered-paired sensors at equal intervals on a Smart Staff, this real-time, accurate, multi-functional water/sediment level profiler provides precise electrical conductivity (EC) measurements for differential calculation to identify real-time and time series air-water interface (level) and water-sediment interface (riverbed or sludge). The Smart Staff provides fouling free, lagging free and maintenance free full depth measurement of the water body.

The Smart Staff can be installed on the sidewall of a water channel directly or inside an anchored “C” section steel. The smooth surface has no moving elements and the alternative currents through the paired electrodes neutralize particles within the path between each paired electrodes resulting no deposit on the surface.

		Multi-layer EC sensing Smart Staff (TF-284S)   Provides precise conductivities signals of multi-layered electrodes with equal interval for differential calculation to identify air-water interface (water level) and water-soil interface (sediment, sludge or riverbed) as physical position values. ‧ Measuring span: 156cm per staff, may be cascaded to 7.80m ‧ Resolution : 1cm for water level; 2cm for sediment ‧ Accuracy : +/- 1cm for water level and 4cm for sediment ‧ Power supply: DC 3.6~6V from converter ‧ Power consumption : 1 mA ‧ Dimension : 157.8cm (L)x 67/86mm(W) x 28mm (H) ‧ Sensing node material : SUS304/316 ‧ Housing Material：PC+ABS
		Smart Converter (T284MB-S5D)   Quickly scan and read digital signals from each pair of electrodes on the Smart Staff and then converting with differential calculation to provide real-time accurate profiling of air-water interface (water level) and water-sediment interface (sludge, sediment or riverbed) as physical positioning. ‧ Input: 2xTF-284S, 78 nodes on 312cm staff ‧ Output values: Level and Sediment(river bed) ‧ Protocol: RS-485/ModBus at 9600bps ‧ Resolution : 1cm for Level; 2cm for sediment ‧ Accuracy : +/- 1cm for level and 4cm for sediment ‧ Power supply: DC 6~15V ‧ Power consumption : 5~10 mA, ‧ Dimension : 165mm(L)x 85mm(W) x 55mm(H)
		Smart Receiver (TW-347K)   ModBus Requests T284MB Converter to get Level and Sediment values, output data string to a Logger or a SCADA system. ‧ Input: max. Scan 4 converters T284MB ‧ Output: Level and Sediment with ID ‧ Protocol: RS-232 at 9600bps ‧ Display: 6-digits LCD in 10mm height ‧ Power supply: DC 6~15V ‧ Power consumption: 5~10 mA, ‧ Dimension : 118mm(L) x 72mm(W) x 26mm(H)
		APPC 0840T Panel PC/Monitor   8” TFT SVGA 4:3 Flush Panel PC with Intel Atom® E3826, 1.46GHz,Touch Screen, 2GB DDR3L, 4x USB, 2x COM and VGA. ‧ 4:3 8” SVGA fanless panel computer ‧ Intel Atom® E3826, Dual Core, low power consumption CPU ‧ Flush panel by 5-wire touch screen ‧ Dual GbE/2nd display-VGA/2x RS232/422/485/Line-out ‧ 3 x USB 2.0/1 x USB 3.0/1 x mini-PCIe socket/1 x CFast ‧ Remote power switch ‧ DDR3L 2GB/2.5” HDD bracket ‧ IP65 compliant front panel ‧ Support fieldbus module ‧ Mounting support: Panel/Wall/Stand/VESA 75mm x 75mm ‧ Wide range power input 12~30VDC   * Specifications detailed in the web link below the Link

Measuring principle:

The sensing principle is that electrical conductivity (EC) varies depending on the characteristics of the media based on its ability of electricity conducting.

Based on the proprietary simultaneous digital sensing technology, TF-284S Smart Staff processes EC values from layers of electrodes on the Smart Staff and interprets for these data to provide real-time EC profiling of the water body.  As EC values in water and sediment (sludge/sand) are significantly different, the inversion point of the vertical EC profile represents the interface of water/sediment level. The innovative design of multi-layered electrode pairs and build-in smart converter, the Smart Staff provides real-time accurate EC measuring at an interval of 2cm or 4cm depending on application. The Smart Staff collect and process digital EC signals from electrodes then transmit it to a Smart Converter in batch for secured data transferring and energy saving operation. EC data can be transmitted to the Host computer/SCADA at the monitoring station and alternatively with an on-site display and/or cloud application. Site engineer may perform prompt process adjustment based on the real-time profiling displayed onsite.

Problems of errors of conventional sensors such as temperature drift of signal conversion and noise effects. Although temperature affects EC values measured but it were compensated during the calculation of EC signals received. Based on the digital synchronizing sensing platform technology, TF-284S can clearly identify the interface of air/water and water/sediment/sludge sand or riverbed based on the measurement at 0.1% high-precision multi-layer conductivity.

TF-284S is free of zeroing and calibration because it uses direct digital sensing to avoid errors resulting from analog signal conversion that commonly used by conventional monitoring instruments.

Results from lab test and site pilot study demonstrated its capability of profiling water level and the interface of water/sediment or riverbed whist time series profiling at a certain depth is also achievable.

Contact information:
roychuang@nexcom.com.tw