Pason Assures Real-Time Drilling Data for Customers While Improving Operations

A few years ago, Art Stone, CEO, had an epiphany.  Why not use the Uplink 5500EZ LTE alarm monitoring device for remote monitoring in other use cases and expand the business beyond typical security applications?  Industrial monitoring seemed to be a perfect fit for the 5500 monitoring device.   As a result, three major industrial areas were targeted.

Radio Tower light monitoring

For radio tower monitoring, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal Communication Commission (FCC) regulations require that lights be on all radio towers over 200 feet. These government agencies also mandate that the tower lighting be monitored for failure. Stone Technologies is using the 5500EZ, along with a special board adapted to the device, to monitor the lights turning on and off and transitioning from day operation to night operation. Additionally, Stone Technologies monitors for failures of the lighting circuits and for power failure at the site, which would be a catastrophic loss of the lights.

Emergency Generators

Another use case for remote monitoring with the 5500EZ is for emergency generators providing backup power to the grid.  These generators are often in unmanned sites, and Stone Technologies monitors specific parameters from the grid, activating the generators running transfer switches to provide backup power in the case of a grid power failure.

Water/Wastewater Lift Station Monitoring

Another great use case for the 5500EZ is for water/wastewater stations, where it is used to monitor water levels, tanks and pump functions. With wastewater, Stone monitors the pumping stations to make sure that the sewer water is not overflowing, leaking or otherwise escaping. The same basic monitor inputs on the 5500EZ monitors the sewer lift station. The sewer lift stations transfer the wastewater from lower areas to higher areas, so it can gradually flow down to the processing plant. A failure of a pump to run, or a power failure at an inland wastewater pumping station, could result in an overflow that would spill into an environmentally sensitive area like a creek and then trigger huge fines from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for cleanup. It’s easy to see that the potential losses by not monitoring the wastewater pumping station are enormous. Stone Technologies found that this makes it a pretty easy sell when you consider how much an EPA cleanup can cost. Typical EPA fines range anywhere from $4,000-5,000 and can be as high as $20,000-30,000 depending on how large the spill is. Monitoring sewer lift stations allows checking for high liquid level in the wastewater pumping tank, power fail and operation of the second pump, which normally would not come on unless there was an extreme volume of wastewater coming in or a failure of one of the pumps. When the water level rises higher than it should, a secondary pump turns on to help lower levels. Stone Technologies uses the 5500EZ to monitor secondary pump action, power failures and water levels. If there is an emergency generator on-site, they can monitor from one of the other inputs and confirm that the generators come online.