The instrumentation firm Nivus has developed a brand new hand-held transportable move monitoring expertise in response to a requirement that was initially recognized by the Setting Company (EA).
In 2018, the EA hydrometry workforce challenged the instrumentation sector to develop a hand-held transportable move monitoring resolution for small rivers and streams. This prompted a improvement programme at Nivus that culminated within the launch of a brand new instrument, the ‘NivuFlow Stick’ which is now used and trusted by regulators, hydrologists, consultants and academia worldwide.
Background
Along with flood danger, the Setting Company’s (EA) obligations additionally embody conservation, ecology, water assets, fisheries, rivers and estuaries. The administration of those obligations is knowledgeable by measurement knowledge, so the Company operates a complete move monitoring programme in England, which incorporates round 1500 buildings, resembling flumes and weirs.
The EA additionally operates a fleet of transportable move monitoring units, that are used on smaller flows, on investigations, and to verify the continuing accuracy of the Company’s steady displays. “Transportable move meters carry out a significant function, however flexibility is vital,” explains Olly Baldwyn, a Senior Advisor within the EA’s Nationwide Hydrometry Crew. “They want to have the ability to measure shallow move situations each at mounted monitoring stations and at different distant places resembling abstraction factors… and that is the place we recognized a niche within the out there expertise.
“In 2018 we have been utilizing floating ADCP devices and transportable single-point velocity meters in our work, however neither of those options was splendid for water between 4cm and 30cm in depth. We subsequently included this in our procurement specs, with the extra requirement to have the ability to take multi-point velocity measurements extra effectively.”
Move monitoring on the EA informs flood warning and forecasting operations, in addition to serving to to handle and shield water assets. This consists of the administration of abstraction licences for consuming water, agriculture and trade, in addition to the safety of water assets for recreation and biodiversity. Move monitoring additionally informs the Company’s work to observe long-term indicators of change in local weather or catchments.
Know-how improvement
Explaining the corporate’s response to the chance, Andy Kenworthy from Nivus says: “We already manufactured mounted steady move monitoring units using ultrasonic cross-correlation expertise, so we targeted on the event of a conveyable model, that might ship the EA’s efficiency necessities in a light-weight, battery-powered instrument.
“A prototype was demonstrated in late 2018 and the primary analysis items have been delivered to the EA early the subsequent 12 months. These devices have been efficiently examined at reference websites, and manufacturing variations of the NivuFlow Stick have been out there quickly thereafter,” Kenworthy provides. “NivuFlow Stick devices are actually employed by the vast majority of the Company’s 23 hydrometry groups, and routinely used within the coaching of recent recruits. In addition to assembly the EA’s efficiency necessities, I do know the NivuFlow Stick is especially helpful in coaching periods as a result of it may possibly join wirelessly with as much as 4 units concurrently – resembling mobiles, tablets and laptops.”
Abstract
The EA issued a problem to your complete instrumentation sector, which ensured that each firm had an equal alternative to develop a expertise that might meet the Company’s efficiency necessities. By responding positively to the problem, Nivus has plugged the expertise hole for the good thing about hydrologists worldwide.
Developed in accordance with the necessities of BS EN ISO 748:2021, the NivuFlow Stick is a straightforward to make use of, hand-held transportable instrument for quick, correct move velocity measurements utilising the ultrasonic cross-correlation measurement precept. In distinction with extra conventional strategies, it concurrently measures water velocities at a number of heights by way of the water column with very excessive decision. An modern design makes the instrument easy to make use of, and signifies that even novice operators are in a position to derive an correct move velocity curve rapidly and simply.
“Within the time that it takes a single-point velocity meter to make a single studying at one peak within the water column, the NivuFlow Stick is in a position calculate a full water depth velocity profile utilizing as much as 16 measurements, which signifies that monitoring work is quicker, safer and extra correct,” explains Andy Kenworthy.
