Blocked Sewer Alarm System Installed in Car Park of Office Block

Encapsulation the Route to Low TOTEX for Water & Wastewater Industry Telemetry / IoT

28/05/2018

Without a doubt operating within a sewer is one of the harshest and most demanding locations on the planet for any monitoring / telemetry device with a constant almost 100% humidity level, the presence of corrosive gasses and the constant risk of flooding.

After over 8-years service and with thousands of installations and circa 50-million manhours of service around the globe, the BDT (Bulk Dielectric Transducer) and FDT (Flow Detection Transducer) have evidenced a virtually zero  failure rate due to moisture ingress and/or corrosion thanks to our 100% encapsulation policy.

Our experience over the past 30-years in such deployments has constantly shown that in spite of manufactures claiming that an IP68 enclosure is adequate it is not when it comes to molecular osmosis will eventually drive vapour / gas molecules through plastics and pours in castings, cable glands and cables. These gases and vapours eventually collect and condense and set off electrolytic corrosion and ultimately failure of the product.

Unless you plan to fit pressure equalisation vents and change desiccants regularly evidence has shown that IP68 means nothing aside from disappointment and failure.

Hence we believe in encapsulation – and that’s everything from the sensor, switches, LED’s, radios and the electronics. A bit of a challenge if you have a SIM card, and that’s one of the reasons why we don’t use any!

In summary, if you want low TOTEX, you must be able to fit and forget and this calls for 100% encapsulation – we do it so why not others?  It may cost more up front and yes you will have to throw the items away at the end of life and as a manufacture get your design right, however this is more cost effective that visiting each device annually or replacing them every couple of years due to failure.

RDN Press Office