With their pioneer solutions for the water pumps and various segments under them. Gaurav Mathur, Associate Vice President – Sales Development (Building Services) Grundfos India talks about the digital transformation in their products…
Tell us about Grundfos.
Grundfos is a leader in pump technology and a trendsetter in water treatment equipment. We are a Danish company. Grundfos India is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Grundfos Denmark. We manufacture pumps for various segments like domestic buildings, commercial buildings, industries and water utilities. We started our India operations in 1998 by setting up an office here. Previously, we were handling the Indian market through our Dubai office. Our factory in Chennai is a platinum rated green building. We live by our work values and ensure that we reduce our footprint in everything we do. This is not just about having an efficient and sustainable pump, it is about our manufacturing and ensuring that we do it in a sustainable way.
What are your views about the HVACR industry?
I see a lot of development happening in the Indian HVAC industry in terms of energy efficiency. There are data driven technologies that analyze the entire system instead of individual systems and products. I see that a lot of change is happening through the insights derived from this data. With the India Cooling Action Plan, the government has worked towards ensuring that buildings are more energy efficient.
Considering that air conditioners consume 40 per cent of the energy, it is definitely a major focus area.
What role does the digital transformation is taking place in the HVACR industry?
A decade ago, everybody wanted the most efficient pump. At Grundfos, we focused on how to manufacture the most efficient pump. Then the adaptive component was introduced. Pumps became adaptive. Then controls came into the picture. Now, we are looking at it from a system level where different systems can talk to each other and work optimally to improve overall system efficiency. The focus of digitization for us is that we provide products and solutions which can communicate with each other and provide predictive maintenance along with optimization.
There is a mention about this predictive maintenance. So when you are applying this digital technology in your products, it not only gives us present data and the present action plan, it predicts the future also…
Let me explain in the context of an air conditioning chilled water plant. Data from different sensors are being recorded. You can set a limit, performance data is continuously recorded and monitored, under normal performance these are the limits between which when the readings are coming. Limit exceeded is a monitoring function monitoring one or two values/inputs. The function enables different inputs to activate various outputs and alarms/ warnings when the signal input has exceeded predetermined limits.
Are the standard parameters set?
Yes, if any set limits are crossed, an alarm will be raised. Once you set up the lower and upper limit, you can set up an alarm if something crosses that limit. That is one way of looking at it. The other way is that the system can monitor the trend. Grundfos is working towards analysing trends and predict, for example on the basis of the Bearing monitoring of the motor.
Bearing monitoring is a built-in function indicating the time to relubricate or replace the bearings of the Grundfos MGE motor (Threephase, asynchronous squirrel-cage induction motors with integrated frequency converter and controller). The relubrication feature is only available for three-phase pumps of 11-22 kW.
Any rotordynamic equipment will provide this indication through its vibrations or noise. The health of the system and working conditions could be assessed through these vibrations. If there is an abnormality, we will be able to predict a fault. Even though you might not be able to visually see if there is a bearing that is going to fail, there might be issues internally. Sensors can observe this at a minute level.
What are the major products in which you have applied this digital transformation or is it in all the products?
We have a digital solution called iSOLUTIONS. iSOLUTIONS is basically an intelligent solution that brings intelligence to the product across spectrum. Since we are a part of the HVACR industry, our products with iSOLUTIONS are available for air conditioning systems. We also have solutions for other applications. For example, one of our solutions presented here is a circulator pump with a permanent magnet synchronous motor and an efficiency class of IE5. IE5 is the highest possible efficiency available in motors. Our energy efficiency index is the lowest available in any circulator.
With an Energy Efficiency Index (EEI) well below the EuP benchmark level, it enables energy savings up to 75 per cent, compared to a typical fixed speed circulator pump. The pump responds to the information provided by the sensors and adapts according to changes in the load.
It is able to adapt itself to changing conditions.
The technology that you can see here is available in the stored circulator and is also available in our skid mounted systems. The motor that you can see here is an IE5 motor with an inbuilt controller. The two pumps (up to 4 pumps) you can see here can communicate with each other wirelessly. This is the kind of intelligence that I was talking about. Since there are a lot of physical components, we have tried to make it as compact as possible. If our skid mounted systems are replaced with a traditional system, there would have been a much bigger panel with inbuilt switchgears and control wiring between the pump. We have tried to prefabricate this component to make it compact.
How much has this digital transformation added to your profit earnings or product selling in the market?
Innovation is one of Grundfos’ core values. We invest 4-5 per cent of our sales revenue in research and development. This is very unique for a pump company.
We believe that our solutions must be innovative and energy efficient enough to be put out in the market. Digitization helps us get the leadership position in the market. With these kinds of solutions, we are able to bring value to the customer. It improves the efficiency and also adds value in terms of reducing overall lifecycle cost for the customer. Our customers are ready to pray a premium about as they are able to save in the long run, have access to superior technology that simplifies the system and provide data. As long as you can add value, customers get so much more the premium.
What are the other features you are looking to improve upon or to win the major market share?
Currently, digitalization is critical for us. We are also looking at exploring productive maintenance and are exploring new manufacturing technologies for our solutions. We are working towards improving digitalization in our factory so that we manufacture our solutions in the most efficient manner. We are also connecting with our customers through digital interactions. If you see, this is a virtual reality stall. Customers can explore this space in a more advanced manner. I can take them through my entire factory process with the help of VR.
We are also exploring augmented reality solutions. When a service engineer goes to a site, he has more information available to him real time with the help of the various gadgets.
Additionally, we are looking at the business model as energy saving as a service and the tool to register service request as Smartserv App.
This means that we are not just looking at digitalization for our products but also for our services.
What are the main products you displayed at Acrex 2020?
Our circulator pumps are our main focus. We have the circulator with the inbuilt iSOLUTIONS technology, with a IE 5 motor and inbuilt sensor. The first solution in the stall is our TPE3 range of pumps with an inbuilt temperature and differential pressure sensor. Another solution is the Magna/UPE circulator with an energy efficiency index of 0.17 which is lowest in the world. We have also displayed our iSOLUTIONS in a compact skid mounted system.
Another unique thing you can notice here is the black colour of the pipes here. This is not normal paint. We use a CED (Cathodic Electrodeposition) paint. As you would have seen in car bodies, it is an electrolysis process. The black color is a Zinc Phosphate coating. Even if it is rubbed with a sharp object, the paint will not go away as it has an ionic bod. This is what makes our systems unique. With a normal paint, there could be corrosion once the paint wears off. Along with this, iSOLUTIONS will be able to improve the reliability and longevity of the solution.
In the area behind this, we have presented our digital controllers. They are used in our solar solutions and for pressure boosting and water transportation applications. Instead of additional big analogue control panels, we have made it digital and compact. This quickens the speed of reaction and has much more protection when compared to an analogue system.
In the screen next to you, we are resenting our systems approach. Grundfos has been supplying variable speed primary chilled water pumping systems. During installation of a variable primary system, there needs to be an interaction with the chiller plant manager or a BMS.
It takes a lot of time to correct and do the commissioning. We have developed system where we do the variable primary chilled water controls, ensure optimization and manage the entire system. We do not just look at the efficiency of the pump but look at the system CoP.
What are your expectations?
We are ahead of the market in terms of technology and our solutions. We bring about a paradigm shift in the way we do things.