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Frequently Asked Questions on UV disinfection technology by Siemens Water Technologies |
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1. What
has Siemens Water Technologies to offer on
UV?
2. What should a good UV unit
consist of?
3. How can you advise us adequately
which unit we should use and with what options from
the wide selection?
4. In which market segments
can we offer the UV products?
5. What can we tell the market
as to why we now make own UV products?
6. To what norms / certification
do the UV products conform?
7. What can we expect from the
disinfection performance of the units?
8. Are the units DVGW or O-norm
approved?
9. What price advantage do the
two UV ranges offer the market?
10.What is the dose you would recommend
us to use?
11.What is transmission and how does
it affect the performance?
12.What support can we, from sales,
expect?
13.What do we, as UV competence centre,
expect from you?
14.What will the future bring us
in UV?
1. What has Siemens Water Technologies to offer on UV?
Answer: Wallace & Tiernan GmbH is part of
Siemens Water Technologies. Being
on the market for more than 80 years we take the water
business extremely serious. In the past 25 years we
have been recognised by the market as market leader
for disinfection technology by means of chlorine technology.
In the past fifteen years the Green Wave has opened
up opportunities for non chemical, environmental friendly
solutions. UV disinfection has been one of the products
that has profited from this trend. Unfortunately the
UV technology has not always offered user friendly,
reliable solutions to clients. With the many years
of experience in promoting an other end-user manufacturing
(oem) UV product we have decided to bundle all this
positive but also negative experience into a new range
of UV products. Key issues in the new concept are:
reliable, use friendly, well engineered disinfection
solutions with a keen focus on low running costs.
2. What should
a good UV unit consist of?
Answer: A good disinfection unit should be
a reliable piece of equipment, easy to operate, easy
to service, low operational costs. Quality in all
its disciplines. Within the total quality concept
we also identify:
. A good quality manual with trouble shooters and
a spare part identification system.
. Service to be carried out by own personnel knowing
that they have much more to do than to maintain the
UV unit. Therefore service should be simple and intuitive
. The operator should be able to handle and drive
the unit without any specific knowledge and should
be able to adjust the unit on changed parameters fast.
. The unit should be able to react flexible. In these
applications were the process conditions can change
the UV unit should be able to follow these instantly
and automatically without interference of the operator.
Composition of water, status of possible filters,
fouling of the sleeves, ageing of the lamps are all
variables that change the dose distribution a UV unit
offers the passing water. Acting on these changed
parameters is of the utmost importance.
. High Quality components should be used: from the
last screw up to the specially developed electronic
components. After all: the weakest part in the chain
decides the strength of the chain.
3. How can you advise us adequately which unit we should use and with what options from the wide selection?
Answer: We have set up a UV knowledge program consisting of following
tools:
. Siemens Water Technologies is developing a special UV
selection software program were all variables that play a
role in the selection are taken into consideration. With this
instrument the best suitable unit can be selected easily.
. All commercial people and technical people will receive
training to get more comfortable with the products.
. The Wallace & Tiernan UV competence centre in Holland will remain at your disposal for any advice, commercially or
technically to assist you. Databases have been set up were
we store all articles, case studies, fact files or any other
document which is UV related.
4. In which market segments can we offer the UV products?
Answer The market for UV products is very divers. UV applications can be
found in disinfection of drinking water, process water, cooling
water, wash water, cleaning water, transport water or waste water.
These applications are found in food industry, dairy industry,
beverage industry, hospitals, electronic industry, pharma and
cosmetic industry, fish hatchery and the fish processing industry,
paper industry, offshore and naval industry, drinking and waste
water treatment, automobile industry and greenhouses. And these
are only the main segments! The products will be available
throughout Europe.
5. What can we tell the market as to why we now make own UV
products?
Answer: In the past 5 years we have gained a lot of experience with
marketing and promoting UV. Unfortunately we were not able to
always deliver the quality as you could normally expect from us.
With the former oem supplier of the products we have had many,
many discussions on the actual product improvement, which did
not result in product improvements that we needed to satisfy the
market. After long and careful evaluation we have decided to
develop the products in house. With the experience of the former
oem products we were able to built a better product.
6. To what norms / certification do the UV products conform?
Answer: The product will meet the highest quality standards possible:
. CE certification on the product range
. The products are EMC certified to avoid interference from
the units on other equipment
. In house material certificated on the stainless steel housing
or the polishing of the units can be made available on
specific request of the client
. ISO 9001 procedures are followed throughout the
developing and manufacturing of the products to maintain a
stable quality
7. What can we expect from the disinfection performance of the
units?
Answer: The performance off all the units in the UV range have been
developed to give a guaranteed dose performance. We have
looked into matters such as hydrodynamics, dose distribution, flow behaviour, fouling, operational variables we can expect. Together
with Anjou Recherche, one of the leading institutes of the world
and recognised as Vivendi's technology centre we have optimised
the performance of the unit. A 3D calculation program has been
developed with 350 million calculation points to check the actual
dose performance of each models. A Pentium 2.0 processor needs
its full capacity over a period of 27 hours to finalise the full
calculation of one unit. We use more calculations than the total
NASA control centre made to send and monitor the first APPOLO
rockets on its way to the moon. The methology used is accepted
by world's leading institutes such as DVGW, O-norm follow.
8. Are the units DVGW or O-norm approved?
Answer: Not from the beginning. Although contact has been made with this
institute than approves UV technology to be used in German
drinking water we do not have certification for the models. Our plan
of approach is to install a first unit at their field laboratory plant
before the end of the year. This should result in the first
certification in 2004. Certification is an essential part that we
should not neglect but it simply takes time and money to obtain
these.
9. What price advantage do the two UV ranges offer the market?
Answer: In our philosophy price is not only the investment price but also the
operational costs. In other words: the total costs per m3/hr of
treated water over a period of 10 years; investment, built in costs,
head loss, service and maintenance, power consumption and
spare part components needed. The units have been developed to
minimise these costs:
. built in costs are low since the unit can be placed in a
straight pipe without any curves or bends needed. Often the
built in costs are much higher than the actual price of the
unit; especially for the smaller systems.
. Head loss is kept to an absolute minimum since we do not
have to pump the water through U-curves, bends or any
other energy consuming parts. Often installing a
conventional UV unit means that one has to adjust the
pump too since the capacity has become too small.
. All products need to be maintained and serviced. This can
be done swiftly with an absolute minimum of time and
knowledge needed. Service friendly and operator friendly.
. The Barrier M range runs on lamps which consume a higher
power consumption. We have a disinfection control program
developed which optimises the use of this energy and at the
same time stretches out the lamp life.
With all these points considered we feel ourselves comfortable in
defending this price quality concept to any other quality product
available in the market. Disinfection is something we take serious
and we do not believe that focussing on having the lowest
investment price will contribute in offering a reliable and easy to
operate system.
10. What is the dose you would recommend us to use?
Answer: Dose is the actual amount of energy we give to each water
particle. Insufficient dose leads to an incomplete disinfection. The
German institute DVGW, which is recognised throughout Europe
advises a dose level of 400 J/m2. We have accepted this advise
and standard offer at this dose level. It is important that we explain
clients that this variable affects the price heavily. Many competitors
still offer a dose level of400 : 250 = 1.6 to their clients which brings out a
price advantage. Having 400 : 250 = 1.6 times lesser UV dose
offered one can offer a much smaller system with a more
economical price. Although there are situations imaginable were
250 J/m2 would be sufficient we only recommend this if the client
feels that this is sufficient for him. Getting an order is an noble
objective but getting an order by under sizing a model will lead to
problems and loss of reputation. Obviously the 400 J/m2 we offer
is based at the end of lamp life, 9000 hours and based as average
in the UV chamber.
11. What is transmission and how does it affect the performance?
Answer: Transmission is the actual penetration for UV-C light for the
medium we will disinfect. Per definition demineralised water has a
transmission of 100%. The more obstacles in the chamber that
absorb the UV light encounters on its way to the micro organism
the lesser the transmission will be. These " obstacles" are: colour,
organics and an organic material. In order to bring out an offer with
a guaranteed disinfection performance the transmission needs to
be determined. This can be done at the stage of the budget offer or
at the final offer stage but always before the order is placed. By
means of a spectrophotometer an analysis can be made and the
transmission can be determined at a wavelength of 253,7 nm. A
representative water sample of at least 50ml needs to be taken
and analysed. The client must be made aware that very often
offers are made based on too optimistic assumptions from
competition who can then offer a cheaper but heavily undersized
UV system. Siemens Water Technologies offers no costs whatsoever
for the analysis of the water to determine its transmission.
12. What support can we, from sales, expect?
Answer:
. Training and education
. A continuous process to optimise the products and to
continue to develop to stay ahead of the market
. Information and support needed to bring out an offer or to
enter any discussion with great confidence
. A website were we will make information available
. Databases with information on competition, articles and
terminology
. Exhibition support
. Good documentation such as leaflets, datasheets, case
studies and sales support documents
13. What do we, as UV competence centre, expect from you?
Answer: First of all: a fresh start were you give us your confidence. Many of
you have been involved in selling the previous generation of UV
products and we know that it was not always a big success ( to put it mildly here) The UV market is growing very fast and will continue
to grow. It is imperative that we establish a firm foothold here and
expand this in the coming years. More than before we want to give
you the feeling that you are not alone; we are a team. With the
good contacts you all have and trust in the product we will
establish the goals and hope to gain the same position as we now
have in the many other products we promote. At the same time we
can only gain this position if we get feedback from you. Feedback
on competition products, prices and arguments, ideas,
suggestions, comments, articles. Whatever language whatever
info: if it is about UV please send it to us by fax, post or mail. The
more we know the stronger we become.
14. What will the future bring us in UV?
Answer: In the past period we have developed
new products but based on existing technology. We
have clear ideas how we can innovate our products
and offer new, even more exciting concepts for the
years to come. Needless to say that whatever suggestion
you might have on existing or new products would be
welcomed.
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