Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

In the early millennial era, Armstrong Fluid Technology enjoyed a competitive advantage with their Design Envelope (DE) pump, which represented the industry leading innovation in integrated selection, sizing, design and testing of pumps/motors and drives for optimal efficiency. Combined with Armstrong's innovation in embedded sensorless technology, Armstrong's pumps were easily perceived as the innovation leaders in the market. In recent years, the majority of Armstrong's competitors have introduced newly integrated pump/motor/drive technology, which from a customer's perspective, blurs the distinction between Design Envelope and other pumps. Competitors like Taco, Xylem and KSG have also introduced various forms of internet enabled connections along with diagnostic services to further differentiate their products. While Armstrong is working on internet connectivity, we plan to leap the current competitors with diagnostic technology that is embedded in the pumps rather than requiring exterior and separate measurement equipment. This will cut down the cost of extra hardware and will make the reliability and maintainability figure of a better number.Currently, Armstrong's competition require ancillary hardware sensors and measurement devices in order to provide their diagnostic insight. In particular, this could include: vibration sensors, temperature sensors and/or phase measurement on the motor. Armstrong aims to use the expertise of Dr. Mohamed Youssef at UOIT, to facilitate the design of this innovative approach throughout this project with his group.