AutoSalt (AQAc™)

Description

Automated salt injection system that does the work for you.

It’s difficult to obtain a full range of flow measurements for your hydrometric rating curve.  Resources are often wasted visiting sites at similar flow conditions.  We’ve been developing an Automated Salt Dilution system, AutoSalt  (a.k.a. AQAc™), since 2008 to address these and other challenges.

Here’s what clients say:

“Without an automated measurement system, we have difficulty in catching very high points on a flooding river, due to travel time required to get to the site and, more importantly, safety issues related to traveling in landslide prone terrain…..We found the performance of these AutoSalt systems exceeded our expectations. “ ­— BC Gov’t Hydrologist

The AutoSalt system consists of a control system, 300 litre brine tank and stand, Creek Pressure Transducer,  2x T-HRECS self-logging EC-T probes, and a proprietary salt injection system.  Systems have been installed at >20 locations around the province of BC since 2008 and collected hundreds of automated discharge measurements.

A requirement of any automated system is to either know the Calibration Factor – Temperature compensated (CF.T) or measure the CF.T in situ. We have partnered with academic institutions and other consultants to determine the variance of the CF.T in streams and rivers in B.C.  We’ve found this value to be relatively constant (+/-1.6% at 95% confidence) with calibrated instrumentation and careful calibration procedures.  Browse our recent presentations on the Derivation, Uncertainty, and Variance of the Calibration Factor used in Salt Dilution Flow Measurements (or read the associated post) and Quantifying and Controlling Error in Salt Dilution Flow Measurements (and the associated post).

Technical Documents

The AutoSalt Manual is here. Install the latest version of RealTerm to communicate with AutoSalt, or use an older version.  Here is the AutoSalt brochure and Technical Datasheet.

The AutoSalt system is a good value for $12,000 CAD.  We will install the system for $2000 CAD at most sites + transportation + disbursements.  We strongly recommend our assistance for the first installation.  AutoSalt has a 3 year limited warranty on parts and includes a subscription to WIT-HM to semi-automatically process SD Measurements, manage measurements, and develop a Maximum-Likelihood Hydraulically-Based Rating Curve.

We also offer a rental option of $1500/month.  For rentals, the same installation costs apply: $2000 CAD at most sites + transportation + disbursements.

For more information, please contact us.

The AutoSalt system is capable of measuring a cumulative amount of 300 m³/s of flow, with amount injected dependent on the flow in the channel.

Rollergate AutoSalt station as viewed within the Salt Portal available to all Fathom Customers upon request.