Hydrological Services Pty Ltd Sydney, Australia Bill Barratt CEO AHA Conference July,04 © Copyright

Old Vs New  -40 o C Float Wells  History Of Gas Purge System © Copyright

Skeppsholen Maregraph Continuous Water Level Records Since 1755 © Copyright

Skeppsholen Maregraph cont’ © Copyright

Late 1700’s These Records Were Used To Show That The Swedish Land Mass Was Rising About 50 mm Per Year Skeppsholen Maregraph cont’ © Copyright

Skeppsholen Maregraph cont’ In 1765 Mr Celsius Commenced Air Temperature Measurements At This Site © Copyright

Float Well IN SWEDEN FLOAT WELLS OPERATE IN TEMPERATURES DOWN TO –40 o C.

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF FLOAT WELLS: 1. HEATED FLOAT WELLS 2. UNHEATED FLOAT WELLS © Copyright

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Heated Float Well • 380 VAC Power.

• Hut Temp +10 o C.

• Air Heater.

• Air Blower In Well.

• Heating Element In Inlet Pipe. © Copyright

Heated Float Well Cont’ © Copyright

Unheated Float Well © Copyright

Gas Purge Systems © Copyright

Gas Purge Systems Cont’  Developed By Dutch Engineer Late 1940’s  Adopted By U.S. State Of Illinois Water Group in 1954.

(Re: Bubbler System Instrumentation For Water Level Measurements, By Gerald H Nelson, 1954)  USGS  Australia , Des Sherlock Late 1950’s © Copyright

Gas Purge Systems Cont’ Early Instruments:  Miriam Site Glass Bubble Units  Bottled

Dry

Nitrogen or CO 2  Exactel Servo Manometers  U.S.G.S Servo Manometer ( In Australia known As Stevens) © Copyright

Gas Purge Systems Cont’ AUSTRALIA:  Qld Developed Their Gas Electric Manometer To Get A Larger Range In Late 50’s  Des Sherlock Developed The Sherlock Pressure Sensing Unit 1965-68 Using The Force Balance Principle.  GCO, For Use With Gas Purge Or As A Fixed Open Bell System. © Copyright

Gas Purge System Cont’ © Copyright

Gas Purge System Cont’ © Copyright

Gas Purge System Cont’ Force Balance System More Accurate, It Measures Water Level Direct Others Measured Mercury level Changes A Factor Of 13.7

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Gas Purge Systems Cont’  1972 Sherlock & Holmes Paper On P.S.U.

In Germany  Next Year A U.S. & A Germany Copy Were Marketed Neither Achieved P.S.U. Accuracy Or Reliability © Copyright

 1978  1982 Gas Purge System H.S. 50 Metre Model Built For Dam Storage levels H.S. Found HS-22 And Miriam Bubble Units Were Unstable At Bubble Rates Lower Than 80 Bubble/Minute © Copyright

Air Compressor System  1982-1988   1989 Early 90’s  Mid 90’s a H.S. Developed New Differential Regulator Stable At Bubble Rates From 5 B/Minute to 200 B/Minute Dry Bubble Unit (No Sight Glass) Parascientific Developed High Resolution Dry Pressure Transducer Accuracy Similar To PSU.

Gas Purge Compressors First A Company In New York Then UTAH And French Co.

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Air Compressor System Cont’ © Copyright

Air Compressor System Cont’  1998 H.S. Had A Contract To Supply 28 Units To a Sth. East Asian Country Intended To Buy In And Re Badge On Testing None Would Operate To Our Requirement In Six (6) Weeks We Developed HS-55 © Copyright

Air Compressor Systems  Air Compressed Water Is Produced  Must Be Dried After Compressing  H.S Only Manufacturer In The World To Do This. © Copyright

Air Compressor System Cont’ © Copyright

Air Compressor System Cont’  Range Water Level  River Lines  Operating Temp  Humidity 0-30 Metres Up To 200 Metres -30 to +70 o C up to 100% © Copyright

Air Compressor System Cont’ 1998-2004  Proliferation New Models With Small Capacity Gas Storage Tanks  New Type Instantaneous Purging Compressor Most With Inbuilt Pressure Transducers.

 None Dried Air After Compressing It  Unreliable In High Humidity Conditions  Moisture In River Line  Insufficient Storage And/Or Compressor Capacity To Purge River Line Dry.

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Air Compressor System Cont’ At H.S.

 From 1984 Experimented With Pressure Transducers Technology Wasn’t Until 1998 We Saw Possibility Of Making A Pressure Transducer With Similar Accuracy As The PSU  I Visited Druck In U.K. In 1998  Negotiated Supply Of O.E.M Strain Gauge Modules  Druck Advised Us On Processing These Elements – Remove Initial Drift – Stabilise Output © Copyright

Air Compressor System Cont’  H.S. Developed Signal Process – Initially 4-20 mA Output – Then Voltage – Now RS232 & SDI-12 © Copyright

Air Compressor System Cont’  23/7/04 WL3100  Firmware To Accept Inputs – Latitude – Altitude – – Average Water Temperature Height Of Instrument Above Orifice And User Factor Is Calculated To Adjust Our Factory Calibration To Any Site In The World. This Is Similar To What Parascientific Do We Now Feel We Have A Pressure Transducer With Equivalent Accuracy To Our PSU However, It Will Not Have Longevity Of PSU © Copyright

Gas Purge Compressor Cont’ © Copyright

% Error 0.6

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0 0 10 Lattitude error 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Lattitude (deg)

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0 Altitude Error 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 Altitude (m)

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Water Temp Error % Error 0.05

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0 5 10 15 Water Temp (C) 20 25

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% Error 0 -0.1

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0 Error due to Equip Height Above Orifice 5 10 15 20 25 Equip Height (m) 30

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New Technologies © Copyright

Conclusion © Copyright