IndustryInfrastructure integrity
CAM-407
Half the basin is moving and the other half isn’t
Mid-morning at the treatment plant, right by the coast. In the clarifier in front, the right-hand half of the surface is churned up and covered in foam; the left-hand half is as still as a mirror, without a ripple. The bridge crosses the water leaving no trail. Three operators watch from the rail, one pointing. Seeing both halves in the same picture is what makes the check solid: no wind explains one half and not the other.
Turn on IRIS Vision
AI-generated image
What IRIS understands
What it recognizes in this scene
- half the surface with no movement
- the other half, churned and foaming
- bridge and center drive
- operator on the basin walkway
- pump gallery
What this camera measures
An alert says something’s happening. The reading says how much.
- 12 minWithout movement for
- 10:28Last visible movement
- 4Basins in frame
- 3People in frame
- 10:40Time of the alert
The figures on this screen are an example from the illustration, not any client’s measurement.
The rule
You decide once. IRIS applies it always.
If
the surface of one part of the basin has shown no movement for several minutes and the control system reports the machine as running
Then
- alert the duty operator with the camera, the time and the video of both halves
- keep the sequence from the last visible movement on the water
- log the alert in the shift report with the basin and the area without movement
The instruction that set it up«Tell me if the surface of a basin stops moving while the system says the machine is running.»
What changes
What changes for whoever answers for the plant
Seven the next morning: the process technician reads the analysis and sees that the sludge has left with the outflow. That’s almost always how a stopped aerator is found, once half the process has to be redone. The system signal can say the unit is running because the contactor is closed, even when the shaft isn’t turning. This camera puts the water surface in front of you, which is what actually matters, and leaves the exact minute it stopped moving. What’s done next is decided by the plant.
What people usually ask
How does the camera know a machine has stopped if it can’t see it?
Through the water. A running aerator or mixer leaves a mark on the surface: swirls, foam, small waves. If that mark disappears in one area and carries on in the one next to it, the surface is telling you. Having both halves in the same frame is what makes the check solid, because it rules out wind and rain, which would affect them both alike.
Does this replace the control system’s signal?
No. It works alongside it. The control system knows whether the motor has power; the camera sees whether the water moves. A closed contactor with a broken coupling gives you both at once: a running signal and a still surface. When the two sources say the same thing, you can relax; when they differ, somebody has to go and look.
What if the water is still because the process is stopped on purpose?
Then it shouldn’t raise anything, and it doesn’t. The rule crosses what the camera sees with the state the control system reports: it only fires if the surface is still while the machine is logged as running. Scheduled stops and maintenance windows are left out. What counts as an alert and what doesn’t is decided by the plant, not by IRIS.
Other cameras
- CAM-400 · Water is coming up through the cover and the street is a river
- CAM-401 · The clarifier has filled with foam and it’s going over the weir
- CAM-402 · The screen is packed with wipes and the water isn’t getting through
- CAM-403 · A tree has come down the channel and is blocking the intake
- CAM-404 · A jet is spraying from the flange and the puddle keeps growing
- CAM-405 · The container plugged in isn’t the one that belongs there
Demo · IRIS at work
A camera looks. IRIS understands what it sees.
An extract of the real screen, no voice-over and hands-free. Each round poses another situation. What sits behind it is a good deal bigger than what you see.
- You draw the line
- It counts by itself
- A number comes out
Next step
What does a mall see beyond the visitor count?
12 cases: 4 raise an alert when something happens and 8 only measure. You see each image as it is, and then with what IRIS understands on top.
What does an airport see before the line forms?
14 cases: 7 raise an alert when something happens and 7 only measure. You see each image as it is, and then with what IRIS understands on top.
And the best part
The disk fills up on its own.The questions stay unanswered.
Storing images is easy, and it isn’t cheap. What was missing was someone to look at them. IRIS looks at everything you record and shows you only what is worth a glance.
Tell us your problem and we’ll say whether IRIS understands it, or not yet.
A person answers, the same working day.