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DeBeers Namibia published a tender for the supply and installation of a weather monitoring system at the Oranjemund Airport. CTS was awarded the tender based on price, knowledge of the meteorological measuring equipment as well as quality of products. At time of installation the station was the most advanced aviation weather station in Namibia.

Technical Details of the system installed:

• Ceilometer at end of runway 20 to measure cloud height at three levels up to 7,500m
• Runway Visibility and Present Weather sensor at stop end of runway 20.
• Present weather sensor monitors 7 different types of precipitation
• visibility sensor takes background luminescence into account
• Wind speed and direction a touchdown runway 20.
• Wind speed and direction, rain as well as barometric pressure at stop end runway 20
• AviMet server for processing of all data
• 3 workstations spread along the buildings for weather monitoring and supervision purposes
• ATIS voice system transmitting on aviation frequency as well as telephone dial in the current weather conditions

All communication between the equipment and the AviMet server is based on wireless transmission to reduce cabling costs.

The weather information can be picked up rough 100 NM away from the airport by all approaching aircraft.

Based on our excellent service and knowledge we have rendered to the Botswana Meteorological Department as well as University of Hamburg, CTS was able to secure the 2nd Phase of the manufacture, supply and installation of automatic weather stations in Botswana.

The stations supplied to make use of satellite communication due to the extreme remoteness of the sites, these were:

• Mababe (Savuti Marsh)
• Tubu (Okavango)
• Baines Drift (Eastern Botswana)
• Xade (Central Kalahari Game Park)
• Ngwaltle (Western Botswana)

These stations are not located at any Meteorological Department property, thus fences had to be erected for protection against animals.

Station design is based on our well proven tripod mast with all relevant sensors and a CR1000 logger as the processing unit. Data is transmitted at fixed timeslots allocated by EUMETSAT (Germany) on an hourly basis. Satellite transmission is based on a fire and forget principle, thus no remote maintenance can be done.

Weather data can be found at: http://www.sasscalweathernet.org .

CTS was awarded four tenders in 2015, to supply, deliver to site, install, test and commission of autoclaves throughout Namibia.

In addition to the 160L Steri Tech autoclaves, water softeners were installed to increase the life span of each unit and reduce overall maintenance cost.

A number of installation teams worked hard to complete the project within the stringent timeframe set by the client. Each site came with its own challenges such as:

1. Removing of existing units that were beyond repair
2. Low supply water pressure
3. Space limitations where the new units were to be installed
4. Breaking out of walls to fit new autoclave
   

An off gird PV system with generator back up was installed at the Gcwatjinga clinic south east of Rundu. The system comprises of the following components:

• 6.24 kW PV array
• 2x Victron BueSolar 150V/70A MPPT regulator
• 600Ah Battery capacity
• Inverter/Charger, Victron Multi, 48V/8000VA
• System Monitoring (BMV700, Color Control GX)

The clinic was connected to the grid, which at time of system design and installation the grid connection plans were unknown to the engineer. As the clinic has PV installed, the existing system has been configured such as to allow for grid connection once the batteries reach a predefined SOC. This guarantees a continuous supply of power to the clinic and nurse houses.

In addition to the grid, a backup generator is incorporated in case PV as well as grid failure occur.

CTS was approached by a senior resident of Klein Windhoek to install a grid-tied photovoltaic system with the aim to cut back on the monthly electricity bill. The system included:

• 42x 130W photovoltaic modules and mounting structure
• 1x 6kW grid tied inverter

The system is designed such as to generate an estimated 900kWh per month.

The University of Hamburg approached CTS directly with the request to quote and subsequently manufacture and install 3 automatic weather stations at:

• Khorixas
• Kaoko Otavi
• Okangwati

Once again, satellite communication has been chosen, this time not because of GSM not being available, but to reduce future cost of the stations as satellite communication for these stations has got no costs associated.

In addition to the basic data measured:

• Wind speed
• Wind direction
• Humidity
• Air Temperature
• Irradiance
• Barometric pressure
• Ground Temperature
• Rain
• Leaf wetness

The stations are equipped with a WLAN interface. This allows the connection of 49″ SmartTV to be connected to each station to display the current weather inside close by offices.