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VR and AR for Pumps, Plumbing and Water Systems Maintenance in Facilities Management
Relevant case studies
Author: Spark Team
VR and AR for Pumps, Plumbing and Water Systems Maintenance in Facilities Management
Building water systems are easy to underestimate until something goes wrong. Pumps, tanks, valves, booster sets, drainage systems and associated controls operate quietly behind the scenes, but a mistake during maintenance can quickly affect large parts of an occupied building.
Virtual Reality (VR) can help facilities engineers understand these systems and rehearse maintenance procedures before interacting with the real installation. Augmented Reality (AR) can then provide asset information and procedural guidance at the point of work.
The Challenge of Understanding Building Water Systems
A technician dealing with a pump or valve may need to understand much more than the component directly in front of them.
They may need to determine:
What areas the system supplies.
Whether duty and standby equipment is available.
Which valves provide isolation.
What downstream equipment could be affected.
Whether another team must be informed.
What procedure is required before restarting the plant.
This combination of physical and procedural understanding makes water-system maintenance well suited to immersive visual training.
Recreating Pump Rooms in VR
A bespoke VR environment can reproduce the important aspects of a customer's pump room or water-services installation.
Trainees can familiarise themselves with the layout and learn to identify pumps, valves, instrumentation and control panels before carrying out interactive exercises.
A training scenario could involve:
Responding to a reported pump fault.
Locating the correct plant room.
Identifying the affected pump.
Checking the relevant operating information.
Identifying isolation points.
Following the customer's approved procedure.
Completing a simulated inspection.
Reinstating the equipment in the correct sequence.
Understanding Cause and Effect
A powerful feature of simulation is the ability to demonstrate what happens after a decision.
If the wrong valve is selected in VR, the application can show the consequence inside the training environment.
If the trainee attempts to restart equipment before the required checks have been completed, the system can prevent progression and explain why.
This turns procedural training into active problem solving.
Training for Leaks and Flooding Events
Water-related emergency scenarios can also be simulated without producing any real water damage.
For example, a VR exercise might present:
A burst pipe.
A failed pump.
An abnormal tank level.
A leak in a plant room.
A blocked drainage condition.
An alarm requiring escalation.
The trainee can practise identifying the problem, determining the correct isolation response and following the organisation's emergency SOP.
AR for Identifying Valves and Pumps
On the real site, AR could provide contextual asset identification.
An engineer points a tablet or compatible headset towards the relevant equipment and accesses information associated with it.
That might include:
Pump designation.
System served.
Duty/standby status.
Valve references.
Maintenance history.
Inspection instructions.
Operating manuals.
Approved SOPs.
Research into BIM-connected augmented maintenance systems has demonstrated the broader principle of linking physical building assets with digital maintenance information.
Following Pipe Routes in AR
Where sufficiently accurate digital spatial information is available, AR can also help users understand the expected route of concealed or difficult-to-follow services.
The engineer might select a system and view a simplified representation of its pipe route through the building.
This can help explain relationships between plant rooms, risers and downstream equipment that are difficult to understand from a single physical viewpoint.
Supporting Planned Preventative Maintenance
AR interfaces can also potentially become a practical front end for planned maintenance tasks.
After identifying an asset, the engineer could receive the correct checklist, complete required steps and record observations in the workflow.
Depending on the customer's existing infrastructure, that information could potentially be exchanged with relevant maintenance-management systems through suitable integrations.
Reducing Knowledge Dependence
Large buildings often rely heavily on engineers who have worked on the estate for years.
They know which valve is difficult to access, which riser feeds a particular zone and where an apparently straightforward isolation has wider consequences.
A bespoke VR and AR system creates an opportunity to formalise some of this site-specific knowledge through training scenarios, asset annotations and procedural content.
Bespoke Rather Than Generic Plumbing Training
The objective is not to teach generic plumbing through VR.
Spark's approach is to reproduce the aspects of the customer's real facility and SOPs that are important for operational competence.
This makes the content relevant to the environment in which employees will actually work.
Conclusion
VR and AR can make complex water-services installations easier to understand and maintain. Engineers can first rehearse procedures, system relationships and emergency responses in VR and then access contextual information through AR beside the real equipment.
For facilities organisations, that provides a route towards more consistent maintenance, improved knowledge transfer and fewer avoidable mistakes around critical building services.
To explore a bespoke immersive training or maintenance solution for your building water systems, pumps and plumbing assets, contact Spark Emerging Technologies.
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