NORD DRIVESYSTEMS drive solutions for the wastewater industry

Wastewater treatment plants require robust and powerful solutions. NORD DRIVESYSTEMS designs, engineers and manufactures scalable drive solutions for all segments of the wastewater treatment industry. The tailor-made drives ensure the safe operation of pumps, screens, filters, aerators and sludge thickening machines.

Convincing advantages

Robust, efficient, economic, reliable and available worldwide – all the advantages of the NORD drives for the wastewater industry. Andrew Grant thoroughly checks the characteristics of NORD drives in the Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant in South Beach, Oregon, before deploying them.

It was a proof of concept. We like to try before we buy and seeing that there’s no bypass for the aeration tank, I needed to make sure they would work as promised. As it turned out, we tested those units for two years and were quite happy with their performance. I’m quite pleased with the outcome, and glad that NORD and Motion Industries were able to provide us with such a robust solution. It’s been a great project.

Andrew Grant, Supervisor Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant

Being a Good Steward

Few of us give much thought to the water we use to flush our toilets and wash our dishes, especially once it goes down the drain. Fortunately for the City of Newport and its 10,000 or so citizens, Andrew Grant does. He and his team at the Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant in South Beach, Oregon are committed to keeping effluent safe, their facility dependable, and operating costs under control. Equipment from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS helps.

It’s not an easy job. In fact, processing requirements can vary dramatically from one day to the next, and without the right equipment, serious problems can result. “The story of Newport is one of tourism and growth,” says Grant, who supervises the facility. “Not only has the population increased significantly since Vance Avery was constructed in 2002, but we get large numbers of visitors on the weekends and holidays. Because of this, we began to see some deficits in our ability to treat wastes.”

In our case, the basin is 5.45 million litres, and we’re keeping all of that water moving in a circle to keep the solids in suspension. The problem is what we call the peaking factor—where our town’s base population is 10,000, we often need to accommodate four times that number for several days or even a week at a time. That’s why it’s important to have plenty of capacity, not to mention redundancy in our equipment.

Andrew Grant, Supervisor Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant

Welcome to the Farm

Grant noted that there are many different ways to skin the wastewater cat; his facility utilizes a biological treatment method, which relies on microorganisms to “eat” dissolved solids in the waste stream. One of his many tasks is to keep those microbes happy and healthy, and this requires a delicate balance of nutrients and oxygen. The latter of these is supplied by huge wheels that turn continuously, drawing fresh air into an aeration basin and helping the inhabitants to thrive.

“A treatment plant is a lot like a farm,” he adds. “The amount of air we provide determines how quickly the bugs grow and can therefore metabolize the waste. In our case, the basin is 5.45 million liters, and we’re keeping all of that water moving in a circle to keep the solids in suspension. The problem is what we call the peaking factor—where our town’s base population is 10,000, we often need to accommodate four times that number for several days or even a week at a time. That’s why it’s important to have plenty of capacity, not to mention redundancy in our equipment.”

As the city’s population has increased and its tourism business expanded, Grant determined it was time to perform a condition and criticality assessment. The results were less than favorable. “We found that the condition of our aeration basin was poor. It’s a highly critical piece of infrastructure, so we began making plans to expand it and, at the same time, replace a few pieces of broken equipment.”

Even though we had documented success with the NORD product, it’s my responsibility to be a judicious steward of the city’s resources. So not only did we invite others to bid on the job, but we also got quotes on repairing the old gear motors. NORD came in with a better price than all of them.

Andrew Grant, Supervisor Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant

A Successful Test Case

Grant reached out to Jake Simpson, Account Representative for industrial supplier and NORD DRIVESYSTEMS distributor Motion Industries Inc. in nearby Albany. Simpson and NORD District Sales Manager, Brent McNeill, visited the facility for an assessment.

Because the most immediate need was to get the aerators running at full capacity, they recommended a temporary solution - a pair of the company’s 25 HP CLINCHER parallel shaft gear units with UNICASE design and variable frequency drives. The test units utilised NORD’s direct drive concept with hollow bore mount and NEMA C-face input for direct mounted motors. “It was a proof of concept,” says Grant. “We like to try before we buy and seeing that there’s no bypass for the aeration tank, I needed to make sure they would work as promised. As it turned out, we tested those units for two years and were quite happy with their performance.”

He and his team decided it was time to go ahead with an upgrade of the entire facility. They were running into serious capacity limitations, and new gear motors would allow them to speed up the aerators when needed, thereby increasing microbe growth.

“Even though we had documented success with the NORD product, it’s my responsibility to be a judicious steward of the city’s resources,” he explains. “So not only did we invite others to bid on the job, but we also got quotes on repairing the old gear motors. NORD came in with a better price than all of them.”

Our previous capacity was 300 kilograms of oxygen per hour. We upgraded that to 425 with this project, so it’s a pretty significant expansion. That gives us redundancy and the ability to keep up with peak demand. It also reduces our maintenance costs; since the old units had sheave drives, we were always driving into town for replacement belts and then taking the units down for service. Not anymore.

Andrew Grant, Supervisor Vance Avery Wastewater Treatment Plant

Increased Growth

Grant’s team had installed the first pair of gear motors. For the second phase of the project, they looked to Motion Industries for the next six. They also decided to replace “every rotating component except for the shafts.” Here again, there was no chance for a facility shutdown, so they used a phased approach, completing half of the installation before moving on to the rest. “It was a pretty sizable project,” says Motion Industry’s Simpson. “But we found early on that, since the NORD gear boxes can be turned on their side, it was easy to fit them into the available space.”

In addition to the price, Mr Grant discovered an additional advantage with NORD's solutions: the new gear motors with the variable frequency drive are 12% more energy-efficient than the legacy units. This might not sound like much, but is enough to save facility over $30,000 on their electric bill annually, never mind the fact that its aeration capability has increased by more than 50%.

“Our previous capacity was 300 kilograms of oxygen per hour,” says Grant. “We upgraded that to 425 with this project, so it’s a pretty significant expansion. That gives us redundancy and the ability to keep up with peak demand. It also reduces our maintenance costs; since the old units had sheave drives, we were always driving into town for replacement belts and then taking the units down for service. Not anymore. So I’m quite pleased with the outcome, and glad that NORD and Motion Industries were able to provide us with such a robust solution. It’s been a great project.”

Drive solutions for the waste water industry

Geared Motors

The powerful geared motors from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS are available with helical, parallel shaft or bevel gear units in different sizes. They are characterized by a long service life and the compact low-maintenance design in a UNICASE housing.

MAXXDRIVE® Industrial Gear

Low maintenance, robust, long service life, quiet running – only some of the excellent features of MAXXDRIVE® industrial gear units. The tailor-made gear units offer high efficiency and are thus perfect for use in heavy-duty drive solutions.

NORDAC FLEX SK 200E

NORDAC FLEX is NORD DRIVESYSTEMS’ most flexible frequency inverter, which can be adjusted to all customer applications thanks to its scalable functions and modular structure. Due to its large range of functions and the easy parameter transfer via EEPROM memory, installation and maintenance can be carried out quickly and reliably.

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NORD DRIVESYSTEMS drive solutions are efficient, reliable and perfectly tailored to the application requirements of the wastewater treatment industry. You want to find out more about NORD’s range of solutions for the wastewater industry? Download the flyer.

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Meet us at IFAT Munich 2024

This year, the IFAT Munich’s focus is on topics from the wastewater industry: digitalisation, recycling economy, drinking water supply and municipal technology. Which requirements have to be met? What are the potentials?

We would like to discuss these and other questions with you on site. Visit us and let us advise you on our innovative solutions for the wastewater industry.

  • Hall B1, Stand 117
  • 13 to 17 May 2024
  • Munich

Contact your service advisor