On paper, a pumping project might seem straightforward: water is required to be pumped from one place to another. In reality there are numerous factors which can influence the distance between two points, including: elevation, flow rate, solids, pressure, storage capacity and maintenance access.
For Romtec Utilities, the design of a pump station begins by setting the operating conditions, instead of selecting the equipment from a catalog. Then, the initial designs and budgetary details can be formulated based on the requirements of is required by the project.
Image credit: romtecutilities.com
Begin by asking the simple question: How are we moving?
The engineering is immediately modified.
Domestic sewage could contain solids, and can experience a variety of variations in the daily flow. A wastewater lift station must move that wastewater reliably when gravity conveyance is unavailable or insufficient. Engineers must therefore consider the expected inflow and the conditions of peak, pumping capacity, wet-well behaviour, discharge specifications, and the way in which equipment is maintained and operated.
Diverse challenges arise from industrial water. The fluids used in processing or manufacturing facility may require caustic or oily, or heated at high temperature or pressure. Romtec Utilities designs systems for industrial applications that range from food processing to power generation, data centers, pharmaceutical waste facilities and petroleum and gas facilities.
Rainfall has a totally different operating environment
Stormwater systems are often inactive for long stretches of time and then suddenly encounter an enormous volume of water during a storm.
A stormwater liftstation associated with a detention basin has to, for instance, work in conjunction with the larger drainage plan of the area. Runoff flows into a basin. Temporary storage is used to regulate the volume instantly. The pumping system transfers the water into an approved outlet.
Romtec Utilities supplied this type of solution to a business park development in Norco, California. The development needed the construction of a pumping station that would empty a detention system into the public stormwater drainage system. The station therefore had to be constructed as part of the development’s drainage infrastructure, rather than being treated as a stand-alone piece of equipment.
“Package” Doesn’t Have to mean Off-the-Shelf
It is a common misconception that a pumping device for packages is simply a set of predetermined elements.
For infrastructure that is engineered, packaging can instead mean coordinating the major pieces into one particular project-specific system. Pumps, meters and controls along with components for structural construction and equipment, are able to be picked depending on the conditions of use.
This method is particularly useful when the system is required to be linked with an existing infrastructure. In the case of industrial facilities and municipal buildings, there’s rarely enough space or a completely clean environment for installation. The equipment may have to be built around the existing pipe systems, structures or electrical systems as well as operating schedules.
Capacity planning has real consequences.
The cost of undersizing rises as the size of the facility increases.
At Portland International Airport, Romtec Utilities developed and built the sewer interceptor lift station to support the PDX Next expansion. The new station needed to be designed to have twice the peak flow capacity as the airport expanded.
This illustration illustrates an important engineering concept: Design conditions should not be limited by the limitations of what a building can be able to handle during an average afternoon. Engineers also need to understand the impact of high demand.
The Work isn’t Complete until the Equipment Arrives
Drawings and calculations will eventually become an operating system. Installation coordination as well as startup and testing, documentation, and understanding are all vital for long-term performance.
The time between construction and the performance of engineered pumping system can be determined. The decisions made during beginning of the design are obvious whenever equipment needs maintenance, flows increase or a storm hits.
For Romtec Utilities, integrating those decisions into a complete project-specific pumping strategy helps transform each piece of equipment into infrastructure designed to handle the conditions it will actually face.