Preventative Condition Monitoring in a Wastewater Treatment Plant

Customer Success Story

In order to avoid future breakdowns of the screw pumps, the  operator of the wastewater treatment plant (Stadtwerke Rothenburg) decided on a condition-based maintenance solution. Since then, an online measuring system permanently monitors the gearbox condition. Shortly after the start of monitoring, there was a prealarm for an impending gear damage. Thanks to the system‘s specific alarm messages, failures can now be easily corrected.

  • Benefits
  • Challenge
  • Solution
  • Technical Information
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Benefits

Customer benefits

  • Manageable investment costs of the modular system

  • Reduced and planned maintenance cycles

  • Lower energy consumption thanks to early wear failure detection

  • Increased plant availability

  • More operational safety 

Challenge

Within the space of one year, one of the three screw pumps failed due to a fault in its design. At that point in time, only one mechanical defect could be identified. Due to bearing damage, the gear block was literally torn apart and had to be entirely replaced – a costly and time-consuming process.

Technical Information about the plant

Treatment capacity

Max. 34,000 residents
Sewage pipe network160 km
Inflow

  • Average 70 – 80 l/s

  • Maximum 280 l/s

Solution

A condition monitoring system comprising a MELSEC System Q control unit from Mitsubishi Electric and three Schaeffler SmartCheck was used to help solve the problem in the return   activated sludge pumping station. An SmartCheck was attached to each of the three drives for this purpose. Thanks to this system, the condition of the drive has been subject to constant monitoring ever since. In the event of a change in vibrations, the system provides data about the deviations at an early stage. Such deviations can be the initial signs of potential damage.

What’s Special

The microprocessor integrated into the SmartCheck ensures that all data are stored long-term. The data can be retrospectively examined and evaluated using the integrated web server. The control system can pass the data on to higher-level systems either directly or using telecontrol technology. The solution can be implemented in all applications in which wear occurs due to mechanical, rotating components, or where changes occur as a result of external influences. In addition to wastewater, thick matter, fluid, vacuum, or heat pumps, other tools can also prove useful, such as fans, ventilation units, compressors, CNC machines, and centrifuges.

Technical Information

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