Condition monitoring equipment for Severn Trent Water

The Severn Trent Asset Care team needed a condition monitoring solution for its RBC (Rotating Biological Contactor) bearings. The RBCs are the first stage of wastewater and sewage treatment in remote areas, and are designed to remove most of the organic matter from the sewage. The RBC is a rotating pack of disks with biological growth attached to the disc surfaces, forming a slime layer that supports the growth of bacteria and micro-organisms present in sewage, breaking down and stabilising organic pollutants.

A six-month pilot with Leonova Emerald proved that the shock pulse measurement technology could detect early warning signs of damage, insufficient lubrication, and incorrect installation in the low-speed RBC bearings (1 rpm).

Incorporating patented HD condition monitoring technology, the high-performance Leonova Emerald instrument offers powerful analysis and troubleshooting features.

For Severn Trent Water, this investment is the first step to enable the Asset Care maintenance engineers to gain better control over equipment condition and maintenance plans. The company ultimately plans to migrate from route-based measurements with handheld instrumentation to online systems. The aim is to use the instruments on other assets (some of which are higher-speed equipment) and grow from there.

Laurence Thomas, senior advisor on the Asset Care team, comments: “After trials with other companies and techniques, only SPM HD was able to detect the faults in sufficient time to plan in critical replacements. This has also given us the opportunity to manage our lubrication schedule and change our maintenance philosophy from reactive to condition-based, proactive tasks. We are looking forward to building on our condition monitoring portfolio with SPM and expanding to other areas within Severn Trent Water."

In addition to supplying the instrumentation and measuring equipment, SPM Instrument UK will provide service and training for the Severn Trent Asset Care team.

A member of the Severn Trent Group of companies, Severn Trent Water is one of the UK's leading water and wastewater providers, serving over eight million customers in England and Wales.

https://www.spminstrument.co.uk