Following a refurbishment of the tunnel some 70 m below the first Severn Bridge, connecting a vital National Grid energy cable from England to Wales, National Grid has been busy working towards the best possible solution for automated control of the tunnel’s pumping system and vibration reduction in the pipework. National Grid is an electric & gas utility company with principal activities in Northeastern United States and the United Kingdom.
The resent completion of the installation of four stainless steel Börger pumps, which was carried out by Almax Technologies, has reduced inspection time to just 40 minutes. For servicing, the Maintenance-In-Place (MIP) feature of the factory-tested pumps means that all four can be stripped down, oil changed, rotors checked, in a day (or less), right back to the gearbox seals. Given the stainless steel construction, the pumps are made to withstand corrosion, and the demand of pumping one million liters of water per day from underground springs.
Steve Parker, Substation Engineer at National Grid speaks to the need for stainless steel pipework as well. He says, “In fact, it’s been the existing pipework that has presented us with more problems. We’re now changing over from plastic to stainless steel to reduce vibration.”