Water supply in Greater London secured for ten years

Menzel Great Britain has completed its largest project to date, supplying ten 7-ton electric motors to Thames Water, the British water utility that serves 16 million customers in London and the Thames Valley. The strategic replacement of the drive technology will enable an important water treatment plant to continue operating for ten years, thus securing the water supply in the Greater London area. Menzel won the contract with an economical, well-thought-out concept.

The pumping station at the Coppermills Water Treatment Works had repeatedly failed, mainly due to aging equipment. As Thames Water plans to build a new station in about ten years, the water utility put out a tender for an economical solution to ensure the reliable operation of the existing pumps during the transition period. Other OEMs offered expensive regulated drives that would have required extensive construction work to house the electronic controls and transformers. In contrast, Menzel designed slip ring motors that fit into the existing plant and use the existing electrical infrastructure and starter technology.

The state-of-the-art motors are superior to the original motors, with almost 5% higher efficiency, easier maintenance, and an expected service life of at least 25 years. The motor designers worked closely with the project team from the general contractor, MWH Treatment. Their design also takes into account the expected extreme summer temperatures in the future. The project remained within budget and was completed on schedule. Compared to the proposed drives with frequency converters, Menzel's concept saved Thames Water hundreds of thousands of pounds, took significantly less time, and is more environmentally friendly.

Menzel Elektromotoren has extensive experience in the design and custom manufacture of large slip ring motors. The pump motors for Thames Water use the existing pump bases so that installation and commissioning require little effort and cause as little disruption to plant operation as possible. Menzel even manufactured the terminal boxes to match the existing installation in order to make cabling as simple and cost-effective as possible.

Menzel's modular motor series support a wide variety of mounting types, cooling types, and accessories. The current ten motors have an axle height of 500 mm and are mounted vertically on the pumps. Six of the motors have IC 81W cooling (air-water heat exchanger) and four have IC 611 cooling (air-air heat exchanger). They offer IP55 protection, operate at 3300 V and, depending on the model, deliver output powers of 746 kW or 343 kW and rated torques of 12075 Nm or 5551 Nm.