Intelligent pumping system solves clogging at Sochi Olympic Park

Frequent clogging at a wastewater pumping station at Sochi Olympic Park in Russia was causing the municipality a lot of time and resources. Now with intelligent, self-cleaning pumps from Xylem’s Flygt brand, the pumping station runs smoothly and energy consumption has been reduced by 25 percent.

The clogging problem at the Nekrasovskaya pump station was because the installed equipment, three pumps with the capacity of 2.2 kW each, could not cope with the type and volume of incoming sewage. The pumping system had to cope with all types of trash that ended up in the sewers, such as diapers, plastic bags, construction waste, rags and even pillows.
 
When these materials accumulated in the impellers of the pumps, this led to constant clogging and reduced productivity. On average, the municipality had to deal with four emergency callouts to the station per day. 
 
Stopping the pumps was not an option, since this would have instantly led to sewage overflows. Since the pump station is located in the vicinity of the Olympic Park, in close proximity to pedestrian zones, overflows would have brought serious consequences, such as harm to people and the environment, public outrage and heavy fines.

Flygt’s intelligent pumping solution

In order to solve this problem, equipment was needed that would ensure that the entire volume of wastewater entering the pumping station could be transported without any clogging. The pump station operator, MUE Sochi Vodokanal, decided to install a Flygt intelligent pumping solution. This included two Flygt NP 3102.160 MT pumps, with N-type adaptive self-cleaning impellers, and a control cabinet based on the Flygt Experior system with programmable Flygt SmartRun frequency converters.
 
With the new adaptive N-hydraulics equipment, clogging was completely eliminated at the pump station, despite the fibrous material it had to pump. The fibrous materials pass through without clogging due to the patented self-cleaning hydraulic design of the pump impeller.
 
“After installing the new equipment at the station, there has been no recorded emergency situation associated with pump clogging,” says Roman Antonenko, First Deputy Director of MUE Sochi Vodokanal. “The pumps automatic clean the pressure pipeline, and they also remove sludge deposits and floating debris from the pumping station’s sump well.”

Automatically adjusting to operating conditions

When large debris enters the station’s new pumps, the impeller moves upwards, which allows the largest and toughest materials to pass through freely. If, however, the pump does clog, the pump automatically reverses in order to remove the material.
 
The intelligent pumping system also automatically adjusts its operating mode to changing conditions, which ensures minimum power consumption. The Nekrasovskaya pump station has already reduced its energy consumption by 25 percent on average compared to the same period in previous years. Given the energy savings and reduced cleaning costs, the new pumping system is expected to pay for itself in less than two years.

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