160 Trained at CWEA’s Pump Station Optimization Electrical & Instrumentation Workshop

Richard Watts, Brian Peck and Attendee (lt) Trainer Bruce Borders with Attendees in Riverside

By Wendy Wert
Chair
CWEA Training Coordination Committee

In May 2010, the California Water Environment Association (CWEA) presented specialized Electrical and Instrumentation (E&I) training to 160 participants at four locations across the State of California.  The seminar was held in: Fresno on Tuesday, May 4, 2010, Eureka on Thursday, May 6, 2010, Riverside on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 and Vacaville on Thursday May 13, 2010. Featured Speaker Bruce Borders of Control Systems West provided training on Electrical Controls and Instrumentation of the type that are typically found at Pump Stations.   Record numbers of CWEA attendees were presented with detailed training modules related to the selection of control schemes that optimize operations at sewage and stormwater pump stations.  Operators, Maintenance Personnel, Design Engineers, Facility Managers and Supervisors were in attendance at the training sessions.  The program was structured to add to the knowledge and skills of station operators and maintenance personnel, as well as provide improved personnel performance, along with financial and safety benefits.

CWEA’s featured speaker, Bruce Borders, has been engaged in E&I training since he was a child.  During one of the session breaks, Bruce shared that his father, Richard Borders built circuits with him for family recreation while he was growing up.  Both Richard and Bruce have spent the bulk of their esteemed careers with Control Systems West, Inc.  Bruce is a talented trainer with the ability to simplify complex systems into their key components.  His experience includes all aspects of control configurations related to wastewater treatment systems.  Bruce is particularly adept at hands-on operational troubleshooting, which leads to improved system performance and simplified operational interfaces.  Since 2004 Bruce has served as the President of Control Systems West, Inc.  In that capacity, he has been actively involved with many professional societies including: CWEA, HWEA and AWWA.

Bruce initiated the session by reviewing the pump station operational objectives.  The first goal is to maintain the proper wet well level, by calling and dropping pumps based on rising wet well level compared to the system set point.  The station must also be provided with station status and alarm annunciation, which includes both local identification of alarm status and remote notification of station alarms.  In addition, a good pump station configuration must include back-up operation strategies and redundancy.

Bruce used an innovative approach to review the pump station power distribution single line detail by breaking the diagram into its individual components, explaining the function and implications of each then returning to the single line diagram to assess the system connections.   Using this method, basic control was reviewed in detail.  For example the first module looked at the power components of a typical pump station which include: the utility service panel, the automatic or manual transfer switch, the generator receptacle, the main circuit breaker, the motor circuit protector (MCP), 3 phase power monitor, transient voltage surge suppressor (TVSS), and the distribution panel.   The incoming utility service provides utility metering and main circuit protection.  The next component of the single line diagram, the motor control center (MCC) disconnect provides additional circuit protection and the ability to Lockout and Tag Out in order to safely service system components.  The next component the alternate power source is connected via a power transfer switch.  Bruce explained that power is provided in sine waves and that a delayed transition, which allows the transfer to pause in the neutral position, is recommended in order to sync the sine waves.  This can be an issue when transferring from auxiliary power back to the utility power source.  If the phase rotation is backwards then your pumps will run backwards, which is a less efficient operational configuration.

These Specialty Conferences fall under the Electrical/Mechanical Maintenance & Safety, Water/Wastewater training type.  This type of training was approved for CWEA Recertification Requirement in the following categories: (1) Collection System Maintenance – CSM (2) Environmental Compliance Inspector – ECM (3) Plant Maintenance – PM (4) Mechanical Technologist – MT (5) Electrical/Instrumentation – E/I (6) Operator – OP and (7) Biosolids Land Application Management – BLAM.   This training opportunity contributed to CWEA’s mission to train and disseminate technical information to wastewater professionals.