About: Shantel Morris

Through the years, Universal Blower Pac has been called upon to partner with leading OEMs to create custom blower systems that not only increase performance and efficiency within the wastewater and industrial treatment processes, but also to engineer how designs can cut down on costs in the field during installation and planning for long term use and maintenance.

In this video, Jay Guio, lead OEM Sales Rep, walks through a unique custom system engineered for an OEM for a Fortune 100 Petrochemical client.  This design consists of three 150hp aeration blower systems and two 30hp air scour blower systems.

The air scour blower systems were designed with a shared sub base and a common header factory installed to cut down on time in field.  Additionally, cable trays were pre-engineered to also alleviate work time on the site.

Each system is designed with UBP’s state of the art sound enclosures, made with 3/16 stainless steel to withstand harsh environmental wear and corrosion.

IEEE 841 motors are installed to withstand the severe process for the petroleum and chemical industry.  These motors are directly coupled to the blowers to additionally improve overall system efficiency and performance as well as increase the lifespan of the units.  This direct drive design provides the user 100% control over the system with use of VFD (variable frequency drive) and eliminates power transfer loss typically associated with a v-belt drive design making it 3-5% more efficient.  Maintenance time and cost is also cut down as tensioning and replacing v-belts is not needed.

If your plant is looking for a new or upgraded system to improve efficiency, performance and maintenance, call or email inquiry to discuss your system goals and requirements.

Kroger Co.’s (NYSE: KR) K.B. Specialty Foods new anaerobic wastewater treatment system at its facility in Greensburg, Indiana is fully operational.  The previous wastewater treatment system in the facility was open to the air. The new system features a dome that captures biogas from food byproducts at the plant so the collected biogas can now be harnessed to generate electricity.

“This is one more step toward meeting our goal of becoming a zero waste company by 2020,” said Suzanne Lindsay –Walker, Kroger’s director of sustainability.  (Source: Kroger Co, 2016 PR Newswire) 

In this video of the biogas system overview, ADI Systems Process Engineer, Daniel Bertoldo, demonstrates how the new facility relies on a process called anaerobic digestion.  Microorganisms will transform the byproducts of food production into biogas, and that biogas is extracted and scrubbed for a source of renewable energy.  The electricity created will be sent to the plant’s electrical grid.

KB Specialty Foods Plant Engineer Eric Behn said this investment “represents KB Specialty Foods’ continued commitment to both the Greensburg community and energy sustainability.”

The state-of-the-art waste water treatment facility was designed, built and installed by ADI Systems North America, an Evoqua Company. Universal Blower Pac engineered and manufactured the biogas blower system and hybrid blower systems for the sequencing batch reactor.

The wastewater treatment facility in the village of Santa Rita, Guam, was previously found to be operating at 40 percent over capacity.  The new facility is designed to provide clean water to the southern areas of Guam and engineered to treat 1.6 million gallons per day of wastewater during dry weather and up to 9.3 million gallons per day during wet weather conditions. The design can also accommodate future wastewater flows from a nearby U.S. Navy installation, a connection that will increase the dry and wet weather design flows to 4.6 and 13.3 million gallons per day, respectively. (source: Gresham Smith & Partners)

Universal Blower Pac provided the blower system solution for this wastewater treatment plant with three 3C-Hybrid units.  Each unit is designed with a high efficiency hybrid, positive displacement blower system and NEMA frame motor.  Compact sound enclosures are engineered with environmental controls to increase the blower’s life, turndown range, and efficiencies as it withstands the heat and humidity in Guam.  These specific units were customized to also feature VFD control panels featuring state of the art Allen-Bradley PLC (programmable logic controller) and user friendly touchscreen HMI (human machine interface.)

This video provides a close up walk through of the units before installation.  To download 3C-Hybrid brochure, drawings and specs, visit our resource center.

The 3C-Hybrid Blower System continues to make waves in the water and waste water treatment marketplace as a best in class, high efficiency system that is both affordable and delivered quickly.  This year, UBP  was thrilled to be one of the recipients for Water and Wastes Digest (W&WD) Top Project 2017 Awards for the water treatment plant upgrade for the City of Wheeling, West Virginia.

One of the biggest challenges for the contractors was meeting the city’s tight budget. “Any rate increase presents a challenge for customers in a financially strained community such as Wheeling,” said Craig Juday, P.E., project manager and vice president for CT Consultants Inc.  CT Consultants chose UBP  to customize the 3C-Hybrid blower system to meet the plant’s requirements and budget.  ‘As a custom blower manufacturer, we offer designs our competitors don’t or simply can’t provide,’ says Jay Guio, UBP  OEM Sales Representative. ‘This often times leads to a more efficient system for the end user.’

Mike Rice, the Maintenance Foreman for Wheeling’s plant, commented, ‘Our previous blowers were from 1964. They were very inefficient and parts were hard to find, some we had to make.   With the new 3C-Hybrids, we have noticed a higher energy efficiency since installation, less noise and easier maintenance.  There has been no issues with these units and working with people in your parts department has been a breeze.’

UBP  thanks all the contractors and consultants involved in the project, and a big congratulations to the City of Wheeling for demanding excellence in providing quality drinking water for their community.

To download a data sheet for the 3C-Hybrid, please visit our Resource Center.

To read more about this Top Project 2017 award from Water and Wastes Digest, click here.

This month, Universal Blower Pac is proud to celebrate and honor the dedication and service that Chris Schneider, our Senior Estimator, has provided to our clients for 30 years strong. Chris is ‘an encyclopedia of equipment knowledge and knows product details inside and out,’ says Natalie Menke, President of UBP.

It’s not discussed often, but getting a clear understanding and helping our clients to ask the right questions about their exact equipment needs from the start is many times what separates UBP apart from the competition. Avoiding surprises and clarifying expectations takes skill. It’s the combination of engineering knowledge, eye for detail, and 30 years of knowledge from thousands of world-wide UBP installations that Chris brings to bear when evaluating system quotes.

Not all blowers and systems are the same. A value add that our clients receive during the quoting process at UBP is that we provide value engineering analysis and recommend comparable options within our quotes from the start. Sometimes specified manufacturers require ancillary equipment unnecessary for Universal Blower Pac’s system requirements. Calling out exceptions often saves hundreds, or in some case, thousands of dollars in equipment or controls which don’t apply to our equipment. Chris points these items out during his initial spec review and additionally provides approvable specs up front that often lead to more competitive pricing for our valued customers.

Getting the job right from day one for our customers is key. When it comes to estimating and quoting equipment, you are in good hands with Chris.

UBP announces yet another major expansion to their manufacturing facility. ‘We are excited to show our clients and staff how our vision to be the best and most innovative blower system supplier continues to grow not only with our square footage, but also with our holistic approach to improve both solutions and services,’ says Natalie Menke, President of UBP. Stay tuned for progress and more updates later
this fall!

OSHA’s hearing conservation program is designed to protect workers with significant occupational noise exposures in various industry sectors from hearing impairment even if they are subject to such noise exposures over their entire working lifetimes.  All employers are required to implement a Hearing Conservation Program where workers are exposed to a time weighted average noise level of 85 dBA or higher over an 8 hour work shift.

Blower systems with sound enclosures installed at Altamonte Springs, FL WWTP

As a market leader in blower system engineering and manufacturing, Universal Blower Pac naturally understands this impact on plant managers and how best to control noise exposure for system operators. As a result, UBP has been providing state of the art sound enclosure solutions for a variety of blower systems and industrial equipment since 1979. We manufacture both standard, semi-standard and custom enclosures to help meet OSHA requirements on any budget, whether we provided the original blower system to you or not.

ATTENU-PAC: Full Enclosure, Standard Designs with Custom Benefits
The ATTENU-PAC is a full sound enclosure solution and comes in variety of sizes with various options. Choose from standard sizes, or engineers can make sizing adjustments to get exact fit.

>> Can achieve 25-30dBA sound reduction
>> Choose from hinged or removable panels with full doors on one or both faces
>> Designed with heavy 16-gauge steel combined with high density foam
>> Engineered for extreme weather conditions (heavy snow and corrosive environments). Treated with galvanneal and powder coated
>> Vent boxes remove direct line of noise
>> Door handles are designed with compression lathes to ensure tight closures and minimize noise escape
>> Extended oil drain options for easy maintenance along with 80% door coverage for easy access
>> Standard enclosures can be modified to fit on-site equipment

ACOUSTI-PAC: Partial Enclosure, Meet OSHA for 30% Less Cost

UBP has mastered the ability to reach acceptable noise levels with the ACOUSTI-PAC partial enclosure. This achieves up to 60% noise reduction of the ATTENU-PAC for 30% of the cost. The enclosure is designed to compactly fit around the blower, the loudest noise source. We then acoustically treat the discharge based upon frequency ranges to minimize the secondary noise sources.
>> Engineered with the same quality materials and options that the ATTENU-PAC offers, just smaller
>> Can achieve up to 15 dBA sound reduction to meet 85 dBA site requirements
>> Blower is fitted with oil and fill drain extensions for easy maintenance

CUSTOM ENCLOSURES: Exact Fit for New or Current In-place Equipment

Our enclosures are designed to meet whatever difficult site issues, sizing, or specialty application desired. Enclosures can be designed to be lowered over existing equipment by forklift or crane or pre-built panels to be installed on site around the equipment.

Custom enclosures can be designed for any type of equipment or blowers from multi-stage centrifugal to direct drive designs. A variety of options of materials and specialty features can be requested: larger vent box designs for increased airflow, removable doors or roofs, clam shell design for full walk around access, and much more.

UBP Engineers are available for site visits to help advise on specialty sizing or installation issues and make recommendations on how best to achieve OSHA requirements for any equipment.

The best manufacturers tirelessly seek out valuable relationships that become more than just equipment providers; they seek trusted partners who share the same goals for success.  For Universal Blower Pac, this has always been our goal: meet and exceed the end user’s needs and expectations for every project.  We’ve found that this is one of the keys to growing the valuable relationships we have with numerous engineering and manufacturing firms who, in turn, call on us to do the same for their clients.

In a recent customer visit to Cloacina (located in Arroyo Grande, CA), Jay Guio, UBP OEM Sales REP, met with Troy Ellison, CEO of Cloacina LLC. Following that visit, the Cloacina Team surprised us with this vendor highlight video spotlighting the value of building a trusted partnership.  “One of the things that have impressed me with Universal Blower Pac is the fact that they are willing to work with us in regards to pushing the envelope,” says Ellison. “This showed us that they were willing to jump as high as we were being asked to jump by our clients. And it’s nice knowing someone is as equally invested in your success as you are.”

As many cities around the country face new state and federal standards that demand higher regulations for their municipal facilities, the City of Kirksville, Missouri Wastewater Treatment Plant prepares to undergo new improvements to ensure compliance with the tougher standards.

The plant improvements have three major phases including headwork’s and flow control, biological treatments, and solids handling with a total cost for the project around $18 million and began in the spring of 2015.

The engineer of record is HDR Engineering. The general contractor awarded the project is River City Construction. Universal Blower Pac’s representative is Ressler & Associates.  Universal Blower Pac is providing five tri-lobe blower systems to service the post aeration basins.

SOLUTION PROVIDED

Each blower provides up to 2560 SCFM at 10.5 PSIG on a VFD. The tri-lobe blowers are direct coupled with 250HP motors in ATTENU-PAC enclosures.

EXPECTED RESULTS

• Direct drive design provides up to 5% energy savings versus v-belt driven blowers at the design point
• Direct drive design eliminates belt maintenance and replacement
• Up to 60% energy savings due to VFD control versus a constant speed system
• Up to 25 dba noise reduction with the ATTENU-PAC full enclosure design

Through the years, Universal Blower Pac’s customer care and service department has answered numerous calls concerning a variety of installation, operation and maintenance questions around best practices for handling blower systems.  With the goal of continuing to be not only a well respected blower system engineering and manufacturing provider, we are also consistently dedicated to meeting our clients needs at a deeper level for service, troubleshooting and repair.

As a result, our service team is rolling out a Blower System Maintenance video series to help answer the variety of standard operation and maintenance questions.  The series will include handling, installation, start-up, lubrication, typical troubleshooting tips and tricks, and much more.

The first in this video series is proper Unloading and Handling Procedures for Blower Systems.  In this video, we discuss the importance of checking thoroughly for freight damage that may occur during shipping and how best to capture and describe this on the Bill of Lading to expedite any shipping claims.  It is also important to note how best to lift the different blower system steel frame styles that Universal Blower Pac engineers for their systems.  This video clearly shows best practices for lifting an EXPII style base, a 3C-PAC or 3C-Hybrid base, larger multistage centrifugal or custom blower systems with sub-base fork lift slots or lifting lugs, and even how best to lift systems that come with acoustical sound enclosures.

If you would like to see a certain maintenance video walk-through, please email our service team at Service@universalblowerpac.com and we will gladly discuss adding it to our list.