Hydro-Power Station Trash Cleaner System

Over time, and especially during the autumn, the amount of rubbish and bio-matter carried down the River Leven and onto the turbine intake grids of the Backbarrow Hydro-Electric power station would become a serious problem is not removed regularly.
At peak times this has to be performed every couple of minutes, while during the spring and summer on a couple of times per day is required.

Blueprint was approached to repair and replace the trash control system used by the station following a failure of the previous system. The existing hardware infrastructure had to be left unchanged, while the logic-controllers were replaced, and the opportunity was taken to upgrade the systems functionality.

During the consultation and design process with our clients, new features were added to improve the system performance, and reduce operating overheads of the plant, including…

• An intuitive user interface to monitor and control the system, with simple to use controls and improved diagnostic messages.
• Manual controls to allow regular servicing and inspection of the grid wiper blades.
• The additions of safety and cut-out systems to protect the hydraulics in case of mechanical failure of large items of debris that may jam the system
• Automatic reset and retry in case of power failure or system errors, to prevent excessive turbine shut-downs and loss of income.