When the township of Little Ferry, N.J., constructed a new bridge, it created a big problem. The bridge, constructed at a traffic circle in town, created changes to the road that left a drainage pond below the water level of the Hackensack River. The problematic effect this had was immediate, as local neighborhoods were flooded on a regular basis.
The township knew it had to fix this problem immediately and decided to install pumps to combat the flooding. Because the runoff was storm water, large solids such as leaves, branches, sticks and other debris would compound the problem by entering the pumps and clogging or even shutting them down.
The Solution
After careful research, the New Jersey Department of Transportation specified a Franklin Miller Screenmaster CS bar screen to protect the pumps. A complication was that the unit had to be installed while the system was running, as the flow could not be shut off or diverted.
The township installed a custom, oversized Screenmaster CS bar screen, which fits in an 8-ft-wide, 20-ft-deep channel, with 13 ft of maximum water height and providing 239 in. of lift to the discharge. The unit was designed with a special bottom grating to handle the quantity and size of debris in the storm water.
The Results
The Screenmaster CS has been hard at work since its installation, filtering solids from the storm water before they have a chance to reach the pumps and helping keep Little Ferry flood-free.
The Screenmaster CS features a series of rakes mounted on oversized perforated rake baskets that clear solids from a stainless bar rack and lift them up and out of the channel. It is easy to install in new or existing channels. It installs at a 75-degree inclination so it has a very small footprint.
The design features a simple, continuous rotary motion. As the rake head passes through the bar slots collecting debris, it travels up the unit’s dead plate until it reaches a special scraper supplied with a dashpot for smooth operation. The screenings then drop out the unit’s discharge chute into a bin, conveyor or Spiral IFT SC screenings washing system. The unit is available in a variety of widths up to 78 in. wide (2 meters) and for a lift height of up to 38 ft (11.6 meters).
