INNOVATION July-August 2015

Reservoir No. 1 and Energy Recovery Facility Project The City of Nanaimo is making significant investments in water supply and emergency preparedness. Construction has been completed on an $11 million, 14-million litre enclosed reinforced concrete tank water reservoir and associated piping that replaces an existing 100-year old open air water reservoir. The new reservoir will supply 30% of the City’s water, protect drinking water quality, provide fire protection, and emergency storage. The project incorporated an Energy Recovery Facility to offset greenhouse gas emissions and is expected to generate enough electricity to power 100 homes. The facility will receive water from the new $70 million South Fork Water Treatment Plant that is currently under construction and targeted for completion in 2016. Owner: City of Nanaimo. Client (Civil Engineer): Associated Engineering. Geotechnical Engineer: Levelton Consultants.

Floating Camera Jib Arm Filmmakers often require cameras to move during the course of a shot in order to achieve a desired effect. ZedArm Cinema Products has developed a novel professional-grade camera jib arm that provides an extended range of motion while counterbalancing the camera weight. Smooth travel is essential to avoid bumpy movement on-screen. Bannerman Consultants modelled the system mathematically to optimize the placement of counterweights. The forces throughout the mechanism were calculated in order to minimize weight while ensuring sufficient stiffness. Integrity calculations were used to declare the maximum safe payload. Following additional prototype testing, the device has been designed for manufacture. OEM: ZedArm Cinema Products. Engineering: Bannerman Consultants (Martin Fandrich, P.Eng.)

Canoe Forest Products – Veneer Lathe Line As a key element of the Gorman Family Group’s strategic sustainability initiative, the new green veneer line at the Canoe plywood facility near Salmon Arm improves the recovery of useable veneer from each log while reducing electrical energy requirements and the impact to

the forest resource. A reconditioned rotary lathe was converted from a conventional hydraulically actuated knife carriage to a servo controlled precision roller screw actuator system. Further upgrades to the lathe included converting the lathe spindle drive from a DC system to a regenerative AC 600 HP motor and drive system. As well, a 3D scanner captures over 500,000 datum points from each log and calculates an optimal recovery solution. Several BC Hydro Power Smart initiatives including LED lighting and high efficiency air compressors were incorporated in the line’s design. The technology will allow Canoe to harvest fewer trees without reducing the volume of manufactured plywood. Project owner: Canoe Forest Products. Engineers: Pel Engineering (John Pel, P.Eng.), Systematic (Travis Stelter, P.Eng.), Westwood Engineering (Eric Crum, P.Eng.), Altec Integrated Solutions (Justin Joseph, EIT).

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