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Posted By: Trumpy Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 02:05 AM
Photo's and info submitted by Alan Nadon:

Quote
They are pictures of the largest metal shredder in America.
The machine is 500 feet long and four stories high.
The primary service is 138 KV, 400 amp.
It steps down to 4,160 V for the different parts.
The major drive motor is 7,000 Hp
It shreds whole automobiles, tires and all, at the rate of six a minute or 16,000 a week.
The residue is sorted by blowers and electromagnets for salvage.
It is the largest project that I have ever had the opportunity to inspect.
They started the project last fall and it is now in operation.

[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]
Posted By: Scott35 Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 04:42 AM
What a cool project!!! [Linked Image]

Scott35
Posted By: briselec Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 09:29 AM
Interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing
Posted By: togol Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 09:32 AM
16,000 a week !! I"ll bet those neighbors are thrilled... [Linked Image]

cool lookin contraption nonetheless...
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 09:39 AM
Alan,
7000HP motor!.
Is it a 4160V version?.
It is obviously not 240V!. [Linked Image]
Mate,
I'd be interested to see the control gear on this Bad-Boy!. [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 05-13-2006).]
Posted By: Alan Belson Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 09:51 AM
WOW! Alan, I'd love to see some pics of that motor!!! Any chance of you sneakin' back on some pretext, with a camera?

Alan [the other one]

ps. Don't park too close to the plant!
Posted By: Alan Nadon Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 01:28 PM
Unfortunately the motor is not very impressive looking.
It doesn't even look like a motor.
It is enclosed in a box shaped housing about eight feet wide and high and about twelve feet long.
It is about as fancy as looking at a walk in cooler.
It is a 4,160 volt.
Originally it was supposed to be an 8,000 Hp but,the company building it had a problem so they found the 7,000 Hp sitting on a shelf somewhere and substituted it.
The neighbors are happy that the three story stack of junkers has been reduced to below the landscaped berm.
Alan--
Posted By: iwire Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 02:07 PM
Quote
so they found the 7,000 Hp sitting on a shelf

Oh yeah 4160 volt 7,000 HP motors can be found anywhere, Home Depot or Graingers.

It's those 8000 HP motors that are hard to come by. [Linked Image]

Cool photos, thank you for sending them in.

Bob
Posted By: resqcapt19 Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 02:31 PM
If the unit pulls the full 400 amps, then the electricity will cost about $1600 per hour if they are paying 5 cent per kWH.
Don
Posted By: CTwireman Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 04:35 PM
There is a facility similar to this one located off of Rt 91 in North Haven, CT (for anyone who is familiar with the area). It has a tiny 4000 HP motor by comparison. [Linked Image]

The operartor of the shredder sits in a "bomb proof" control room because of the occasional propane tank that slips through, which does happen with such a high feed rate. (I am sure the facility pictured is no different.) I was told the shredder operator of the North Haven facility has been knocked on his keester a few times because of such mishaps.

Peter
Posted By: Rewired Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 04:56 PM
Ahh yess! Horsepower!
There is one facility like that here in Hamilton at the foot of Parkdale Ave that I was in, and its pretty impressive to see when its running...
Motor is only 6000 HP 4160V and only draws about 150A when its running, roughly 600A for a few seconds when they drop in a honda or similar, but a full 1200A when they drop in a handful of tired old North American automobiles... It was quite interesting to just be in the motor room/ change house whan the mill was running as the whole building shook... I have heard stories as well as Peter said the operator sits in a bombproof control room... There have been incidents where a stray propane cylinder or gasoline vapour has been present in such quantity to explode and completely clear everything out of the shredder and off one section of conveyor line!

A.D
Posted By: Alan Belson Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 07:08 PM
For a size comparison, I posted some unique technical pics / info in April 2005 of USS BB-43 'Tennessee', of Pearl Harbor fame- see Iwire's link kindly added below- thanks Bob.
The motor pics are of a rotor and stator during construction in 1920-22[?]
4 off x 3270v ; coincidentally 7000hp each.

Alan N, that will be some shelf too!

Alan B




[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 05-13-2006).]
Posted By: iwire Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/13/06 07:32 PM
https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000116.html
Posted By: Alan Nadon Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/14/06 04:30 PM
At least those look like Motors instead of big boxes.
Alan--
Posted By: RSmike Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/15/06 08:42 PM
I was at an machine vision presentation and happened to be talking with the engineer from a scrap yard. He was interested in improving the ability to sort coins that they were currently retrieving from automobiles that were then ground into tiny pieces. I had to remove my foot from my mouth when I laughed at trying to even justify doing such things.

He told me they are pulling about $80,000 per year in loose change from the cars they shred. He wanted to improve the ability to sort out coins from stamped metal slugs that were caught in various parts of the frame.

I recall the shredder this guy ran was running something like 15-20 cars per hour.

This thing sounds like it's got more bite...

7000HP. That's just silly. I'd like to see the motor starter on that baby.

There's money in the trash....

RSlater,
RSmike
Posted By: Gus99 Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/15/06 09:38 PM
http://kd4dcy.net/tmi/pri.html

Here it talks about 9000hp pumps for the primary reactor loop at Three Mile Island unit #2 (the melted one). And it also says there are four pumps per reactor, two primary and two backup, times two reactors - that's eight total on the island.

These pumps can move 136,000 GPM - that's right, gallons per minute at a pressure of over 2000psi. They keep the water under that pressure to keep it form boiling.

Of course only four of them are still usable! This is one of the most detailed engineering reports of what happened in 1979 I have read.



[This message has been edited by Gus99 (edited 05-15-2006).]
Posted By: Trainwire Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/17/06 02:48 PM
Man oh man, do I have some things I'd like to toss in there.

Do ya think they'd notice?

TW
Posted By: Zog Re: Mega-Shredder - 05/18/06 05:35 PM
I saw this shredder on Modern Marvels last week, I think it is still on the air.

BTW, GE has a 50,000hp motor, they use it to suck air out of a huge building to test aircraft engines.
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