Welcome to NES 2023-24

Our Mission

Norwich Engineering Society is a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences for anyone, engineers or not, having an interest in engineering. We aim to promote widespread discussion and debate through a programme of talks and visits related to advances and achievements in engineering in the world today.

Most of our events from October to April are talk based spanning a wide range of engineering interests. The talks, roughly two a month, are usually held in the Hub at the Pavilion on Park Drive, Hethersett, but since the first Covid lockdown have been published live using Zoom and can be watched a few days afterwards on Youtube.

In the summer events are usually visit based; mostly to local companies or facilities of interest to Members. Watch this space.

Anglian Waterworks Whitlingham - Jul 23rd 2024

The Anglian Water Whitlingham Works is the main effluent water processing plant for the Greater Norwich Area servicing more than 400,000 customer. Its main objective is reduce the amount of hazardous materials in the input effluent to safe levels before returning the flow to the nearby River Yare. The works are designed to be operational even under extreme conditions. The most important extreme conditions are prolonged heavy rainstorms. Because of the predicted increase of such events due to global warming Whitlingham is currently undergoing a significant upgrade.

Given the amount of work that is taking place at the site, the Society is extremely grateful to Anglian Water for arranging a visit for a small group of Members to the plant and providing an expert team of guides led by Stuart Chatten.

Stuart started the tour with a brief history of the plant. He then gave us an overview of how the present plant operated including an outline of the target specifications for the output flows. He informed the group how notional waste products from the cleaning up process could indeed be put to good use. For instance, the methane produced is used, via heat power units, to provide more than enough electrical power to run the whole site; indeed it is regularly pushing power into the National Grid. Another example is that the solid waste can, with very little effort, converted to a compost like material for agricultural use.

Stuart then took the group on a tour of the working site starting with a look at how the inflow is screened for non useful materials such as gravel and cloth like material. The group then looked at the settling beds where the organic solid material suitable for bioprocessing was removed from the effluent. This aterial is used in biodigesters to produce the methane gas used in the heat powerplants. The group was then taken to tanks where microbial action removed the small scale suspended solid materials. The output from this area was then fed into an aerating plant and a final settling plant before the flow was fed back into the Yare.

Norwich Aviation Museum - Jul 10th 2024

This excellent visit, arranged by Peter Davies, allowed Members to get up close to some interesting aircraft including some that had operated out of Norwich Airport when it was an active RAF base (RAF Horsham St Faiths) such as the Gloster Meteor and the Hawker Hunter and some that had used the airfield in its present commercial guise of Norwich International Airport. An example of the latter was the Fokker Friendship. Amongst the other aircraft that Members could get up close to were an English Electric Lightning, a SEPCAT Jaguar and a Westland Whirlwind air-sea rescue helicopter all of which were familiar in Norfolk as they had been based at nearby RAF Coltishall. The other main attraction was the delta wing Avro Vulcan.

Some Members took the opportunity to partake in an extended tour of a Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft; the Nimrod, together with the older Shackleton, had been the backbone of the UK anti-submarine defence system during the Cold War period. Our guide, who had served on such a Nimrod, gave us a really thorough description of how the aircraft went about its business. He also told us that this aircraft also undertook a secondary role as an air sea rescue. It was capable of locating vessels in trouble and had the capability of dropping supplies to them if required and/or substantial life-saving equipment if need such as self inflating life craft.

The museum also housed many display cases containing descriptions and artifacts associated with the various RAF and USAAF groupings and aircraft that had operated out of Horsham St Faiths. Just as importantly it housed many displays associated with other airfields in the wider Norfolk area such as Coltishall and Marham. Indeed, many Members commented that there was far too much material for a single visit and, that on departure, vowing that they intended to come back and see more.

Cantley Sugar Works Visit Mar 20th 2024

Cantley Sugar Works has the last continuously running coal fired power station in the UK. Current legislation states that al such units have to be phased out by Dec 31st 2024. The plant at Cantley ends its life at the end of the Works current sugar production campaign in April. Through the good services of Matt Goodrum, Adam Furby and Andy Cowan of Cantley, a visit to the Works was arranged before the station ceased operation.

The tour started with Andy giving an overview of the Works with Adam explaining in a little more detail about the history of why the works generated its own electricity; basically a by product of the need for vast quantities of steam needed to process the extraction of sugar and electricity needed in subsidiary operations running this process. At the time when major investments were being at Cantley the cheapest form of steam generating energy was by burning coal. At the same time it was decided that some of the steam could be used via a steam turbine to generate electricity. In non sugar producing periods some electricity is exported to the national grid.

The next part of the tour was to be taken by Andy and Matt to visit the boilers and see the generator in operation. The tour concluded with a viewing of the equipment used in the extraction of sugar and see the processes used to make the different grades of sugar.

Rare sights!

Two rare sites were seen at the recent visit to the Sugar works at Cantley

The first was brought about because of a strict application of the Health and Safety Regulations at the plant i.e, no areas of bare flesh are allowed to be close to any areas in the works where there is a possibility of being splashed with scalding fluids. Stores had to be scoured for two hi-vis overalls for known shorts adherents; Tim and Ferrers. Apparently some serious overheating was experienced by both especially in the areas of the plant where sugar was being extracted from the pulped beet.

The second was the sight of 12 NES visitors paying rapt and quiet attention to what Andy was telling them about the sugar mashing process.