Gunning for perfection

It is widely accepted that more automated plant is fast becoming an economic necessity in today's cut-throat global manufacturing environment. This applies to discrete manufacturing as well as the process industries.

But it is not just traditional engineering-type applications that exploit automated motor and drive systems — even going to watch your favourite football team is enhanced by the application of drives.

At Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, for example, the turf is kept in tip-top condition by an automatic, and complex, under-pitch aeration system that helps to drain the soil and promote the healthy turf which has the advantage of keeping the ball on the ground.

The system uses a fan driven by an

industrial drive to feed air to or from a pipework system, which can extract moisture from a 'permeable bed' consisting of sand and gravel upon which the turf sits.

This works in two directions. In the forward direction it blows air into the gravel bed and into the root zone of the grass. In the reverse direction the system can be used to provide drainage from the root zone and pull moisture away from the playing surface, meaning that play is possible even after heavy rain.