Method for compound movement of an aeration unit

Abstract

Improvements are made to a system in which force is applied to aeration units from only one side of a basin. Part of such force is vector transferred from one end of a beam of the aeration unit to the other end of the beam to move both ends of the beam. The beam supports pipes of the aeration unit. A force transfer module includes one force transfer strand held in a force transfer path between fixed opposite ends of the strand. The force transfer path extends in part along the beam, which is placed in compression. Motion of the one end of the beam resulting from the force is transferred by the single force transfer strand to the opposite end of the beam so that both ends of the beam move relative to the basin under the action of the force. The improvements include guides on the beam for allowing the pipes of the aeration unit to move off the beam to a side of the basin for servicing, a levelling device for positioning ends of the pipes level with each other to enable the pipes to introduce uniform amounts of gas into the basin, and a plurality of vector force transfer modules provided across the basin to apply forces to the beam at many locations.