Northern Foods cuts air costs
January 1st 2008 Northern Foods is saving almost
£2500 annually on its compressed
air system since installing an ABB
variable speed drive at its Riverside
Bakery in Nottingham. The 45kW
drive was supplied by Inverter
Drive Systems (IDS), an ABB
Drives Alliance member.
IDS carried out an energy
appraisal of Northern Foods'
compressed air system and
recommended the use of a 45kW
ABB standard drive.
There are three compressors in
total, two 30kW fixed-speed assist
compressors and a 45kW duty
compressor. The drive was fitted
on the latter, which is in operation
all the time.
One of the fixed speed
compressors is used to top up the
pressure when demand increases,
while the other is on standby.
Zac Dorn of IDS comments
"There are always two out of three
compressors running so we had to
ensure that the fixed-speed assist
compressor only came online
when the duty compressor with
variable speed drive could provide
no more air – that is when it is
running at full-speed."
This was achieved by the
installation of a pressure sensor to
provide accurate system pressure
feedback for the drives built-in PID
controller.
Payback on the project is
calculated at 1.5 years, achieving
an annual saving of £2450. More articles from ABB Limited: | 
