Energy costs cut

A plastic components manufacturer is saving nearly £2000 a year in energy costs on one of its injection moulding machines through retrofitting an ABB variable speed drive (VSD). Newtown Plastics fitted the VSD following a joint energy appraisal report by ABB and City Electrical Factors (CEF).

Speed control on this application is not controlled via a pressure transducer, but instead relies on the drive’s internal load measurements to decide when the pump is doing useful work or recycling back to the tank.

When the pump is recirculating fluid back to the tank, while the plastic part is being cooled, the speed of the motor is dropped to 50%. Off load power has been reduced from 7 to 3.7kW, giving an annual saving of £1963 a year.