Driving down energy costs

Animal feed manufacturer, ABN, is saving over 30% of the power consumed on the applicable motors on its electricity bill for the manufacture of pig and poultry feed products following installation of 33 ABB low voltage AC drives. The company wanted to look at the energy efficiency of some of its key processes, such as cooler fans, grinders, grinder extractor fans and air compressors, and asked ABB Drives Alliance Partner, Inverter Drive Systems (IDS) to investigate.

Machines had either no control or a simple damper control on the fan applications. IDS conducted an energy survey at seven mills, involving temporary installation of low voltage AC drives to determine potential savings. The survey revealed potential savings of about 25% of the power on the recommended applications.

A total of 33 ABB industrial drives were installed at the mills, with ratings ranging from 7.5 to 200kW.