Abb drives down energy bills

It is reported that ABB low voltage AC drives are saving GKN £20,000 a year in energy costs on its Toyota component production line.

GKN AutoStructures, based in Telford, produces components for many leading vehicle manufacturers.

The Toyota line makes many thousands of chassis cross members each week; an important part of the process is welding and the line uses an extraction system to remove welding fumes from the area.

ABB contacted GKN ASL with a proposal to investigate energy usage at the plant and determine if low voltage AC drives could make a difference on any motor-driven applications. In a two week trial, ABB installed two temporary drives of 55 and 30kW and turned the speed of the motors down until they were extracting a sufficient air volume to maintain the proper air quality for the workers in the production area.

The optimum speed was found to be 42.5 Hz. This produced an average saving on power use of 55%, with one fan motor saving 64%.