Drives deliver £2000/month savings

TI Automotive of Flint makes HDPE plastic fuel tanks for global automakers.

Looking to cut bills, the company asked ABB Drives Alliance member Central Group to investigate where energy use could be reduced.

With production based on blow moulding, the plant uses a lot of compressed air. Central Group installed a 75kW ABB standard drive on the compressor, which previously had a fixed speed unit. Running the motor at half speed, the drive cut consumption from 75 to 45kW.

Installing 11kW ABB standard drives on three pumps produced a 30% saving, cutting power demand from 11 to 7kW.

In production 24h/day, a granulator was only actually working for 10sec in each minute. Running the granulator motor at the same fixed speed, an ABB industrial drive reduced its power consumption from 42 to 15kW.

Overall, the plant is saving around £2000 a month on its energy bill.