|
Edward Lowton
Editor |
|
| Home> | Plant, Process & Control | >Motors and drives | >Savings for joinery firm |
| Home> | Energy Management | >Motors and drives | >Savings for joinery firm |
Savings for joinery firm
15 August 2013
Northern Ireland-based Heron Brothers, manufacturer of timber doors and windows, is saving £13,000 a year on electricity costs following installation of five ABB general purpose drives, ACS550, to control the speed of five extractor fans used to remove wood dust from machinery.
The extraction fans were left running all day as the control panel for them is some distance from the machines they serve. They also had to be started in a set sequence to avoid overloading the supply on start-up. A review of appliances found that circulation fans, extraction fans and the extraction system were consuming the most electricity and were operating inefficiently.
ABB Alliance Drives member Advantage Control installed five ABB general purpose drives beside the main control panel. Benefits include a reduction in energy cost of £13,000 per annum resulting from a cut in the average daily power consumed from 103.3 to 51.4 kW through matching fan motor speed to the demand of the process. This is a saving of 50% and a reduction of 59.79t of CO2 per year.
The payback for fitting the drives is just under nine months. This reduction in kW used on site has reduced the strain on the plant’s mains supply as the transformer was reaching the limit of what it could supply. The drives’ ramped start-up ensures they never need more current than they are labelled for, while isolators and cables which were previously hot are now noticeably cooler.
Damien O'Callaghan, executive manager for the Heron Brothers plant, says: "Advantage Control advised us that grants were available which we duly applied for and received. Advantage Control made the investment decision very easy for us as it was less than a year payback when annual savings and grants were factored in."
- VSDs: An energy-saving case
- ABB extends CoriolisMaster family with two new compact options
- Catalogue simplifies search
- ABB wins mill order in Saudi Arabia
- Flow rate measurement explained
- Emergency drive helps avoid pollution risk
- Robust combustion gas analyser
- ABB introduces versatile pressure transmitter range
- Malt producer raises glass to new drive
- Laser level transmitter
