Product category:
Drives, motors and power transmission, couplings, clutches
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors) | Subject: ACS 600 160kW variable speed drive
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 January 2003
Variable speed drives reduce injection
mould costs
A manufacturer of injection moulded automotive trim is using variable speed drives to cut its energy bill by GBP 10,000 per year.
A manufacturer of automotive trim for Nissan is using ABB variable speed drives to cut its energy bill by GBP 10,000 per year R-TEK, based in Washington, Tyne and Wear, produces injection moulded automotive trim components
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 25 Jun 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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As part of a cost reduction programme, the company considered ways of making its injection moulding machines more energy efficient and asked ABB Drives Alliance partner Slater Drive Systems (SDS) to help.
SDS carried out an energy survey on R-TEK's machines and then verified the results by loaning an ABB ACS 600 160kW variable speed drive.
The drive was used in conjunction with a Powermiser interface to the machine's hydraulic system.
Most injection moulding machines are hydraulically operated, using electric motors to drive pumps that pump oil from a sump and feed the pressurised oil to the moving parts of the machine.
Under the control of the moulding machine's computer, various 'directional' valves are opened and closed at discrete points during a mould cycle.
This can be inefficient because the pump runs at a fixed speed, has a fixed capacity and so delivers a fixed amount of oil all the time.
The machine rarely needs all the oil delivered and the excess is simply dumped back to the sump.
At some points in its cycle, the machine can be wasting up to 95% of the electrical energy supplied to the pump.
The tests performed by SDS, which were carried out with the machines operating normally, showed that, in conjunction with the Powermiser Interface, the drive could save around 40% of the energy consumption, resulting in a monetary saving of GBP 5,000 per machine per year.
This equates to a payback of less than two years and an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 68 tonnes per machine.
Bryan Simpson, Quality Assurance Manager for R-TEK, says: "The ABB drives have been operational for a month and we have been pleased both with their performance and the service we received from SDS.
The manufacturer of the electronic control system, Powermiser, has been back to review the system and has confirmed that we are getting the expected energy savings.
"We now want SDS to do similar work for us on two other moulding machines, as well as looking at how we can save energy on our compressors.".
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