Product category:
Drives, motors and power transmission, couplings, clutches
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors) | Subject: ABB variable speed drives at Castlegate
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 03 January 2008
Variable speed drives cut air handling
costs
Variable speed electric motor drives has reduced the cost of providing air circulation at commercial/industrial units from GBP 180/week to GBP 50/week.
The installation of two ABB variable speed drives at a block of managed business premises in in Wales, has reduced the running cost of an air handling unit from GBP 180/week to GBP 50/week In total, over GBP 6,000/year will be saved while reducing CO2 emissions by 12 tonnes/year, said ABB
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 25 Jun 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The drives inbstallation is at the Castlegate Business Park, Monmouthshire, which provides a range of accommodation for offices, storage and light industry.
Originally, a motor drove the fans in the air handling unit through a pulley system.
Speed control of the fan was possible by varying the ratio of the drive wheels between the motor and the fan.
ABB told manufacturingtalk.com that this arrangement had no effect on the speed of the motor and offered no potential for saving energy.
The air handling unit was recently refurbished to meet a lower average demand.
A current tenant of the centre had previously manufactured semiconductors, an activity that generates large amounts of heat and a subsequent demand for air circulation.
As this activity had ceased, the air handling unit now had more capacity than required.
Allan McCabe of Kier Managed Services is the facilities manager for the Castlegate Business Park on behalf of owner Robert Hitchins.
McCabe said: "I knew of ABB's reputation but had only used their motors before, not their drives.
I decided to ask their local representative to look at the potential for using drives on the installation, both to save money and to reduce the carbon footprint of the building".
ABB Drives Alliance partner APDS installed two new ABB drives, a 22kW drive on the supply fan and a 15kW drive on the air extract fan.
Running the unit according to demand and taking account of the reduced occupancy, the ABB drives have brought energy costs down by 70%.
The annual saving of over GBP 6,000 will give a payback time of 16 months.
McCabe verified the data himself using the same methods used by ABB and APDS.
"We put a data logger on one of the three phases of the motor and got the same result as ABB had demonstrated.
As well as drastically cutting our energy use, it also reduced our carbon footprint.".
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