Gambica updates VSD Best Practice Guide for pumping applications.

Pump systems are often operated inefficiently. The reasons will vary from process to process and application to application, but the constant outcome is the cost to industry through wasted energy, which runs into millions of pounds per year, and the cost to the environment through the generation of this wasted energy.

Pooled experience

To assist specifiers, Members from the British Pump Manufacturers’ Association (BPMA), the GAMBICA Variable Speed Drive group and BEAMA’s Rotating Electrical Machinery group have pooled their experience to update the guide which was originally produced in 2013.  The goal of the 2016 version is to clearly define in simple terms the information required when planning to use an electronic Variable Speed Driven Pumping System.

It is estimated that in the United Kingdom, pumps use a total of 20TWh/annum, responsible for the emission of 2.7MtC/annum (2.7 million tons of carbon). Pumps therefore represent the largest single use of motive power in industry and commerce as shown in the breakdown of energy usage by motor driven equipment:

– Pumps-31%

– Fans- 23%

– Air Compressors- 8%

– Other Compressors – 14%

– Conveyors – 8%

– Others 16%

A pump installation is often sized to cope with a maximum predicted flow, which, may never happen. This principle of over sizing is frequently used in Industry, which subsequently leads to wasted energy and damage to parts of the pump installation.

Procurement costs of the pump equipment in general amount to less than 1% of the total investment of a plant, yet the operational quality of a pump may be the decisive factor in the overall functionality of the plant and its associated running costs.  Flow control by speed regulation of pumps, is one of today’s best methods of varying the output on both Rotodynamic and Positive Displacement pumps and this guide describes its many advantages and potential system drawbacks.

The benefits below, all amounting to lower life cycle costs:

– Energy cost savings

– Reliability improvements

– Simplified pipe systems (elimination of control valves & by-pass lines)

– Soft start & stop

– Reduced maintenance

Whilst other methods of control are available, this guide concentrates on the variable frequency AC Pulse Width Modulated Variable Speed Drive (VSD) because it has the greatest benefits of control, energy efficiency, and ease of retrofitting.

Download the guide from Gambica’s resource library