Companies buying new machines should think more about the energy that will be consumed by the machine during its lifespan says Schneider Electric. Among expenses from acquisition to dismantling, the purchase price accounts for only 2 to 3% of the overall costs: the remainder of the expense being mainly energy consumption.

Machines are designed according to performance criteria and productivity. The goal of the design engineer is to find the most efficient, economic, and competitive solutions for these measures. However, improving energy efficiency to lower running costs can make the machine more expensive to produce.

Motor Selection

Motor selection is generally made when the mechanical part has been largely defined and long-term power consumption is not always considered. However, the growing cost of energy demands new strategies. The choice of the motor should be the starting point to reduce the power demand.

The motor must allow the machine to operate continuously and provide the required torque at the rated speed. This consideration determines the motor size. The designer must also consider the motor torque required to start the machine. Eventually, the motor may have to be oversized.

IMROVING MACHIINE EFFICIENCY

The result is that the selected motor is often larger than necessary for continuous operation. If the motor is not running at its rated power, its efficiency is reduced, which leads to increased energy consumption. Due to motor and machine efficiency, part of this energy is wasted.

Many solutions exist to improve the energy efficiency of your machines, such as:

– Enhancing machine efficiency with high efficiency motors

– Operating modes that switch off an unloaded machine

– Integrating variable speed drives

Altivar ATV900 Process Drives

Traditionally, an AC motor is used in machines. This motor is designed to operate at a constant speed. However, using electronic drives such as the Altivar ATV900 Process Drives series with the motor improves the flexibility of the machines, and eliminates most AC motor weaknesses including:

– Inrush current

– Variable speed control

– Power factor

Industry and infrastructure consume more than 31% of the available energy in the world, and electrical motors alone represent more than 60% of that energy consumption. Designing a more energy efficient machine provides significant cost savings over the lifetime of the equipment. This lower cost can then be passed directly to end users, making the machine builder more competitive and improving productivity.

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