Finding energy savings may mean replacing healthy motors.

Most new equipment using electric motors of any size is optimised for energy consumption. However, there are still opportunities for reducing energy use in older motors, even if they are operating healthily. You just need to look for them.

Clearly the larger the motor, and the larger the potential savings, and although replacing healthy equipment may seem a counter-intuitive was of saving money, it works. In one application, a leading UK salt producer saved £100,000 by installing an ABB drive and fan motor.

As well as food grade pure dried vacuum salt, the plant produces a courser granular product and tablets for commercial and domestic dishwashers. The dryer for this product previously used a fan that sucked air through the dryer at a rate controlled by a damper in the pipeline.

The original fan motor was rated at 337 kW. It was retained when the process was changed and during normal operation, the damper was 95 percent closed so most of the fan’s energy was being used to suck the air through the narrow constriction.

An energy survey by one of ABBs partners determined that a 132 kW motor would be adequate to provide the draft required by the process. The old fan was replaced by a smaller unit equipped with a 132 kW four-pole motor coupled to an ABB industrial drive.  When operated over a full year it was estimated to save to over 1.6 GWh, a 60% reduction.

It’s a common problem, that industrial processes change, but manufacturers reuse existing plant to minimise capital expense. It is a false economy that manufacturers don’t consider. Sometimes it’s about re-educating end-users about the energy savings that are available

On this site, energy-saving initiatives aren’t confined to the process. Even the small amount of waste heat now produced by ABB’s variable speed drive is being put to work warming up the switch room in winter.

Go here for ACH580 fan drives from ABB