Fan-Tastic Energy Savings for Steel Castings Manufacturer
A steel castings manufacturer in the West Midlands who predominantly supplies the highly cost sensitive, automotive industry with precision castings is set to make significant energy reductions, achieving notable cost savings by fitting ABB Inverters (variable speed drives) across its manufacturing operation.
These energy and cost savings were highlighted during a free Energy Efficiency Motor Audit.
Fan-Tastic Energy Savings for Steel Castings Manufacturer
The optimum applications for the inverter technology was identified during a free Energy Efficiency Motor Audit. We identified the applications that would provide the best return on investment as the extraction and cooling fans. The initial investment has a cost of £67,000, which will provide a year on year cost saving of £51,000 which results in an estimated payback time of 15.6 months. We tend to be rather conservative with our payback times and often anticipate a shorter return.
How We Achieve the Energy/Monetary Savings
Many of the fans on this site are fitted with dampers which are closed to around 80% to control the air flow. Variable speed drive motor control allows the user to reduce/increase the motor speed according to demand through PID control measuring return air temperature. This has resulted in between 15-20% reduction in motor speed which converts to between 40-50% reduction in the power consumed (Cube Law).
Variable Speed Drive Benefits
Other benefits of utilising variable speed drives include longer plant life due to reduction in mechanical and electrical stresses on the motor with direct online start, less maintenance and downtime of motors due to running at lower speeds, quieter running – motors run at reduced frequency and therefore vibration and motor noise is reduced.
Energy Efficiency Motor Audit Summary
Industry: Steel Castings Manufacturer
Applications: Extract and Cooling Fans
Amount saved each and every year (est): £51,000
Investment Pay Back Time: 15.6 months
If you would like to discover if inverters can reduce your site energy consumption and therefore costs, book an Energy Efficiency Motor Audit by calling 0115 944 1036 or email [email protected]