A case study exploring the use of Parker SSD Drives to eliminate costly motor upgrades was recently conducted.

Problem

Exopack Advanced Coatings are in the business of operating a large and effective pollution abatement plant at its UK manufacturing site in Wrexham.  The plant deals with the exhausts from the site’s production machinery.  Two fans, each of which is driven by a 180 kW induction motor, are central to the operation of the plant.

The speed of the fans is regulated on a continuous basis to ensure that there is no pressure differential between the abatement plant intake and the machine exhausts; thus the plant imposes no back pressure on the exhausts, nor does it actively extract gases and vapours from them.  The abatement plant has been in operation for many years and, because of Exopack Advanced Coating’s success and resulting growth, an increase in capacity was necessary.  When the site was in full production, it was difficult for the fans to maintain the required zero pressure differential, even if they were operating at the maximum attainable speed.

Solution

Parker SSD Drives were chosen to address this problem, partly because they are well specified and offer excellent value for money, and partly because of positive previous experiences with the company’s products in other applications. 

The latest AC890PX modular drives were selected by Exopack Advanced Coatings. Available with ratings of up to 400kW, these compact units are only 500mm wide, which enables easy installation into the limited space available.  They use sealed plug in modules for all major functions, making them easy to service.  They also incorporate a wide range of features as standard, including line fuses, line reactors and a disconnect switch.  In addition, they support V/f, sensorless flux vector and full flux vector modes of operation.  The Parker SSD Drives was easy to install and configure, and were fully operational within a short time period.    

Outcome

The Parker SSD Drives saved Exopack Advanced Coatings a lot of money due to their greater energy efficiency compared with a situation if other motors were to be installed. Even under extreme conditions, Exopack Advanced Coatings noted that the motors were able to run close to their original maximum design speed, something that had never proved possible with the previous drives.  They were then switched to sensorless flux vector operation.

This change enabled the fans to be operated under full control at higher speeds, increasing the capacity of the abatement plant by 5% without the need for other modifications of any kind.  As a result, the engineers decided that there is no more need to install larger motors. 

Featured Products: AC890PX range

Market: Pollution Abatement

Customer: Exopack Advanced Coatings