Animal feeds maker ABN drives down costs
12 Feb 2010
London – Animal feeds manufacturer, ABN, is saving over 30% of the power consumed on the applicable motors on its electricity bill for the manufacture of pig and poultry feed products following the installation of 33 ABB low voltage AC drives.
ABN produces 1.7 million tonnes per annum of pig and poultry compound feed from its ten mills located throughout the UK. The company wanted to look at the energy efficiency of some of its key processes and asked ABB Drives Alliance Partner, Inverter Drive Systems (IDS) to investigate.
“We particularly wanted to look at cooler fans, grinders, grinder extractor fans and air compressors. IDS promised us they could achieve significant energy savings,” said Alex Masih, ABN’s supply chain director
The existing machines had either no control or a simple damper control on the fan applications. IDS conducted an energy survey at seven of ABN’s UK mills involving temporary installation of ABB low voltage AC drives to determine the potential savings. This resulted in a comprehensive spreadsheet with costs, savings and payback times.
Power monitoring was carried out before and after the drive installation to verify the predicted savings. The survey revealed a potential to save around 25% of the power on the recommended applications, and led to the installation of 33 ABB industrial drives were installed at the mills, with ratings ranging from 7.5 to 200kW.
Actual power savings were in the region of 30%, while work on variable speed control of cooler fans at the company’s Northallerton site has shown potential for a further 23% saving, according to ABB. This, the equipment supplier estimated, gives a pay back period of two years.
As well as the power savings, the drives have produced a number of other benefits for ABN, added Masih: “IDS also helped us achieve better product size control on the grinders. The beaters in the grinding machines produce different sized stock depending on the speed, so using variable speed drives also allows us to vary the size of the feed to suit customers’ needs. Using the ABB solution allowed us to retrofit the drives onto our existing grinders rather than buy new variable speed grinders.”
Due to the dusty atmosphere produced by the mills, the drives were supplied protected to IP54, with those in particularly dusty areas enclosed in panels offering further protection. Soft starters also allow gradual start up of the grinders. This saved energy by allowing the grinders to be turned off when not needed and turned on again without risking an overload. It also brought a quieter working environment to the production areas.
