Drives into food and beverage applications

An ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors) product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Aug 22, 2008

Brochure shows how companies such as Northern Foods and Heinz are using ABB drives to run specific applications at the appropriate speed and so cut operating expenditure.

A new food and beverage applications brochure from ABB looks at the needs of the industry and how the technology of one of the world's leading variable speed drives companies can help cut the cost of food production.

At a time of rising food costs, food and beverage producers are increasingly concerned about keeping customers loyal to their brands.

One of the ways of ensuring this loyalty is to keep price increases as low as possible.

The increases are often due to rising electricity costs, so keeping these costs down is imperative.

One of the major ways to save on electricity costs is by employing variable speed drives to run processes at a speed appropriate to the demand, rather than the speed of the motor.

The new brochure shows how companies such as Northern Foods and Heinz are using ABB drives to run specific applications at the appropriate speed and so cut operating expenditure.

The Heinz factory made its steam production 14% more efficient through using variable speed drives in its new steam plant, while Northern Foods is saving over GBP 2500 on compressed air production at one of its plants.

These are just two of the many applications detailed in the brochure, which shows how companies producing everything from salt to machinery for the processing of tomatoes can use ABB drives to their advantage.

The full range of ABB's low voltage AC drives is outlined - machinery drives, component drives, high performance machinery drives, standard drives and industrial drives, including regenerative, low harmonic and multidrive versions.

The range provides the features and flexibility to appeal to both OEMs and food and beverage producers looking to retrofit processes to improve efficiency and save energy.

As well as the drives themselves, the brochure shows how ABB's Intelligent Pump Control (IPC) software can benefit food and beverage companies.

Incorporating all the functions most commonly required by pump users, IPC eliminates the need for an external PLC and helps to save energy, reduce downtime and prevent pump jamming and pipeline blocking.

Also featured is ABB drives' motion control program, a cost-effective solution for achieving precision positioning and synchronisation.

The program incorporates integrated motion control functions that eliminate the need for an external motion controller in demanding applications such as material handling and packaging.

ABB drives provide a complete package for the food and beverage sector and goes beyond merely supplying the hardware.

ABB has experts who understand all aspects of the food and beverage industry, offering a full service of technical advice.

This includes everything from assessing your needs and coming up with the right solution to achieve your goals, to advising on ATEX ready installations and low harmonic drives.

Together with installation and commissioning, training, support and maintenance, spare parts and upgrades, delivered through its own world wide network or its partners, ABB drives is ready to meet the needs of any food and beverage manufacturer, anywhere in the world.