Cooling tower drives save energy costs
An
ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors) product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Oct 3, 2008
Six 37kW ABB HVAC drives have saved a semiconductor manufacturer in Plymouth, England, more than GBP31,400 a year in energy costs since being installed on the company's three cooling towers.
X-fab UK is expected to recoup the cost of the GBP15,000 installation in just six months.
The drives were installed by the local ABB HVAC partner, Drive Control.
A clean, vibration-free environment is a top priority in semiconductor manufacturing and the company uses large quantities of air and water to maintain cleanliness.
The three cooling towers produce chilled water for the manufacturing process.
The ABB drives are used to control six 37kW fan motors in the cooling towers.
Originally the fans were star/delta connected and arranged in cascade style so that they would come in, or disconnect, one by one as demand varied.
This meant the final fan would constantly be switching on and off, sometimes as often as every 10 minutes.
With a large 37kW motor, this would draw significant start-up current.
Additionally, whenever an odd number of fans were connected, air from the last fan would blow out through one of the other fans.
With the ABB drives, two fans start on the first towers at 20Hz when the building management system indicates cooling is needed.
If more cooling is required, the next two fans start at 20Hz and then the remaining two start if there is demand for more cooling.
For further cooling, all six fans run together between 20Hz and 50Hz.
In addition to energy costs, the new system has reduced maintenance costs, as previously drive belts would break at least once a month.
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