Control Techniques gets its own house in order

Control Techniques has proven the effectiveness of its energy saving message to industry - in its own drives manufacturing unit at Newtown.

Control Techniques has proven the effectiveness of its energy saving message to industry - in its own drives manufacturing unit at Newtown.

The retrofitting of an energy saving package, comprising a 45kW Unidrive and an EnergAir Enercon system controller, to a twin bank of 45kW compressors, is enabling the UK's premier drives manufacturer to benefit from energy savings of GBP 4800 per year - a figure that ensures a payback for the system in approximately 2 years.

"The new system enables us to more closely match air supply to demand", said Bryan Richmond, Control Techniques' Environmental Engineer, who, together with Environmental Manager, Andy Clark, was the driving force behind the project.

"The compressors supply our warehouse and PCB plant.

Some machines in these areas run in standby when not in full production and have to be supplied with compressed air on a consistent basis.

Previously, this meant that the compressors were running continuously - a lot of the time off-load, which is very wasteful.

We knew this was a problem, but did not know the magnitude of it so we decided to find out.

The first logical step was to perform a data logging operation, but when we approached the compressor manufacturer to supply this service we came away disappointed.

Worse still, we were informed that our plan, of proceeding beyond the data logging exercise by fitting some type energy saving equipment, was a non-starter "because this could not be achieved with the existing equipment".

What we were offered was a new compressor, which would provide the energy saving features that we required - at a cost".

"We declined the offer, deciding instead that our 6- year old compressors still had a lot of life left in them, and that retrofitting these with energy saving equipment presented our best course of action.

After consulting with Mid Wales Environment Centre they loaned us a data logging system.

The system was attached for a week and at the end of it information was passed to EnergAir a specialist in delivering intelligent compressed air control, onto compressors.

They calculated that savings of over GBP 4000 per annum could be expected, if the supply from the compressors could be matched more closely to the actual demand".

The best method of achieving this objective was by incorporating a retrofit system, comprising one of EnergAir's "S" series system controllers, and a size 4, 45kW Unidrive variable speed drive (VSD).

These two components combine effectively to provide an air compressor management system, which acts to provide optimum efficiency at all times under all operating conditions.

The role played by the Unidrive in the system is that of a balancer unit, continually topping up air pressure in the reservoir in response to changes in detected air system pressure to maintain an exact and constant pressure level (target pressure).

As air system demand falls, and more air is delivered into the air reservoir than is being used, the system pressure will begin to rise and the VSD compressor will reduce speed, and hence output, to maintain the target pressure level.

Since installation, some months ago, the compressor management system has been registering savings equating to GBP 4800 per annum, very close to the figure that EnergAir computed after the data logging exercise.

These savings will result in a payback of around two years.

Once this has been achieved all subsequent savings will be a direct profit contribution to Control Techniques' bottom line.

"This initiative is just the latest in a number which we have undertaken since we started monitoring our energy efficiency in 1997", said Bryan Richmond.

"The success of these initiatives can be judged from the fact that we have been averaging 15-20% savings per year on electricity costs over the last two years.

This latest project offers an additional longer- term bonus, in addition to the ongoing savings.

When the compressors finally come to the end of their useful life, which is usually about 13 years, they can be replaced with relatively standard units, which do not have the cost disadvantages of those equipped with built in VSDs.

This is possible because our existing energy saving system can easily be refitted to the replacement compressors once they are installed".

The success of Control Techniques' in-house project has had wider positive implications for the manufacturing and process sectors as a whole.

It has led to the establishment of a unique drives partnership between Control Techniques and EnergAir Solutions, aimed at delivering retrofit energy saving solutions on most types of compressors, including rotary screw, vane and reciprocating types in stand-alone or multiple configurations.

"A number of drive manufacturers, ourselves included, have strategies in place for helping users of pumps and fans to reduce their energy consumption under the Climate Change Levy", says Jonathan Green, Marketing Communications Manager for Control Techniques.

"In the area of compressors, however, where the potential savings are equally substantial, no other company is providing a service like the one that we are offering with EnergAir".

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