Electricity + Control December 2017

TRANSFORMERS + SUBSTATIONS

Mechatronics: Answer to Reduced Costs, Energy Consumption in Electrical Drive Engineering Norman Maleka, SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa

T he manufacturing and processing industries are two of the biggest energy consumers in the world. About two thirds of this is used for electrical drive engineering. Furthermore, it is estimated that 90% of the follow-up costs associ- ated with drive engineering – such as expenditure on production plant and equipment, and transpor- tation of goods in-house – can be attributed to energy costs. Therefore, lowering energy costs in this area has a significant potential to reduce over- all costs and energy consumption. Outstanding energy-savings can be achieved by combining energy-efficient mechanical and electrical components in the development of new decentralised, compact drive systems, and imple- menting such solutions in decentralised installation concepts. In a centralised installation concept, the drive electronics for controlling individual machines or system modules are housed in control cabinets, with overall control provided by a PLC. In a decen- tralised installation concept, on the other hand, the components and functions are standardised, with a modular structure, while the control intelligence is housed in the drive technology or the module itself. ROI Decentralised applications, especially in the pro- duction industry, have the potential to reduce en- ergy consumption by up to 50%. In the food and beverage and airport logistics sectors, for example, downtime and maintenance costs are reduced, in addition to the follow-up costs associated with conversion, expansion, and reuse. The end result Lowering energy costs in this area has a significant potential to reduce overall costs and energy consumption.

is a dramatically-improved return on investment (ROI). Latest measurements on a belt conveyor of a baggage-handling system for airport logistics revealed an average reduction in power consump- tion by about 4 400 kWh/a per drive, a reduction in energy consumption of 55%, a reduction in car- bon dioxide emission of 2 391 kg/a per drive, and R87 881,30 worth of energy saved per drive per year. Compared to conventional drive systems, the higher cost of the mechatronic drive components were already paid off within one to two years, sim- ply due to the saving in energy costs. Reliable implementation of drive tasks Decentralised installation concepts can cut costs considerably in extremely large production plants. Compared to centralised solutions, less space is needed for control cabinets, as well as significant- ly less cabling. This is because the control units are already integrated into the drive components. For example, the MOVIGEAR mechatronic drive system only requires a single line for transmitting both energy and information, based on the princi- ple of Single Line Network Installation (SNI). MOV- IGEAR SNI allows for completely new system concepts to be implemented, as data and energy are transmitted with a single cable. The immediate benefits are high performance and short response times, which allows for reliable implementation of challenging drive tasks. Time saving A decentralised installation concept is best suit- ed for system designers and operators who are planning a new production plant on a large site with a modular structure, or who are expanding an existing plant. In addition to reduced installation, start-up and energy costs, decentralised solutions offer a degree of modularity and flexibility in both

Take Note!

Outstanding energy-sav- ings can be achieved by combining energy-ef- ficient mechanical and electrical components in the development of new, centralised com- pact drive systems and implementing such solu- tions in decentralised installation concepts. Decentralised applica- tions (especially in the production industry) have the potential to reduce energy consump- tion by up to 50%. The benefits of the me- chatronic drive system described include high performance and short response times which allow for reliable imple- mentation of challenging tasks.

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20 Electricity + Control

DECEMBER 2017