Sparks Electrical News June 2020

ENERGY MEASUREMENT AND SUPPLY

11

How AI can mitigate RSA’s energy crisis “ The energy industry is rapidly expanding its use of mathemati- cal optimisation across a wide array of business areas, from sup- ply chain management to clean energy production,” said Mark Collingwood, FICO vice president for decision management solutions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “The adoption of FICO Xpress Optimization at enterprise level will streamline and improve energy providers’ existing decision processes, while building on the success of previous projects.”

upgrade our Xpress solution to enterprise-level. FICO has earned its reputation as a leader in optimisation technology.” Uniper has used FICO® Xpress Optimization on seven previous pro- jects to maximise value from volatile energy markets over the past 20 years. With this enterprise-level upgrade, Uniper will be able to expand its existing projects: • Energy storage modelling: Uniper can now base its energy storage valuations on a combination of multiple income streams. This new ability to identify both complementary and mutually exclusive income streams is helping the company to develop more robust business cases. • Energy asset management: Uniper is now able to offer its expertise on predictive maintenance in power plants to other energy providers worldwide, which opens up new revenue streams. • Commercial optimisation of heat and power assets: The FICO® Xpress Mosel modelling language allows Uniper to include heat con- straints and assets into its power optimisation model in order to max- imise electricity production while meeting heat obligations.

dated to diversify the energy mix to address the insufficient energy ca- pacity problem. But despite these efforts, South Africa finds itself on the back foot as the COVID-19 outbreak has forced the country pause to load shedding, which was expected to continue for a further few months to ease the load on the energy suppliers. But what are energy providers across the globe doing to optimise energy efficiency in a world that faces challenges in optimising power supplies to an ever-expanding global economy? FICO® Xpress Optimization has the ability to move computing of even the largest energy providers to the cloud, develop new business opportunities and power up global decision processes. With Xpress’s flexible licencing model, global energy providers, such as Uniper, are now able to upscale cloud infrastructure as needed, delivering faster results and creating new business opportunities. “Uniper needs the smartest technology available to inform our en- ergy production decisions, which is why Xpress models run at the core of a number of our decision processes,” said Colin Silvester, Senior Modelling Expert at Uniper. “The first-class service we’ve received from the FICO team for the past 20 years cemented our recent decision to

South Africa presents itself as the perfect candidate for the Xpress Optimization as it has had an ongoing energy crisis leading to load shedding, dating back to 2007. There have been four periods of sched- uled outages varying in their terms since the inception. According to the CSIR Energy Centre, load-shedding has cost the economy as much as R338-billion; in 2019 alone, the country experienced 530 hours without power, at a cost of up to R120-billion. The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REI4P) was introduced as part of the Integrated Resource Programme 2010-30. Its objective was for 17.8GW of renewable energy to be produced in South Africa before 2030. The plan was later up-

Enquiries: www.fico.com

Drive engineered packaged solutions tailored for your application needs

Do not let a faulty injection system stop your genset

I n keeping with the latest trends of energy efficiency, local support from OEMs and reduced total cost of ownership, ABB South Africa offers complete packaged solutions for water and wastewater to mining and miner- als, cement, petrochemicals and oil and gas industries. Such packaged solutions range from the supply of medium voltage circuit breakers, in- clusive of the required protection, to Variable Speed Drive (VSD) input transformers (if re- quired), and correctly sized VSDs and motors for specific application. An e-housing can also be supplied in accordance with customer re- quirements. A particular feature of the drive technol- ogy from ABB South Africa is the inclusion of a synchronous bypass option unit. This allows one drive to start and accelerate up to eight individual motors on pump or fan applications, for maximum efficiency, says Sarel Pelser, MV Drives Product Manager. The synchronous bypass unit does not im- pact drive functionality negatively. Apart from using the VSD as a starting and network syn- chronising mechanism via the synchronous bypass unit, the VSD can also be implemented for process control functionality by controlling the motor shaft speed during system opera- tion. This has the advantage of reducing me- chanical and process system transients while gaining controllability during start-up condi- tions. The VSD can control the motor speed continuously for unlimited periods, with the W hether in exhaust systems, pumps or compressors, motors of various sizes are used in production plants and warehouses, quite often in remote loca- tions. Maintaining machines is therefore time- consuming and prone to errors, especially if maintenance personnel are only instructed to perform on-site inspections on an infrequent basis. Instead, data from multiple motors can be collected, evaluated, centrally displayed and if necessary, linked to alarm actions in order to warn of impending failures in good time. Us- ers can use radio technology to connect Turck’s QM42VT1 vibration and temperature sensor with the high-performance TX700 HMI device for this purpose. Rugged sensor detects vibration and temperature values Has the motor become loose, causing the

ments range from Initial Care, a free service for newly purchased ABB MV drives during the first year of the warranty, to Complete Care, which allows customers to focus on their core business thanks to a fixed-price lifecycle agreement. The future of your drives and systems de- pends on the service you choose. Your choice should be based on a well-informed decision. We have the expertise and experience to help you find and implement the right service for your assets. You have our guidance and full support along the course you take, throughout the entire lifetime of your drives.

option of synchronising the motor directly to the supply grid. This is available with the specific MV drive product portfolio from ABB South Africa, such as the ACS1000, ACS5000, ACS580MV and LCI. The power and volt- age range covered with this functionality is 2 300 V to 20 kV (motor voltages), with a motor power range from 200 kW to 101 mW available upon request. ABB South Africa specialises in large, complex and challenging customised ap- plication requirements. It has a large lo- cal technical sales and service support base in Southern Africa covering the en- tire industrial spectrum. Aftermarket sup-

Enquiries: www.abb.com

port includes ABB AbilityTM condition monitoring and re- mote assistance for drives. This ranges from rapid support for onsite problems, using the drive data that has been stored remotely to deliver accurate re- al-time information about drive condi- tion and events, ensuring maximum equipment avail- ability and reliability. In addition, ABB Drive Care Agree-

Specialist repairs on a generator diesel injection system underway at Reef Fuel Injection Services.

W ith load shedding ex- pected to return with South Africa’s gradual move out of a COVID-19 lock- down, standby diesel generators need to be checked – especially their diesel fuel injection systems. “Diesel generators that have been standing idle – or which have low working hours – can often expe- rience fuel injection problems,” says Reef Fuel Injection Services manager Warren Hauser. “This can lead to the generator not starting at that critical time when mains power goes down.” Hauser urges genset owners to have their systems checked regularly and maintained cor- rectly, especially when there are long periods of inactivity such as the recent lockdown. “Faulty diesel fuel systems can also lead to more serious engine damage, even failure, when they are not running optimally while power is being drawn,” he says. “The subsequent engine repair costs – not to mention the asso- ciated business disruption – far outweigh the costs of profes- sional maintenance.” Hauser also highlights the danger of diesel becoming con- taminated by water and dust when it stands for a long time

without being used. Another risk is that the containers employed to bring diesel to the genset tanks can bring contaminants. This will undermine the perfor- mance of the fuel injection sys- tems, which in turn affects the genset’s reliability. For genset owners experienc- ing problems, Reef Fuel Injec- tion Services offer specialised expertise to pinpoint the fault on diesel fuel injection systems, and to provide a quick and cost- effective solution. With state-of- the-art workshop facilities and mobile equipment, the company remanufactures CAT diesel fuel injection systems and is an au- thorised service agent for all leading manufacturers of diesel fuel injection systems – includ- ing Bosch, Delphi, Denso and Stanadyne. Reef Fuel Injections Services provides OEM-approved test- ing as well as quality remanu- facture and calibration of all these fuel injection systems – with experience spanning a wide range of sizes of power generation units from single- cylinder engines up to large 20-cylinder units.

Condition monitoring of motors

shaft to be misaligned? Is a bearing jammed or is an attachment out of balance? Me- chanical vibration can flag up issues such as these. The QM42VT1 vibration and tem- perature sensor detects vibrations with a high level of accuracy. For this purpose, the compact MEMS-based sensor (micro-elec- tro-mechanical system) is simply mounted directly on the motor block via a magnetic holder. From there, it delivers speed and acceleration data over two dimensions in different frequency ranges. Changes in the measurement data can then be used to identify various forms of damage. Measuring the temperature of the mo- tors is also vital, as a significant increase in temperature could be an indication of wear or insufficient lubrication on a bearing. The IP67 sensor also detects such temperature changes within a measuring range of -40 to 105°C.

Data transfer and visualisation Maintenance personnel can wire the vibra- tion and temperature sensor to the battery- powered DX80 radio module. The measured values are then sent to the receiver module of the DX80 system via a proprietary wireless network. All engine status data can be clearly displayed on Turck’s HMI/PLC TX700. In addition, users can read out histori- cal trends, extract log data or configure alarms such as automatic email notifica- tions. Ethernet connection is also possi- ble, allowing data to be queried through the entire company. With this stand-alone solution, mainte- nance personnel can view the status data of all machines, whether on-site, at the HMI, or on company networked computers.

Enquiries: www.reeffuel.co.za

Enquiries: +27 (0)11 453 246

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

JUNE 2020