Energy & the

Environment
ENERGY SAVING
CASE STUDIES
5 customer applications highlight
the huge energy saving potential
of Variable Speed Drives
ALTERNATIVE
ENERGY
SOURCES
Control Techniques drives feature
in renewable energy applications
REVOLUTIONARY
RECYCLING
Commander SK is critical to new
commingled separation machine
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 2
Welcome to this Issue of Applied Collections highlighting
case studies where Control Techniques drives have been
used in applications to save energy, in renewable energy
applications or in recycling machinery.
Because energy saving and the environment is becoming
more and more important, Control Techniques has
dedicated a whole section of its website to helping and
advising where customers can save energy.
(www.controltechniques.com/energysaving)
Included as a free-download is an Energy Savings
Estimator - Civil & Marine managed payback in months,
with savings of hundreds a week - every week (See Case
Study on page 4). Their Control Techniques sales
engineer worked out the potential savings using the
estimator which proved to be remarkably close to the
real-world savings achieved.
Also keep an eye out for the "Energy
Saving Technology" logo which will be
appearing on every Commander SK and
Unidrive SP to emphasise potential
savings.
I hope you enjoy this issue of Applied
Collectionsand I welcome any
comments you may have.
Tel: 01686 612996
Email:
Katie.williams@emerson.com
Katie Williams
Editor
Focus on the Environment
E
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a
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Energy Saving
4 Payback in months for two large
fan drives
6 Electronic system cuts crane fuel
consumption by 20%
8 Drive provides cool energy saving
solution at Henry Denny
10 Keeping up the pressure at German
Aluminium plant
12 Major drives installation cuts operating
costs at Swiss sawmill
Renewable Energy
14 Versatile drives chosen for wave
energy project
16 Green drives crucial to green project
18 World-leading energy research centre
specifies Control Techniques drives
20 Boiler company cuts costs and noise
with Commander SK
21 Here comes the sun and new market
opportunities
Recycling
22 Commander SK is at the heart of
revolutionary recycling machine
Features inside this issue:
Introduction
E U R O P E A N
INDUSTRY HAS TWO
YEARS TO COMPLY
WITH NEW MOTOR
REGULATI ONS,
WARNS EU
New European energy efficiency
rules for electric motors and
their use with electronic drives
will soon be saving the
equivalent of Sweden's total
annual electricity consumption
New, tighter regulations for
improved efficiency of electric motor designs and
installations under Directive 2005/32/EC are due to come
into force mid year 2009 and will start to deliver serious
energy savings by 2011. This measure is a major
contribution towards the EU's energy efficiency and climate
protection targets and will result in significant savings in
electricity consumption equivalent to Sweden's annual
electricity consumption.
The EU Commission estimates that there are 85 million large
electrical motors in the Community Market. These
consume 70%of the energy used within industry amounting
to 1067 TWh in 2005, corresponding to 427 Mt of CO2
emissions. Without these regulations, it is predicted that
this will increase to 1252 TWh by 2020. It has been
concluded that the life-cycle energy consumption and the
use-phase electricity consumption can be improved
significantly - in particular if motors in variable speed / load
applications are equipped with drives.
Directive 2005/32/EC is based around new IE efficiency
ratings for electric motors. These are;
IE1 - Similar to the current Eff2 rating
IE2 - Similar to the current Eff1 rating
IE3 - New, better than Eff1
IE4 - Even better, but not yet defined.
The directive, specifying eco-design requirements for
motors and their drives will be introduced in three stages. By
2011 all new motors will have to meet the IE2 (High
Efficiency) rating. By 2015, all industrial motors between
7.5kW to 375kW must either meet the higher IE3 (premium
efficiency) rating or meet IE2 rating and utilise an electronic
drive. By 2017, these requirements will be extended to all
electric motors in the range of 0.75kW to 375kW.
It seems, at long last, that the well known energy saving
benefits of electronic variable speed drives in conjunction
with electric motors have been recognised formally. Even an
IE3 motor should not be seen as an alternative to a variable
speed drive. For the
majority of variable-torque
fan and pump applications
the use of a drive with an IE3
motor gives the best
benefit for lifetime cost and
energy consumption.
"In most cases, the additional
initial capital outlay of buying
higher efficiency motors and
variable speed drives should
be recouped relatively
quickly through reduced
energy bills" comments Control Techniques' John Murphy, VP
Strategic Planning. "We have considerable experience in
improving installed motor energy efficiency with variable
speed drives together with our sister company Leroy Somer,
one of Europe's leading motor manufacturers. Control
Techniques can advise on the most cost-efficient route to
Directive 2005/32/EC compliance."
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 3
Overview
Re-energise your business!
The drives manufactured by Control Techniques
have the potential to save energy
in many applications.
A Variable Speed Drive (drive) is an electronic
device that controls the characteristics of a
motors electrical supply allowing the speed and
torque of the motor to be matched with the
requirements of the machine it is driving.
Varying the speed of a motor with a drive can
reduce energy use substantially. Of all the
applications for variable speed control,
centrifugal fans and pumps offer the greatest
potential for energy savings. In addition to
saving money, drives can also improve process
control, whilst reducing waste, maintenance
costs and carbon emissions.
Control Techniques drives may be configured to,
in addition to varying the speed of a motor,
re-circulate stored energy back into the mains
supply. In some applications this significantly
reduces energy consumption and your energy
bills.
High and unpredictable energy costs are
leading to faster return on investment (ROI).
"We have considerable
experience in improving
installed motor energy
efficiency with variable
speed drives together
with our sister company
Leroy Somer, one of
Europe's leading motor
manufacturers."
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 4
A major upgrading of the control for two large fans has given
both improved throughput and payback in under a year
thanks to substantial energy savings. Two modular Unidrive
SPM AC drives from Control Techniques have produced
immediate energy-savings and paid for themselves in record
time.
At Civil and Marine's Middlesbrough plant, situated on the
coast adjacent to the Corus steelworks, blast furnace slag,
otherwise a waste product from iron production, is ground
into a fine powder called Ground Granulated Blast-furnace
Slag (GGBS). This is used to enhance the properties of
concrete, replacing between 20 and 80%of the normal
Portland cement.
Excessive wear and tear on dampers in
particular prompted an examination of
alternative means of control of the air flow
that extracts the highly abrasive fine powder
from the ball mill and Sepol separator at Civil
and Marine's GGBS grinding plant. "As
neither fan operated at full speed, we also
saw an opportunity for energy-savings",
explains Electrical Engineer and Assistant
Works Manager Rob Thwaites. "We brought
in Control Techniques who calculated likely
savings and predicted that the drive for the
Sepol separator would have a payback of just
seven months, whilst the ball mill would pay
for itself in nine. The calculations have
proved to be very accurate and we have
made precisely the savings that Control
Techniques predicted."
The Sepol separator is driven by a 200 kW
motor running at 71 to 75%of full speed.
With the damper, its energy consumption
was 146 kWh. Now, under Inverter drive
control, this has been reduced to 61 kWh,
giving a saving of 85 kWh. The roll mill
extract has a 160 kW motor.
The air flow was restricted to 50%, with an
energy usage of 105 kWh. This has been
reduced to 45kWh, saving 60 kWh on this
machine. The total savings of 145 kWhr, over
a 100 hour production time per week,
represent a reduction on the power bill of
over 700 per week - every week!
The drives recommended by Control
Techniques were 200 kW and 132 kW
modular Unidrive SPM drives, retrofitted into
existing cubicles by Rob Thwaites' own team.
The modular nature of the drives' power
circuits help with fitting into non-standard enclosures, yet
provide the full standard and optional features of the well-
proven and popular Undrive SP range, and are integrated
using the same software tools for commissioning and
programming. The Unidrive
SPM is extremely versatile,
configurable into open and
closed loop modes, paralleled
and load sharing, with active
input and regeneration, in
multi-pulse configuration (12,
18, 24 etc.) or fitted on a
common bus for circulation of
energy between drives.
Both drives are under speed
control from a controlling PLC.
"A further benefit we hadn't anticipated is the reduction in
noise," comments Rob Thwaite, "which makes the plant
much more comfortable for operators. We also anticipate
that fan motors and bearings will last longer and require less
maintenance."
PAYBACK IN MONTHS
FOR TWO LARGE
FAN DRIVES
"A further
benefit we
hadn't
anticipated is
the reduction
in noise,"
Energy Saving
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 5
Further Control Techniques Unidrive SP AC drives have been
installed on two 450 kW pre-grinders, with four drives on
each working in load-sharing mode. The effect on this new
section, that takes a mixture of the coarse pelletised and
granulated GGBS, has been an overall increase in
throughput from 50 to 70 tonnes of GGBS per hour. This
further enhances the energy efficiency of the plant by
reducing the energy consumed per ton of output produced.
Civil and Marine specialises, primarily, in the production of
ground granulated blast-furnace slag over six sites and two
distribution depots in the UK and a works in the Czech
Republic. GGBS is one of the most environmentally-friendly
of construction materials, using less than one fifth of the
energy and one fifteenth of the carbon dioxide emissions of
Portand cement, attributed to producing some 5%of all
global carbon dioxide emissions. Concrete containing GGBS
is less permeable and chemically more stable than normal
concrete, giving superior resistance to sulphate attack,
reducing 'concrete-cancer' and reducing cracking caused by
alkali-silica reaction.
Besides GGBS, the company produces a raw material for
glass-making and also abrasives and aggregates. Civil and
Marine is a Hanson company and a member of the
Heidelberg Cement Group.
Energy Saving
KEY BENEFITS
7 - 9 MONTH PAYBACK PERIOD
IMPROVED THROUGHPUT
SIGNIFICANT ENERGY SAVING
ACCURATE PREDICTIONS OF COST PAYBACK
NOISE REDUCTION
REDUCED MAINTENANCE DEMANDS
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 6
Energy Saving
A new product, now available
from Control Techniques, has
been proven to cut overall fuel
costs on diesel-electric cranes by
as much as 50%during standby
giving an overall fuel saving of
around 20%!
The CT.RIS.GAis a compact static
electronic system that can be
easily installed on new or
retrofitted to existing Rubber
Tyre Gantry (RTG) cranes and
Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC).
This innovative and intelligent
system monitors the crane's
operation and reduces the speed
of the diesel generator during the
crane's standby mode to cut fuel
consumption dramatically.
Diesel generators on-board RTG
and MH cranes are usually run at
a constant speed to supply the
drive system and auxiliaries,
regardless of whether the crane
is in operation or in standby
mode. This means that, during
standby, the system is highly
inefficient with a high fuel to
power ratio. The result is
excessive costs and an
unnecessary environmental
impact.
Now, with the CT.RIS.GA system,
the total cost of ownership for
both new and existing RTG cranes
and MHCs can be substantially
reduced. As well as reducing fuel
costs, crane productivity is
increased, since the number of
fuel stoppages are fewer and the
wear and stress on the diesel
engine, generator and auxiliaries
is also reduced, cutting maintenance
costs and extending their life. What's
more, emissions are cut, reducing the
environmental impact.
Return on investment
Field tests have shown that the
terminal operator can save 20%or
more on fuel consumption for each
crane on which CT.RIS.GA is fitted -
cutting fuel consumption by 50%
during standby. A series of six RTG
cranes were monitored over a period
of one month, demonstrating that
total fuel costs were cut from 20 litres
per hour to 15 litres per hour, with
massive savings from 15 litres per
hour down to just 7 litres per hour
during standby mode.
Typically, this gives a payback of
between one and two years,
depending on local diesel fuel
prices and, of course, savings go
on and on thereafter!
Space within both RTG and MH
cranes is limited and the size of
the system is critical. The
CT.RIS.GA is very compact,
allowing easy integration and
connection into the control
system of either new or existing
cranes. Retrofitting takes a
matter of hours, minimising
crane downtime.
The system has already been
successfully installed in ports
around the globe and can be
seen, for instance, on RTG cranes
manufactured by ZPMC, Kalmar,
MGM-OMG, Doosan and Fantuzzi
Reggiane. It is fully supported by
the worldwide network of
Control Techniques Drive Centres
and distributors.
Control Techniques is part of
Emerson Industrial Automation
and is the world leader in
intelligent drive systems. The
company has over 30 years'
experience in the design,
manufacture and installation of
complete automation systems
for port cranes around the globe.
Environmental safety and
electrical conformance
IP20 NEMA rating, IP54 (NEMA
12) through panel mount
Operating temperature 0-50C,
and enclosed panel mounted
max. RH 95%
Tested IEC 60068-2-34 (vibration), IEC
60068-2-27 (mechanical shock)
Electromagnetic immunity complies
with EN 61800-3 & EN 61000-6-2
Electromagnetic emissions complies
with EN 61800-3
ELECTRONIC SYSTEM CUTS CRANE FUEL
CONSUMPTION BY 20%
Total Fuel Consumption (litres/hr)
Total Fuel Consumption (litres/hr)
in StandbyMode
RTG Crane
RTG Crane fitted with RIS.GA
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 7
KEY BENEFITS
OVERALL FUEL SAVING OF 20%
FUEL CONSUMPTION AT STANDBY CUT BY 50%
CRANE PRODUCTIVITY INCREASED
REDUCED WEAR & STRESS ON ENGINES
MAINTENANCE COSTS CUT
Energy Saving
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 8
The installation of a large freestanding
variable speed AC drive from Control
Techniques has produced improved
temperature control in a food
company's chilled rooms - and is well on
the way to delivering a massive saving
of around 23,400 in their annual
electricity bill - a cut of 50%of the
plant's total power usage!
Henry Denny & Co manufactures a wide
range of pies, sausage rolls, pasties,
cottage pies and so on. At its
Portadown plant in Northern Ireland, a
complex of 20 chilled rooms stores a
huge amount of not only the company's
own production output it also holds
many thousands of cheeses, butter,
hams and bacon from other companies
in the Kerry Group too.
"We have a large ammonia compressor
to keep the cold rooms within very
carefully controlled temperatures,"
explains Henry Denny's Electrical
Engineer, Ciaran McSherry, "and,
previously this was soft-started and run
up to full speed on demand."
When the company had to replace the
soft starter for the compressor, Mr
McSherry recommended a change to a
variable speed AC drive. "The
compressor is a major contributor to
the plant's total base load," he says, "and
I felt that there were savings to be made
by providing more precise control of the
compressor. But even I was surprised
when the payback turned out to be just
six months!"
They chose their preferred drives
supplier Control Techniques, a major
supplier to the Kerry Group throughout
Ireland. The Dublin Drive Centre
recommended a freestanding Unidrive
SP for the task, it met with the space
constraints for the drive's required
location and, subsequently supplied a
compact 315 kW unit just 400-mm
wide in October 2006.
"All of our engineers have been trained
on Control Techniques drives, and we've
used them for over five years" says Mr
McSherry. "We find them easy to
programme, install and maintain. Plus
Control Techniques'
support and service is
very good."`
Following installation by
Henry Denny's own staff
and commissioning by
Control Techniques, the
improvements became
clear from the outset.
The drive is set up to
give a pulse for each
kWh feedback to the
factory management
system, so that the
company can monitor
energy usage. The
savings proved to be
better than the
conservative estimate given by Control
Techniques, giving savings in the region
of 7,500 kWh (@ 6p per kWh) per week.
Combined with other factory energy
savings initiatives, the installation of
this drive is generating 75%of the total
savings of 600 per week.
The free standing drive is part of the
Unidrive SP AC drive range and comes
complete and ready for easy
connection, in a small footprint,
standard size and colour cubicle that
allows ease of integration with existing
equipment, as at Henry Denny.
The compressor controller calls for
more or less compression of ammonia
coolant with immediate response from
the drive. "We used to have a slow
reaction time to temperature swings
with the soft starter," says Ciaran
McSherry, "but now it is easy to hold the
temperature pretty well bang on our
target of -10C as well as cutting our
energy bill by around 50%."
"The project has been
enormously successful and
has really reinforced the
energy-saving benefits that
can come from variable speed
drives."
DRIVE PROVIDES COOL ENERGY SAVING
SOLUTION AT HENRY DENNY
KEY BENEFITS
50%ENERGY SAVING
SIX MONTHS PAYBACK PERIOD
IMPROVED TEMPERATURE CONTROL
EASY INSTALLATION AND USE
COMPACT SIZE
Energy Saving
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 10
Three of three massive aluminium
extrusion presses, at Alcoa in
Hannover, now depend on variable
speed drives from Control Techniques
and, as well as dramatically increasing
production time availability,
increasing throughput by 10%and
decreasing maintenance costs, the
installations have cut energy
consumption by a huge 40%, saving
thousands of kilowatt hours of energy
every year!
These two biggest extrusion lines,
both using the indirect extrusion
process accept billets of aluminium
alloy at around 265-mm and 412-mm
diameter and lengths between 400
and 1350-mm, pre-heated to
between 300 and 550C. These billets
are then extruded through two high
pressure extruding presses at 56 MN
and 33 MN respectively. Both
extruders are hydraulically-powered,
with the oil pressure being generated
by pumps controlled by Control
Techniques AC drives.
The big press line was upgraded in
1998, a big project requiring the
installation of 12 off 132 kW Unidrives
(for 12 pumps), to produce the
required maximum pressure of 315
Bar. In January this year, the 33 MN
line was similarly upgraded with
variable speed drives, this time the
drives chosen were six 160 kW
Unidrive SPM modular drives,
producing an oil pressure of 250 Bar.
The operation runs around the clock,
365 days a year and so the latest
installation was carried out with the
line in full operation.
"In both cases, the savings are
considerable," explains Herr Stefan
Heine, who has responsibility for
technical operations and purchasing
at the Alcoa plant.
"The original hydraulic plant was
designed to give the required thrust
with additional oil being sent through
a by-pass - so effectively the pumps
were running at full speed all the time.
Now Control Techniques variable
speed drives integrate with the
hydraulic controller using Profibus
and give exactly the required power
at every stage of the operation. Not
only does this save some 40%of the
power, but also gives better control,
giving improved quality of extrusions.
But this is just part of the story.
Because the plant (the valves, pumps,
pipes and seals) is less stressed,
equipment is less susceptible to
breakdown and I believe that our
throughput has increased by around
10%because of reduced downtime.
The oil lasts longer too - a not
inconsiderable saving when you
consider that the machine
incorporates some 15,000 litres of oil
and 6,000 litres passes through the
system during each extrusion (this is
then cleaned and returned)."
Energy Saving
KEEPING UP THE PRESSURE AT
GERMAN ALUMINIUM PLANT
Alcoa Germany depends on Control
Techniques modular drives
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 11
Energy Saving
The savings run to thousands per
year and have given Alcoa a payback
of less than 18 months.
The Unidrive SPM range spans 90 kW
to 1.9 MW and comprises very
compact and innovative input and
output modules that enable flexible
power configurations
to be achieved.
Multiple systems
such as at Alcoa are
mounted on an
interconnected DC
bus that allows
circulation of energy
between drives that
are motoring and
regenerating and also
allows regenerated energy to be
returned to the mains. Drives can
share braking duty and the whole
installation requires a single AC power
supply, simplifying installation.
The 38 MN extrusion press produces
some 800-900 tonnes of aluminium
extrusions per month, in a wide range
of profiles including stars and tube
down to less than10-mm with wall
thicknesses down to 2-mm. Single
extrusions can be as long as 45-
metres in length and the fastest
extrusion rate is 15-metres per
minute.
Each billet is ultra-sonic tested and
carefully heated to a point just below
its 'plastic' state, this depending on
the exact composition of the alloy, so
that, during the high pressure
extrusion process, the pressure takes
the material up to the required plastic
state, but no further, in order to
maintain the structural integrity of
the material. Every extrusion is
stretched, cut-to-size, 'aged' in an
aging Furness, then
tested for hardness,
tensile strength and
conductivity as well
as passing through
three-co-ordinate
measurement testing
before being passed
for delivery.
The Alcoa plant is
now using 100%of
Control Techniques drives - including
conveyors, fans, pumps, pullers, cut-
to-length machines, run-out tables
and many more.
"We particularly like the new modular
Unidrive SPM drives", comments Herr
Heine. "They are extremely compact
and easily fitted into our plant room.
We like the Unidrive SP range
generally and routinely use
SmartCards to speed up the setting of
parameters when we install a new
drive. Most of the drives in our plant
are connected by Profibus to the
factory management system. Over
the 12 years that we have used
Control Techniques drives, we have
found them to be extremely stable
and reliable and we get excellent
service from the Drive Centre in
Hennef."
Alcoa Hannover produces medium
and high strength alloys primarily for
the aerospace and automotive
markets. Alcoa high-strength alloys
are playing a key role in the future of
aircraft construction and the plant
also produces safety parts for
automotive brakes and chassis' and
sections for engine components using
materials with high temperature
stability.
"We particularly like
the new modular
Unidrive SPM drives",
comments Herr Heine.
"They are extremely
compact and easily
fitted into our
plant room.
KEY BENEFITS
THROUGHPUT INCREASED BY 10%
40%ENERGY SAVING
REDUCED MAINTENANCE COSTS
IMPROVED CONTROL & QUALITY
EXCELLENT RELIABILITY & SERVICE
The savings run to
thousands per year
and have given
Alcoa a payback of
less than 18 months.
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 12
Energy Saving
A major upgrade at a Swiss sawmill
has seen the installation of 1.2 MW of
AC drives from Control Techniques -
and this will rise to over 2 MW once
the company's improvement plans
have been completed.
Control Techniques Zurich Drive
Centre has master-minded the
electrical project at Scierie Zahnd SA,
based in Rueyres, a village halfway
between Lausanne and Berne. The
project to date has included a
substantial reorganisation of the
drives for the saws and milling cutters
over a total of seven DC buses, each
with just one breaker per group,
shared feed, lower operating
temperatures in the cubicles (with
less braking capacity being used) and
a saving in power consumption.
When the project is complete, output
of the plant will be doubled to
200,000 cu metres of cut timber, for
approximately the same operating
costs, enabling the company to
compete more effectively in a very
aggressive European marketplace.
Present power consumption is in the
region of 280,000 kWh per year and
early estimates indicate that the
electrical power consumption per
cubic metre of cut timber has almost
halved!
The project is one of the first major
installations in Europe featuring four
of the new Control Techniques
Unidrive SPM large module drives, in
this instance rated at 160 kW each,
and being used for driving the 1800
rpm milling cutters, two pairs of
which mill the logs from a circular
shape to square profile, prior to them
going through the circular saws.
The Unidrive SPM range of IP20 input
and output modules enable the
creation of a comprehensive range of
power systems. Encompassing the
range from 90 kW to 1.9MW, the
units are extremely compact and are
designed for interconnection on a
common DC bus supply to reduce
running costs by regenerating braking
energy to the AC mains and to
circulate energy between drives to
provide efficient motor-to-motor
braking.
In this instance, the Unidrive SPM
units are on four separate buses, each
with a power supply, rectification, RFI
suppression and braking resistors,
with 15 smaller Unidrive SP drives
arranged on three further DC buses.
These drives, all in open-loop mode
and ranging from 5.5 to 30 kW, cover
duties including line speed, rotation
of wood lengths, selection left/right
and cut-to-length machines along the
line. Each of the 14 circular saws is
fitted with a Control Techniques soft
starter, and then runs at constant
speed throughout the shift, unless a
blade needs to be changed.
Unidrive SP is the world's most
advanced 'solutions platform' AC
drive, with multiple operating modes,
connectivity and feedback protocols.
With a range of plug-in module
options, its on-board PLC can be
supplemented with sophisticated,
customer-programmable application
modules.
Commander SK is a very high
specification general purpose AC
drive, packed with features into a
compact size. Featuring integral
dynamic braking as standard, the
drive has the ability to absorb the
energy created by fast stops, whilst
giving very smooth, precise control of
standard off-the-shelf motors.
Each of the Control Techniques drives
is fitted with a Profibus-DP fieldbus
option module to provide
connectivity to the controlling PLC.
The result? The line-speed has been
increased from 60 to 80 metres per
minute, with a current output of 500
cu metres per day and this will double
once the upgrade on the rest of the
plant has been completed. Even so,
cost per cubic metre has reduced
from 52-53 to 48 Swiss Francs, with a
target within three years of 43 Swiss
Francs.
"We investigated a number of drives
before embarking on this project
says," Scierie Zahnds' Technical
Manager, Laurent Zahnd. "In all the
tests, Control Techniques drives gave
the best performance and we have
been very pleased with the support
from their Drive Centre in Zurich. We
have a good relationship with them
and have now standardised on
Control Techniques products across
the plant."
MAJOR DRIVES
INSTALLATION
CUTS OPERATING
COSTS AT SWISS
SAWMILL
Energy costs slashed!
"In all the tests,
Control Techniques
drives gave the
best performance"
KEY BENEFITS
PLANT OUTPUT TO DOUBLE
ENERGY CONSUMPTION PER M
VIRTUALLY HALVED
LINE SPEED INCREASED BY 33%
APPROXIMATELY 20%
COST REDUCTION
3
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 14
Renewable Energy
A project for the testing and
development of wave energy for the
generation of electricity features AC
drives from Control Techniques. The
drives are a key feature in the
development of wave-power
breakwater projects around Europe.
Inverness based Wavegen, part of
Voith Siemens Hydro Power
Generation, is a wave energy
company dedicated to the
development of marine renewable
energy technology. In 2000,
Wavegen became the first company
to connect a commercial scale wave
energy plant to the grid. On the Isle of
Islay, off the west coast of Scotland,
Wavegen has an inclined oscillating
water column (OWC) generating
facility that is used both for
generating power and for testing new
designs of Wells turbine generators.
Two 250 kW counter-rotating
turbines have been generating power
for several years at this 'Limpet' (land
installed marine powered energy
transformer) unit, which utilises the
power of a surge-dominated wave
field adjacent to the shore. The water
depth at the entrance to the OWC is
typically seven metres and the air
chamber is designed to maximise the
capture of wave energy to maximise
power output.
Now, one of the turbines has been
removed to provide Wavegen with a
test-bed for a new design of small
turbo-generator that can be
incorporated into breakwaters,
coastal defences, land reclamation,
port walls and community power
schemes. These are a fifth generation
of Wells generators and incorporate
all of the learning and cost-reduction
gained from development and
practical operation of the Limpet
plant.
"It was crucial that we selected the
right drive system to
accommodate both our
changing needs during
the development
process and the
requirements of future
customers of these
breakwater generators,"
explained Dr. Tom
Heath, Engineering
Manager at Wavegen.
"We considered five
drives suppliers and
Control Techniques
proved to be a clear
choice for several
reasons. The over-riding
factor was the facility to program the
drives in a high level language, rather
than an inflexible block diagram
system. It proved to be very easy to
adapt the SyptPro control language
used by Control Techniques - and their
willingness to give us total access to
the drive functions proved crucial. I
had experience of dealing with
Control Techniques previously and
again received exceptional support
and service throughout this project."
This was reiterated by Wavegen
engineer, Janet Lees, who is
responsible for running the project
and developing a SCADA front-end for
the end-users. "We access the drive
remotely via Ethernet from our
Inverness office and are developing a
SCADA package using the SM
Ethernet option module within the
drive" she says. "We frequently adjust
the programming to accommodate
specific test routines - to monitor
noise and efficiency under different
conditions, for example, changing
speeds, butterfly valve modulation
and so on. We simply couldn't have
done this with another make of drive."
Two 32 kW Unidrive SP drives are
fitted; one to control the turbine
speed, the second running in
regenerative mode to feed
AC power to the grid. Both
are fitted with SM-
Applications modules to
provide powerful on-board
programming of the system
and the first, additionally,
has an Ethernet
communications module.
Because of the high-level of
I/O required, as this is a
development project, with
more intensive monitoring
than an operational turbine
generator installation -
some 20 channels,
monitoring temperature,
speed, chamber pressure and
pressure drop across the butterfly
valve etc - additional I/O is provided
locally with a Beckhoff unit.
As waves roll into the collector, air is
driven up the inclined water column -
this can be seen in diagrams 1 and 2.
In turn, this drives the bi-directional
flow, uni-directional Wells turbine
that runs at up to 4,000 rpm and
which is connected to an induction
generator.
Pressure transducers in the chamber
feed the RMS pressure back to a SM -
Applications module via the Beckhoff
unit. The program calculates the
optimum speed for the turbine and
the unit can be started. The Unidrive
SP motors up the turbine to the
VERSATILE DRIVES CHOSEN
FOR WAVE ENERGY PROJECT
"We simply
couldn't
have done
this with
another
make of
drive."
optimum speed and switches from
motoring to generating mode,
allowing the low-inertia turbine to
drive free, with the air pressure, but
limiting its maximum speed. Then,
using a five-minute moving average
of the chamber air-pressure, the
maximum turbine speed is adjusted
every 30 seconds to give an optimum
output from the Wells turbine
installation.
Normally, the Wells turbine runs 24
hours a day in fully automatic mode,
except when very high sea states
require throttling back by using the
butterfly valve.
"We are up with the most advanced
wave generating companies in the
world," concludes Dr Tom Heath.
"Nevertheless, we have a lot more to
learn about getting the best out of
different sea states. The Unidrive SP
AC drives, with their Ethernet
connectivity, have proved ideal
during our development phase. In the
future, this will be equally important
so that we can provide our clients with
technical support via the internet.
"We've received tremendous
support throughout, both from
Control Techniques and Tom
Donohue of Dalepark Motion
Controls who has been involved
with the installation and
programming."
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 15
Renewable Energy
Diagram 1
Diagram 2
KEY BENEFITS
HIGH LEVEL PROGAMMABILITY
REMOTE ACCESS VIA ETHERNET
ZERO HARMONICS ENERGY
EFFICIENT REGENERATIVE SYSTEM
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 16
Renewable Energy
GREEN
DRIVES
CRUCIAL
TO GREEN
PROJECT
Variable speed AC
drives from Control
Techniques are at the
heart of one of the
world's best examples
of sustainable energy
utilisation at West
Beacon Farm
near Loughborough.
Beacon Energy, a non-profit making company, was established
with the objective of promoting public awareness of global
warming and to encourage the reduction of CO2 emissions. West
Beacon Farm features many different interlinked renewable energy
technologies and enables Beacon Energy to be virtually
independent from the national grid and fossil fuels. Each
technology feeds its energy into a common DC bus via Unidrive SP
AC drives from Control Techniques and further Unidrives feed on
site single and three-phase electricity needs.
"We chose Unidrives because of their versatility," explains
Loughborough University PHD research student Matthew Little,
who has been heavily involved in the development of the
integrated system. "We needed drives with a particular mix of
features - on-board programming, high speed communications,
four-quadrant control - and a supplier who would provide us with
exceptional support throughout the project. Control Techniques
loaned us drives and other equipment, helped us with design and
programming and have been on hand to help at each stage."
Whittle Hill Farm Buildings, the home of Beacon Energy, and West
Beacon Farm, the family home of Professor Tony and Angela
Marmont, together form the test-bed for renewable energy in
almost all its forms - wind turbines, photo-voltaic panels, a
ground-source heat-pump system, a hydrogen energy storage
system incorporating an electrolyser, storage tanks and two fuel
cells , a combined heat and power unit powered by propane, solar
water heating and two water-powered generators (not yet
connected into the DC bus).
Every aspect of the site looks towards conservation, from the use
of spring and rain water, septic tanks and composting toilets, high
levels of insulation and creative use of natural light and passive
cooling in summer. Not surprising that the site provides research
opportunities for the renewable energy centres at Loughborough,
De Montfort and Nottingham Universities and there is a heavy
programme of educational visits for schoolchildren of all ages.
Control Techniques has supplied a total of 14 drives to West
Beacon Farm, nearly all being Unidrive SP AC drives, all fitted with
a programmable application module to give on-board
programming and CT-Net high-speed networking for data
collection and diagnostics. Data is fed into a PC running LabView,
which interfaces with CT-Net and monitors every aspect of the
system helping to analyse the effectiveness of the different
technologies. "We've used Control Techniques' toolkit, SyptPro,
for programming all of the drives and found it to be very
straightforward," adds Matthew Little.
A 37kW Unidrive works in four-quadrant mode and is the only link
to the mains electricity supply. This has two main functions; to
maintain the DC voltage in the grid and to export excess
generated power back to the grid. "In practice, we use virtually no
mains power at all," says Matthew Little, "but it is there just in case."
Two wind turbines drive 25 kW / 415 V three phase induction
generators that feed power to the DC bus via 30 kW Unidrive AC
drives. The system is set up so that, at a pre-determined generator
speed, the drives synchronise and connect (catching a spinning
motor/generator), set the motoring current to zero and start to
generate at 50 Hz, feeding DC power to the DC bus. If, after a set
time, the turbines are not generating power, the drives close down
again. The turbines have been installed for nearly 25 years and
have generated power for around 20%of the plated capacity of
the units over that period.
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 17
Renewable Energy
Four solar arrays contribute a further
6 kW at 120 volts and the Totem
combined heat and power rig, which
operates on heat demand, adds
another 15 kW via a Unidrive SP, as
well as providing 38 kW of heating for
the Marmonts' house.
The energy storage system comprises
a high energy density 20 kWh nickel
sodium chloride battery at 620 volts
and an alkaline electrolyser that
produces clean hydrogen that is
stored in 48 high pressure (137 Bar)
tanks, giving a further 4MWh of
energy storage. This hydrogen is
used, when required in two proton
exchange membrane fuel cells that,
together produce 7 kW of power via
power converters to the DC bus.
A reverse osmosis (RO) rig filters
rainwater for supply to the house and
electrolyser and is supplied by pump
driven by a 1.5 kW Unidrive SP. A
5 kW Unidrive SP drive controls the
compressor pump that steps up the
hydrogen pressure from 25 to 137 Bar
for storage. Two 12 kW Unidrive SP
drives supply both the single phase
supply to the Marmonts' house and
the three-phase supply to the
helicopter hangar and farm
machinery, whilst a 4.5 kW Unidrive
SP drives the pump for the heat
pump, which extracts heat from the
nearby lake to supply the heating
system for the house (the 4 kW pump
generates 10 kW of heat). Unidrives
also control pumps for the water
supplies to the house, the hanger and
the fire prevention system and further
drives provide power for the winch
and general amenities local to the
wind turbines.
Unidrive SP is the world's most
advanced 'solutions platform' AC
drive, configurable into five operating
modes, connectivity to most industry
standard networks and accepting 14
position feedback protocols. With a
range of plug-in module options, its
on-board PLC can be supplemented
with high-end PLC processors,
customer programmable application
modules are also offered with a library
of software solutions.
West Beacon Farm has now become
one of the world's best examples of
renewable energy in practice. West
Beacon Farm demonstrates how
integrated renewable energy systems
combined with other sustainable
practices can form an effective and
reliable independent network.
KEY BENEFITS
ON-BOARD PROGRAMMING
HIGH SPEED COMMUNICATIONS
FOUR-QUADRANT CONTROL
EXCEPTIONAL SUPPLIER SUPPORT
HIGH POWER CONVERSION EFFICIENCY
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 18
Renewable Energy
NaREC, the New and Renewable
Energy Centre at Blyth in
Northumberland, is the world's
foremost authority in the
development in alternative energy
sources and is a key element in the
UK's strategy to meet renewable
targets agreed at the Kyoto Ozone
World Congress.
So, when it came to
selecting drives to
provide high accuracy
control of a number of
test rigs - including
winches for turbine
blade testing and
numerous applications
in the EnergyLINK
laboratory - factors
such as energy
efficiency, versatility,
communications and
robust dynamic
performance all played
a part in the selection.
After comprehensive
evaluation and testing, Control
Techniques' drives were chosen as the
site standard for all current and future
drives requirements.
"Control Techniques' Unidrive SP
drives easily surpassed our
requirements, at a competitive price"
says NaREC's Engineering Specialist,
Dave Slee. "As well as giving us the
dynamic performance and localised
programming that we were looking
for, their open communications
ability means that we are free to use
any automation equipment that we
wish - Unidrive SP will network with
them all."
NaREC was established recently to
bring substantial benefits to the UK's
new and renewable
energy industry.
It is a world centre of
excellence, fast-
tracking concept
evaluation and
feasibility studies,
e v a l u a t i n g
prototypes and
testing through to
commercial models.
The centre provides
a high level of
research, working
closely with leading
E u r o p e a n
universities and
manufacturing industry, as well as
providing a source of expertise for
governmental energy policies.
The EnergyLINK laboratory
incorporates a bespoke array of low
voltage electrical sub-systems that
can be configured in a variety of ways
to meet customer test requirements.
Newcastle University has engineered
some unique components and
Durham University have designed and
built the linear generator test rig. The
laboratory is designed to investigate
three main areas - power take-off
optimisation, network evolution and
renewable integration. It links real
energy sources (wind, solar, gas etc.)
to real generators and to both
simulated output and physical
devices.
Six Control Techniques Unidrive SP
'solutions platform' drives are
installed in the EnergyLINK laboratory
in two main areas. To simulate and
compare the compatibility of
different types of generation and
fuels, a bank of five drives, with a fully
regenerative front end, are in use in
the unique LPN rig, which provides
comprehensive testing of a range of
both motors and generators coupled
in different configurations, to validate
machine responses compared with
their mathematical models.
The set-up can introduce faults / short
circuits to monitor system response
and can simulate common conditions
such as an offshore DC generator
coupled to an on-shore converter, for
instance.
In the same laboratory, a unique test
rig provides comprehensive test
information on the characteristics of
linear generators used in wave power
generation schemes. This 250,000
research project employs a 15kW
servo motor driven by a 20 kW
Unidrive SP AC drive that is
programmed to simulate any type of
wave motion. The project is under
the control of Durham University's
School of Engineering, New and
Renewable Energy Group.
"The Unidrive SP drives are the only
drives which could give us the
flexibility we need," says NaREC
Engineering Specialist, Dave Slee.
"We use them as bi-directional energy
WORLD-LEADING ENERGY
RESEARCH CENTRE SPECIFIES
CONTROL TECHNIQUES DRIVES
Control Techniques'
drives were chosen as
the site standard for
all current and future
drives requirements.
"Control Techniques'
Unidrive SP drives
easily surpassed our
requirements, at a
competitive price"
AC Transformer (2 Million Volts)
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 19
Renewable Energy
converters, in many cases, and each of
them is fitted with plug-in modules to
give both DeviceNet networking and
Ethernet for data acquisition and,
potentially, remote control from
anywhere in the world, should that be
required," he says.
The turbine blade testing facility at
NaREC is not only world class, but
world-leading, being the only facility
in Europe equipped to provide
comprehensive two-axis testing of
blades - up to 70 metres in length!
Here, seven winches, each again under
the control of Unidrive SP drives (five
11 kW, three 7.5 kW) provide
simultaneous bending, distributed
along the length of the blade, each at
pre-determined loads, ranging from
10 to 40 tonnes line pull.
Precision of line pull is crucial, and
each drive has to reach its target
position and torque simultaneously -
achieved through software on board
each drive communicating with a high
level PLC controller. The blade can be
rotated through 360 on the rig to give
bend testing in four planes. "This is
one of the few test rigs in the world to
provide this type of testing - and, I
believe, the only one that can take the
very largest blades that are in use and
on the drawing board," says Dave Slee.
"The Unidrive SP
drives are the
only drives which
could give us
the flexibility
we need," says
NaREC Engineering
Specialist,
Dave Slee.
"We feel that the Unidrive SP fits
into our research environment
particularly well," he adds. "It
can run in different operating
modes, including regenerative
mode, which cuts our own
energy bills, is programmable as
a PLC and has universal
connection to all types of
feedback and networks. This
makes it a tool which can be
tailored to whatever we need at
the time - and that's invaluable!"
KEY BENEFITS
ON-BOARD PROGRAMMING
HIGH SPEED COMMUNICATIONS
FOUR-QUADRANT CONTROL
EXCEPTIONAL SUPPLIER SUPPORT
Renewable Energy
One of Europe's leading suppliers of boilers, for use with
wooden pellets as fuel, has upgraded its products, saving
costs and cutting operating noise, with the introduction of
variable speed AC drives from Control Techniques.
SIA GRANDEG, based in Latvia, manufactures a
range of wood pellet fuel boilers with heat outputs
between 15 and 500 kW, for both domestic and
commercial installations. The biggest growth
potential for this successful and rapidly expanding
company is seen to be in the domestic sector in
northern Europe, Russia and other (CIS) countries,
where a sophisticated product is required.
As part of its drive to develop its product range for
these export markets, GRANDEG brought in Control
Techniques' representatives in the area, EMT of Riga, who
proposed a new system of control of the screw feeders to
improve performance and reduce energy and maintenance
costs. Now, 0.25 and 0.5 kW Commander SK AC drives are
being provided to give smooth and accurate control of the
screw-feed motors to give a supply of wood pellets.
This system replaces a logic-controller, contactor and
thermal relay. Now, as the boiler demands more fuel, the
drive is accelerated up to the required speed and ramped
down as demand falls. Control Techniques also provides
drive programming on a LogicStick.
The result has been a product with much better
performance and with greater reliability. "It is also much
quieter in operation," says Mr. Andris Lubins, owner of
company GRANDEG.
"The relay was proving to be too noisy for a domestic setting
and now the whole system starts, and runs, almost silently,"
he says. "Because of the reduced stresses on the bearings
and other components, the general reliability is improved
and lifetime costs are much reduced. What's more, because
the drive has comprehensive diagnostics on its screen, most
often problems can be resolved with a telephone call,
eliminating the costs and resources required for a call-out."
The introduction of the Commander SK has even reduced
the size of the control cabinet by some 30%and panel
building costs are less too.
As standard, the Commander SK is simple to fit and can be
programmed for most tasks in a matter of minutes,
inputting just 10 basic parameters on the front-mounted
keypad. This is one of many unusual, if not unique, practical
features that have been designed into the Commander SK to
meet customer demands of ease-of-use and versatility.
Copying parameters from one unit to another was never
simpler with the SK's SmartStick
plug-in option.
For OEMs, the Commander SK
dimensioning allows high
installation density, saving
significantly on control cubicle size
and installed cost and is packed with
features that reflect its benchmark
status in the general purpose drives market - dynamic
braking, ModBus, PID control, EMC filter, fieldbus options,
extensive memory, basic closed-
loop and positioning control -
even task scheduling!
The technological partnership
between EMT / Control
Techniques and GRANDEG is the
key to the success of this new
line of products in the world
market. GRANDEG confidently
predicts the production of some
800 domestic systems of this
type, primarily for export, in this
next year. Its range, with an
energy coefficient of 93%, offers low heating costs, low
maintenance costs, a 5-year guarantee and an
environmentally friendly, zero-carbon space heating
solution.
BOILER COMPANY CUTS
COSTS AND NOISE WITH
COMMANDER SK
"Because of the
reduced stresses on
the bearings and
other components,
the general reliability
and lifetime costs are
much reduced
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 20
KEY BENEFITS
REDUCED CONTROL, CABINET SIZE & COST
REDUCED ENERGY & MAINTENANCE COSTS
IMPROVED PERFORMANCE & RELIABILITY
SMOOTH & ACCURATE CONTROL
LOWER OPERATING NOISE
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 21
Renewable Energy
For 35 years, Control Techniques has
been the go-to source for intelligent AC,
DC and Servo drives for commercial and
industrial motor controls. Now, the
same drives have found an entirely new,
fast-growing world market -
photovoltaic (PV) solar energy.
It started at a trade show in Hanover,
Germany, in mid-2007. Control
Techniques people attending the show
were approached by representatives
from Meridian, a German renewable
energy company. Meridian people were
"interested in fresh thinking," recalled
Andy Green, industry development
manager for solar inverters. They went
to the right people.
Control Techniques engineers took off-
the-shelf products designed for
industrial automation
and solved
problems for the radically different
application of photovoltaic power.
Within six months of meeting with
Meridian, Control Techniques had
developed grid tie inverters and solar
tracker systems and subsequently
delivered equipment to convert many
megawatts of clean solar energy into
electricity. (For perspective, one
megawatt is the power consumed by
about 750 homes.)
Meridian was "very happy" with the end
result, Green said. "They liked the
flexibility of our product and Control
Techniques' approach to meeting their
requirements. Product reliability and
efficiency also were key drivers.
Efficiency is critical because one percent
output of a one megawatt system
equals about 7,000 Euros in annual
revenue."
Recognising that the sun doesn't shine
with the same intensity all the
time, Control Techniques
modular design
includes a low power stage which
operates when light conditions are less
favorable. A larger inverter switches on
above a certain light threshold. In short,
Control Techniques PV solutions
dynamically change capacity as light
intensity changes. So, efficiency is
optimised.
Many competitive systems use a single
module. So, they lack the ability to
match capacity to light intensity, and
their efficiency suffers accordingly.
Today, photovoltaic power is not
commercially attractive without
government subsidies. Still, growth in
solar installations exceeded 50 percent
in 2007 and 2008 and is forecast to
increase at double-digit rates for the
foreseeable future.
"Industry commentators suggest that
by 2020 the price of PV-derived
electricity will match peak-demand
rates for carbon-based generation and
by 2030 will achieve parity with base-
load generation costs," said John
Murphy, vice president strategic
planning. "That will lead to another step
change in the market.
"In 10 to 15 years, we're supposed to be
zipping around in electric cars. Where
will all that power come from? We point
out that PV capacity can be built very
quickly - one year versus up to10 years
for a conventional power plant."
Here comes the sun
and new market
opportunities
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 22
Recycling
A new, commingled separation machine, designed and built
by air technology specialists Tek-Dry of Bolton, offers a
solution to a national shortage of good quality glass cullet,
by eliminating glass pulverisation during the separation
process. The 'Comsort' system uses new, patented, air
technology to offer a revolutionary low impact separation
system for commingled recyclables.
At the heart of the Comsort system, providing flexible, cost
effective control of the eight AC motors used throughout
the machine, are Commander SK AC drives from Control
Techniques, each communicating with each other and the
PLC controller using Profibus.
As the total amount of recycling grows, and with the UK
likely to hit next year's 60%EU target; it is worrying that the
amount of glass being recycled by the glass container
manufacturers is falling. In the first half of 2007, glass
recycling fell by about 30%from the previous year - and it is
thought that this is a direct result of declining quantities
from bottle banks being replaced by local authority
commingled collections.
For glass to be sent for remelt, particle sizes must be at least
10mm. Conventional separators pulverise the glass,
rendering it fit only for aggregate or landfill, and in many
cases contaminating the remaining recyclables which
reduces their quality and possible re-use.
COMMANDER SK IS
AT THE HEART OF
REVOLUTIONARY
RECYCLING MACHINE
Intelligent AC & DC Drives, Servos and Motors 23
Recycling
The Comsort system takes a different approach. A
commingled stream, containing steel and aluminium cans,
plastic bottles/containers and glass bottles/jars, is not only
separated, but delivers glass in the same condition as
presented - and at a quality equivalent to that from a bottle
bank. What's more, the separated plastic stream is free
from compressed or 'impressed' glass fragments, and is
therefore in optimal condition for recycling.
Mixed recyclables, entering the process via a feed hopper,
travel up an elevated feed conveyor onto the apron
conveyor, where operators manually remove large pieces of
unrecyclable waste (masonry, toys, prams etc). Thereafter,
initial separation of steel is facilitated using an overband
magnet, and aluminium, using a high-performance eddy
current separator. All this is well-proven technology.
However, the next section is unique. Tek-Dry uses its own
patented air system to separate out all of the remaining
plastic from the plastic / glass stream, leaving the glass
untouched and in the best possible condition for recycling.
Control Techniques' Commander SK drives control the
speed of the five conveyors and the three 15 kW process air
supply fans. Each Commander SK AC drive is fitted with a
Profibus-DP communications module to provide drive-to-
drive communication and communications with the PLC
controller and HMI.
The Commander SK is very compact, simple to fit and can be
programmed for most tasks in a matter of minutes,
inputting just 10 basic parameters on the front-mounted
keypad. Parameters may be copied from one unit to
another very simply with the SK's SmartStick plug-in option.
It has a full range of fieldbus options using SM plug-in
modules (interchangeable with Unidrive SP) and the
Commander SK also includes an internal EMC filter as
standard - meeting EN61800-3 regulations.
"We chose the Commander SK because of the complete
package offered," says Tek-Dry Systems' electrical
engineer, Ben Hallam. "The drives gave us the flexibility
and performance we needed in a compact footprint and
at the right price!"
The first of the Comsort machines, a mobile version with a
capacity of 10 t/hr, has been designed for maximum
flexibility to allow full evaluation of its capabilities. The
controlling PLC controller has several 'recipes' which
comprise varying conveyor and fan speeds to suit different
compositions of material - e.g. airport recycling would
typically contain very low levels of glass. Normal, domestic
recycling contains some 63%(by weight) of glass, 16.5%
plastic, 14%steel, 1.5%aluminium with 5%going for landfill,
some of which would be removed in the manual picking
area.
"We are confident Comsort brings a new dimension to the
industry," says Scott Thompson, Tek-Dry Systems' Project
Engineer. "No process that we are aware of can produce
such high quality glass cullet - and at a fraction of the cost of
many other technologies. We feel Comsort has a role to play
in changing the face of recycling - and is a machine capable
of meeting today's more demanding recycling
requirements. Glass that should be recycled as cullet is
simply being wasted, and we aim to reverse that trend!"
To see this machine in action visit
www.youtube.com and type
COMSORT into the search field
KEY BENEFITS
COST EFFECTIVE CONTROL OF 8 AC MOTORS
FLEXIBILITY & PERFORMANCE
COMPACT FOOTPRINT
DRIVE TO DRIVE COMMUNICATION
EASY PROGRAMMING