GAMBICA publishes updated installation guide for power drive systems

Installation guide for
Power Drive Systems

GAMBICA and REMA have updated their joint publication titled ‘Installation Guidelines for Power Drive Systems’, which is available for free as a download from the GAMBICA website. The publication is an authoritative guide on best practice for the installation of Power Drive Systems.
Acceptable operation of a drive system is dependent on a satisfactory installation. Compliance with the appropriate EU Directives and with local regulations is also a legal requirement.

Each section in the report covers the requirements for a different part of a power drive system, to assist specifiers and purchasers from specification to installation and commissioning.

The new document is the result of a study carried out by GAMBICA and REMA, taking note of well-established fundamental theory and technical papers and also incorporating the results of specific investigations carried out as part of the process. It principally considers the aspects of safe mechanical and electrical installation and the avoidance of EMC problems.

“This is the 4th Edition of the Technical Guide, with updates on power drive systems including the drive, motor and load, together with cabling, site considerations, circuit protection, earthing and harmonics,” said Steve Brambley, deputy director of GAMBICA and convener of the organisation’s variable speed drive (VSD) group.

“Power Drive Systems is an IEC term which covers the VSD, motor and sensors used for feedback control information to the drive, as well as auxiliary parts like filtering and protection. The technical guide has now evolved into a comprehensive treatise for engineers and installers, giving them a VSD manufacturer’s perspective on best practice for installation.

“Since the 3rd Edition in December 2006, it has been updated with reference to current legislation, regulations and standards, and with new sections on earth loop impedance testing, bearings and power conditioning, as well as an updated section on transformers.”

REMA represents the sector of the electrical industry concerned with the manufacture of electric motors and generators, without limitation of output or voltage, excluding turbine/traction machines and those used in aircraft. Further publications are available from the GAMBICA publications page.

Frost & Sullivan’s VSD report hides the deeper truth

Frost and Sullivan’s recent report on the use of Variable Speed Drives (VSDs) in the food and beverage market made headline news for all the wrong reasons. It presented the fact that VSDs are dropping in price by three per cent per year as its most significant finding. Furthermore, many of the news reports buried the most important results - the fact that electric motors consume two thirds of the energy used in the F and B sector.

A cursory analysis of a three per cent drop in price for variable speed drives demonstrates that the product is holding its own in the recession. For instance compare the price drop to the average cost of an LCD television today and its equivalent five years ago. Suddenly a three per cent drop seems like a figure that can still provide a comparatively high profit margin.

In contrast, compare the amount of energy used in the F and B sector now to the amount used five years ago, when the automation of the industry was substantially less advanced than it is today. There were thousands fewer electric motors in use, thousands fewer opportunities to save energy using VSDs and millions of pounds less being spent on energy. 

The bottom line is that 66% of all industrial energy, not just the F and B industry is used by motors and 97% of motor lifetime cost is energy. The financial gains provided by VSD control are uncomplicated and compelling. In comparison a three per cent price drop doesn’t seem like headline news to me.

The Henry Ford parable – a lesson for the manufacturing sector

The American industrialist Henry Ford once said that, “If you need a machine and don't buy it, then you will ultimately find that you have paid for it, but don't have it”. I believe that a century later, his assertion is more pertinent than ever for UK manufacturing.

In the context of the economic downturn and subsequent cuts it seems that manufacturers are reluctant to invest in improving their machinery. However, as time passes, inefficient industrial machines consume more and more costly energy and begin eating away at budgets. A solution for this problem is the installation of a variable speed drive (VSD).

VSDs can reduce the energy bill on many applications or motor driven systems by more than their own capital cost in a relatively short period, often less than a year. As energy prices continue to soar, the return on investment on a VSD application increases in proportion to the bill.

Henry Ford’s assertion should serve as a guiding rule for organisations in the manufacturing sector looking to send real savings straight to the bottom line. Failing to buy energy saving equipment, such as VSDs, as part of a system that incorporates an electric motor will cost money in the long term. And it will cost far more money than simply paying for the VSD in the first instance.