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.

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.

GAMBICA calls for greater VSD awareness in purchasing following IEA white paper

Steve Brambley of GAMBICA

~ UK automation trade body GAMBICA supports International Energy Agency findings ~ 

GAMBICA has responded to the International Energy Agency’s white paper ‘Energy-efficiency policy opportunities for electric motor-driven systems’ by calling for purchasing teams to take action to implement the IEA’s findings. The trade body also believes that machine builders and systems integrators can help reduce the energy demands of electrical motors by moving towards a standardised process for describing energy efficiency in quotations.

The IEA’s document argues that energy usage on electric motor applications is going to double by 2030, as a result of the anticipated need for more installations across the globe. However, the IEA also suggests that current energy usage could be cut by ten per cent despite this increase, if all appropriate efficiency measures were put in place to control the new motors. The paper provides a strong and global validation of GAMBICA’s previous position on energy efficiency policies in the UK.

The IEA paper shows the actions and deadlines by which the organization hopes to achieve its aims, in the form of a workplan, entitled “Torquing the Talk”. The top priority in the workplan is convening a technical working group by the end of 2011 to maximise the saving potential of variable speed drives, fans, pumps and induction motors. As GAMBICA has pointed out many times before, VSDs should be central to many company’s environmental and energy efficiency plans.

GAMBICA believes that that the actions of systems integrators and machine builders, the people who are often responsible for building variable speed drives into engineering applications, are crucial in implementing the IEA’s workplan.

“By including the lifetime energy cost of the application in their quote to the customer, these groups can both mark themselves out in comparison to their competitors and provide a better, more cost effective service to the end user,” explained Steve Brambley, head of GAMBICA’s Industrial Automation sector. “Ultimately I would like to see a consistent standard applied to all industrial systems that would clearly delineate their energy efficiency.

Something similar to the miles-per-gallon ratings used for vehicles would give a clear comparison and be easily understood by non technical people.

“GAMBICA has long held that engineers in the UK are aware of the benefits of using variable speed drives in industrial applications,” continued Brambley.

“However, we believe that more should be done to prompt purchasing teams to base decisions on lifetime energy costs as well as capital expenditure. This brilliant IEA document should be essential reading for anyone concerned with the level of energy use in their business.”

How to reduce energy costs with GAMBICA

GAMBICA has published a new guide, titled ‘Selection of Efficient Motors & Controls’, available as a free download from the GAMBICA Web site. This guide assists in the selection of the best motor and control technology, addressing the differences in motor efficiency ratings, the considerations and benefits of different control methods, and the issues that affect the decision making process for fixed or variable speed control.

The guide is aimed at senior managers and decision makers looking to reduce energy costs in an organisation. As such it is a concise, non-technical publication with a focus on the life-cycle costs of a motor driven system. A key message is that, although higher efficiency may increase initial purchase cost, the reduced energy cost is much more significant; often paying back quickly and many times over.

“In a single year the energy cost of running a motor can be up to 10 times its purchase price,” explained Steve Brambley, deputy director of GAMBICA. “Over the life of the motor, energy is by far the most significant cost and anyone purchasing a motor should take this into consideration. As an example, a high efficiency motor and VSD might cost £2000 more than a standard efficiency motor, but can save £5000 per year on the energy bill.”

The guide can be downloaded from http://bit.ly/GAMBICA (full URL available on request or you can download the guide from the technical publications section of GAMBICA’s Web site).

Ends: 226 words

Editor’s note: GAMBICA’s variable speed drives group membership includes countless notable engineers, scientists and expert spokespersons that are willing to provide journalists with impartial evidence, opinion and statistics relating to energy usage and efficiency in UK and global industry, commerce and buildings.

Electronic copy: Get an electronic copy of this release by mail richards@stonejunction.co.uk or download from http://www.gambica-pr.blogspot.com/

For further information contact: Steve Brambley, Deputy Director
Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation & Laboratory Technology (GAMBICA), Broadwall House, 21 Broadwall, London SE1 9PL
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7642 8080
Fax: +44 (0)20 7642 8096
e-mail: sbrambley@gambica.org.uk
www: http://www.gambica.org.uk/

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
No 2 The Garthlands, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST17 9ZP
Telephone: +44 (0) 1785 225416
Fax: +44 (0) 1785 225416
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: http://www.blogger.com/href=
Blog: http://www.stone-junction.blogspot.com/

About GAMBICA: GAMBICA is the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK. It has a membership of over 200 companies including the major multinationals in the sector and a significant number of smaller and medium sized companies.

Ref: GAM028/26/12

A WARM WELCOME FOR IEC 61439, AND A WARNING!

GAMBICA’S Controlgear Group Technical committee has warmly welcomed the long-awaited publication of IEC 61439, the new series of international standards for low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies, which will soon be implemented in the UK as BS EN 61439. GAMBICA warns, however, that manufacturers working to the new standard still need to exercise a high level of skill and caution in relation to the ratings they adopt for components used in their assemblies.

The root of GAMBICA’s concern is that the nominal current rating of circuit breakers and other components – including, for example, contactors, overload relays and even electronic devices such as variable speed drives – relate to tests carried out in “free air”. For these tests, the component is mounted on an open framework with air space all around it, which helps to dissipate excess heat.

Unfortunately, these test conditions are very different from the conditions in which the component will operate when installed in a power switchgear or controlgear assembly (PSC). As a result, substantial derating may be needed to ensure safe operation and to comply with the temperature rise requirements of IEC 61439. In effect, nominal component ratings should be considered only as a starting point for making sound engineering decisions relating to PSC design and construction.

GAMBICA notes that reputable manufacturers of PSCs will be fully aware of these issues, and will willingly undertake the testing needed to determine ratings that are appropriate to the use of particular components in their enclosure systems. Alternatively, the manufacturers may choose to adopt another approach permitted by IEC 61439, which relies on calculations that incorporate generous safety margins.

GAMBICA stresses that specifiers and purchasers of PSCs must insist on receiving guarantees from their suppliers that issues relating to component ratings have been fully addressed.

If they have not, the consequences can be serious. PSCs operating in excess of their limiting temperatures may suffer progressive insulation breakdown ultimately leading to short circuits, users may be at risk of burns, and the possibility of the equipment catching fire is significantly increased. Further, the equipment cannot be declared as compliant with IEC 61439.

For users and manufacturers of PSCs needing further information and guidance on component ratings, the GAMBICA TECHNICAL GUIDE: Current Rating of Low-Voltage Electrical Switchgear Assemblies, July 2009, is available as a free download from http://www.gambica.org.uk/MCBFOT47319.

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Editor’s note: GAMBICA’s variable speed drives group membership includes countless notable engineers, scientists and expert spokespersons that are willing to provide journalists with impartial evidence, opinion and statistics relating to energy usage and efficiency in UK and global industry, commerce and buildings.

Electronic copy: Get an electronic copy of this release by mail richards@stonejunction.co.uk or download from www.gambica-pr.blogspot.com

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4PN
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: www.stonejunction.co.uk
Blog: www.stone-junction.blogspot.com

For further information contact: Steve Brambley, Deputy Director
Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation & Laboratory Technology (GAMBICA), Broadwall House, 21 Broadwall, London SE1 9PL
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7642 8080
www: www.gambica.org.uk

About GAMBICA: GAMBICA is the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK. It has a membership of over 200 companies including the major multinationals in the sector and a significant number of smaller and medium sized companies.

Ref: GAM007/02/10

Turning fans down can take one in three cars off the road

If just half of Britain’s electric motors were reduced in speed by 10%, it would have the net effect of mitigating for the carbon emissions of 9.8 million executive saloon cars every year.

While this fact might not enthuse Jeremy Clarkson, it has a far more serious message and that is that governments subscribing to the Kyoto Protocol, and its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, continue to ignore the low hanging fruit that electric motor control presents.

According to GAMBICA, the UK’s body representing the automation and control manufacturers, the simple control of electric motors has been overlooked as a significant energy conservation measure. While energy efficiency attention has tended to focus on building fabric, lighting and heating, motors have been largely ignored. By doing as GAMBICA suggests and controlling motors, a populace equivalent to nearly four million households would be rendered carbon neutral - at an average of 6.5 tonnes of emissions per household.

Similarly, long term consideration is given to reducing car exhaust emissions by both vehicle design and discouraging car use, yet the expedient of controlling electric motors in building and industry will achieve a greater net effect in the short term.

Likewise in electricity generation, where exploration of renewable and green energy continues apace while controlling electric motors would save the entire output of Drax, the UK’s largest coal fired power station, every year.

The reason the savings are so great, explained Steve Brambley of GAMBICA, is that electric motors consume huge amounts of electricity – about two-thirds of industrial energy use and about one quarter of total UK consumption. A simple electric motor costing a few hundreds of pounds can be expected to consume many tens of thousands of pounds worth of electricity over its useful lifetime.

The laws of physics concerning fans for example, means that for every 10% reduction in speed, in accordance with the cube law of fans, there is subsequent saving of three times that in electricity consumed.

Steven Brambley commented, “It is time for the Government and the institutional energy efficiency bodies to bring, by whatever means, pressure to bear on users of electric motors to control them efficiently. With rapidly rising energy costs one would think this would happen as a natural course but it is clear that carrots and sticks are required”.

Ends: 395 words

Editor’s note: GAMBICA’s variable speed drives group membership includes countless notable engineers, scientists and expert spokespersons that are willing to provide journalists with impartial evidence, opinion and statistics relating to energy usage and efficiency in UK and global industry, commerce and buildings.

Electronic copy: Get an electronic copy of this release by mail richards@stonejunction.co.uk or download from www.gambica-pr.blogspot.com.

For further information contact: Steve Brambley, Deputy Director
Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation & Laboratory Technology (GAMBICA), Broadwall House, 21 Broadwall, London SE1 9PL
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7642 8080
Fax: +44 (0)20 7642 8096
e-mail: sbrambley@gambica.org.uk
www: www.gambica.org.uk

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4PN
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: www.stonejunction.co.uk
Blog: www.stone-junction.blogspot.com

About GAMBICA: GAMBICA is the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK. It has a membership of over 200 companies including the major multinationals in the sector and a significant number of smaller and medium sized companies.

Ref: GAM002/02/10

New President for GAMBICA

GAMBICA, the association for instrumentation, control, automation and laboratory technology, has announced the appointment of John Bailey, founder and now Chairman of the Pantek Group of Companies as its President for the next two years. John Bailey takes over from Rod Taylor, Chairman, Seaward Group.

Within the Pantek Group, GAMBICA member SolutionsPT is focused on industrial automation solutions through the distribution and support of the Wonderware software range of products, engineering services and software development. SolutionsPT is based in the North West of England and has interests in the UK, Eire & the Czech Republic.

John Bailey’s appointment coincides with the Pantek Group’s celebration of its 25th anniversary in 2010.

EDITOR’S NOTE: GAMBICA is the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK. It has a membership of over 200 companies and covers the following five principal sectors of the industry: -
- Industrial automation products and systems
- Process measurement and control equipment and systems
- Environmental analysis and monitoring equipment
- Laboratory Technology
- Test and measurement equipment for electrical and electronic industries

For further information contact: Sonia Dougall, GAMBICA

Direct Tel: 020 7642 8093 E-mail: mailto:sdougall@gambica.org.uk

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4BT
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: http://www.stonejunction.co.uk/

Industry can add three per cent to its bottom line with a simple energy saving stroke

In challenging economic times it is tempting to make quick savings by cutting staff and infrastructure. However, besides the personal distress, there is also the added ‘costs’ of redundancy settlement, loss of motivation and skills. Furthermore, cutting these resources will require re-investment when business improves. In contrast, a relatively small investment in Variable Speed Drives (VSDs) to improve motor efficiency provides real payback in substantial and sustained savings in periods of both recession and growth. This information comes from GAMBICA, the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK.

British industry and commerce can add £4.5 billion a year to its bottom line, a significant 3% improvement on profits, by implementing a single, simple energy saving measure; fitting variable speed drives to its electric motors.

Whilst managers in UK industry are aware of the scale of rises in electricity prices and the environmental consequences of its excessive use, there is limited knowledge of how electricity costs can be effectively reduced.

Electric motors consume huge amounts of electricity; about two-thirds of all industrial energy use. Even a simple electric motor, costing a few hundred pounds, can be expected to consume many tens of thousands of pounds worth of electricity over its useful lifetime.

Most power in electric motor use is consumed in powering fans, pumps and compressors. Such devices can be found in air conditioning & ventilation systems, boilers and compressors, which are located in most commercial and many domestic buildings, as well as in heavy industrial plants. Using a variable speed drive allows the speed of these motors to be accurately controlled and optimised for the application, resulting in typical efficiency improvements of 30%.

It may seem surprising that a relatively small percentage of potential users of VSDs in energy saving applications have actually implemented the technology. Modern VSDs are widely available, proven devices that have never been easier or quicker to install with the latest models using automatic tuning and setup features.

Unlike almost every other energy saving initiative, the installation of variable speed motor controls delivers 100% return on capital employed (RoCE) and moreover, because of the rising costs of energy and the stable prices of the technology, the return on investment (RoI) is generally delivered in less than one year.

A further incentive is that, when installed in variable torque applications, variable speed drives qualify for tax relief in the form of enhanced capital allowances (ECA) from HM Revenue & Customs. This means that the full capital costs of equipment and its installation can be offset against income tax in year one.

The use of variable speed drives is therefore one of the most easily implemented and cost effective ways to achieve carbon reduction to meet the obligations under the Carbon Reduction Commitment.

Steven Brambley of GAMBICA commented: “The Government and the institutional energy efficiency bodies have a responsibility to promote and encourage users of electric motors to control them efficiently. In these times of rising commodity costs and social awareness, there is also an opportunity for business leader’s to take advantage of the financial incentive by scrutinizing the real cost centres of their own organisations. They should identify their electric motor content and potential cost savings, identify and appoint a person responsible for them and challenge these people to ensure that all available opportunities for energy efficiency are utilised and maximised.

“The consequences of climate change will affect us all. Promoting your business as an active player in applying energy saving methods, by utilising easily available technology, gives real credibility to your green credentials and commitment to future sustainability. Take up the challenge to improve your bottom line as well as the planet!”


Ends: 628 Words

Editor’s note: GAMBICA’s variable speed drives group membership includes countless notable engineers, scientists and expert spokespersons that are willing to provide journalists with impartial evidence, opinion and statistics relating to energy usage and efficiency in UK and global industry, commerce and buildings.

Electronic copy: Get an electronic copy of this release by mail http://www.blogger.com/Campaign%20planning/richards@stonejunction.co.uk or download from http://www.gambica-pr.blogspot.com/

For further information contact: Steve Brambley, Deputy Director
Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation & Laboratory Technology (GAMBICA), Broadwall House, 21 Broadwall, London SE1 9PL
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7642 8080
Fax: +44 (0)20 7642 8096
e-mail: sbrambley@gambica.org.uk
www: http://www.gambica.org.uk/

Press enquiries: Richard Stone
Stone Junction, 33 Kirkdale,
Sydenham, London, SE26 4PN
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8699 7743
e-mail: richards@stonejunction.co.uk
www: http://www.stonejunction.co.uk/

About GAMBICA: GAMBICA is the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK. It has a membership of over 200 companies including the major multinationals in the sector and a significant number of smaller and medium sized companies.

Ref: GAM002/08/09