Energy efficiency experts at Drives and Controls 2014

GAMBICA, the UK trade association for instrumentation, control, automation and laboratory technology, will host a pavilion at the Drives & Controls Exhibition, taking place at the NEC in Birmingham, between April 8 and April 10, 2014. The seven participating GAMBICA members can be found at stands number G10 to G70.

Steve Brambley, GAMBICA’s deputy director and the organisation’s Variable Speed Drives (VSD) group convener, will also present two seminars at the event. The first one will be a part of the Motor Driven Systems (MDS) day and will take place on April 9, between 11:30 and 12:00. The seminar will address ways in which intelligent control can significantly reduce energy usage.

The second session is a panel discussion that will take place on April 10, from 10:15 to 11:15 and will look at the automation trends in the UK.

The GAMBICA members pavilion will play host to seven members, each with their own stand. The participants are Danfoss, Fairford Electronics, Omron Electronics, Pepperl + Fuchs GB, TECO, Vacon Drives UK and Parker SSD Drives.

“We’re particularly looking forward to this year’s event as an opportunity to exhibit as a trade body and in partnership with some of our members,” explains Brambley. “We’ve worked with all our members to create a varied exhibit, that reflects the GAMBICA membership and we look forward to meeting as many visitors and fellow exhibitors as possible. We’re certain that the recent confidence boost in the automation and manufacturing sectors will reflect positively on this year’s Drives & Controls show.”

For the 2014 Drives & Controls show, the participating GAMBICA members will focus on issues including energy efficiency, the benefits of motor control in fixed and variable speed applications and the advantages of using automation and robotics.

An Omron Delta-style robot will be exhibited on stand G70, in a typical material handling application. Every aspect of the machine cell will be controlled by a Sysmac machine automation controller.

GAMBICA member Fairford Electronics has also prepared a particularly interesting exhibit. "Fairford are delighted to be part of the GAMBICA pavilion this year. It gives us a chance to showcase our revolutionary intelligent energy saving motor controller - Synergy. We will have a live unit with us and visitors will be able to test it and see just how compact, powerful and easy to use it is," commented Stephen Royle, sales and marketing director at Fairford Electronics.

On stand G20, Danfoss will discuss their VLT® High Power Drives and low harmonic versions of the VLT® Automation, HVAC and AQUA drives. The products actively reduce harmonic distortion in the power supply, improving power quality by continuously regulating the network to the load conditions. The VLT® Advanced Active Filter is designed to complement the VLT® series of low harmonic drives, a flexible and adaptable solution for stand-alone or group harmonic mitigation.

Teco will be launching the latest additions to the 510 family of VSD’s, namely the IP66 version of the E510 sensorless vector drive and the IP55 variant of the F510 which is designed for fan and pump control.

On stand G60, Vacon will showcase VACON 100 FLOW drives, which incorporate an extensive range of dedicated features and menus optimised for pump and fan applications, and VACON 100 X drives, which have an IP66 ingress protection rating that allows them to be used almost anywhere – even outdoors – without the need for extra protection.
Brian Hurley, general manager of Parker's SSD Drives Division announced "We're delighted to be back at Drives & Controls. This show will be the UK debut for the new AC10 drive, as well as the newly extended AC30 Series. The UK is an important market for us and this exhibition presents us with a good opportunity to show our customers how our product range has developed."

GAMBICA launches VSD energy savings calculator

~ Easy to use calculator predicts return on investment ~

The VSD savings calculator

GAMBICA has launched a simple calculator that estimates the energy savings that installing a variable speed drive (VSD) on a relevant application can achieve. GAMBICA, the national organisation that represents the interests of the instrumentation, control, automation and laboratory technology industries in the UK, launched the product on behalf of the members of its variable speed drives group.

The free calculator allows potential buyers to make an informed decision before purchasing a VSD for their application. It comes in the form of an easy to use Microsoft Excel file and is available to download from GAMBICA’s website.

The new VSD energy saving calculator is intended as a first-pass indication tool to help decide if a VSD will bring energy savings to the application. The calculator can also help estimate what payback period can be expected, making it clearer that a VSD represents a guaranteed investment that will reduce energy bills by more than its cost.

Electric motors consume significant amounts of electricity; estimated to be 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. Variable Speed Drives can help to make significant energy savings by controlling the motor speed, particularly in pump and fan applications.

“Energy saving is currently a high priority on the British and EU agendas and VSDs are gradually being recognised as one of the most important tools for cutting energy costs,” explained Steve Brambley, deputy director of GAMBICA. “We hope this new tool will encourage non technical people, particularly in purchasing departments, to embrace the technology,” concluded Brambley.

The energy saving calculator can be downloaded for free from the GAMBICA website at http://www.gambica.org.uk/vsdcalculator.

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

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