Are Your a.c. Inverters (Variable Speed Drives) Running at Maximum Efficiency?
Energy efficiency is a prime consideration for machine designers, plant engineers and finance directors, with a seemingly constant stream of legislation designed to encourage industries to cut their energy usage. As a result there are a range of technologies available to help organisations optimise their energy use and reduce their carbon footprints. But is all of the applied technology fully optimised?
It is a frequently quoted statistic that electric motors account for 60% of UK industrial energy usage. It is equally well-known that fitting an a.c. inverter to control the speed of a motor can save energy – so much in fact, that the purchase cost can often be recouped within 12 months. Importantly, an a.c. inverter also allows users to fit motors sized closer to their typical duty, affording further energy saving potential.
Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Inverters?
Hundreds of thousands of a.c. inverters installed in countless applications across the country, saving users many thousands of pounds in energy costs. But are you getting the most out of your inverters? Are you reaping all the potential energy savings? Are your a.c. inverters set up to run at their maximum efficiency?
It might be assumed, for example, that having fitted an a.c. inverter, you have achieved your energy savings potential – end of story. The inverter may certainly be optimising the speed of the motor by matching it to the requirements of the application. In high-duty pump and fan applications, this will mean taking advantage of the inverse square law of speed to energy consumption to deliver some significant savings in energy use.
Properly Set Up
However, to really deliver the maximum energy savings, a.c. inverters need to be set up properly at the commissioning stage. This can be as simple as activating one parameter to turn on the inverters intelligent energy-saving mode.
The first area to look at is nature of the load: is it constant or variable torque? The inverter can then be adjusted to match its output to the load, maximising the possible energy savings. While an inverter in constant-torque mode will still save energy compared to having no inverter at all, optimum savings will only be achieved in variable-torque mode if the connected load is a pump or fan (although some types of pump require the constanttorque setting). This needs to be set up when the inverter is installed, which is normally as easy as just adjusting one of your parameters.
Many a.c. inverters now have specific energy-saving modes, with dedicated algorithms tailoring the profiles of their outputs for greater optimisation. For example, Mitsubishi Electric’s FR-F800 a.c. inverter  – a dedicated product aimed at pump, fan and compressor operations – offers energy-saving modes that can achieve energy savings up to 15% higher than standard operating modes. It also provides several advanced functions specific to industries that rely on fans, pumps and compressors, to improve performance further.
Slow To Respond?
You may have shied away from enabling such energy-saving modes on a.c. inverters in the past as they're known to make the inverter sluggish to respond to changes in the load. However, this is no longer the case! With best-of-breed products incorporating technologies, the problem is eliminated.
The FR-F800, contains an “advanced optimum excitation control” technology that switches the inverter automatically between an energy-saving mode and a high-torque mode to suit the needs of the load at any time. With this mode enabled, you can achieve your optimum energy saving, without compromising on performance.
Moving Target
Energy optimisation is a constantly moving target. This means that continual monitoring of energy usage is vital to identify areas ripe for optimisation. Even more important though is performing a post-installation survey once your a.c. inverter has been fitted.
While there are many energy-saving calculation tools that can make the case for fitting an inverter in the first place, these can make assumptions that may not always be accurate in your real-world conditions. The tools provide an indication of how much energy can be saved and let you see estimated payback times, but only a detailed post-installation survey can highlight real energy savings and show opportunities for further optimisation in your plant.
We can see, that while a.c. Inverters offer many opportunities for energy saving, spending a little time to set up the technology correctly will deliver so much more.
It’s impossible to tell how much energy you could be saving if you really optimised your inverters. What's been found though, is that even after an a.c. Inverter has been fitted, often energy efficiency will easily increase by 10% or more. If you compare this with the relatively small gains in efficiency achieved by upgrading from an IE2 to IE3 motor, the saving really is substantial!
The thing is, the capability is usually already in your operation, it just needs switching on.
This article was originally published in Drives and Controls Magazine, by Mitsubishi Electric.
Looking for more information? LC Automation can help with that...
If you require more information or help setting up your Mitsubishi a.c. Inverter, don't hesitate to get in touch with LC Automation. Our Field Sales Engineers or Technical Support Engineers will be able to discuss your application and help to ensure you get the very best solution for your requirements. Give us a call on 01254 685900 or e-mail sales@lca.co.uk and we will provide all the help and support you need.
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