2009-08-27 - ABB drives are now equipped with a built-in energy efficiency calculator that continuously measures how much energy the drive is saving, the value of the saving in local currency and the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions that the drive has achieved.
By ABB Communications
The energy efficiency calculator is the latest in a comprehensive range of tools that enables ABB customers to take maximum advantage of the huge energy savings to be made by using ABB variable speed drives to control the speed of industrial motors and machines.
The built-in calculators continuously measure in kilowatt-hours and megawatt-hours precisely how much energy the drive has consumed since installation and – more importantly – how much energy the drive has saved in relation to the preceding method of flow control.
Other key parameters measured include the value of the saving in the local currency and at the local energy tariff, as well as the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions that the energy savings have achieved.
| Built-in calculator measures energy savings |
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 Low voltage ABB AC drives save energy compared to other control methods, like throttling. A new counter built into the drive can track a drive's energy consumption, operating costs and return on investment. |
The data is clearly displayed on the drive control panel and is crucial to optimizing drive and process performance as well as to monitoring energy consumption, operating costs and the drive’s return on investment.
The built-in calculators are included in all new ABB standard and industrial drives as of the beginning of 2009. They are the latest addition to a comprehensive portfolio of ABB tools and services that enable customers to increase their energy savings in drives applications.
The potential energy savings in controlling the speed of a fan or pump with an ABB variable speed drive are as high as 80 percent.
The portfolio ranges from in-depth energy audits at customer sites to tools like PumpSave and FanSave, which compare how much energy and money can be saved with ABB variable speed drives in contrast to conventional methods of fan and pump control.
PumpSave and
FanSave can be downloaded free from ABB's website.
In pump and fan applications ABB drives reduce energy consumption by between 30 and 50 percent, even as much as 80 percent, compared to conventional fixed-speed methods of flow control. They do this by continuously adjusting at phenomenally high speed the velocity of the motor in response to sudden changes in load.
ABB’s installed base of low voltage AC drives is the largest in the world and has already saved an estimated 170 terawatt-hours of electric power. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 42 million households in the European Union and reduce global CO
2 emissions by some 140 million tons a year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of more than 35 million cars.
Find out more about ABB's energy efficiency calculator. (pdf 111.33 Kb)