Thursday, September 21, 2006
Cornish miners sign up for motors and drives
Aiming to save downtime costs of up to GBP 10,000 per hour, Imerys Minerals in Cornwall has entered an agreement with ABB to supply motors and drives to its UK plants.
Aiming to save downtime costs of up to GBP 10,000 per hour, Imerys Minerals in Cornwall has entered an agreement with ABB to supply motors and drives to its UK plants. Extraction and processing is a 24/7 continuous process, using high-pressure water systems in the quarries. Imerys is the largest user of motors in the South West, employing more than 5000 motors and over 27MW of installed power driving pumps and handling systems for the extraction of 2Mt of china clay per annum.
The company makes extensive use of condition monitoring and failure mode analysis as any motor failure can lead to extended downtime.
Quality and delivery problems from their previous suppliers prompted Imerys to look for a new supplier of motors and drives.
The company carried out its own exhaustive tests to satisfy itself that the prospective vendors could meet its demanding requirements.
ABB motors and drives were ultimately selected on the basis of mechanical build quality, reliability and low running costs due to high energy efficiencies.
Dave Constance, Electrical Manager for Imerys, says: "In our experience of running motors we have never come across a motor as reliable as these from ABB".
"They are well designed for the harsh environment we work in, with better protection against ingress of dust and water and improved cooling".
"The drives work well in the wet and harsh environment found in our quarries and are well protected against ingress of water or slurry, which could otherwise cause expensive damage and downtime.
"We didn't take what we were told at face value".
"We examined motors and drives from a number of manufacturers and conducted compatibility tests to see if they were suitable for our environment".
"We stripped the motors down to look at how easy they were to maintain and how this would affect the running costs".
"Efficiency tests were also an important part of our investigation".
"For all criteria, ABB came out on top".
"We were particularly impressed with the company's technical support, which was excellent, as was the order processing".
"We have had no problems at all".
The five-year agreement covers the supply of ABB's process performance motors and industrial drives.
The motors, designed originally for the pulp and paper industry, have an IP56 rating, making them particularly suitable for the constant wet and abrasive conditions of the quarry.
Imerys expects to spend between GBP 200,000 and GBP 300,000 a year on motors and GBP 150,000 on drives.
Lifetime cost of ownership is important to Imerys and so getting maximum time between maintenance sessions was vital.
The company made suggestions to improve the sealing on a motor bearing to reduce its maintenance needs and ABB altered the design of a casting to accommodate this as part of its policy of continuous improvement based upon customer feedback.
"We were impressed with the access we had to ABB's design team".
"Overall ABB has delivered as quoted and with the quality we need", Constance concludes.
Aiming to save downtime costs of up to GBP 10,000 per hour, Imerys Minerals in Cornwall has entered an agreement with ABB to supply motors and drives to its UK plants. Extraction and processing is a 24/7 continuous process, using high-pressure water systems in the quarries. Imerys is the largest user of motors in the South West, employing more than 5000 motors and over 27MW of installed power driving pumps and handling systems for the extraction of 2Mt of china clay per annum.
The company makes extensive use of condition monitoring and failure mode analysis as any motor failure can lead to extended downtime.
Quality and delivery problems from their previous suppliers prompted Imerys to look for a new supplier of motors and drives.
The company carried out its own exhaustive tests to satisfy itself that the prospective vendors could meet its demanding requirements.
ABB motors and drives were ultimately selected on the basis of mechanical build quality, reliability and low running costs due to high energy efficiencies.
Dave Constance, Electrical Manager for Imerys, says: "In our experience of running motors we have never come across a motor as reliable as these from ABB".
"They are well designed for the harsh environment we work in, with better protection against ingress of dust and water and improved cooling".
"The drives work well in the wet and harsh environment found in our quarries and are well protected against ingress of water or slurry, which could otherwise cause expensive damage and downtime.
"We didn't take what we were told at face value".
"We examined motors and drives from a number of manufacturers and conducted compatibility tests to see if they were suitable for our environment".
"We stripped the motors down to look at how easy they were to maintain and how this would affect the running costs".
"Efficiency tests were also an important part of our investigation".
"For all criteria, ABB came out on top".
"We were particularly impressed with the company's technical support, which was excellent, as was the order processing".
"We have had no problems at all".
The five-year agreement covers the supply of ABB's process performance motors and industrial drives.
The motors, designed originally for the pulp and paper industry, have an IP56 rating, making them particularly suitable for the constant wet and abrasive conditions of the quarry.
Imerys expects to spend between GBP 200,000 and GBP 300,000 a year on motors and GBP 150,000 on drives.
Lifetime cost of ownership is important to Imerys and so getting maximum time between maintenance sessions was vital.
The company made suggestions to improve the sealing on a motor bearing to reduce its maintenance needs and ABB altered the design of a casting to accommodate this as part of its policy of continuous improvement based upon customer feedback.
"We were impressed with the access we had to ABB's design team".
"Overall ABB has delivered as quoted and with the quality we need", Constance concludes.
# posted by Medical Information : 4:52 AM
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