Technology park firms drive down electricity costs for manufacturers 12 April 2010

Sensdata and Drive Management Services (DMS), both located at the AMP Technology Centre, are working together to deliver an innovative system to cut costs and make lower carbon manufacturing processes a reality.

DMS managing director Allan Findlow explains that their SensSlip system automatically monitors for slippage in drive belts, so enabling maintenance teams to avoid plant downtime, energy wastage and, effectively, also CO2 emissions.

He cites plant driven by vee-belts, and claims that the equipment can potentially save thousands of pounds spent at plans all over the UK on lost electrical energy, due to inadequate maintenance of power transmission systems.

In a trial at Corus' Stocksbridge site, the system revealed that thousands of pounds in energy costs could be saved. Corus did not have a vee-belt slip monitoring system, despite the fact that a failed vee-belt meant a furnace could be shut down for three to four hours, and steel in the process scrapped or need additional treatment.

Corus energy services engineer Chris Spenceley says: "We have a number of heat treatment furnaces equipped with combustion air and fume extraction fans, powered by large motors. They are fuelled by either natural gas or heavy fuel oil.

"We therefore also have lots of vee-belts. While most obvious safety systems are closely monitored, the vee-belts are often given low priority and you tend to forget about them."

In critical areas, where Corus can't afford vee-belt failures, the belts were being changed twice yearly, during planned shutdowns. "This incurred additional costs," comments Spenceley.

In just one sample period of monitoring a belt during the initial trial, over 4.3 days of running, Sensdata confirmed the transmission drive was only running at times at 82% efficiency – not the 95—98% efficiency when first installed – equating to £9,290 of energy wasted from just one vee-belt drive.

Spenceley reckons the Sensdata system is "a great solution to an industry-wide problem".

Brian Tinham

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