Welcome to our series on energy saving solutions for the industrial boiler house.
This week we will be looking at VSD (Variable speed drive).
A VSD fitted to the forced draught (FD) fan motor on a burner will compliment digital combustion control systems and depending on the modulating characteristics of the burner can produce considerable savings which are maximised on lower fire settings.
An old technology burner will have a fixed speed motor with modulating air flow controlled by mechanical dampers. When a VSD is fitted to the FD motor, dampers are removed with the fan speed controlling the amount of air required for the combustion setting. When combined with a digital combustion control system, the turndown of a burner can increase from 4-1 for a mechanical system to 8-1 with an electronically controlled system including VSD.
This allows the burner to fire on extremely low fire settings, reducing the need for constant stopping and starting during periods of low steam consumption, which in turn consumes less energy.
Power savings can be 50%, resulting from a 20% turndown from VSD to FD fan motor, with further savings of 2% on combustion.
For more information on JBC energy solutions see: http://www.jbcindserv.co.uk/energy