New Danfoss VLT® Decentral Drive E cient, reliable and powerful
New Danfoss VLT® Decentral Drive E cient, reliable and powerful
New Danfoss VLT® Decentral Drive E cient, reliable and powerful
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Mechanical drives<br />
factory moves to Leeds<br />
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SIEMENS IS moving its mechanical<br />
drives (MD) factory from Bradford<br />
to a new purpose-built site in<br />
Leeds, with more space <strong>and</strong><br />
improved facilities.<br />
Since Siemens bought Flender’s<br />
gear <strong>and</strong> gear-motor business for<br />
€1.2bn in 2005, it has been<br />
investing in the operation. The<br />
new 4,645m 2 (50,000ft 2 ) factory<br />
Nadin: relentless commitment<br />
has 30% more production space,<br />
making it easier to optimise<br />
production cell layouts, as well as materials <strong>and</strong> h<strong>and</strong>ling flow. The<br />
site, in Stourton, will be used to assemble gears, geared motors,<br />
motors <strong>and</strong> couplings.<br />
The move has been overseen by Simon Nadin, who was<br />
appointed general manager of the MD division in July, replacing<br />
Nick Garthwaite, who has left the Siemens group. Nadin, who has<br />
been with Siemens since 1998, was previously based at the<br />
company’s drives factory in Congleton.<br />
“Siemens is committed to manufacturing in the UK <strong>and</strong> the<br />
mechanical gears aspect is a key element in the drive train,” he says.<br />
“This new facility will not only enhance our manufacturing capability;<br />
it will also be used to train apprentices <strong>and</strong> hold technical seminars.”<br />
Nadin believes that with the right strategy <strong>and</strong> investment, it is<br />
possible to be successful in the current economic climate. “A<br />
relentless commitment to process improvement is an essential part<br />
of our business DNA,” he states. “Without this focus, we open the<br />
door to competition.”<br />
The factory will be opened officially in early 2011.<br />
MV inverter is ‘world’s most effi<strong>cient</strong>’<br />
THE BRAZILIAN<br />
manufacturer WEG<br />
has produced a<br />
medium-voltage<br />
inverter which, it<br />
claims, is the world’s<br />
most effi<strong>cient</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>reliable</strong>, with a 99% efficiency <strong>and</strong> a 22-year<br />
MTBF (mean time between failures). The 8,000hp (5,996kW),<br />
4.16kV system is also WEG’s largest-ever MV inverter.<br />
The 12-pulse inverter has been supplied to Weir Pumps,<br />
which is using it to drive a 7,500hp (5,593kW) WEG motor<br />
used to test mud drilling pumps at its laboratory in Dallas,<br />
Texas. These tests, which ensure that the pumps will support<br />
real loads during operation, have not been performed before,<br />
because of their complexity, risk <strong>and</strong> high costs.<br />
“In a single stroke, we have doubled the output of our MV<br />
inverter range to 8,000hp,” says Marek Lukaszczyk, WEG’s<br />
European marketing manager. “The 99% efficiency is an<br />
average 1% more effi<strong>cient</strong> than that delivered by any other MV<br />
inverter on the market – <strong>and</strong> this can mean an economy of up<br />
to $50,000 per year for this user.”<br />
The MVW voltage-source inverter drive has two layers of<br />
control, rather than the usual three or five layers. It is driving a<br />
four-pole 46Hz motor, rotating at 1,371 rpm.<br />
www.weg.net<br />
8 November/December 2010 www.drives.co.uk