With the continuing energy supply shortfall in South Africa, motors and drives can play a central role in industry’s energy solution strategy. The manufacturing and processing sectors, which include minerals processing plants, are energy-intensive industries, and finding ways to reduce energy consumption and increase efficiencies is essential for economic and environmental reasons.
A WEG Top Premium Efficiency motor driving a pump via belt and pulley, controlled by a WEG CFW11 VSD.
Jaco Brits, Projects and Technical Manager at WEG Africa, says the company has the knowledge and expertise as well as the technology solutions to assist operations in reducing their operating costs and increasing their productivity – safeguarding their energy security at the same time.
“Electric motors and drives are used across industries to operate pumps, mixers, conveyors, vibrating screens and feeders, crushers, and other machinery including, for instance, automated packaging systems,” Brits says.
“Advances in motor and drive technology, underpinned by WEG’s extensive research and development, have seen substantial improvements in energy efficiency. Advanced control algorithms enable motor performance to be optimised based on real-time conditions,” Brits explains. “The algorithms assist in ensuring motors operate at peak efficiency levels, even in complex processes.”
“By upgrading to newer technology and installing higher efficiency motors such as the WEG IE3 or IE4 electric motors, customers can lower their energy usage significantly.
“In addition,” he says, “by combining high efficiency motors with WEG variable speed drives (VSDs), better control and optimisation of equipment can be achieved. This ensures equipment operates at its most energy-efficient speed and power level and will reduce operating costs.”
Commenting on the use of VSDs, Brits explains that traditional fixed speed motors run at a constant speed, regardless of the load requirements. In contrast, VSDs are most effective in controlling the speed and torque of motors based on the actual – and changing – load requirements. With this level of precision, the speed of the motor is adjusted to match the load, thus ensuring that equipment operates as needed. VSDs also provide for faster reaction to load changes and better integration with equipment. “All these factors reduce unnecessary energy consumption during periods of low demand and enhance overall equipment efficiency and performance,” he says.
Unpacking advances in drive technology, Brits points to the WEG CFW11 VSD line, which incorporates some of the most advanced technology in the world for alternating-current three-phase induction motors.
“Incorporating WEG Vectrue™ technology, these new generation WEG drives combine variable frequency, sensorless and closed-loop vector (with encoder) control techniques in a single product. This facilitates high torque and a fast dynamic response with the self-tuning function allowing automatic configuration of the drive to adjust it to the motor and load in vector modes,” Brits says.
As most industries are looking to sustainable energy sources to meet their energy needs, including renewables such as wind and solar, motors and drives will continue to play an important role in facilitating the integration of such systems. VSDs can be used to balance power supply and demand and ensure stable operation in hybrid energy systems.
“Substantial efficiency improvements can be achieved by using the latest motor and drive technology, and the significant savings in energy consumption more than justify the capital cost of replacing old equipment with higher efficiency technology,” Brits says.
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