The wear and tear on your machinery increases with the amount of time it’s in use. This leads to an increase in the rate at which replacement parts are needed, causing more downtime and slowing down the completion of your production schedule. By installing a variable speed drive, you can reduce the amount of wear and tear on your machinery, thereby prolonging its life and saving money on replacement parts and maintenance costs. Here’s how this technology works and how it helps you save money.
Reduce power-line disturbances
Variable speed drives allow heavy-duty equipment to use less energy, and thus operate more efficiently, by reducing power line disturbances. In an industrial setting, variable speed drives can make a huge difference in energy savings. Using less electricity is great for businesses both large and small. And if your business uses at least 5 MW worth of electricity annually, your utility company may offer you additional financial incentives to invest in variable speed drive technology. If you don’t take advantage, you could be losing hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year in wasted energy costs—and that doesn’t include lost productivity due to inefficient machinery!
Reducing Machine Noise
You probably don’t think about it often, but industrial machinery is incredibly noisy. The noise can be tough on workers (it can lead to hearing loss and even stress) and it also reduces productivity by keeping employees from concentrating. A variable speed drive can help reduce machine noise. With a VSD, you’re able to slow down a piece of machinery when there’s no demand for its product and accelerate it when there is—this gives you much more control over your equipment, helping ensure that only necessary power goes through it. This helps keep down both wear and tear as well as noise. Without a VSD, increasing or decreasing speeds requires shutting down and restarting machines; with one in place, those processes are nearly instantaneous—which means less downtime overall.
Energy Savings
With so many variable speed drives on the market, it can be difficult to choose which one is right for your machinery. In order to keep from overspending on a variable speed drive you’ll eventually have to replace, consider how much money you stand to save by prolonging its life. Using less energy means fewer repairs, so try and get a variable speed drive that maximizes energy savings over its lifetime. It’s not just about getting cheaper parts now; it’s about saving money in future years as well.
Smooth Operation
When machinery operates at a constant speed, it puts unnecessary strain on its moving parts and wears them out faster. A variable speed drive allows you to change speeds based on your particular need or application. In some instances, that allows you to do away with entirely with mechanical parts, reducing equipment costs. But when used in conjunction with existing machines and systems, a variable speed drive can also prolong their life—meaning less downtime and fewer replacements. This can translate into huge cost savings over time. Even if you’re doing things by hand (and don’t use machines), make sure to consider how much force you are putting into each action to make sure you aren’t causing undue wear-and-tear on your body.
Lower Maintenance Costs
Variable speed drives also reduce maintenance costs. For instance, if you have a pump that’s designed to go 50 revolutions per minute, it’s likely that your water will have dirt and debris in it over time. This can break your pump down more quickly than desired because of wear and tear. A variable speed drive system can help lower maintenance costs by preventing too much wear and tear from taking place on machines before they’re replaced or repaired.
