Cirteq stops production stoppages with VSDs 30 July 2013

Circlip manufacturer Cirteq has not only solved problems with plant stoppages, caused by ageing motors and controls, but is also now saving an estimated at £11,000 a year in energy costs, thanks to modern variable-speed drives (VSD).

Plant manager Bob Holinski explains that the company buys raw, unshaped wire and runs it through various processes before the circlip is cropped, shaped, heat treated and finished.

One of the first operations is shaping and drawing the raw wire, and the machine used originally employed an early dc VSD, he says.

Two main dc motors drove the shedding drum (master drive) and the mill stand (slave), while a third ac motor was used for the coiling drum under eddy current drive control.

"The old dc motors were controlled using a Ward Leonard drive system and were starting to gives us various problems," states Holinski.

"Spares were no longer available and reliability was deteriorating, [which] had a big effect on production... We were seeing up to three failures a week, which took some time to rectify."

ABB drives partner Halcyon Drives supplied a replacement panel, with two 30kW ABB industrial drives for the shedding drum and mill stand, controlled in master/slave via the original dancing arm, and a 7.5kW drive for the coiling drum.

This drive uses ABB's DTC (direct torque control) to slow the rotation of the coiling drum and compensate for rising torque as the wire increases the drum's diameter.

As for the new motors, all were general performance IE2 high efficiency six-pole induction units.

"The size of wire determines the speed the machine should run at," says Holinski. "The previous system used a series of gears to alter the speed, which meant we did not have a great range. With the new VSD-based system, we can alter the speeds of the drum easily using a dial on the control console."

And he adds: "Our operators are happy with the new set up and we have had no failures since the application was installed."

Brian Tiniham

Related Companies
ABB Ltd
Halcyon Electrical Co Ltd

This material is protected by MA Business copyright
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.