2004-07-06 - Laundry services at The University Hospital of North Staffordshire are running more smoothly and saving 40% on power costs following the fitting of an ABB 22kW motor and variable speed drive to one of its ironing machines.
Rob Halliday, Engineering Supervisor for the Hospital, called in ABB Motor Service Partner HG Rewinds when the original motor on the ironing machine broke down. “We had suffered a lot of breakdowns on the motor, caused by wearing of the brushes and scoring of the commutator. It was going to cost around £3,000 to repair and so we looked at finding a more economical solution.”
HG Rewinds conducted a detailed survey of the ironing machine, drawing up a wiring diagram and performing an energy audit so that the best solution could be found. The company recommended a 22 kW 4 pole AC motor and variable speed drive.
Installation took place over a weekend, minimising disruption to the laundry service’s operations. As well as seeing no breakdowns in the six months since installation, the ironing machine is now much easier to control. Says Halliday: “We have four different speeds used to iron different laundry items. Previously, control of the machine was based on a clutch system – a hand wheel was used to manually wind the clutch to the correct speed. This was difficult to achieve and not everyone found it easy, leading to different speeds every time. With the new machine, control and start up are now a lot smoother.”
The variable speed drive employs a simple speed selection switch, so the correct speed for each item can be chosen quickly and simply.
Halliday intends to use the ABB system to retrofit the other two machines: “We expect the motor on one of the other machines will suffer a breakdown in the next few months and when it does we will ask HG Rewinds to replace the motor with an ABB motor and drive system.”
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