2005-11-02 -
ABB has become the first company ever to win three awards at the Electrical Industry Awards, this year held at the National Motorcycle Museum, near Birmingham, on 20th October.
ABB was the winner of Energy Efficient Project of the Year; Environmental Awareness Project of the Year; and Safety Product of the Year.
ABB’s entry for Energy Efficient Project of the Year was Salt Union near Runcorn. The company is saving over £100,000 per year since replacing a fixed speed 337 kW fan and motor, the largest on the site, with a 132 kW fan and motor coupled to an ABB industrial drive. The investment cost was just £20,000. The installation of the new fan system has saved about 10% of the total energy demand at the site. Collecting the award on behalf of ABB was Dave Mullin of Salt Union and Steve Hughes, manager of ABB Drives Alliance partner network.
The Environmental Awareness Project went to ABB’s replacement drives scheme which aims to assess, dispose of, replace and recycle variable speed drives from any manufacturer, improving reliability and energy efficiency. ABB estimates that 40 per cent of drives sold today replace older drives in existing applications, yet this is a market that receives little attention. The award was collected by Layla Hewitt, marketing manager for drives and motors.
Safety Product of the Year was awarded to ABB’s DC Injection Powerbrake. This is used to upgrade existing woodworking machinery to comply with the PUWER regulations, which require machines to be equipped with an automatic brake that stops them within 10 seconds or less if there is a risk of physical contact. ABB’s solution is more cost-effective than many alternative designs, which include fitting a mechanical brake or even completely replacing an existing motor with a new braked one. James Haigh, general manager, Low Voltage Products, collected the award from the show’s compère and host for the evening, comedian Tom O’Connor.
“This is a truly magnificent result,” says Steve Ruddell, general manager, Drives and Motors. “It is the first time that we have scooped three awards at one event. Not only that, the awards underpin the principles on which ABB now operate: energy, environment and safety. We couldn’t be more pleased. The quality of the entries was extremely high. There is no doubt that the three categories that we won were highly impressive – in terms of quality, innovation and result.”
The Electrical Industry Awards is organised by Nexus Media, publisher of Electrical Review and Electrical Times.
Go to Energy Home