2009-05-14 - Six ABB variable speed drives have reduced annual energy costs by $50,000 in a single application at the U.K. foundry of a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing. “I now see that this is the most effective way for us to save energy,” says the customer.
By
ABB Communications
The savings were achieved with a payback time of just six months and have led to additional energy savings of five percent across the entire site in the opening stage of a long-term energy plan to reduce operating costs and environmental impact at the foundry.
The ABB standard drive is one of the world’s best-selling drives of all time, with more than one million units manufactured to date.
The six ABB standard drives for HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) applications are installed at an X-FAB semiconductor foundry near Plymouth in the United Kingdom.
The site is one of five specialty foundries operated by X-FAB in Europe, Asia and North America. X-FAB is the world’s leading manufacturer of silicon wafers for analog and mixed-signal applications in the automotive, communications and consumer product industries.
The drives control six 37 kW fan motors in three cooling towers that produce chilled water for the semiconductor manufacturing process. The solution came from ABB’s local HVAC partner, Drive Control.
They enable the motors to run efficiently at optimal speed as and when required instead of running constantly at fixed speed or stopping and starting as the demand for power varies, a process that consumes large amounts of startup current.
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Six ABB standard drives for heating, ventilation and air conditioning cut energy costs by about $50,000 a year at a U.K. semiconductor foundry.
“I now see that using variable speed drives is the most effective way for us to save energy,” says Ted Judge, senior facilities engineer at X-FAB UK Ltd. “I have a 10-year plan for how to reduce energy use at this site and it will mainly be achieved with drives. Seventy percent of electricity here at the plant is used by motors so there is vast potential for using drives.”
Further energy saving projects with drives have since been carried out, enabling X-FAB to reduce electricity use by about five percent across the site.
ABB’s ACH550 standard drive was the first dedicated AC drive ever developed for HVAC applications. Renowned for its ability to reduce HVAC energy consumption by as much as 80 percent, the drive has won several awards for engineering excellence. More than 300,000 units have been sold worldwide to date.
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