PRODUCT INNOVATIONS New Product
Visit the Product Innovations Archive at
www.moderncasting.com
System Reduces Energy Use With Minimal Effect on Production A metalcasting facility’s highest
utility charges occur when it hits peak energy demands, or highest energy consumption, and the costs make up a considerable portion of the electric- ity bill. But plants can control their energy consumption and cut their costs through the implementation of an energy management system. Powerit Solutions, Seattle, offers an
online predictive energy management system, Spara. Foote Foundry, Freder- icktown, Ohio, which pours between 250 and 270 tons of ferrous castings a month, saw a full return on its in- vestment over the span of 16 months and achieved a 26% decrease in peak demand with the Spara system. Steel and iron plant Pacific Alloy Cast-
ing Co., South Gate, Calif., decreased its peak demand by 30% and reduced kW equal to the generating capacity needed for 444 homes with Powerit. When it commissioned the Spara energy man- agement system, it expected a minimum average monthly demand reduction of 480 kW but has since seen a monthly
company counts the kWh consumed in that period and then averages it. “What is important is that, even if you
hit a high spike at minute two or three of an interval, your energy usage might come down naturally to keep your aver- age usage low,” said Bob Zak, president of Powerit Solutions North America. “It can be just as important to know when not to take action. The goal is take the least amount of action possible for the highest amount of savings.” With Spara, metalcasting facilities can
Operators can interact with this installed Spara unit in a variety of ways, from push buttons and switches to touchscreen interfaces.
reduction of 600 kW. Rather than monitor peak demand
by the amount of kWh used at a single time, Spara calculates peak demand the way most utilities do—through averaging. Every 15 minutes, the utility
establish a set of rules based on their equipment and various operation sce- narios for how to decrease energy con- sumption when the facility reaches peak demand. For instance, a furnace’s power could be decreased from 60% to 40% or a shakeout drum could be shut off for a few minutes. By setting its own rules, a metal- casting facility can ensure that removing the energy from a certain operation will not affect overall production. Beyond demand control, metalcast-
ers also can take advantage of auto- mated demand response (Auto DR) through Spara, where a plant actively makes a large reduction in power for a tradeoff in payment from the util- ity. With Auto DR, energy reductions are automatically triggered—although the company has advanced warning and the ability to opt out. Payments from the utility company typically are larger when the power reductions are made automatically. Spara’s new real time pricing feature
The Spara system interface allows users to view current and historical system performance. In this graph, green shows the demand control setpoint the operator or user has selected, red indicates the actual peak kW for each 15-minute interval, and blue shows the Spara system’s demand-offsetting actions.
46
gives metalcasting facilities advance notice that the price per kWh is about to go up. Businesses can set up the energy management system to make reductions in power when the price reaches a specified amount. “Those pricing constraints can be changed day-to-day,” Zak said. “So, if the inventory is low and you can’t stall production, you can set your price limits higher. If inventory is high, you slow production at super- high kWh prices.”
MC Visit
www.poweritsolutions.com for more information. MODERN CASTING / October 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60