Project Description
A quick response from ABB authorised value provider Gibbons Engineering Group allowed a local water authority to quickly resume operations and avoid service interruption following a variable speed drive (VSD) failure at one of its pumping stations.
The existing 12-pulse VSD at the Suffolk site controlled a water pump used to transfer sewage to the wastewater treatment works. After this drive failed following 16 years’ service, the water authority was faced with a lead time of 6-8 weeks for a replacement. Needing to keep the plant running with minimal disruption, the client requested a hire drive from Gibbons.
The loss of one pump not only meant the site’s pumping capacity was seriously reduced but also left the client open to the risk of the incoming flow exceeding the outgoing flow. This would have lead to serious danger of a sewage overflow from the site that could contaminate local water sources.
The ABB ACS580-01 250kW drive, housed within a floor-standing enclosure, was swiftly delivered to site with a Transit Hyab. The failed drive was disconnected before the hire drive was connected to outputs, powered up, set up and left ready to run.
Gibbons supplied a 250 kW drive as part of its Drive Hire scheme, which installs drives on a temporary basis to cover emergencies such as this or as part of a trial to prove the effectiveness of VSDs in saving energy.
