Project Description
When we took the call from a food processing company, Gibbons’ engineers were on hand to limit downtime. We knew we would have to act fast to get their industrial mixer back up and running.
Baxters food group had been using a Danfoss 18.5 Kw drive at their Colchester site that had failed completely. There had been reports of a strong burning smell and a loud bang from one of the Stainless-Steel agitator bowls used to mix a variety of sauces. Subsequently, the industrial mixer in question had stopped working completely due to water ingress in the Danfoss 18.5kw drive.
Our drive engineer was sent to the site to find out what was needed to resolve the issue, a simple repair or a complete replacement of the drive in question. On arrival, our engineer liaised with the site manager and proceeded to investigate the problem. It was decided that a complete upgrade of the drive system was needed. After removing the old unit, a new, fully optimised ABB 18.5KW ACH550 inverter was retrofitted to the existing panel.
Before beginning the work, a brief history of the machinery was given to help make things run smoothly. The failed Danfoss drive was large and took up a lot of space, but the new replacement ABB drive is much more compact and has more functionality. The installation was a straightforward swap and once completed, our engineer instructed the team at Baxters on how to use the drive correctly as they were previously having trouble setting the drive to a slower speed.
On power-up, a minimum and maximum speed was pre-programmed so that the operators could adjust the span via the 10-turn Potentiometer. The new drive is being used in a process for mixing different sauces hence the need for varying speeds.
Once the drive was successfully installed, the machinery was fully tested before sign-off with the customer.
