Gains in energy efficiency by modernisation of mixing lines

Gains in energy efficiency by modernisation of mixing lines The Mixing of rubber compounds is quite energy-intensive. In abolute terms a zypical mixing line for technical rubber goods with 2 tons/hour throughput consumes about 4,5 Mio Kwh with costs of about 630.000 (sic). These costs are based on the consideration of DC drives, which looking at the installed base- are standard in todays rubber industry. By an exchange to a modern AC drive at least 20% higher efficiencies can be achieved. As the article shows, savings are dependant on the comparison of the load profile of the mixer and the sizing of the nominal power of the drive. If a mixer is mainly running in partial load, energy saving can be substancial and reach even > 30%. Further energy saving possibilities are a new developed modular AC drive, hydraulic rams, energy efficient TCU's, intelligent ram controllers (iRam) and a management of mixing lines.