ENERGY CONSERVATION POINTS IN CONVERSION EXERCISE

Conserve Energy & Restore Productivity

In Your Machines by Belts & Pulley Drives.
The following are the Energy conservation points that need to be focused during the Belt & pulley conversion exercise.
These points are to be given the priority during your routine belt replacement in your machines and as well, when you are
implementing ”Energy efficient Cogged belt & Resizing of pulleys” & you will be delighted to visualize energy savings.

Please find below the cogged belts & resized pulley implementation in the blower application in 21 C model Autoconer
machine in a textile mill. This blower was running with VFD only right from installation and based on the count pattern, the
mill was maintaining the suction Pascal (thro VFD Hz setting) in their suction blower, since few years.

For the same measured blower speed of 3890 RPM before and after this Energy Efficient conversion exercise, this
industry achieved 15 % energy savings in this machine (vide client feedback image of energy savings). The motor is 2
pole 11 KW motor 2940 RPM rated and running with speeds of 2824 RPM @48 Hz VFD setting before exercise and after re-
sized pulleys & belts replaced, motor runs now at speed of 2467RPM@ 42 Hz VFD setting, (with min & max Hz setting)

This conversion exercise resulted in measured Blower RPM of around 3890 RPM (after adjusting the slippages)
before & after. And maintained the suction same at 4250 Pascal before & 4410 Pascal after (slightly more).
Energy saving achieved is 15 % KWH savings for the same output blower RPM & suction Pascal.

• MSB Pulleys Made Out of Special Castings and Machined to

Superior Dimensions with Close Tolerances

There is scope for energy savings and productivity improvement in belt operated machines, with a low cost
payback of only few months, Industries have reported energy savings of around 5 to 15 % in this exercise.

1. First measure the machine VOLT, CURRENT, KW, KVA, KVAR AND PF, HZ parameters on the running machine
before stopping the machine with the instant clamp on power meter or the hook the Power quality analyzer and put on
recording to measure the no-load stage wise parameters. If run hour meter is there, or put Run hour meter (costs Rs.400/-
only) and this will give KWH for the given run hours, that is Units per hour versus motor rated KW – shows Loading.

2. If possible to measure by the user, record the instant product output over few minutes or what is their logged output of
machine as measured by them from the start of that shift to the instant of start of study.

3. If thermal imager is available, check for hot spots at the motor panel, motor terminals box, motor pulley, and DE & NDE
bearings, motor skin, Machine pulley, and its Machine end bearings hot conditions. If there is any abnormal hot spot,
take steps to correct the same if possible to be done instantly. This comes under your routine maintenance.

4. If the machine is having VFD, note down the output Hz, volts, amps and KW on the VFD console. Measure the motor
and the machine RPM at the given or average or normal loading condition by using non contact Tacho, or Stroboscope.

5. Once the machine is stopped, if possible try to bring down to the empty product loading the machine for few minutes,
and measure the above basic and power parameters. Observe the reading for few minutes and check the Amps is steady
or fluctuating for the given steady loading to the machine.
6. Now de-couple the belts from the motors and now run the motor for few minutes and measure the same as above the no-
load + existing motor pulley loaded basic and power parameters of the motor with the motor pulley.

7. Remove the existing motor pulley from the motor and repeat the above monitoring of basic and power parameters for
few minutes so as to analyze the open shaft motor power parameters. This also contributes to your motors’ efficiency.

8. This deviation in each phase current, shows the motor is rewound at times, de-rated, voltage upto the motor panel has
some loose connections causing volts unbalance at incoming. This no-load KVAR measured here on open shaft motor,
90 % of the same will be capacitor size to be fixed at motor end, when there is no VFD retrofitted to the motor panel.

9. If the motor is compensated with the capacitor at the load end, ie at the motor control panel, since you are measuring at
the incoming of the panel, take the above readings with capacitor MCB on & off condition.

10. After measurements are over, let conversion exercise be implemented in stages. Repeat the above measurements either
instantly or observing for few minutes, the motor + new motor pulley, the basic and power parameters of the machine.
After fitting the new machine pulley and putting on the new belts, repeat the monitoring of basic and power parameters
of the machine with the empty product loading of the machine

11. Next, measure the RPM of the motor and machine on new pulleys and are they matching to the old machine pulley RPM,
or any changes if you planned in the speed ratio of pulleys, the same ratio is confirming as per your calculations. This is
done during the empty load & after full loading of machine. Next, measure the motor and machine RPM on the average
normal loading, and confirm the RPM measured at no load and normal product load are one and the same, for the given
motor running HZ

12. Next, load the machine to the normal product loading condition as left before the conversion. Run for one hour so that
the Running-in time for the new belts is over initially, and next to take the basic and power readings.

13. Simultaneously with the thermal imager, check for hot spots at the motor panel, motor terminals box, motor pulley, and
DE & NDE bearings, motor skin, Machine pulley, and its Machine end bearings hot conditions Confirm there is no
increase in temperature in the same hot spots, and you look for reduction in hot spots.

14. If possible to measure by the user, record the instant output over few minutes and let them record in their log book for
the next week, what is for few minutes, one hour, per shift and day after this exercise. After 24 hours, measure the RPM,
HZ, and the basic and power parameters, and totalized KWH as well.

15. The Amps will reduce further after proper Running-in by the new belts and new pulleys after few hours, measure for the
next day, each shift wise and confirm the electricity consumption KWH is reduced / increased and production is
increased or decreased, both the increase / decrease can happen.

16. In the production machines, ultimately the SEC, the Specific Energy consumption as the units consumed by the machine
for the given output of machine will be reduced, to confirm. This can either by reduction in KWH or increase in
productivity; we have to confirm to report to management.

17. The % production increase or restoration to rated capacity on this conversion depends on the type of loading, machine
operating parameters, on the sand mixer, production is restored by 24 % on this in one of the conversion case study.

18. If the same is on utility like blowers, pump, compressor, etc, measure the output flow before the conversion. In most
cases, practically it may be difficult. So in blower, measure the static pressure for the given flow output, what is the
change in Static pressure in Pascal before and after conversion?

19. Variable torque loads like centrifugal blowers, axial flow fans, centrifugal pumps, and compressors, show excellent
energy savings if you could optimize the speed of the utility that is demanded by the load.

20. Even 1 % reduction in speed of machine, can yield 3 % savings in Input KW. If it is 5 % reduction in speed, it is input 14
% KW savings, and if 10 % reduction is speed is acceptable to your system during the optimizing of the output
parameters, then 27 % reduction in input KW is possible. You can either achieve excellent energy savings say from 5 to
15 % on this belts & pulley conversion, this depends on your existing energy losses.

21. To further achieve energy savings it is prudent to use the VFD to match to the varying loading demanded from the
machine. Re-sizing of these pulleys will allow you to extract further more deliverables from your VFD.
22. Your VFD has many flexibilities, like soft starting, adjustable ramping of speed in up or down mode, and this is an
essential retrofit to match your loading to the blower Best Efficiency point or band in the Fan curve. VFD gives around
say 25 % in many cases practically, depending on the loading pattern, higher the retrofit cost, higher the savings.

23. If the motor always running at steady under-load below 50 % for months & years, the industry needs to buy new IE3
motor of lower size, after verifying the part load efficiency of the new motor. Motor rated speed increases in IE3 version.

24. It is also important to say here, to replace your bimetallic thermal overload relays with the Electronic motor protection
relay at a marginal increase in cost, but this Electronic MPR protects your motor from current unbalancing, overload and
under-load, current unbalance based single phasing upto the motor terminals.

25. In one way, it is a MUST to add this Electronic relay to your panel, because this can either alert or trip your motor when
the belts to machine got cut resulting in sudden under loading. This relay will prompt you to avoid further breakdowns.

26. The intention of this conversion exercise is energy saving means, why are you allowing your driven end machine /
blower / pump etc, their pillow blocks, gear box mechanisms to be with ordinary multipurpose grease?

27. Instead remove and drain the old grease fully, (since old & new grease is not compatible) clean & replace them totally
with specialty polyurea thickened Lithium complex grease, to withstand heavy tangential shear stress, energy saving too.

28. When the machine is critical, you can also measure the vibration of the motor & machine before and after the
conversion, in some industries, the vibration level has come down by half and acceptable levels in machine running
steady. The Amps variation in the old system is also getting corrected after proper erection and tensioning now.

So when the product load is steady on your machine, but your machine draws varying input currents in all 3 phases
during trend. This means the belts & pulley have gone loose, & more wear & tear. This is sign of inefficient belting.

In your workspot, today after implementing this Energy conservation Measure,

you will be shocked to review all the energy losses happened before, but you are delighted today, that the energy
losses reduced and productivity improved and tomorrow it will be a delight for you to enjoy your energy savings.

Links below to buy above my Energy conservation books & ebooks online:-
1. https://notionpress.com/read/practical-guide-to-energy-conservation-
management/paperback
2. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-conservation-management-in-textile-mills
3. https://notionpress.com/read/conserve-energy-and-restore-productivity-in-
machines-by-belts-and- pulley-drives
4. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-monitoring-conservation-practices-in-
residential-commercial-buildings
5. Subscribe to youtube/energymeasuretosave to view the past webinar videos.
6. All above 4 books are available in e-book format and paper back format in
amazon.in, flipkart.com in India / in amazon.com, amazon.co.uk internationally.
7. Kindly give your valuable feedback mail to:- [email protected] 40

ASHOK SETHRAMAN, BEE Accredited ENERGY AUDITOR / Coimbatore. [email protected]

& K.S.SUBRAMANIAN, Belts & Pulleys Expert / 9442543789 / Coimbatore, [email protected]