Ensure Availability, Cost Efficiency and Positive Climate Impact with Modernized Drives
Modernization allows older drives to achieve all the benefits of modern technology – lower harmonics, and higher serviceability and uptime.
According to a recent ABB survey, unplanned downtime can cost typical industrial businesses up to $125,000 per hour. The modernization and the revitalization of existing equipment offers an alternative solution to full, and costly, end-of-life system replacement.
Modernization in action
Take the example of a variable-speed drive – which controls the speed and torque of a motor to match the exact demands of the task. With modernization, you can seamlessly transition to the latest technology, while keeping the drive’s cabinet and cabling, and replacing only what is needed. This approach can be carried out with minimum interruption to normal operations, often during a scheduled maintenance period.
Modernization allows older drives to achieve all the benefits of modern technology – lower harmonics, and higher serviceability and uptime. Even obsolete drive equipment can be modernized, restoring reliability and potentially enhancing performance. This solution minimizes the total investment required, while extending the drive’s life by 10-15 years.
Modernization projects present a circular alternative to the linear “take-make-waste” economy.
Moreover, replacing only necessary components reduces waste and the emissions associated with transporting and packaging the other components. This means that modernizing a drive can avoid up to 55% of carbon emissions compared to a full replacement.
The case of Jämtkraft
Jämtkraft, the Swedish utility company, is a good example. By modernizing nine of its existing drives to bring them into the active phase of their life cycle, it avoided 10 tons of CO2 emissions. This is equal to the emissions of driving a gasoline-powered car for five years or 57,000 kilometers. Since existing cabinets were used, no substantial modifications were needed to the previous infrastructure, reducing the overall expenditure for the project.
Drive modernization boosts paper mill’s uptime
Mondi SCP, the largest wood processor and the largest producer of pulp and paper in Slovakia, modernized its aging drive units with a retrofit solution.
First, experts selected the best timing for the modernization, based on the lifecycle phase of the existing drives. The older drives were then modernized to newer technology and there was no need to replace the existing infrastructure, including cabinets, cabling, electrical machinery, and automation systems. This reduced the overall investment needed for the project.
By aligning modernization services with routine maintenance schedules, the project was completed within a week and came with minimal disruption to regular operations.
A perfect alternative to the “take-make-waste” economy
The linear economy – where we take resources, make products, and then create waste when we discard them – harms the environment. It relentlessly drives global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss.
Modernization projects present a circular alternative to this linear “take-make-waste” economy. They promote circularity as they focus on minimizing waste, optimizing resource use, and reducing the environmental impact of production and consumption. This is because modernization solutions promote the reuse of materials that would otherwise contribute to landfills. In this way, they aim to create a closed-loop system where products, materials, and resources are used, refurbished, manufactured, and recycled throughout their lifecycle.
Switching from linear to circular economy
This is why products must be designed with circularity in mind. Efforts need to be focused on designing equipment and systems in a way that enables proactive services, such as modernization, to be carried out. This includes creating products that are durable, repairable, and made with materials that can be easily recycled.
Similarly, businesses have a responsibility to purchase circular products and services to help invigorate the circular economy. This also benefits businesses' operations – as shown here, proactive services act as an alternative to scrapping products altogether, enabling businesses to avoid CO2 emissions, downtime, and waste.
The Case for Industrial Energy Efficiency
A new report from the Energy Efficiency Movement (EEM) shows how companies can take immediate action as industry faces an unprecedented challenge to meet global carbon emission targets and meet growing demand. EEM is a global forum, founded by ABB, which now includes more than 400 organisations and shares ideas, best practices and commitments to create a more energy-efficient world.
The Case for Industrial Energy Efficiency, published in November last year, aims to provide business leaders with a key insight into 10 advanced technology-based measures that have a significant impact on costs and emissions and can be implemented quickly without complex or expensive projects.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), doubling efficiency by 2030 could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by almost a third from current levels.1 For industry, this is a huge opportunity. The Energy Efficiency Movement estimates that if the 10 simple measures outlined in this guide were applied across all industries, they could save 1.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year by 2024 and 4 gigatonnes by 2030.
Oswald Deuchar,
Global Head of Modernization Services at ABB Motion Services, discusses how modernizing equipment as it reaches the end of its life can prevent costly unplanned downtime and reduce waste.
Images: ABB
