Baxters Food Group had been using a Danfoss 18.5 KW drive at its
Colchester site; however, it 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 entirely
due to water ingress in the drive.
A drive engineer from Gibbons
Engineering Group 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, the engineer liaised with the site
manager and investigated 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 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, the 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 were pre-programmed so that the
operators could adjust
the span via the ten-turn
potentiometer. The new
drive is being used to mix
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.
www.gibbonsgroup.co.uk