Energy efficiency: How drive technology helps to reduce energy costs

For example, NORD delivers up to 10,000 drive systems per project for varying intralogistics and baggage handling systems. Geared motors for the lower power range of up to 5.5 kW do not have a particularly high energy consumption themselves and the accumulating acquisition costs are also on a moderate level. However, if you consider the drives’ operating hours as well as the accumulating life cycle costs, high energy and business saving potentials present themselves. Such a drive running in intralogistics systems is usually in operations consisting of one to three shifts. If you take an installation performance of approx. 0.75 kW as a basis, then a single drive system roughly represents the electrical energy needs of a single-family home. The electricity consumption for the conveyor technology of a complete intralogistics or baggage handling system thus quickly reaches the dimension of a whole company. Considering we are desperately looking for solutions to reduce CO₂ emission, the following becomes clear: We need to act. Making use of this savings potential is sensible both in terms of climate policy and business management.

Recognising cost drivers and acting on it

The visible costs, that is the investment costs of a drive system, only amount to 15 percent of the life cycle costs. 85 percent of costs are incurred during the later operation: Energy costs, administrative costs, service and maintenance costs, training and documentation, personnel costs, spare part stocking as well as failures and downtimes. In times of climate change, the sustainability of the overall project is an important aspect of the public image. Acting in a sustainable manner will always have a positive impact on life cycle costs in times of rising prices for raw material and energy. What can operators of an intralogistics system do? For new systems, they should consider aspects like sustainability and life cycle costs accordingly in the tender criteria. For existing systems, an energy audit is recommended, which will show starting points for specific optimisations. The best results in drive design for the operator are made possible only by an intensive examination of the project and its requirements as well as a careful consideration of all economic aspects. NORD application engineers therefore support their customers with comprehensive analysis and consulting services right from the planning stage.

Efficiency and costs balanced perfectly

The new IE5+ motor generation from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS has been designed with a focus on use in the intralogistics sector. The especially compact and energy-efficient synchronous motors feature a high efficiency over a wide torque range and thus also optimum energy consumption performance in partial load and partial speed ranges. A comparison of a conventional IE3 asynchronous motor (0.75 kW, 83% motor efficiency, bevel gear unit) with a corresponding IE5+ synchronous motor (0.75 kW, 93% motor efficiency, bevel gear unit) show energy savings of about 11% with 16 operating hours per day (4000 p.a.) and a CO₂ emission factor of 366 g/kWh. This corresponds to 400  kWh and 0.15  t  CO₂ p.a.

Due to an efficient use of materials and a compact size, the IE5+ synchronous motor has a weight advantage of more than 50% compared to IE3 asynchronous motors within the same power range. NORD DRIVESYSTEMS delivers IE5+ synchronous motors with a motor efficiency of up to 95% for the power range of 0.35 to 4.0 kW and in TENV as well as TEFC designs.

The next step: Two become one

The fewer interfaces, the higher the system efficiency. It is for this reason that NORD DRIVESYSTEMS now has introduced a revolutionary drive motor in hygienic wash-down design in the form of the DuoDrive, where the IE5+ synchronous motor and the single-stage helical gear unit are installed in one single housing. As a system, the very compact DuoDrive concept achieves a significantly higher energy efficiency than the already described drive systems with IE5+ synchronous motor and bevel gear unit. At up to 92%, DuoDrive currently offers the highest system efficiency on the market in this power class, and achieves very high efficiency in the partial load range.