Rockwell Automation, Insyght Systems & the city of Hamilton grab the win
The 2011 Success Story of the Year competition has been a huge...success. Thanks so much to all the organizations that entered the contest and to our wonderful editorial advisory board members for their review of the entries and valuable feedback.
Congratulations to first place winners Rockwell Auto-mation, Insyght Systems and the city of Hamilton. Their project improved the efficiency of the largest water pumping station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, which serves more than 500,000 people. Following a complete energy analysis, optimized flow set points and new, energy efficient equipment provided major improvements, reducing energy costs by 30 percent per year, with an annual savings of more than $500,000.
Finalist Eaton Corporation helped West View Water Authority—a Pittsburgh-area water utility—save $1,000 per day by using variable frequency drives.
Hydro, Inc., another finalist, helped improved its aftermarket services with its 5,000-horsepower testing facility.
The honorable mentions are EagleBurgmann, for solving the sealing issues for a major U.S. chemical company. Best PumpWorks' team was honored for its redesign of an impeller to improve the performance of a cooling water pump. Hitachi received an honorable mention for improving the performance of packaged pump supplier QuantumFlow's centrifugal pumps.
Congratulations to our winner, finalists, and honorable mentions!
Rockwell Automation & Insyght Systems Improve the Efficiency of the Hamilton Water Pumping Station
2011 Winner
Striving for energy efficient pump function is no longer optional. With strict demands for energy efficient operation—including the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which went into effect in December 2010—and rising energy costs, organizations have no choice. When a city water utility needed to replace aging equipment, it wanted to do more than find adequate replacements "Our objective was to replace aging assets and improve pumping efficiency while taking advantage of energy incentives to lower our return on investment as much as possible. We are extremely happy with the results that Rockwell and Insyght brought to this project" said Dan Chauvin, Director Water and Wastewater Engineering.
The Problem
A large water pumping station servicing Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, which has a population of more than 500,000 people, needed to replace the motors and switchgear at its facility. Each was reaching the end of its asset life. The connected load was more than 10,000 horsepower and a mix of 13.8 kV and 2.4 kV.
The operators did not have quantitative data, but felt that the station was operating at low energy efficiency. Rockwell and Insyght's assessment determined that the city was paying more money per year on energy than necessary. This project was also given priority status, because the city received Provincial and Federal Infrastructure Stimulus Funding (ISF) that Canada, similar to the U.S., had launched to generate economic activity.
An energy analysis model, considering all variables, was developed to determine how to design a station that operated with high energy efficiency over a broad range of discharge flows and pressures. The following data tools were developed and used:
- A station system discharge curve that indicated the discharge flow versus pressure for the normal and abnormal operating ranges. Actually, multiple curves existed, depending upon what downstream pumps were running. This was also taken into consideration. Five years of SCADA operational data were used to create a "real life" curve versus theory.
- Real pump curves for all six existing pumps, of difference sizes, using the five years of SCADA data. This provided quantitative data showing that the pump impellers had been trimmed many years ago, which no one knew for sure, and revealing that the pump efficiency was less than 65 percent.
- A review of water plant flows to determine what low, medium and high flows allow the entire plant to operate at high efficiency. These three values were then used to select new, high-efficiency pumps.
The Solution
- The solution had to address the following areas for optimization:
- How to run the water plant and the downstream pump station at optimum efficiency
- How to select the best combination of pumps to meet the pumping needs
- What new voltage and motors would be most efficient
- How many and what size VFDs could reduce energy costs
For each, an analysis of the problem was reviewed and the costs/benefits for each area were established. Regarding the plant operation, three key flows were identified that could provide a high plant operating performance and energy efficiency. This established the pumping target values of 29,400 gallons per minute (gpm), 40,380 gpm, and 66,080 gpm.
For the pump options, a computer model was developed for a six pump station model. This included:
- The target flow
- Forecasted discharge pressure
- Pump efficiency for each pump under those conditions
- Cost of energy during different times of the day
- Total energy used in a year
- Forecasted annual total cost of pumping
Mark Robertson, President of Insyght Systems explained that "by analyzing the pump curves for the different pump sizes, in combination with VFD configurations, the decision was made that the optimum solution was to replace the various sized pumps with six identical pumps and four VFDs, constructed in a split electrical bus that enables half the station to stay in operation while the other half is down for maintenance."
This team effort was lead by the consulting engineering firm, Insyght Systems, with solid technical support from Rockwell Automation and the pump manufacturers. Insyght System's six-pump station energy model was developed based on a single pump program originally developed by Rockwell Automation.
The Results
The new mechanical arrangement is forecasted to reduce the energy costs by 30 percent per year, for an annual energy cost savings of over $500,000. In addition to these energy cost savings, Hamilton's energy group also obtained funding of over $2 million from energy savings grant programs that were over and above the stimulus money assigned to the project, resulting in an excellent return on investment.
Individuals involved in the program: From Rockwell Automation: Kevin Moran, Steve Batson and John Kwarta; From Insyght Systems: Mark Robertson and Sanjay Sawhney
Eaton Corporation Helps West View Water Authority Improve Efficiency and Protect Assets
2011 Finalist
West View Water Authority—a Pittsburgh-area water utility—was using traditional motor starters to control two 2,000-horsepower pumps to transfer water from a reservoir to the treatment facility. This system had to run continuously—regardless of the actual system demand. With the conventional motor starters, the pumps operated at full speed at all times, causing significant mechanical stress, frequent water main breaks and considerable maintenance expense. Because the motors were started across the line, the massive inrush of current caused high stress on the system and generated enough heat to prematurely age the rotors. Beyond that, the utility was charging for the peak demand, the 1,400-amp draw when the motors were started, which resulted in costly energy bills.
West View did not need to run the motors all the time. Instead, it was looking for a solution that would help run the motors only when the water tank needed to be filled. Specifically, the team sought an adjustable frequency drive solution to reduce wear and tear on motor and pump assets and generate considerable energy (and cost) savings. Additionally, they wanted a supplier that could quickly upgrade the motor control center and minimize installation costs. The West View team chose Eaton for its medium-voltage drive needs and service requirements.
Today, the West View water treatment plant, with Eaton's adjustable frequency drive solution, is a highly efficient operation. The transfer pumps are now run continuously at optimal speeds, using only the power needed. Furthermore, the drives protect key process equipment by reducing the wear and tear on system pumps and motors.
"The drives allow us to operate 24 hours a day. When they are online, we have less main breaks due to trauma placed on the system and the stopping and starting of the pumps," said Joseph Dinkel, the executive director of operations at the West View Water Authority. "With the new system, there are no inrush problems. Ultimately, it will produce the exact amount of water that we want – with no wasted energy."
The adjustable frequency drives are generating over $30,000 per month in energy savings.
"The first month the system was online, we documented that we were saving $1,000 a day," said Dinkel.
Individuals involved in the program: Harry Broussard, Thomas Farr, Dick Schnupp and Chris Campbell—all from Eaton Corporation
Hydro, Inc., Addresses Unavailable Testing Facilities
2011 Finalist
Pump users across many industries recognize that testing pumps is important and that service providers need to dedicate enhanced testing capabilities to the aftermarket and also provide faster delivery times. As one rotating equipment engineer for a refinery stated, "There is definitely a demand for aftermarket testing of pumps because it provides an unbiased assessment of the equipment being tested from both a hydraulic and a mechanical perspective."
To address this problem, Hydro built a 5000-horsepower test lab dedicated to the pump aftermarket which is capable of testing horizontal, vertical and submersible pumps. Hydro's Test Lab was built with total automation in mind and configured to support pump end users. It uses the latest technology for data collection and data acquisition, and tests can be performed at the request of the pump user.
Designing and building the test lab was the culmination of a 16-month effort to provide improved testing services to the pump aftermarket. So far, several pumps that operate in nuclear applications have been tested along with a wide range of vertical pumps, pumps in water injection application for several customers including refineries, pipelines, nuclear power plants and steel mills.
Individuals involved in the program: Jeff Johnson, Mike Stategos, Dibu Chowdhury, Bill Gottschalk and Bill Beekman—all from Hydro, Inc.
Best PumpWorks Improves Cooling Water Pump Performance
2011 Honorable Mention
Best PumpWorks used traditional design coupled with advanced simulation design tools and virtual testing to redesign an impeller in an existing housing to change the performance characteristics to enable evaluation of a system. Several design concepts were evaluated with the aid of the simulation tools.
The iterative simulation process enabled the optimization of the final design, which was subsequently tested and shown to perform as predicted. The unit is now installed and being used to evaluate the system behavior.
The design engineers at Best PumpWorks designed an impeller that met the customer's requirements using CFturbo and PumpLinx in less time and at lower cost than would have been possible otherwise. The simulation results allowed for the evaluation of different prototypes and provided head, efficiency and horsepower predictions that were very close to the subsequent test data. The design theory and correlations, coupled with the accurate predictions and flow visualization enabled the Best PumpWorks engineers to use the analysis as a predictive tool and as a "thinking" tool to solve the problem and deliver a quality product to the customer.
This was a team effort lead by Best PumpWorks, with the support of software (CFturbo and PumpLinx) and respective engineers from CFturbo and Simerics Inc.
Individuals involved in the program: George Maddox (Best PumpWorks), Sam Lowry and Zhemin Wu from Simerics, Dr. Gero Kreuzfeld and Ralph Peter Müller from CFturbo
EagleBurgmann's Seal Provides Leak-Free Service for Problematic Mixer
2011 Honorable Mention
A major U.S. chemical company in Michigan had seal life issues on a De Dietrich 62 Series Drive mixer, experiencing an average run-time of 6 months. EagleBurgmann performed a seal failure analysis on the existing seal to determine the root cause of the seal failure and found issues associated with shaft run-out.
In the process, heavy solids were in the tank. One theory was that the solids were causing shaft displacement to overload the thrust bearing in the drive. Because the existing seal was so large, there was no space to indicate the shaft and determine the type and extent of the shaft run-out. Also, the seal pot for the API Plan 53 system was placed in an awkward position for refill, which could cause potential issues with overfilling.
The final solution was to build a robust seal that could handle run-out and the heavy solids. The design included a radial bearing to help keep the seal steady and shrink-fit carbon technology. A Hand Refill Unit was installed to aid in refilling the seal pot and to help prevent over filling.
The seal was installed on December 14, 2009 and has been running ever since with no signs of leakage or failure.
Individuals involved in the program: Chuck Kauppila and Angelo Ralle, EagleBurgmann
Hitachi America, Ltd., Allows VFD to Prevent Stall
2011 Honorable Mention
Packaged pump supplier, QuantumFlo is involved in the design and application of pumps for the plumbing, HVAC, municipal, irrigation and industrial markets. Its problem was related to centrifugal pumps, which generally have flat curves and low shutoff heads. These characteristics tend to cause many variable speed drives to "stall" at a specific speed. If the control system is designed around a minimum speed value to cycle pumps off, then the pumps can remain in this stall condition indefinitely.
To determine the solution, a Hitachi representative, Hitachi Engineers and QuantumFlo worked together to simulate the condition in QuantumFlo's pump test laboratory. In addition, they devised a method to eliminate this problem by installing Hitachi's new IPU-PSM Sleep Card and implementing some unique, yet simple, algorithms in the card. This allowed the recognition of the impending "stall" condition. By this implementation it reduced the drive speed as the demand was reduced thereby eliminating the potential for pump stall and eventual over-heating and/or failure.
The end result of this Hitachi/QuantumFlo team effort is a product that exceeds the performance of other variable speed drives. This outcome was achieved with the IPU-PSM intelligent system card.
Individuals involved in the program: Ricardo Carreras (Panamtech), Paul Curtis (Hitachi America, Ltd.) and David Carrier (QuantumFlo)
Pumps & Systems, July 2011