Monthly Archives: March 2017

What to do if you have an electrical control issue

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When running a business it may seem as if electric motors fail regularly and unfortunately, need replacing. However, in many situations, full pump and motor replacement can be prevented with proper care and maintenance.

While it may seem as if motor failure is very common in your business, often the real issue is a poorly suited product for a particular application or a control circuit problem. In many cases, motor failure can be an indication of more serious issues down the line.

Thankfully, with the help of an experienced technician, trouble-shooting and repairs can be easy and stress-free.

How to handle your Electrical Control Issue 

Firstly, unless you’re a fully qualified and experience repair technician, it is imperative to schedule a service appointment, if you are dealing with electrical issues affecting a pump or motor.

It is vital not to compromise the safety of you and your employees when troubleshooting electrical issues as doing so could be fatal.  If dealing with a conveyor belt, watch where you are placing your hands and be aware of any boxes or other materials that may be coming down the conveyor belt.

Listen, look & feel

Take the time to visually assess any damage to the system and be careful to feel for any catch points that could prevent the conveyor belt from working properly. If there are any abnormal sounds coming from the system be sure to take note and give this information to the repair technician, especially if the noise is intermittent. When possible, it may be necessary to shut down all power to the system to prevent further problems.

Leave the hard work to the professionals 

Your system may be in need of a few minor repairs, or you may require a brand new motor and controls to be installed – how are you to know?

We can provide you with a preventative maintenance plan tailored to the equipment located on your premises.

Have a look at our service agreement packages, or get in touch should you require any additional information.

Why you might need to repair or replace your electrical control panel

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Electrical control

Industrial electrical control panels fall under two categories:

  1. Units that contain components that control major industrial production systems, such as presses, cranes, conveyors and refrigeration units or
  2. Units that contain components that control environmental systems, such as lighting, HVAC and pumps

When power or control components, such as motor controllers, wires, relays and switches fail to work properly, production immediately slows or comes to a halt, resulting in lost revenue and great on-site emergency repair call costs.
Therefore, it’s critical that you hire technically trained personnel to perform regular preventative inspections and repair any equipment if the following conditions exist in your factory.

Precursor Events

Power surges, roof leaks and floods are all reasons to have your equipment inspected.
Some factory employees fail to seek assistance when they notice warning signs, such as an unusually warm enclosure, low performance, metal corrosion, component wear, strange smells or noises, even though these warnings often occur before electrocution and fire events. Causes of some signs vary, for example, defective and worn wire insulation and current leaks can cause performance problems and strange odours.

Disorganised Units

Many factories have custom, D-I-Y patched and junction box control panels designed to fit their unique industry, product and/or environment needs. These units usually have messy and overcrowded interiors that create unnecessary repair and safety problems and allow noise interference. Users and technicians also often find it difficult to determine the purpose of components in disorganised units.

Non-Compliance Issues

Many older and customised control panels fail to meet National Electric Code requirements. As a result, they also fail to meet some of the National Fire codes. Obviously, older units with worn and/or damaged parts are fire hazards. Disorganised units can also fail to provide enough required space. Many units simply fail to provide appropriate printed markings, such as part labels and system diagrams.
In this case it is better to replace your control panel.

Bad Location

Badly located panels can also make servicing more costly, and if located in a damaging or corrosive environment, shorten the working life of the panel.

World Water Day

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As we all know, water is a limited resource for which global demand is growing. We need to reduce and reuse wastewater. By exploiting this valuable resource, we can make the water cycle work better for every living thing.

Why is wastewater an enormous opportunity to achieve sustainability?

Most of the wastewater we produce returns directly to the ecosystem without being treated or reused. The opportunities from exploiting wastewater as a resource are enormous. Safely managed wastewater is an affordable and sustainable source of water, energy and nutrients.

In households, farms or factories, the principle is the same: If we all stop putting rubbish, oils and chemicals down the drain, fewer pollutants will enter the system, helping protect the environment and our water resources.

Wastewater management is a crucial part of the water cycle

Freshwater is the single most important natural resource on the planet, and it’s finite and increasingly scarce. It makes little sense to use drinking water for things like municipal washing, crop irrigation or industrial cooling. We need to treat and re-use more wastewater, at the same time as we reduce the quantity and pollution load of wastewater we produce.

The health and productivity of a nation depends on access to safe water and sanitation. In India alone, a staggering 63 million people in rural areas still live without access to safe drinking water. With increased awareness to improve wastewater management, we could reduce environmental pollution and reap the benefits of exploiting this overlooked resource.

Wastewater affects our health

Public health depends on access to safe water and sanitation. Polluting our water resources and environment with untreated wastewater puts people’s lives at risk, especially in the poorest communities. By 2030, global demand for water is expected to grow by 50%. At the same time, the quantity of wastewater is increasing, due to population growth, accelerated urbanisation and economic development.

What can YOU do to make a difference?

Industrial pumps are required for a vast range of different waste water applications. Often waste needs to be moved uphill or over long distances, pumps are required to push it through sewers and drainage systems rather than relying on gravity.

Meet the water challenge whilst meeting the energy challenge also…

 

 

Virtually any pump solution can benefit from an energy check/pump audit.

So what are you waiting for? Take action today, and contribute to the Water & Energy Challenge.

Optimisation

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Evaluating your pump system’s energy usage is extremely beneficial as you could potentially reduce consumption and save money

Over a pump’s lifecycle, the purchase price makes up only 5% of the costs. Energy costs account for a huge 85%. The likelihood is that you don’t know whether you pump system is optimised efficiently, or even what components need changing to enable optimisation, which could be costing you huge sums of money and reducing reliability in your system.
Pump systems represent one of the best ways to reduce overall plant operating costs.

We can carry out checks on your system to give you an overview of life cycle costs and inform which pumps may benefit from replacement.

Get in touch if you would like to know more about our energy checks & how you can start making savings.

The New 5th Generation Hydrovar

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Highly efficient variable speed drive reduces energy consumption

Xylem, a global water technology leader, has debuted the 5th generation HYDROVAR, an intelligent control system that accurately adapts to system demands, helping end-users realise cost and energy savings while achieving optimum system performance. The new drive and motor control can reduce energy consumption of a pump by as much as 70 per cent.

Capable of running systems with up to eight pumps, the 5th generation HYDROVAR has multimaster functionality, enabling each individual pump to take control if one or more units or sensors are not active. This continuous booster system operation ensures reliable water pressure across various residential, industrial and commercial applications.

Easy installation and commissioning

The 5th generation HYDROVAR is backward compatible to the current Generation 4 HYDROVAR product and is designed to accommodate both new and retrofit installations. A newly added wiring harness includes a separated wiring chamber with a dedicated cover that provides safe and easy access to the wiring, while protecting the unit’s electronic components. The clip-and-go mounting system further simplifies the direct fitting process.

Set-up and commissioning is also fast and simple. The start-up menu guides users through every step of HYDROVAR’s commissioning process, while the larger LCD display shows an expanded range of system parameters for standard motors. This functionality enables installers to manage a wider range of data, ensuring accurate programming at set-up.

The 5th generation HYDROVAR comes standard with BACnet and Modbus capability for seamless Building Management System (BMS) integration. Optional Wi-Fi for remote connection to the unit via any mobile device, laptop or PC is also available.

Extended system lifecycle, efficient operation and simple retrofitting

Wear and tear caused by standard operation is minimised due to innovative features, including advanced motor control software that extends the life of the equipment by reducing heat. The HYDROVAR also has an embedded Current Total Harmonic Distortion (THDi) filter that lengthens overall life of the equipment connected to the same grid and preventing cables from overheating without the need for reactor filters.

Using HYDROVAR with an existing pump can lead to significant energy savings, especially when operating at partial loads. It can be efficiently retrofitted to any standard asynchronous pump motor suitable for variable speed operation. HYDROVAR’s direct mounting method does not require a special adaptor, and is available for power ranges from 0.55 to 22 kW, making the retrofit process efficient, easy and cost-effective.

In many cases, pump systems are oversized for the application and use more energy than needed for typical operation. The 5th generation HYDROVAR varies motor speed to match system demands, keeping energy and operational costs low. Additionally, the soft start-and-stop functionality adapts pressure according to system requirements, dramatically extending equipment life.

HYDROVAR’s modular design enables a customised fit for any configuration of pumps, and can be motor or wall-mounted for use with any manufacturer’s pump. Configuration options include a range of a single pump to as many as eight pumps to meet any application requirements.

Introduced in 1995, the HYDROVAR variable speed drive has been continually updated, confirming its legacy as the industry’s choice for optimising fixed speed pump efficiency.

If you have any queries regarding the 5th generation HYDROVAR, or wish to order, call our Technical sales team 01442 860000

Dealing with excess surface water

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Cougar Engineers were recently required to enable drainage of excess surface water in a mount field mine for one of our clients. The field engineers drilled two bore holes, one at 100m, and the other 35m. We then supplied and installed two borehole pumps and ancillaries to excavate this water.

The mine has a limit as to how much water it can discharge so we needed to provide a solution to overcome this issue. We fitted inverter drives which run from flow meter readings for the purpose of setting the performance of the pump sets.

The pumps will now pump at a set rate automatically, allowing the inconvenient excess surface water to successfully be drained.

       

Do you require a tailored solution or pump installation?

If so give our technical sales team a call on + 44 (0) 1442 860000