To keep temperature rise below the Paris Agreement goal of 2°C, the International Energy Agency predicts that mineral requirements for clean energy technologies will need to increase by six times by 2040.
Mining operations are now being asked to deliver more, while under pressure to use less (energy). To address this challenge, the industry is increasingly adopting variable frequency drive (VFD) technology to control the speed of energy-intensive rotating equipment.
This adoption is driven both by the need for flexible production rates and the significant energy savings achievable through effective VFD implementation. The energy-saving potential of VFDs varies depending on each application.
Efficiency challenges and innovations in VFDs
Although most VFDs can now achieve around 98 per cent efficiency levels, when looking at higher power applications, or multiple lower powers, the combined efficiency loss can result in significant heat generation which must be considered during design stage for sizing of external cooling systems.
For active front end/low harmonic technologies these losses can be more than doubled. To dissipate heat, traditionally external air-conditioning systems are introduced to supply sufficient cooled air to the VFD systems, which is then recycled into the room to be cooled once again. These cooling systems also add substantially to the total energy consumed, and level of investment required.
Many years ago, to combat this, Danfoss developed an innovative ‘back channel cooling’ concept for its VLT Drive series which removes up to the 90 per cent of the generated heat without the need for large external air-conditioning systems.
Now, with the introduction of iC7-Automation, the next generation of intelligent VFDs, the good news for the mining industry is that Danfoss will continue with this cooling design as part of this new series, resulting in large savings on both CAPEX and OPEX of mining processes.
Enhancing reliability
Reliability of plant will be critical to meeting the production demands of the mining industry. A loss of production through a system breakdown can cost companies enormous losses both in revenue and reputation.
With the latest VFD innovation, Condition Based Monitoring (CBM) now offers the possibility to monitor and report on the performance of external critical mine processes. Although remote monitoring via cloud connectivity is now commonly available, not all customers wish to adopt this for reasons including expense to implement, and the increasing concern of cyber-attacks.
To offer customer confidence and flexibility, Danfoss has introduced the world’s first cyber-secure VFDs with crypto chip technology and drives with EDGE computing technology.
This now gives customers freedom of choice as to whether data is gathered securely from the cloud or on a local level (EDGE) within the mine. Through continuous monitoring of critical mining processes, the VFD can now detect performance deviations and predict potential failures, before they occur, enabling proactive maintenance, minimising disruptions to mine production.
Craig Rapson
Global business development director industry – mining, minerals, cement
Danfoss Power Electronics and Drives
For more information, visit danfoss.com
