Raise your hand if you like saving money.
We’ll assume your hand is raised and remind you that cutting your electricity usage saves money. And an easy way to use less electricity is to optimize the performance of the belts driving your machines. When those belts are tensioned properly, you can enjoy significant energy savings, and that will leave a lot more money for company pizza parties.
Here’s an example from Continental:
In the cement industry, V-belts drive machines that commonly operate at 75 kW (~100HP). If that type of machine runs ’round the clock every day, it will use 657.000 kWh of electricity per year.
Assuming drive system friction results in a natural energy loss of 5 percent, that drive will transmit a total of 624.150 kWh to the driven part. But slippage between an improperly tensioned belt and a pulley can require an 8.5 percent increase in electricity to operate the machine – an additional 53.000 kWh annually.
That’s the same amount of energy typically used by 32 people in a year; roughly the energy consumption of a medium-sized apartment building – all wasted by a single set of V-belts!
The good news is that the first of many pizza parties is just around the corner, thanks to Continental’s Make Power Smart app.
The Make Power Smart app helps you optimize your energy and MRO investments by making it easy to evaluate drives, install belts properly and reach out for assistance.
The app can calculate the target belt tension, measure key dimensional figures of the belt drive and determine the misalignment between two pulleys. Ideally, you’d be able to order your pizza right from the app, too, but that’ll have to wait until version 4.0.
The Make Power Smart app is available from the App Store and Google Play.
Contact your Binkelman rep today for help in analyzing current or new drives, and we’ll provide recommendations for that drive and its application.