Green back-up plan: Active Power UPS protects Alcan Packaging from costly downtime
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 12/5/2007 9:38:00 AM
Electrical power disturbances costs U.S. manufacturing companies hundreds of millions of dollars annually in lost productivity. Not only do these businesses face costly downtime, but they also must incur unplanned expenses to reset, service, and sometimes even repair equipment damaged by a critical process interruption.
One such manufacturing company, Alcan Packaging, is using Active Power’s flywheel-based uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system to protect its production process against electrical disturbances.
Active Power, a manufacturer of critical power systems, has deployed a one megawatt CleanSource UPS system at Alcan’s Tulsa, Okla.-based operation. The system protects Alcan’s plastic bag manufacturing process and extrusion lines from power disturbances.
“We produce approximately one million plastic bags a week using extremely sensitive manufacturing equipment,” says Frank Genay, project engineer at Alcan Packaging. “Power sags, fluctuations, and outages can wreak havoc on our extrusion lines, bringing them to a halt. In 2006, the facility experienced approximately 30 micro outages, lasting only a few seconds; however, a majority of these caused our extrusion lines to go completely off-line. Within the first 30 days of deploying CleanSource, the system recorded approximately 36 events, but with no interruption to the lines. We haven’t needed to replace any of our variable frequency drives. The system is a virtual workhorse, taking hit after hit while providing seamless and continuous power.”
The Active Power system is uniquely suited for industrial applications. The rugged system can be placed right into the manufacturing environment as it operates at a wide range of ambient temperatures. CleanSource UPS also operates at up to 98-percent efficiency, reducing power losses and delivering savings to the operator’s bottom line. In fact, Active Power reportedly saved customers more than $40 million in energy costs due to this extremely high operating efficiency. The company has shipped more than 1,700 flywheels in systems that have generated more than 37 million of hours of run time in the field.
“Active Power’s system is extremely power dense, consuming less than half the space of a conventional battery-based UPS system,” says Gary Rackow, a company VP for Active Power. “Because the CleanSource system is so compact, Alcan dedicates more space to revenue generating manufacturing equipment. This benefit, along with the system’s high efficiency rating and economically green aspect, make it an attractive option for critical manufacturing processes where downtime is not an option.”
