The challenge
The manufacturer used as an example in this study faced occasional service outages and service disruptions — leading to reduced production. To prevent further costs and disruption during this extended maintenance time, their engineers identified a need for a remote storage tank for process fluid storage.
However, while this remote storage tank delayed a full production line shutdown, their team now needed to make sure their system could maintain maximum flow while transporting fluid to and from the added tank. This meant analyzing their system as a whole to understand current performance and assessing potential upgrades that could help them reach their goal.
The solution
Using a digital twin system, specifically PIPE-FLO from Revalize, our team ran a series of model scenarios to determine what changes could be made to improve the total weighted efficiency (TWE) and energy costs of the example manufacturer’s system. These scenarios used the same variables and evaluated both existing and new conditions.
From there we performed the following actions:
- Measured performance using four manufacturing conditions: turn-down production, normal production, future production, and extended maintenance.
- Created a digital twin of the existing system.
- Ran scenarios that measured the impact of updates to the system — as well as a baseline test.
These scenarios tested the introduction of a new motor with variable frequency drive, a new stock pump, a new booster pump, and a new variable speed pump with a booster pump to see which would produce the best results.
The results
After running a series of tests, we made the following discoveries:
- The variable speed pump with booster pump produced the best results in both efficiency and cost.
- This option used the least amount of energy at 1300 MWh, costing $129,995 in total energy cost.
- It was also the most efficient out of the four scenarios at 74% TWE.
After considering this result and the results of the other scenarios, the customer project team chose to install a new motor with variable frequency onto the existing baseline system. This scenario met all requirements while having the lowest anticipated capital costs for components, installation, and downtime.