Global stainless steel manufacturer Outokumpu has helped safeguard production at its Degerfors mill in Sweden with help from a replica motor produced by ABB Service.
The Outokumpu Stainless plant in Degerfors produces custom products in coarse, special stainless steel. Its rolling mill was previously powered by a 50-ton ASEA synchronous motor produced in 1959.
Concerned about the potential three to six month waiting time for repairs should the motor breakdown, the company commissioned ABB Service in the town of Storvik to create a replica.
“Should the worst happen with our current motor breaking down then the whole rolling mill would come to a complete standstill,” explains Peter Svedrin, the Outokumpu Stainless project manager.
The new 8-pole motor was installed in the summer of 2012 and has an output of 8500 kilowatts, running at 750 RPM and a rating of 10 kilovolts/750 amperes. It is magnetized with slip rings and brushes, and weighs a total of 50 tons, of which the rotor weighs 25 tons and the stator 25 tons.
By installing a replica, Outokumpu Stainless avoided potential complications stemming from site modifications and changing the drives and control system.
ABB technical sales representative Kent Erikson explains ABB’s replica motors combine both new and old technologies. “Our replicas work electrically and mechanically in exactly the same way as their predecessors,” he says. “Yet at the same time, where appropriate, some of the materials and manufacturing methods are updated. Blending the old with cutting-edge technology results in a replica motor that has proven to be a most effective preventative answer to those undesirable production stoppages.”