In January 2010, ABB received an order from Luvata Sweden AB in Finspång to upgrade its copper mill with new control and drive systems. The reason for the upgrade was to achieve more energy savings by improving the power factor. After the modernization, the mill is expected to roll copper sheets between 0.8 and 0.08 mm more efficiently with less scrap and downtime but with better quality.
ABB’s new control system has replaced the functions in the old PLC, IUC computer and analog circuits. With a new operator interface, the new control system has greatly improved the operator’s working environment. It is the first time ABB has delivered an ISU (IGBT SUPPLY UNIT) rectifier in an AC multi drive configuration that both compensates for reactive power and delivers active power to the frequency inverter drives.
With this solution, the total power from the network will be greatly reduced, and energy savings will be achieved as a result of active power compensation and common power for the drives, which work in regenerative and motoring mode. The new engineering tools for control and drive systems make it easy for the customer to fine-tune the mill in the most efficient way.