The expected lifecycle of an AC drive is long and contains diverse phases, each with different characteristics and requirements. From engineering and dimensioning for a new installation through procurement, delivery and installation to the long usage phase, all activities contribute to the value chain and product's lifecycle.
Danish engineering firm Danfoss recently held a webinar  in which various experts discussed the topic of one of Danfoss' products: the DrivePro® services, with specific application in the local food and beverage industry. Ferdie Fontuin, Danfoss Drives Sales Manager for Food and Beverage and General Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa, introduced the speakers after a short overview on Danfoss Africa.
Danfoss DrivePro® Life Cycle Services is a collection of tailor-made products designed around the customer's needs. From optimised spare part packages to condition-monitoring solutions, the customer is able to customise Danfoss products to support their business through the different stages of the Danfoss AC drive's life cycle.
The panel discussion speakers – from around the globe - were as follows:  
·        Agata Fornasari, Danfoss Global Director Food and Beverages, who gave a global point of view on condition-based monitoring and preventative maintenance;
·        Jorg Studer, Danfoss Drives Service Director, whose presentation was on the topic of DrivePro® Services for your installed base; and
·        Virgil Lupu, Danfoss Drives Product Manager, who discussed VLT condition monitoring solutions for the food and beverage industry.
DrivePro® services have been designed to maximise the benefits by improving overall efficiency and profitability, and minimise the operational costs of the Danfoss AC drive solution in any application or industry segment.

'Helping customers maximise wastage and minimise down-time': Agata Fornasari
Fornasari explained that a maintenance strategy overview typically contains the following potential techniques of maintenance:
·        Corrective: traditionally the first step, requiring an intervention when the failure happens. Fornasari noted: "It needs the right skillset and tools to fix the problem, as well as the availability of the correct spare parts at the time. It would be hoped that the expected down-time would be neither critical nor very expensive."
·        Preventative: "This technique revolves around defining a maintenance schedule based on your knowledge, experience and supplier information," she said. "The user tries to prevent failure by replacing components based on their predefined life expectation."
·        Predictive: This works on the idea of predicting the failure based on the remaining time of the asset. Fornasari added: "Predicted maintenance usually gives the remaining lifetime of the drive and also notifies you when to deviate from earlier predictions. The risk of an expected failure in this case, and therefore the risk of stopping production, is reduced and so the maintenance schedule matches the actual need of your machine, and the benefit can therefore also justify the cost."
She noted that a fourth technique is that of condition-based monitoring, which involves the selection of key parameters as indicators for developing faults when monitoring the health of equipment in service. The equipment condition typically degrades over time, with the point of functional failure being when the equipment fails to provide the intended function.

Condition-based monitoring, which relies on sensor data, is an evolution from corrective and preventative maintenance. The idea of condition-based maintenance is to detect the potential failure before the actual failure occurs. In this case, maintenance actions can be planned before functional failure, with advantages such as reduction of downtime, elimination of unexpected production stops, maintenance optimisation, reduction of spare part stock, and others.
Explained Fornasari: "By applying condition-based maintenance, you can typically save around eight to 12 percent of costs over traditional maintenance. Looking at overall maintenance costs, you could anticipate a 14 to 30 percent reduction range, while you could see a 20 to 45 percent reduction in downtime. With regards to breakdowns, you would expect a 70 to 75 percent reduction, and looking at it from another angle, a 15 to 25 percent improvement could be gained in production overall."


In addition, with particular regards to the food and beverage industry, the implementation of condition-based maintenance of the Danfoss AC drive can bring a reduction of up to 33 percent in food and beverage loss, with a 38 percent improvement in energy efficiencies.
'DrivePro® Services for your installed base': Joerg Studer
In his presentation, Studer confirmed that Danfoss Pro® Lifecycle Services will allow you to minimise the cost of downtime, optimise performance, and maximise uptime. A DrivePro® service solution can be customised according to your maintenance strategy and drivers, along a spectrum of maintenance technique according to whether degrees of a corrective, preventative or predictive strategy are preferred.

Studer explained the above slide as follows: "The needs for each customer are different and therefore so are the services required. However, the three elements are very often key trigger points. The slide is indicating different maintenance strategy due to different drivers.
"The strategy can be already adapted between two production lines in same site or two machines in same product line. Groups of drivers include: safety, health and environment, optimisation of productivity, criticality of drives, optimisation of cost, availability of personnel, and budget."
Giving an overview of DrivePro® Life Cycle Services, he clarified: "We can apply each DrivePro® service to the typical usage over the life cycle of an AC drive. These are split into four main areas, as follows: new product, warranty period, installed base life cycle and end of life. As shown in the slide (below), DrivePro® can support every aspect of our customer's journey, ensuring our commitment throughout the life of our products."

Studer clarified the above slide as follows:
"During a new product's life, we have made it easy to include services as part of our offering. We have made it simple to package these products which gives extra value to our customers. With our tailored Preventative Maintenance package, we can support your installed base every step of the way. Each module can be built into a customised Life Cycle solution ensuring prolonged life of our products and maintaining productivity.
"When it comes to end of life, Retrofit can be applied to help upgrade and replace products. These are designed to help and support customers nearing the end of the life cycle journey. Our site assessment service and all digital services can be applied at any time during the life cycle journey."
'Increase factory uptime using VLT® drives condition monitoring': Virgil Lupu
Virgil Lupu's presentation discussed how the Danfoss drives portfolio can meet food and beverage needs, with intelligent drives moving into applications for higher uptime and energy savings, with a number of different products available of increasing complexity.
For example:
·        The TFC51 cost-effective VLT® Micro Drive can be set up to perform perfectly even in complex applications
·        The VLT® Integrated Servo Drive ISD® 510 is a servo drive system that is ideal for demanding applications in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical and packaging industries.
·        The MSD 510 multi axis servo drive / DSD 510
"FC 302 VLT® AutomationDrive takes full advantage of all that the new digital age has to offer to ensure it completely fulfils the requirements of your applications and optimises your processes throughout the entire lifecycle," said Lupu.


"Condition monitoring involves giving the right information at the right time," he explained. "VLT® adjustable frequency drive condition-based monitoring (CBM) is a software function designed to monitor the change between actual and baseline values. All the data and calculations stay in the intelligent drive. Based on set thresholds, two warnings and one alarm can be triggered and sent to user interfaces. The customers decide on how to use the fault information provided by the VLT® in their maintenance system."

Conclusion:
In South Africa, BMG has been a long-standing Danfoss DrivePro® partner. BMG is the continent's largest distributor, manufacturer and service provider of the highest quality engineering consumables and components. Its products and services support the productivity and production targets of the industrial, manufacturing, mining and agricultural sectors within the 15 countries in Africa in which it operates.
Danfoss DrivePro® workshops and courses are also available – please click here for options. Alternatively, contact Lynne McCarthy should you wish to register for the next DrivePro lifecycle webinar.
DrivePro® services for Danfoss AC drives allows customers to get the most out of their systems, through services that go beyond simple troubleshooting, maintenance, repairs and replacements. They also proactively improve productivity, performance and uptime.
Danfoss Drives' comprehensive portfolio of services spans the entire life cycle of your drives. DrivePro® services are delivered by experts. They are customised to your requirements, whenever and wherever you need them.

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Our solutions are used in such areas as refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, motor control, and mobile and industrial machinery.

Our innovative engineering dates back to 1933. Today, Danfoss holds market-leading positions, serving customers in more than 100 countries. We are privately held by the founding family.
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