Siemens has recently launched two new compact solutions for the optimum and energy-efficient driving of vertical roller mills (VRM) for the cement industry. The Flender MultipleDrive offers variable-speed drive and the EMPP drive provides a compact motor-in-gear solution for modern, high-performance milling. Ali Kemal Kücükyavuz, Steffen Brun and Franz Schmeink of Siemens AG, Germany, explain the benefits.
A look at worldwide cement production trends reveals considerable growth over the years. This gives rise to a demand for even higher-performing, and naturally-economical production systems. Two new drive solutions from Germany with outputs of up to 16.5MW – that is, just under double the output of today’s normal drive solutions – are aimed at helping to achieve capacity increases in VRMs, both energy-efficiently and economically.
Even if Germany, with a cement production of around 33Mta, is not one of the world’s largest cement-producing nations, German machinery and plant construction plays a substantial role in global competition, because of its innovative solutions. What is decisive here is that cement works are always major projects, which depreciate slowly, over long periods of time, for example, 25 years. Given proper design, modern technology and consistent maintenance, large units may even have useful operating lives of more than 30 years.
There is a further important factor influencing total life-cycle costs (TCO) and supporting the demand for economical cement manufacture, namely, energy efficiency. The slightly less than five dozen cement plants in Germany on their own require an electrical energy input of about 3TWh each year. Siemens has developed two gear units and drive systems to meet both trends, namely, efficient and durable production capacities combined with modern, energy-saving technology.
