Checking the aeraulic performance of fans, which tend to reduce over time, can result in important power consumption savings and achieve optimal settings for all fans in operation at cement plants. Compagnie Belge de Ventilateurs (CBV) explains how it conducts these assessments and highlights the savings achieved at CBR’s Lixhe cement plant in Belgium.
Confronted with ever-increasing energy costs, CBV customers are primarily concerned with reducing fan power consumption which can account for around 25-30 per cent of a cement plant’s total energy requirements. Manufacturers want fans to reach desired airflows while resisting the fluids passing inside for as long as possible. It is therefore important that these fans achieve their required performance while minimising energy consumption.
Indeed, it appears that the operating point of a fan changes between its design and a few years after it has been in operation because the aeraulic data (mainly pressure) alters. Often the inlet and the outlet ducts are modified over the years to increase production capacity without taking into account newly- generated pressure losses. This means that the the fan is no longer operating at optimum efficiency levels which results primarily in unfulfilled airflow and over-consumption of power.
