What is a Pump Inverter?

ABB Area Sales Manager, Stuart Ruskin takes a look at pump inverters and the specifically designed ABB inverter for the water industry, the ACQ580. What is a pump inverter? Put simply, it is an inverter that is controlling a pump’s motor. There are several reasons why you might want to use an inverter on your pump:

• To save energy/costs
• To prevent costly maintenance and down time
• To give you the best efficiency
• To protect your pipe work from water hammer

What Pumps can I use an Inverter on?

Inverter Drive Systems are asked on an almost daily basis what kind of pumps can I use an inverter on? Our team are highly experienced at installing and commissioning pump inverters, here are just a few of the applications we have worked with:

• Centrifugal pumps
• Borehole pumps
• Wastewater pumps
• Archimedes screws
• Circulation pumps
• Well pumps
• Vertical centrifugal pumps
• Fountain pumps
• Sump pumps
• Vacuum pumps

Main Benefits of a Pump Inverter

1. To reduce the speed of the inverter (energy & cost saving) If you can reduce the speed of the pump by 20% you can achieve up to a massive 50% ENERGY SAVING please follow this link for more information on CUBE LAW
2. You might want to slowly start the pump to reduce the wear on the impellers.
3. You can ramp the speed of the pump down which would smooth the closure of any non-return valves helping reduce maintenance (In some cases nuisance noise caused when the large heavy metal door slams shut)
4. The ABB ACQ58O inverter drive has a feature called pump-clean this can be used to do a series of reverse and forward motions before ramping up to the desired speed to clear possible blockages around the impeller.
5. If you have long pipe runs, in some cases delicate pipework (asbestos pipes etc). You might want to use the soft fill option, which is designed to reduce water hammer. This feature is built into the ABB ACQ580 inverter drive
6. In certain environments there might be regulations to protect fish, in these circumstances, we can use the pump-clean feature found on the ABB ACQ580 inverter range to start in reverse for a set period of time at a much lower speed, before going forward and resuming the normal application.
7. The ABB ACQ580 has a built-in PID controller which can be used to keep a set field variable. For example, pressure, flow, level etc. The inverter will then be used to automatically adjust the speed of the motor to keep the field variable at the desired level.

Help is at Hand

IDS are an ABB VP (Value Provider) and as such are authorised to specify, supply, install, commission, repair, service and hire ABB pump inverters.

For more specific advice about a pump inverter, give our knowledgeable and helpful engineers a call on 0115 944 1036 or email [email protected]