Berger Polska is part of the German Berger Group, which has been supplying customers around the world with precision components and ready-to-assemble assemblies for more than 65 years with currently 2,400 employees in 11 plants. Their parts are manufactured in Germany, Poland, USA, Canada and China and are used in a wide range of cars, trucks, electrical appliances and power tools worldwide.
A team consisting of Energy Scouts Krzysztof Chromczak, Michał Skornia, Mateusz Czerniak and Dawid Mrozek developed a modification for a lathe. The problem was the high pressure difference between the pump and the machine. A high-pressure pump provides the processing oil needed in the turning process at very high pressure, but a substantial amount of it was lost by the time it reached the machine. The goal was to reduce the pressure drop between the high-pressure pump and the machine.
After analyzing the prevailing situation in the plant, the team found that the high pressure drop was causing excessive power consumption by the pump motor. This was due to the poor choice of the diameter of the processing oil supply line to the machine. The changes made were to select the correct diameter for the line supplying processing oil to the machine and to use a manifold to evenly distribute the processing oil to the end users.
During the implementation of the project, the team measured the power consumption of the pump motor and the pressure it generates in the machine. The best result was the reduction of the pressure drop from the original 40 bar to 5 bar. This reduced the pump’s power consumption by about 42%.
The retrofit did not require any major investment. Conversion measures were prepared for a total of 16 machines. The team estimates the annual electricity savings at 398,944 kWh. This corresponds to a significant reduction in the CO2 footprint of 278 t CO2 per year.
Following the satisfactory results, the team plans to apply the solution to other machines of a similar type.
The jury of the Energy Scout year of 2022 awarded second place to the A. Berger Polska team for the significant reduction in energy consumption thanks to cost-effective optimization.
Process optimization
- Industry sector: supplier of automotive industry
- Energy source: electrical energy
- Energy saving potential: 398 MWh/year
- Savings potential CO2: 278 t CO2/year
- Potential cost reduction: 86,727 €/year
- Investment costs: 9,800 €
- Payback period: 0.11 years
- Company:
Berger Polska Sp. z o.o.
ul. Przyjazni 47a
47-225 Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Poland
https://www.aberger.de/en/
