Experimental Flow Facility as a Didactic Tool for Energy Saving Teaching

René Tolentino Eslava, José Ángel Mejía Domínguez, and Pedro Francisco Huerta González

Instituto Politécnico Nacional, ESIME Zacatenco, Departamento de Ingeniería en Control y Automatización, México

Abstract: The use of a didactic installation for laboratory practices of instrumentation and process control of the Engineering course in Control and Automation of the ESIME Zacatenco, to determine the energy saving through flow regulation using a valve and an AC Drives is presented. The installation is integrated of a centrifugal fan of radial blades driven with an electric motor controlled by an AC Drives (variable speed) and a ball valve (constant speed) for the regulation of flow. The power consumed by the electric motor was characterized by regulating the flow with the valve and the variable frequency drive, obtaining that for 60% of the flow, the power consumed with the constant speed was 0.54 kW and 0.34 kW for the variable speed. The above generates a saving of energy 0.20 kWh considering one hour of operation of the equipment to these conditions.

Key words: AC drives, centrifugal fan, energy saving, flow regulation, valve