TITLE OF THE PROJECT: Installation of Fluid Coupling for High Capacity Fans, Pumps and Conveyors for Energy

Saving. ABSTRACT: Energy is an important cost factor in any industry. Energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There are a variety of opportunities available in industries like petrochemical, fertilizer and steel industries to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner. The major energy consuming equipments in any industry are pumps, fans or blowers, compressors and conveyors, which contributes the 50% of the total energy consumption, where there is a great scope for conserving energy. In most of the industries, the rotating equipments are overdesigned considering the future plant expansions in terms of production, which need the operating the equipment by throttling the flow control valves, results in inefficiency of the equipment especially with the motor drives. By installing the variable speed drives or Variable frequency drives, the efficiency of the machine improves and results in considerable amount of energy saving with a valuable monetary benefit to the industry. In Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited, Kakinada, Ammonia plant during a routine energy audit it was observed reformer furnace induced draft fan suction control valve is operating by throttling to 30% as the fan was overdesigned by around 60% of the plant design capacity. A detailed study was conducted for the equipment for improving the energy efficiency without modifying the fan internals and minimum cost. The motor power consumption and fan efficiency were 883 Kw and 51.2 % respectively. Normally for these types of fans, 75% of efficiency can be achieved. Too much throttling of Inlet dampers was causing higher pressure drop and inefficiency of fan. So, by operating the fan at optimum speed, the inlet dampers opening can be increased and the fan operating point can be shifted towards the best efficiency point. This also results in less suction pressure drop. The following performance curve explains the concept. It can be seen that for the same capacity, by reducing the speed, the efficiency is brought in line with the design curve.

Though VFDs (Variable Frequency Drives) are ideal for these types of applications, owing to cost implication, it was decided to install a Variable Speed Fluid Coupling. The original speed of the fan was 1000 rpm and after installation of the fluid coupling the speed of fan was brought down to 790 rpm which resulted in considerable power savings in the motor. Thus, resulted in power savings to a tune of 200 KW. The cost of the fluid coupling and its auxiliaries is 15.5 Lakhs. The monetary benefit is 15 lakhs/year, the payback found to be 1 year. In this project, the methodology for selection of suitable coupling for equipment, the working principle of different couplings available in the market, its advantages and disadvantages will be studied. The selection of suitable fluid couplings available in the industry, internal parts of the fluid coupling, hurdles faced while installation and commissioning are will be studied. The layout of the fluid coupling in the available space, calculations of the heat exchangers for lube oil cooling will be studied. Finally, the economics of the project and benefit analysis will also will be studied. The Simple Working Principle of the Fluid Coupling: The basic principle of operation for any fluid coupling, irrespective of manufacturer is as follows. The 'working' part of the coupling consists of two elements, one (impeller) connected to the prime mover (usually an electric motor), the second one (runner) connected to the driven machine. These are positioned face to face inside a casing, which is partially filled with an appropriate fluid. This is called the working circuit.

When the motor is rotated, the fluid is picked up in the vanes of the impeller and thrown outwards, across the gap, towards the vanes of the runner. As a result of the fluid kinetic energy, the runner begins to rotate and drive the driven machine. There are no physical connections between the two halves of the coupling, and therefore the driver and driven machines are not directly connected.

*** NAME OF THE STUDENT: P M S Appala Naidu Roll No: BRANCH : MECHANICAL ENGINEERING