Soft option saves energy most effectively
August 1st 2007

Plant operators are installing soft starts so that they save energy by stopping intermittent duty motors when they are not in use.

Until recently it has been conventional practice to leave motors idling between duty cycles - wasting energy.

Soft starts reduce the shock load and consequential damage by bringing a motor up to speed more smoothly than direct on line starting.

Philip Larkin of Soft Start says that it is very easy to make a financial case for installing a soft start on a large drive system, and so his company has seen a massive upswing in orders for medium voltage soft starts.

"We are just completing a repeat order for a 6.6KV 1.2MW system for a Russian metal shredder,we are building a 6.6KV 2.3MW four-motor multistart system for a pumping station at Gdansk in Poland, an 11KV 5.5MW system for dry dock pumps in Dubai." Larkin also reports increased demand smaller off-the-shelf soft starts.