Super-Powerful Drive for New Paper Factory

Siemens has designed one of the world’s most powerful, low-voltage paper machine drive systems for packaging manufacturer Progroup. The powerful yet economical multi-motor drive system has a near-record total output of 30 megawatts (MW), with individual motors generating up to 3.6 MW. The machine will be installed in a new production facility in Eisenhuettenstadt, Germany, which will be operated by the Progroup subsidiary Propapier.

Beginning in 2011 the 11-meter-wide paper production line for corrugating medium and test liner will be able to manufacture up to 1,900 meters of paper per minute and up to 650,000 tons of paper per year. The reel onto which the paper is rolled at the end of the line measures five meters in diameter and weighs 160 tons. Despite its size, it must be replaced every 120 minutes. It takes a lot of drive and control power to accelerate and brake such a huge mass. To surmount this problem, Siemens Industry relies on the so called power infeed process.

The drive system’s design makes it possible to efficiently feed in large amounts of energy at low investment costs. The sub-systems of the low-voltage multi-motor drive system are three times as powerful as conventional drives, for example. Implementing special measures, the experts from Siemens also managed to increase the system’s resistance to short-circuiting.

Additional advantages are the system components’ high level of availability and the drive’s simple maintenance. Despite its very high power density, the drive system is based on the Sipaper platform from Siemens, which is well-established in the paper industry. The new factory will make Eisenhuettenstadt one of the largest paper manufacturing centers in Europe.

In addition to supplying all the electrotechnical equipment for the paper production line, Siemens is also responsible for electrification of the site’s combined heat and power plant and for providing the power plant’s turbine. The power plant has a firing thermal capacity of 150 megawatts and can be fired with coal or with residue from the recycling of waste paper. Energy-efficient drives and processes for recovering energy from waste material are part of Siemens’ environmental portfolio, with which the company posted sales of approximately €19 billion in 2008.