A power supply for in-house needs, with an exceptional efficiency boost

The Obernburg Industry Centre – abbreviated to “ICO” in German – is located in Miltenburg, in the Unterfranken region, adjacent to the banks of the River Main, at the base of the Bavarian Spessart forest. Its position is idyllic, by way of a contrast to the status of the Centre, which – being operated by Mainsite GmbH & Co. KG – stands as a modern industry park on a site measuring in excess of 170 hectares and retaining over 3,000 employees.

This site was set up in 1924 – as a production centre for textile viscose threads – by Vereinigte Glanzstoff-Fabriken AG. Since that time, ICO has expanded to be more than just Europe’s largest and most diverse chemical fibres centre. It also provides a home for more than 30 successful international companies of varying sizes and specialist fields. In addition to some firms which have come through from the Group’s previous structure, these are providers from the fields of medtech, medical analytics, plastics tech, paints and inks, reaction tech, logistics, chemicals and industrial services.^*2

Background: when a gas turbine comes to be switched off, the resultant cooling gives rise to mechanical loads on the turbine’s main components. In order to minimise the heat load on these components – thus also minimising negative repercussions on service life – the cool-down rate has to be precisely controlled. And this can be achieved only if – in the event of an unplanned switch-off, for example due to an external grid failure – there is going to be battery backup to power the standby oil pumps feeding the turbine bearings and all of the metrology and control electronics. Otherwise there’s no chance of any controlled rundown, and that will mean losses on a scale of millions.

This was the demanding, highly-crucial challenge that BENNING took on. In conjunction with Kraftwerk Obernburg GmbH – as represented by the manager responsible for electricity, metrology and controls, Mr Günther Wörner – BENNING came up with a proposed solution relying on the most modern and highly efficient components, offering the customer the required degree of future-proofing thanks to its modular equipment topology.

And it was the latter point, plus the essential need to achieve a modern level of high efficiency, that had to be seen as prime concerns for Kraftwerk Obernburg GmbH. Finally, the existing system, dating from 1996, had originally been specified in monoblock design – clearly outmoded by now.

The solution offered by BENNING for the power station at the Obernburg Industry Centre was based on INVERTRONIC compact inverter systems, TEBECHOP SE rectifier systems and DC converters.

With its INVERTRONIC compact module inverter series, BENNING supplies very safe, cost-effective, single-phase inverter systems producing high-quality electrical energy for the critical consumers, and with the maximum of reliability.

In conjunction with TEBECHOP modular rectifier systems, the net result is a very versatile, cost-effective platform for the construction of comprehensive, battery-supported standby power supplies with the maximum of availability, which is how the ICO needs it to be.

BENNING’s TEBECHOP SE product range offers a new generation of highly affordable modular rectifiers which go all the way to meet the requirements of sensitive, process-critical systems, also offering expansion to battery-supported standby power supplies if lead or nickel cadmium accumulators are combined in parallel.

An impressive sight, for the operator, is this solution’s most conspicuous element: the MCU 3000 remote monitoring system with its user-friendly, 10-inch TFT display, constituting a consistent man/machine interface in the system comprising rectifiers, DC converters and inverters.
Remote monitoring can be used in addition to the use of the potential-free contacts either by ethernet, web, SNMP, MODbus or Profibus.