Varel sees considerable energy savings following Voith rebuild of PM 4 at its mill in Germany

HEIDENHEIM, Germany, Aug. 7, 2009 (Press Release) - Between September 2007 and July 2008, Voith Paper carried out a rebuild of PM 4 in three steps at Varel, Germany. The goals of this rebuild project were, on the one hand, to save energy and, on the other, also to enhance operational safety and thus increase the efficiency of the machine.

The rebuild comprised the exchange of all 51 steam joints with rotating siphons for new Vplus Steam Joints with stationary siphons and the adaptation of the steam and condensate system.

As part of the rebuild, Voith Paper carried out the complete installation in each case within only 48 and 72 hours respectively.

Today the success of the rebuild project is obvious. The steam consumption of PM 4 could be reduced by ca. 10 %. Through reliable condensate removal operational safety was significantly increased, the required drive power and the number of sheet breaks declined. The low differential pressure of 0.15 bar reduced the velocity of the steam - condensate mix in the condensate pipe and in this way the wear in the piping. The CD moisture profile was also positively influenced.

Initial problems with vibrations were immediately jointly solved. The vibration damper of the siphon developed from this has meanwhile been registered as a patent by Voith Paper.

The payback time of the entire rebuild amounted to less than one year.

Varel produces corrugating medium and testliner in a basis weight range of 110-220 g/m2 on PM 4 with a trim width of 5.100 mm and a max. speed of 900 m/min.