Vacuum Engineering for 2-year Payback

Having concluded that the original 6 screw vacuum pumps setup was too costly to maintain, the Company considered a vacuum system upgrade. Confronted with an expensive quotation for overhauling, the customer evaluated its total replacement. The time was right also for a complete remake of the pipeline system with the installation of a new vacuum receiver of 10.000 liters, in order to avoid vacuum level fluctuations in production. Pneumofore was contacted, the machine quotation for 3 x UV50 VS90 vacuum pumps was about 220.000 GBP, the required additional pipeline works were quoted for 150.000 GBP, the total amount of 370.000 GBP had to be repaid in savings within 24 months.

The remake of the vacuum piping system, according to Pneumofore specifications, was of central importance. The vacuum pumps alone would not have allowed the impressive short payback. The 6 dated screw pumps were finally replaced in 2019 with the 3 x UV50 VS90. All new pumps were equipped with a Variable Speed drive and interconnection to share the workload and hours. During the start-up the local team was trained to operate the new pumps and now, after about 1 year, the first status analysis was performed in occasion of the yearly ordinary maintenance operations. The monitoring of total power consumption provided precise data, which permitted an accurate calculation of savings. The annual savings of 170.000 GBP in electrical power consumption alone was confirmed. Within the first year also the maintenance cost was reduced by more than 15.000 GBP. The life expectancy of UV pumps is +20 years. In case of continuous running, the overhaul is recommended after 12 years of operation. Hundreds of UV pumps worldwide prove that proper maintenance can stretch the machine life expectancy to +20 years without overhauling, as the performance of the Pneumofore Rotary Vane pumps remains constant in time. With a very cautious estimate of 10 years pump’s life, we estimate that the yearly saving of 185.000 GBP confirms the payback of the new Vacuum System in less than 2 years and it will continue to save electricity and maintenance cost for the total of additional 1.480.000 GBP in the 8 years to come.

Not only the machine investment but the total expense for completely new machines, plus the full remake of the piping system, has yielded the expected Return on Investment period of 24 months.