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Environmental Activities

Hitachi

Hitachi Motor Drive Conservation Service

[Image] Putting a Hitachi inverter into your factory will achieve power savings, at no initial cost!

This is a totally new energy-saving service where Hitachi installs its inverters into factory production equipment at no cost, saving its customers any initial investment costs. Hitachi then receives its payment in monthly service fees as part of the benefits gained for the factory in question by the use of these inverters.

  • * This service is currently available only in Japan.
  • * The figures given on this page for lowered CO2 emissions and reduced power consumption are estimates calculated by Hitachi, based on actual performance made after implementation.

(Released in September 2008)

What actually are Inverters?

[Image] Inverters - Devices allowing you to control the speed of the motor!

Think of the appliances you have in your own living room or kitchen. Have you noticed how often the word ' inverter' is attached to some of these appliances these days?

The word is often applied to air conditioners, which work by adjusting room temperatures by circulating refrigerants which carry heat through the operation of their motors. If the motors can only be operated at full power or stop, temperature settings are in an extreme sense limited to' hot' or'cold.' But if you can control the speed of the motor, you can choose your desired temperature setting and enjoy a constant'cool breeze' .

Inverters, to put it simply, make it possible to change the operating speed of the drive motor both effectively and evenly.

[Image] Full power /Inverter /Stop

Inverters make major power savings in production equipment possible

Factories contain large quantities of high-voltage motors which operate to make products or make machines and equipment function. Typical examples would be those in large-size fans, blowers and pumps.
Usually these motors operate at a set speed, with valves working mechanically to control the volume of air or water. Merely by installing an inverter with these motors allows you to change their operating speed to give access to the differing volume of air or water sometimes required. This means a major reduction in the amount of energy which would otherwise be wasted.

[Image] Trial Calculation of the Volume of Energy Saved /Inverters Reduce wasted energy and allow efficient motor operation!

A new service allowing energy savings on a rental basis

[Image] Inverters - Cut power usage by 23% and reduce CO2 emissions by 460,000 tons (totaled in 2015)

There was, however, one particular hurdle to be overcome. This was the reluctance of customers to accept the upfront costs of installing inverters, despite the knowledge of the long-term savings possible. Hitachi' s HDRIVE (the ' H' representing the Japanese word'eichi' , which means wisdom) energy-saving service model is an industry first that solves the dilemma of such customers.
Energy-saving equipment are placed in factories similar to a rental basis, which means inverters are installed at no cost and the customers face almost no initial investment costs. Monitoring devices are also provided to measure the amount of power saved and CO2 emissions reduced minute by minute and show the results in graph form and in figures. User fees are extracted from the volume (amount) of power reduced for the month, leaving the rest as pure profit for the customer. This service reduces power consumption by an average of 23%. Estimates for reducing CO2 emissions forecast that a total of 460,000 tons will be saved by 2015.

[Image] HDRIVE Service Outline