In 2010, Bunge Grain associates attended the Vacon Drive Ahead Road Show Tour in New Orleans, LA, USA, to learn more about Vacon. They realized that they had an application at their plant in Destrehan, LA, that could really benefit from a Vacon AC drive.

1. Reference Story
conveying the solution
Vacon NXS drive controlling a belt conveyor
In 2010, Bunge Grain associates attended the Vacon Drive Vacon NXS drive has its own built-in AC input reactor. Bunge
Ahead Road Show Tour in New Orleans, LA, USA, to learn personnel involved in the installation were very impressed by
more about Vacon. They realized that they had an application the ease and speed of the process.
at their plant in Destrehan, LA, that could really benefit from
a Vacon AC drive. Bunge has been very pleased with the performance of Vacon’s
AC drives and the professional service provided by Vacon. As
Bunge had four 125 HP (92 kW) motors powering belt convey- a result, other plants have inquired about Vacon’s solutions,
ors that were controlled by AC drives equipped with bypass and two additional Bunge facilities are now using Vacon AC
controls for back-up. These drives, which were not made by drives thanks to the success at the Destrehan plant. Vacon
Vacon, were starting to give Bunge some problems, so the has won these orders largely because the North American
company was looking for replacements. Bunge wanted a drive Drive Ahead Truck Tour stopped in their backyard and intro-
that was reliable, easy to use, and would give the company the duced them to all of Vacon’s AC drives products and solutions.
performance it needed. To avoid additional costs, Bunge also
wanted a drive that fitted into the existing cabinet to eliminate
Benefits of AC drives:
the need to retrofit or replace the cabinet.
Soft start and soft stop: AC drives reduce mechanical wear
and tear on belts, gears and other equipment.
Easy and quick replacement process
After the initial meeting with Bunge Grain associates Lucas Process control: Different products need to be conveyed at
DiPuma, Maintenance Manager, and Monty Real, Mainte- different speeds for a variety of reasons. Being able to vary
nance Supervisor, at the Vacon truck stop in New Orleans, the speed gives quick, easy and reliable control of the pro-
Vacon Manufacturing Rep Tim Harrison of Control Reps, and cesses.
Vacon Inc.’s Jake Roeder visited the plant in Destrehan. They
collected information and then gave a quote which Bunge ac- Energy savings: Since AC drives eliminate the inrush current
cepted. Soon after this, Tim Harrison visited the site to assist seen in across-the-line applications, using an AC drive allows
with the start up of the drive. The Vacon NXS drive fit per- Bunge to reduce peak demand charges from the utility com-
fectly. A major benefit was that the input line reactor, which pany.
was required by the old drive, could be removed because the

2. In 2010, Bunge Grain associates attended the Vacon Drive
Ahead Road Show Tour in New Orleans, LA, USA, to learn
more about Vacon. They realized that they had an appli-
cation at their plant in Destrehan, LA, that could really
benefit from a Vacon AC drive.
Bunge uses its PLC automation system to communicate
with the Vacon drives via discrete control with 4-20 mA
speed reference. Shown here are the Vacon NXS AC
drives installed in the Destrehan facility which operate
belt conveyors.
Vacon Inc.
6425 W. Executive Drive
Mequon, WI 53092
USA
RS000154A
Tel. (717) 261-5000
Fax. (262) 242-1491
www.vacon.com