The M. Kaindl OG in Austria is among the world leaders in laminate flooring and Europe’s market leader in manufacturing boards for furniture and interior applications. Kaindl uses more than 1,000 atro tons (ATR) of wood within 24 hours predominantly from sustainable forestry. To process the raw material in the board, it needs to be shredded, cleaned and dried. 

The entire production is depending on the operation of a 3.6 MW dryer fan. The challenging spare part situation in combination with the structural situation of the operation room could have led to an unplanned downtime. As a result, the production would have stopped for weeks, causing six-digit losses per day. In order to prevent such potential downtimes, it was inevitable to replace the entire Drives system after 20 years of service. 

The customer requirements for the replacement were very high. The new converter must be fail-safe and its related auxiliary systems must not lead to a system shutdown in case of a failure. To replace the old system there was a limited downtime of three days. If a non-preventive system shutdown occurs, the hole drive train must be fixable within 24 hours. These requirements can be met and even exceeded by the characteristics of the SINAMICS PERFECT HARMONY GH180.

With over 17,000 delivered units worldwide (2019) it is the most established MV-Converter on the market. Due to redundant cooling fans and a mechanical cell bypass with automatic neutral-point-shifting, the GH180 ensures trip free operation. 

Combined with a state of the art SIMOTICS HV M Motor, the concept of Siemens Large Drives Applications (LDA) was coherent but not yet complete. Since it was impossible to integrate a new converter into the existing operation room before the deadlines, Siemens engineers had a sophisticated container solution in mind. Fully installed, pre-tested and pre-mounted at site, the Drive System can be put in operation during a very short, planned downtime. 

In the unlikely event of a transformer failure, this GH180s transformer cabinet can be replaced quickly through a removeable container top. Due to the dusty environment a closed cooling system for the container was desired. This was realized with redundant air-water exchanges connected to an onside water-cooling system. The outcome is a positive energy balance compared to electrical AC-cooling. If the primary cooling water circuit fails, the system automatically switches to an available fountain water supply.    

Siemens Scope of Supply 

• VFD Container solution with removeable top, partly redundant and Air-/Water Heat Exchanger Modules fully installed and pretested. 
• 1x SINAMICS PERFECT HARMONY GH180 (10kV/6.6kV) including Advanced Cell Bypass, Process Tolerant Protection Strategy (ProToPS™), redundant fans, as a spare transformer fully preinstalled in a separate spare cabinet. 
• 2x 3600kW SIMOTICS HV-M motors including temperature rise tests in the factory, motor adapter to fit existing foundation, vibration analysis before and after replacement of the Drive Train at the customer during operation.

The M. Kaindl OG is a private owned company with their headquarter based in Salzburg, Austria. It is Europe’s market leader in manufacturing of flooring and boards for furniture and interior applications. The business started with founding of a sawmill in Lungötz as early as in 1897. As early as 1962, they were one of the first companies to produce chipboards.