Faced with the need for a new cooling tower at its Tarrytown, New York, location, the BASF Corp. considered options from several manufacturers.

BACKGROUND

BASF’s facility is a state-of-the-art research center providing research and development, new product development, and analytical and technical service support. Reliable cooling is essential to the company’s work, as uninterrupted operations in laboratories and other areas of the research facility are critical to product development and delivery. As a result, the company’s facilities team was concerned about downtime risk when faced with the need to select a new cooling tower.

In addition to mitigating operational risk, the facilities team wanted to save on energy. They were looking for a solution that would provide less scheduled maintenance, fewer entries to the tower, and less downtime, thus lower operating costs. Finally, BASF needed a product that adhered to their commitment for a sustainable future.

SOLUTION

After setting these priorities and surveying available technology, the BASF Tarrytown team elected to work with BAC to design and install a Series 3000 cooling tower with the ENDURADRIVE Fan System.

Belt and gear-drive solutions are more prone to failure, given their many moving parts, frequent need for oil inspections and replacement, and requirements for rigorous shaft alignment to prevent bearing and gear damage. These extensive maintenance needs and failure risks led to planned and unplanned downtime, as the facility had experienced previously, driving operating costs up. Once they decided that a direct-drive, rather than a belt- or gear-driven, solution would be best, the team then considered whether a factory- or field-installed direct-drive system would best meet their needs; they ultimately decided in favor of the superior quality control and higher reliability of a factory-designed and tested solution instead of a field-installed one.

The ENDURADRIVE motor features a patented permanent magnet rotor design to manage high torque starts, an exclusive laminated structure to dissipate heat more effectively, upgraded wiring insulation, drive end seal, and integrated condensate elimination system to protect from moisture. It's engineered and Cooling Technology Institute (CTI) certified for extreme duty of cooling towers and to withstand thermal and vibration rigors of cooling tower operation.

“Working with the facilities team at BASF Tarrytown and recognizing that, as a lab facility, uninterrupted operation was absolutely necessary, we knew that the ENDURADRIVE Fan System was the best possible option," said Ed Villela, general manager for Balticare Inc., BAC’s representative in New York City. "We also knew that they were concerned about quality control, which, as a factory-designed and installed solution, the ENDURADRIVE Fan System delivers.

“Finally, the ENDURADRIVE Fan System eliminates transmission losses to improve motor efficiency — particularly at part load operation — reducing fan energy consumption by 5%. That supports another major goal of the BASF facilities team,” Villela added.

The BASF team agreed.

“When I heard the ENDURADRIVE Fan System had been in cooling tower applications for 10 years with exceptionally low failure rate, I was immediately convinced,” said David Gatewood-Cowart, senior manager of facilities at BASF. “We no longer have to waste time on maintenance and fixing gears, so we now have a cooling tower that ensures minimal downtime, while at par with our sustainable efforts. Sure enough, we have not had a single problem with the ENDURADRIVE Fan System since it was installed in 2016. I strongly recommend this technology.”

CONCLUSION

The Series 3000 cooling tower has continued to meet the BASF Tarrytown facility’s needs without issue. BASF now enjoys unmatched peace of mind, lower energy usage, and lower total operating costs, thus putting less stress in the environment.