Posted to News on 25th Feb 2007, 11:15
Fan power control system saves £10,000 per year
A Eurotherm Model 2500 controller is enabling Fenland Laundries, one of the UK's leading textile rental companies, to make energy savings worth more than £10,000 per year in its 'Micronclean' cleanroom clothing operation.
Founded more than a century ago, Skegness-based Fenland Laundries has satellite operations at Grantham and Louth and provides a nationwide, ISO 9001-accredited service. A number of companies offer a cleanroom garment laundry service, but Micronclean is said to have the largest share of this market in the UK.
Fenland had identified the 96 fans that maintain a positive air pressure in its Micronclean operation as a potential source of energy saving. Control of fan speed had previously been achieved by varying the fan supply voltage using a directly-connected potentiometer. However, this traditional method of speed control only varies the voltage presented to the motor and has very little effect on the voltage or current - and hence the power - drawn from the supply. As a result, actual power consumption varied very little from minimum to maximum speed.
Fenland's replaced the traditional potentiometers with inverters that control fan speed by varying the power rather than simply the voltage supplied to each motor. Consequently only the power required to drive the motor at the desired speed is drawn from the supply.
Automatic speed control
Sequence control of the 48 inverters in the Micronclean operation is provided by the Eurotherm Model 2500 controller that allows the actual speed of the fans to be adjusted automatically to establish and maintain the desired room pressure. At the end of the working day, the Model 2500 automatically selects the 'night time' pressure, thereby ensuring that power consumption is minimised during non-operational periods.
As well as achieving direct energy savings worth in excess of £10,000 per year, the combination of the Eurotherm Model 2500 controller and the inverter drives in its Micronclean operation is providing Fenland with a remote control and monitoring capability, improved access to performance data and more precise control of fan speed. Moreover, the modular nature of the system has enabled it to manage costs through progressive implementation.
