The Facts About Energy Efficient AC Motor Controls...and how to save money.

A recent survey showed that most companies believe that the number one way to save energy was to change electricity supplier. But with electricity prices having risen by as much as 50% and all suppliers still increasing their prices, this is clearly not the best policy.

All businesses must become energy efficient but improved efficiency cannot be introduced overnight. This is the result of a determined effort over time. A good place to start is to look at your electric motors. There are over 10 million electric motors in the UK industry, running virtually everything that moves and together these are by far the biggest users of electricity in industry.

A motor running fully loaded will typically consume the same electricity costs within the first three months as it's purchase price. An 11 kW motor costing around £400 can consume more than £70,000 over a ten year operating life. Energy efficiency now becomes much more significant to the bottom line than the purchase price when even small differences in efficiency make big differences to a motors life cycle costs.

Make use of AC drives particularly in pump and fan applications, for instance used with a centrifugal pump an AC drive can save as much as 60% of the energy. Applied to a 90 kW motor in continuous duty, this means £50,000 per year in saved electricity.

Up to 40% savings can be made to fixed speed electric motors by installing either a XFE (three phase) or HFE (single phase) energy saving soft starter. Typical applications for these units are, chillers, ice machines, lifts, conveyors, injection moulding machines, fans and pumps, crushers and mixers, or any equipment on which the load may vary.

For more information on any of our products or services, please contact our sales team on 01273 494 615.