Success from Saving

By reducing power consumption, IBL Cold Stores in Knowsley, Liverpool, has won an Envirenergy Award from Scottish Power.

IBL's refrigeration units use nearly forty 30kW motors to protect £40-50 million worth of food. With the motors running 24 hours a day and energy bills reaching £100,000 a year, IBL's Cold Stores engineer, Mr Jim Smith, recognised that the use of inverters would save energy without compromising performance. He called in FTP Fenner, the UK drives partner of Yaskawa Electric UK Limited, to help design the system and supply the drives.

Using the Yaskawa 616 P5 variable torque, energy saving, flux inverter, which is designed specifically for fan and pump applications, the motors in the chillers were run more slowly at low demand times. This enabled a more consistent pressure to be maintained while retaining more accurate control over the refrigerant flow and hence the temperature within the chillers.

Not only has energy been saved, but all the moving parts have increased lifetimes and vibration has been lowered, which reduces the chance of refrigerant gas leaks.
Jim Smith said, "We have been able, not only to save energy, but also to improve the performance of our plant while reducing maintenance. We have also witnessed a reduction in breakdowns."

Released May 2000