ACES - Air Conditioning Energy Saver

The Problem

In many of the warmer countries around the world, air conditioning is one of the largest energy consumers in the residential, commercial and industrial sector. Air conditioning accounts for a large part of owners' energy bills. Millions of simple air conditioning units waste unbelievable amounts of energy every day.

Not only is the power demand for air conditioning very high, but air conditioning also contributes to extreme peak energy demand on the hottest days of the year which the energy infrastructure has to cope with, resulting in some countries like for example; South Africa, having no other option than to switch off the electricity supply to many consumers because they simply don’t have the ability to supply the demand required. This is likely to become ‘normal’ in most countries over the next decade!

Now consider how long a typical Air-con unit’s life span is…typically 12-15 years and in some cases even longer before it needs replacing. No matter how desirable the replacement of low efficiency window units or single split systems is (compared to ultrahigh efficiency systems using advanced compressor and control technology), the costs and logistics of implementation this wholesale change is in reality... impractical!

Further evidence can be clearly seen in the global sales of low-efficiency air-conditioning units, which is still increasing, from 39 million units in 1999 to 68 million estimated in 2008. Of these about 75% are small, inefficient room air-conditioners.

The Energin Solution

Enigin has a proven solution in ACES that can generate up to 30% savings and sometimes greater. So, how does it work?

When looking at the underlying theory behind saving energy on Air-conditioning systems you need to start by identifying which aspect of the system consumes the majority of the power used. In a simple Air-con unit, the fan would consume approx 10%/20%, where as the compressor would use around 80%/90% of the total power. This leads to an obvious conclusion…make the compressor more energy efficient and we can save money. But how can that be achieved without compromising the performance of the unit?

When switched on, a typical air conditioning unit will run continuously until the room thermostat senses the desired temperature and turns the system off. As the room warms up, the thermostat switches the air conditioner back on and the cycle repeats. It’s either fully ON or OFF. However, in most conditions, the maximum rated output is rarely required because the system is oversized by design, in other words Air-con units are designed and sized to cope with the worst case scenario. Therefore the compressor operates with excess capacity most of the time.

Now, this is the clever part…

Once ACES is installed by an Enigin distributor (about a 15min install time) it will use algorithms to detect when overcapacity occurs, and switch off the compressor avoiding inefficiency. In effect your Air-con unit goes into ‘saver mode’. Don’t worry though the fans will still continue to operate and blow cold air into the room, making use of all the stored cool energy in the heat exchange unit.

The set room temperature will be reached, but without the inefficient parts of the cooling cycle. This results in significant energy savings without compromising cooling comfort (the reason we have AC). Once the stored energy is used up, the compressor will switch back on again.

Installing the ACES from Enigin makes sense in terms of overall reduced energy usage and reduced operating costs - typically providing a ROI in less than two years - it really does do what is says on the box!

ACES Benefits

• Energy Savings of up to 30%
• Retrofit product to upgrade existing units
• Quick & Simple Installation
• Excellent Alternative to an Expensive New System
• Anti-Short Cycling & Power Outage Protection

Click here to download PDF brochure. 

CUES - Chiller Unit Energy Saver

The Problem

When it comes to businesses such as supermarkets, restaurants and hospitals, refrigeration is not a luxury but a necessity. These necessities come at a price and with soaring electricity prices and a global climate change, refrigeration costs continue to increase year after year.

The problem businesses face with modern commercial refrigeration is that they can waste up to 30% of their energy and run 50% more cycles than necessary trying to do the job they are designed for namely; lower the temperature of a substance and then maintain that temperature on a continual basis.

Why does refrigeration waste energy?

To understand the underlying problem we need to look at the basics of how the refrigeration process works... It begins with the compressor switching on and ends by bringing down the air temperature until the desired setting is met. This process is called a ‘cycle’ and in some cases a cycle can occur as many as 20 times per hour.

A refrigeration thermostat monitors circulating air temperature in order to decide when to switch on and off. However, circulating air temperature rises far more quickly than food temperature and, as a result, the refrigeration unit works harder than necessary to maintain stored products at the required temperature. This in turn leads to excessive electricity consumption and undue wear and tear on the equipment.

As an example, consider what happens when you open your refrigerator to take out a product. The door is only open for a brief period of time but when the door is closed what invariably happens? Click… the compressor starts and the refrigeration cycle begins. This is because the air temperature has risen even though the product temperature has not altered! This results in unnecessary wasted energy consumption and higher bills

The Energin Solution

Install CUES… an ingenious product from Enigin, which was initially developed to improve food safety standards and backed with a NSF seal of approval, and now proven as an invaluable energy saver.

How does it work? Simply by regulating the refrigeration temperature based upon food temperature rather than air temperature - thereby maintaining food constantly at the correct temperature and eliminating wastage.

Installed in conjunction with the thermostat sensor which energises the compressor, CUES will significantly reduces the frequency of the refrigeration cycles which will now be based on food temperature rather than more rapidly fluctuating air temperature. The results? Up to a huge 30% reduction in energy costs and some times even greater. In fact results from a well-known hotel and restaurant in Australia show they have reduced their consumption by an almost unbelievable 43.23%.

So if you think that reducing excess energy consumption, saving money and reducing your maintenance costs along with increasing the life expectancy of your refrigeration equipment is something that makes sound commercial sense - then the CUES from Enigin is the perfect solution.

CUES Benefits

• Energy Savings of up to 33%
• Reduced Maintenance & Downtime
• Maintains Food at Safer Temperature Resulting in Less Product Spoilage
• Reduces Noise Pollution
• Extends Refrigeration Compressor Life by up to 100%
• One-time Retrofit. Zero Maintenance

Click here to download PDF brochure. 

iMEC - Intelligent Motor Energy Controllers

Motors Are Everywhere!

AC Induction Motors literally are everywhere! In your house, supermarkets, restaurants hotels, offices and in almost ALL manufacturing facilities.

Almost every mechanical movement that you see around you is caused by an AC (alternating current) electric motor.

Consider as you look around you what was made using a motor? Look at your desk, this was sawn using a saw turned by a motor, your carpet was woven using looms driven by motors, you phone was part of a process involving injection moulding which uses motors, the glass you are drinking from was produced using motors.

Motors are everywhere and used by everyone. However, they have a fundamental flaw - they often waste unnecessary amounts of energy. 

An incredible 50% of the world’s energy production is consumed by motors!

How Does A Motor Work?

An induction motor is an alternating current motor where power is supplied to the rotating device by means of electromagnetic induction. Sometimes referred to as an asynchronous motor. The process used to turn an electric motor is all about magnets and magnetism. The motor uses magnets to create motion, if you have ever played with magnets you will know about the fundamental laws of all magnets, opposites attract and likes repel.

So if you have two magnets with their ends marked "north" and "south," then the north end of one magnet will attract the south end of the other. On the other hand, the north end of one magnet will repel the north end of the other (and similarly, south will repel south). Inside an electric motor, these attracting and repelling forces create rotational motion. The process converts electrical energy into mechanical power (or torque), to allow the rotor to turn the appliance it is attached to.

When converting electrical energy into mechanical motion there are losses in the system, which are converted into heat, noise and vibration, all because the motor is producing far more power than is required to do the job it needs to do. Power requirements will then often change constantly, and we call this a varying duty cycle or load but a motor is unable to intelligently adapt to changes. Let me illustrate.

Consider the escalator in your local shopping mall which is driven by a fixed speed ac Induction motor. The motor will have been sized to move the escalator in an upward direction with 2 above average weight men on each and every step. How often have you seen this? Maybe once or twice in rush hour… but probably more often you see only a few people traveling on the escalator. Here lies the problem… the motor has no intelligence and is unaware of how much load (or people) is on the motor. The result… huge amounts of wasted energy.

But it doesn’t stop there, the engineer choosing the size of the motor required will always be cautious and oversize the motor ‘just to be sure’. So now we have an oversized by design motor, that is working harder than it needs to be. The results? More wasted energy. Remember also that almost half of the world's escalators are moving downwards thereby requiring significantly less 'torque'... however the motors will almost certainly be the same specification.

So how do Energin solve this problem? 

iMEC, the range of intelligent motor energy controllers from Enigin provides all of the solutions your client needs, by giving a simple motor intelligence, enabling the out put of power to change to match precisely the power needed to drive the load it is attached to.

How does this change our story? Going back to our escalator…imagine a solution that could automatically resize the motor and provide precisely the right amount of power needed to move the escalator in an upward direction while maintaining the exact same speed. This means if you have 2 people on every step in rush hour the motor will use exactly the power needed, then when the load changes and only 2 people need to be moved, the Enigin IMEC will recognize this and make sure the motor only outputs the correct amount of power to do the job. The result… huge amounts of wasted energy are eliminated, saving your client money, and co2 emissions while at the same time increasing the life expectancy of their equipment because now we no longer are transferring wasted energy into Heat Noise and Vibration which dramatically reduces equipment life.

Now consider all the motors discussed at the start, do they have a varying load, are they often larger than needed to do the job required? Then iMEC is needed.

In another situation it maybe possible to reduce the speed of a given application, for example fans and pumps often work harder and faster than they need to do the job they are designed for. iMEC can intelligently adjust the speed to their varying load so they only consume the power needed. If you could only reduce the speed, by 15%, a small amount this alone would result in around 40% saving in costs. Reduce the speed by another 5% and you will increase your savings to 50%.

When it was identified that 3 fans in a fibreglass production line were working unnecessarily hard iMEC was used, saving the client a huge $225,000 each and every year, just by throttling back the speed. Simple but very effective. Enigin consultants are trained to provide the exact solution to every motor control problem.

Can you afford to delay any longer?

 iMEC Benefits

• Energy Savings of up to 50%
• Reduced Maintenance & Downtime
• Avoid Peak Demand Penalties
• Automatic Switch Off. 100% Savings!
• Extended Motor/Equipment Life

Click here to download PDF brochure. 

LESS - Light Energy Saver System

Consider for a moment what businesses you know that use lighting?....

Maybe we should change that question and ask, what businesses do you know that do not use lighting? Im sure the answer is NONE! For how would you run your business without lighting?

We have come a long way since the first development in electric lighting by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1801, but despite huge scientific advancements, we still rely on artificial lighting which we continue to pay for even when it is not required.

Do you realise that the incandescent light bulb used by millions upon millions of people around the globe are actually only 10% efficient, which means that 90% of the electricity used is wasted. But how can you waste electricity? Physics law states that you cannot destroy energy, you can only change its form.

In the case of lighting this wasted inefficiency is transferred into HEAT, resulting in your air-conditioning units working harder and longer all because of inefficient wasteful lighting.

Consider these startling facts about lighting

• Lighting consumes 19% of the worlds electricity generation.
• Emissions measured in CO2 from lighting is equivalent to 70% of global emissions from passenger vehicles.
• In many commercial buildings lighting accounts for 40% or more of their electricity costs.
• Lighting produces three times more emissions than from aviation.

Consider this... when the sun is shining and lighting your office, or you walk out of the room, do you make a conscious effort to reduce your energy costs and switch off the lights? Or are you like the majority, and are just to busy.

 LESS provides the solution we all need, by reducing CO2 emissions, reducing your costs, at the same time and arguably the most important factor, by maintaining and improving comfort levels. We can do all of this by adding intelligence to your existing lighting solutions.

Adding intelligence to meet the lighting output required for any given scenario. This works by dynamically working with software algorithms, adjusting the florescent light fitting either in a group or individually to put only the required lighting lux/lummen level required, and then when a preset level is reached we will automatically switch the lights off, saving 100% of the costs.

So as you enter through your office door at dawn your lights will automatically switch on to full brightness but as natural sun light emits through the windows, we are able to automatically, gradually dim the light fittings to maximize any natural sunlight while still maintaining a constant, perfect, working light level (lux/lumen).

During the day, clouds will pass over the sun reducing the natural sunlight emitting into the room, at this point the lights will adjust their brightness accordingly. All of this will happen without you even noticing but typically saving you 35% across your lighting costs by adding intelligence. A simple and effective solution.

Now ask yourself, who do I know that could benefit in reduced lighting costs? Everyone!

LESS is the solution. 

 LESS Benefits

• Total Energy Savings of Over 50% Possible
• Suitable For Retrofits or New Buildings
• Quick & Simple Installation
• Proven in Thousands of Installations
• Stylish Design, Very Small, Elegant Integration

Click here to download PDF brochure.