Why upgrade to LED Lighting

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While budgets are tight across many sectors at the moment, investing in a LED Lighting upgrade may be the best way to save your company money in the long term.

High Bay LED Light Fitting High Bay Metal Halide Light Fitting
Power 200 watts 400 watts
Output 25,000 lumens 32,000 lumens (fast depreciation)
Estimate Cost per fitting $300 $250
Life 50,000 hours 5,000 hours
Warranty 5 years None

 Figures sourced from stouchlighting.com

 

The key benefits of upgrading to LEDs include:

  • Lifespan
    LED lights have a lifespan of 50,000 hours and include a 5 year warranty compared to Metal Halide’s which carry no warranty and have a lifespan of just 5 years. Most Metal Halide light fittings in use today will be past their 5-year lifespan and their lumen output would be well below their maximum output of 32,000 lumens; while still using full power input of 400 watts. The lumen output of a metal halide lamp depreciates much faster than an LED. In fact, they depreciate about 20% each 1,000 hours.
  • Reduced Power Consumption
    High bay LED lights have a lumens/watt ratio of 125 vs Metal Halide Light with 80 lumens/watt.
    This means the LED light is 56% more efficient than its Metal Halide counterpart and this efficiency only improves over the lifetime of the fitting as the lumens in a metal halide light depreciate quite rapidly while the LED lumen output hold steady.
  • Better Lighting
    LED lights emit light over 180° vs the standard metal halide light which emits light in a 360° range. With the LED light, lighting is being directed where you need it, so your energy consumption is reduced – saving you more money.
  • Reduced Maintenance
    With a lifespan of 50,000 hours the LED lamp will require less changes which means less maintenance work for your team and less interruption to your business.

 

If you would like to find out about the cost saving your business could make by moving to LED lighting, get in touch with the EAS team today on 07 834 0505.

 

Variable Speed Drives – top maintenance tips

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With temperatures increasing putting more load on your variable speed drive’s cooling system, now is a good time to make sure your drives are in top condition for the summer period to ensure there is no disruption to your production.

Variable Speed Drives (VSD) are used to control motor speed in response to varying process demands in your plant.

The control of the motor speed can be based on feedback from the process; eg: flow rate, temperature or pressure so that process control can be improved.

Due to the ‘magic’ of affinity laws, small decreases in the speed of pumps and fans or the pressure of pumps can lead to large decreases in energy use. For example:

  • Using a VSD to reduce the speed of a motor reduces energy consumption by around 50%.
  • Using a VSD to reduce the pressure of a pump by 20%, reduces the energy consumption by around 28%.

Key checks include:

  • Visual check:
    To make sure the drive is clean, the cooling fan and cooling system are all in good condition. Dust on VSD hardware can cause a lack of airflow, diminishing performance. Dust also absorbs    moisture which can contribute to failure. Connections should also be checked as heat cycles and mechanical vibration can lead to sub-standard connection and cause erratic operation resulting in damage to machinery.
  • Settings:
    Parameter settings should be checked and recoded so that if there is a failure, the drive can be easily replaced. EAS utilise Drive Software to enable us to upload the correct settings straight back into your drive to get it up and running as quickly as possible.
  • Stocktake of spare parts:
    By performing a stock take of the spare parts available we can ensure that any breakdowns can be handled quickly and efficiently. It also gives the opportunity to identify drives where spare parts are no longer available so that a planned upgrade of the drive can be scheduled where it will be least disruptive to production.

 

The EAS team have recently completed further training on VSD drives to ensure that they are up-to-speed with maximising a drive’s performance for your process, fault finding and setup processes.

If you need assistance checking your Variable Speed Drives are in top condition – get in touch with the EAS team today on 834 0505.