11 things to check before you buy a heat pump
11 things to check before buying a Heat pump from Aspiration Energy Pvt Ltd [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG4iofWAs60]
Aspiration Energy, Blog, Webinar
Aspiration Energy, Blog, Webinar
Approaches to Sustainable Process Heating
Approaches for a sustainable industrial heating from Aspiration Energy Pvt Ltd [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNzEX2V_YmE]
Blog, Webinar
Fire Your Boiler – Webinar
A webinar titled \” Fire Your Boilers\” was conducted by Aspiration Energy. Conventional heating systems involve the use of boilers as primary sources of heat using fossil fuels such as Diesel, Electricity, or LPG. They are not however, used as efficiently as possible – often used at low loads and efficiencies. This is because the energy utilised at the point of utilisation is low and boiler losses also constitute a large portion of the problems. For example, boilers are used in initial loading conditions at high efficiencies of upto 70 percent, but lose the efficiency at constant low load conditions. One way of increasing the utilisation efficiency is to use accumulators that store the water/steam produced at high load, high efficiency conditions. Reducing the boiler losses such as standby and flue gas losses is an another method. Monitoring the energy consumption using thermal monitoring systems to study the efficiency is also recommended. However the most sustainable and at the same time, economical solution is to replace them with heat pumps as primary sources of heat. Heat pumps are highly efficient machines that use the ambient heat in the surroundings to heat the process. They can produce temperatures that a conventional low temperature boiler can produce. This webinar deals with the issues that are part of the firing a boiler and the advantages of using the heat pumps as full replacement or solar thermal as partial replacement. The presentation can be viewed below. Fire Your Boiler from Aspiration Energy Pvt Ltd The entire recording of the webinar can be viewed below.
Blog, Webinar
Heat Pumps – An Introduction : Webinar
Webinar on the title – \”Heat Pumps – An introduction\” was conducted by Aspiration Energy in September 2017. Heat Pumps are devices that transfer heat from a colder area to the hotter area by using mechanical energy. Working of heat pumps is based on taking heat from the ambient air to deliver it for the processes which requires it, by exploiting the low boiling points refrigerants. It consists of an evaporator, compressor, condenser, expansion valve – the same as in a refrigerator. How is this a sustainable device? We shall look into this. It has to do with its efficiency or coefficient of performance – which is, counter-intuitively more than one. Heat pumps as described before use electrical energy to pump heat from the ambient air to the process, electrical energy being the input and heat as output. In the case of heat pumps the energy delivered as heat is at least 2 times more than the electrical energy, the remainder of the heat being transferred from the ambient air. In mechanical terms, it means that every unit of electrical energy used produces 2 units (kW) of heat energy. Air conditioners do the same process. Here\’s how: Power consumption = 2 Units (1 Unit=1 kWh) 1 Ton of refrigerants = 3512 W A conventional AC delivers an output of 1.5 tonne. Energy Output = 3512 x 1.5 TR = 5268 W Therefore the efficiency = Output/Input = 5.268/2 = 2.634 This is also how heat pumps work with the only difference being that heat is delivered and not absorbed as in the case of ACs. This makes heat pumps a clean and sustainable source of heat and they are being used extensively in industries as alternative replacements for boilers. The full webinar talks about this and more for educational purposes. The presentation can be viewed below. Heat pumps – An Introduction from aeplindia The video recording of the presentation is below.
Aspiration Energy, Blog, Heat Pumps, White Paper
Heat Pump demo at UCAL Fuel Systems
UCAL Fuel systems had installed a heat pump in its plants as part of Aspiration Energy\’s rental demo installation to prove the savings of a heat pump. The duration of the demo was from the 21st of November to the 9th of December. The demo showcased a 14 kW heat pump for one of its vacuum pump line washing machines. It has since proved a savings of 46 %, convincing UCAL that Heat pumps are the way to move forward in terms of sustainable industrial heating solutions for industrial washing machines. UCAL Fuel Systems was established in 1985 by Carburetors Ltd. (pioneers in India in the manufacture of Carburetors and mechanical fuel pumps) as a joint venture company with Mikuni Corporation Japan – internationally renowned company for fuel management products and are in the business of providing holistic solutions in fuel management systems and is committed to producing products of consistent quality and timely delivery. Aspiration Energy and UCAL after a series of studies, agreed to install it for the vacuum pump line washing machine which perfectly fit our portfolio – with a temperature of 70 C and an actual load of around 7 kW. A brief summary of the demo is given below: Heaters Units Consumption Average Energy Consumption in Heaters per hour = 6.34 kW Daily Units Consumption = 6.34 kW *24 Hours = 152 Units per day Heat pump Units Consumption Average Energy Consumption in Heat Pump = 3.54 kW Daily Units Consumption = 3.54 kW * 24 Hours = 84.96 Units per day Savings Daily Units Savings per day = 157.9 – 84.6 = 73.3 Units Total Units to be saved per month = 67.04 x 26 = 2,413 Units per month (For 2 washing machines units = 4,102 ) Total Cost saving per month = Rs.16,894 per month (Cost Saving = 4,102 x 7 = Rs. 28,714) Investment Heat Pump Investment cost = 6.5 Lakhs (Provision for 2 Washing machines) Return On Investment (ROI) = 22.6 Months Accelerated Depreciation Claim = 40 % year on year for Energy Saving equipment After AD for 3 years ROI = 16.6 months UCAL and Aspiration Energy now plan on to implement this technology to the rest of the washing machines in Maraimalai Nagar and to other plants thorough out India as well. Success stories like these are what drives us towards making a greener and cleaner future.
Footprints Event-5th Edition – Presentation 2: Mr Deepak Kumar Gupta – AGM Facility Operations, DAIMLER
Mr. Deepak Kumar Gupta – AGM Facility Operations, DAIMLER was one among the presenters and his presentation brief is given below. Mr. Deepak started his presentation with a formal introduction about Daimler and its various business divisions. In Tamil Nadu, they have their manufacturing unit in Chennai near Oragadam. His colleague Mr. Arumugam took over the presentation and explained about the energy monitoring activities at their Chennai plant. They have installed about 3.3 MW solar PV plant in their car parking, test track area and in rooftop of warehouse building. Overall 70% of their energy needs come from renewables, in which the above solar system contributes about 15% of it and the remaining comes from other sources like Windmills. As a green initiative, they have planted about 16,000 trees around their factory premises.Their hazardous waste is coprocessed and utilized as an AFR for cement production. As a company, they have a firm Environment Management Programme and they make following actions under it; Optimum A/C operation in the plant using smart controller Optimum operation of chiller systems in the paint unit Auto timer controller for lightings VFD installed after making series of energy audits More than 8 lakh units of power savings achieved Zero liquid discharge unit STP treated water for gardening & toilets Water pond management SCADA based energy monitoring – Energy meter, Water flow meter & Propane flow meter Centralized energy monitoring using sub systems Overall by using the above energy conservation techniques, they were able to conserve 24% of energy, 7% of water, 24% wastewater treatment and 15% propane. Daimler Chennai unit has been awarded with the Golden Peacock Environment Award for their energy conservation practices in their plant facility. Q&A session: It was asked about the payback and maintenance of the solar system they have installed. For which he replied about the payback term and mentioned that top management was also interested in their green initiatives and several such initiatives are in pipeline. Regarding the maintenance it’s only the panel cleaning playing a major role since the plant is located near national highways which forms more dust accumulation on panels. Also, people suggested about floating solar concepts and asked about their waste heat recovery system and he replied that heat recovery system was being used in their paint shop. Click here for the complete details about the event.
Footprints Event-5th Edition – Presentation 1: Mr.T.Jaisankar – General Manager, UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd, Chennai
Footprints showcases and celebrates inspiring stories about individuals and organizations in the manufacturing sector, doing their bit to mitigate the effects of climate change. The 5th event of Footprints was held on Friday, 24th November 2017 in Welcom Hotel, Chennai and the theme of this edition is \”Celebrating Climate Change Mitigation in Manufacturing Industry – Energy Monitoring & Control\”. Click here for the complete details about the event. Mr. Jaishankar.T, – General Manager, UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd, Chennai was one among the presenters and his presentation brief is given below He started with a formal introduction about UCAL and its various products that they contribute to automobile sectors. Their company policy towards energy conservation has two goals (a)Reduction of cost/unit (b)Reduction of unit consumption Due to the interrupted power supply from the grid, UCAL depended more on diesel gensets for their own internal power generation and their generation cost was around Rs 12-13/unit. In order to cut down their power cost from generation, they planned for going to a dedicated feeder and third-party power procurement. He mentioned that they have invested around Rs 45 lakhs for dedicated feeders and they have their payback in 6 months time. Coming to the energy monitoring methodologies followed in UCAL, he mentioned that they have connected SCADA based monitoring and connected energy meters at feeder point, line point and usage point for continuous monitoring. They have used Thyristor controller for their Pressure Die Casting (PDC) electrical furnace (45 kW capacity) to reduce unwanted power consumption. Also, they have built some reservoir with a booster in their dedicated compressor machines which stores compressed air and avoids unnecessary compressor operation. He mentioned about the use of LED lights replacing normal tube lights and use of VFD motors and drives. Overall with the help of these above energy monitoring and control measures in their process plants altogether they were able to save 10.39 lakh units of power and Rs 3.5 crores in a year. Right now they are executing a trial run on Heat Pumps, planning to replace the electrical heaters in their component washing machines, which account to about 600 kW connected load. This Heat Pumps can reduce 40% of their power consumption At last, he mentioned that their company overall energy (power) cost is 5% in 13-14 and their target is to bring it down to 3% in the coming financial year, which is on its way of progress. Q&A Session Questions were raised on their grid power quality for which they have shifted to the dedicated feeder and their measures towards thermal energy monitoring, which he said it yet to be planned. Questions were asked about their individual machine level power monitoring and he mentioned that as of now only PDC furnace was individually monitored since it is the highest power consuming device in the plant and further plans for monitoring is on its way. Also, they are planning to work on SEC of a product in coming future Click here for the complete details about the event.
Footprints – Edition 5 “Energy Monitoring in Manufacturing Industry”
Switching to renewable energy by installing a 3.5 MWp captive solar plant, reducing energy consumption by deploying heat pumps, installing VFDs(Variable Frequency Drives) and even timers to switch off lights during tea breaks(even if the break is only 10 minutes) – ranging from the most obvious to the less obvious, these were some of the key green energy initiatives taken by Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, UCAL Fuel Systems and Brakes India Ltd. The details of these initiatives were presented during the 5th Edition of Footprints, organized by South Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry(SICCI) on 24th November 2017 at Chennai. About Footprints Footprints is a series of events that celebrates Climate Change Mitigation in Manufacturing Industry by providing the stage for the pioneers in the manufacturing industry who are doing their extra bit to protect the environment in whatever way they can. The 1st Edition of Footprints was held in June 2015, with the support of IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship(CIIE), Infuse Ventures, an early stage venture capital(VC) fund and ecosystem focused on sustainability and clean energy sector in India and HSBC Bank. The well-received – one of its kind – Footprints event has since been serving as a platform for exchanging best practices in Climate Change Mitigation initiatives as well as for some great networking among like minded industry professionals. The event has had speakers from industries and academia, like • the Indian subsidiaries of multi-national companies like Saint Gobain Glasses(France), Grundfos(Denmark), Daimler(Germany), • some of the Indian auto majors like Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, component manufacturers like Brakes India Ltd, Wheels India Ltd, UCAL Fuel Systems, • other firms like Chemplast Sanmar, Orchid Pharma and Dharani Sugars, and • IIT Madras. The different Editions of the event have been held in Chennai and Hosur so far. The past Editions of Footprints each had a theme – “Zero Liquid Discharge” and “Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Industry”. 5th Edition of Footprints Peter Drucker’s famous quote “What gets measured gets managed”, is particularly true in effective implementation of Energy Efficiency initiatives, and with today’s advancements in embedded devices technology, falling costs of sensors and associated hardware, and the increasing sophistication of the backend software that collects data and analyses energy usage, real-time energy monitoring of energy usage has the potential to transform industries. Realizing the potential of IoT(Internet of Things) in energy efficiency, companies large and small – from Intel to Altizon – are providing solutions that will help companies not only track their energy usage, but proactive reduce it. While IoT technologies are rapidly improving, what is the reality on the ground? How are manufacturing firms measuring their energy usage and reducing their energy consumption? The organizers of Footprints wanted the industry to address this issue. Hence “Energy Monitoring in Manufacturing Industry” was selected as the theme of the 5th Edition of Footprints. For this event, 3 manufacturing firms shared their experience in reducing their energy consumption by deploying energy monitoring systems and processes. The 3 companies were 1. UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd 2. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd 3. Brakes India Ltd Veteran Journalist, Mr. M. Ramesh, Senior Deputy Editor of The Hindu Businessline moderated the event. The high quality audience included representatives from companies like Royal Enfield, Lucas TVS, Stanadyne, SPIC Group, etc. After the opening remarks by the SICCI Secretary General Dr. S. Raghavan about the event, Mr. Bhoovarahan Thirumalai, CEO of Aspiration Energy, set the tone for the event by providing the context for the theme address and explained how monitoring of energy usage is the first step in saving energy. He highlighted the fact that it is quite difficult for any company to prioritize energy efficiency initiatives since its impact is more on the bottomline, and the tangible impact of these initiatives get visible only over the mid to long term. However, the good news is that despite the constraints, top management of many companies recognize the importance of climate change mitigation and are taking a long-term view in pushing for these initiatives. 1. UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd The first speaker was Mr. Jaishankar T, General Manager, UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd and he explained several initiatives that has led to significant reduction in power consumption. The goal is to reduce 10% power cost every year by reducing power consumption and lowering the unit cost of power. Some of the initiatives in reducing power consumption include -Identifying the fixed and variable loads using Krykod energy monitoring system -Implementing thyristor controls in PDC electrical furnace -Using solar street lights and heat pump -A trial run of Heat Pumps to replace electric washing machines have shown upto 40% savings in electricity consumption. Initiatives that led to lower power cost include -Optimized power utilization to reduce cost per unit in DG -Owning and operating own wind firms in Palladam (Coimbatore Dt) and Muppanthal (Kanyakumari Dt) -3rd party solar power purchase and also installation of solar PV systems in factory premises (Click here to know about UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd presentation) 2. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd The next speaker was Mr. Deepak Kumar Gupta, AGM Utilities, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd India explained how Daimler was one of the pioneers in installing rooftop PV installation in India by installing a 300 kWp project way back in 2013. The size of their captive solar PV project within the factory premises has grown ten-fold since then, and touched a capacity of 3.2 MWp. Daimler has a state of the art SCADA system that captures real-time data at a granular level and can be used to set baseline energy consumption, and assist in continuous improvements in energy efficiency. When it comes to energy savings measures, the company-Uses timer controls in Air conditioners and Lightings and -Has installed VFDs in every motor -Reduction of wastage of compressed air -Waste Heat Recovery initiatives Non-energy related Climate Change Mitigation efforts include -Planting 16,000 trees in the factory premises -Water treatment measures that lead to annual savings of 1.7lakh liters
Blog
Check National Energy Policy focused on Thermal Energy
NITI Aayog\’s Draft National Energy Policy was released recently, providing insight into India\’s agenda for the energy sector. In it, the mention of heat as an energy source is made 11 times, in a total of 99 pages giving a brief glimpse into the ways heating methods can be revolutionized. The following are National Energy Policy statements with regards to industrial heating. • Rural households form the bulk of the problem and need a specialized strategy as their cooking needs are varied, including water heating and fodder preparation. Stacking of fuels is the norm and is acknowledged. Hence, every home will have more than one cooking fuel. (Page 28) • Because oil and gas are generally found jointly, policy discussions often focus on them jointly. Due to several differentiators, including carbon content per unit of heat, more gas availability, and lower cost in calorific terms, today gas is preferred to oil. (Page 34) • Rooftop solar has vast potential across different categories of consumers, both for power generation and supply of heat. It has also been estimated that this technology is already viable for commercial and industrial consumers. (Page 52) • Over and above the grid/off-grid power generation potential, multiple applications of Renewable Energy in domestic, commercial, and industrial segments also need to be encouraged. These applications can address energy demand for water heating, air conditioning, cooking, lighting, pumping, etc., and supplement energy supply. (Page 52) • As Heating operations consume nearly 50% of the energy consumed in the Industry, solar applications have a large opportunity. (Page 52) • This is particularly true of transportation (Electric Vehicles), cooking, agriculture, and industries. Heat is estimated to account for 50% of all energy demand in Industry, and can easily be supplied efficiently by power (preferably through renewable sources) rather than burning solid or liquid fuels. (Page 58) • India is poorly explored for oil and gas and has not optimized its other energy sources, too. New technologies such as gasifying coal at higher depths, tapping the heat value of solar energy, developing hydrogen as a source of energy, are highly relevant to India. (Page 80) • Electricity is the most efficient source of energy for lighting, cooling/heating, and cooking. The Government is committed to supplying all habitations with a 24×7 electricity supply by 2022. (Page 89) • Additionally, there is a need to address the heating requirement of the Industry through clean energy sources, as heat comprises the major share of the Industry’s energy requirement. (Page 91) • This calls for a ‘Heat Strategy’ which will be drafted by NITI Aayog deploying clean energy sources. Similarly, space cooling is likely to emerge as a major energy guzzler, and a dedicated strategy to provide efficient cooling solutions needs to be devised for the country. (Page 91) • Increasing energy efficiency penetration in the Perform, Achieve, and Trade (PAT) scheme to move towards the best available technologies, energy efficiency improvements in the processes of smaller units not under the PAT scheme, and consideration of, and a move towards more disruptive technologies in the major energy-guzzling Iron and Steel (Switch to an electric furnace, Increased gas-based direct reduced iron, Increased electricity from the grid, and Increased Scrap), and Cement sectors (Increased waste heat recovery, Increased electricity from the Grid, and Increased Alternate Fuels and Raw Materials). Since the technology employed in the ambitious pathway considers a shift from solid and liquid hydrocarbons to electricity, the electricity demand in the ambitious pathway is higher than BAU in the industry sector. (Page 100)
Blog
A webinar \”Can you avoid buying a boiler \” was conducted by Aspiration Energy to impart industrial knowledge and at the same time create awareness regarding the necessity of the world to move towards energy efficient methods and sustainability. The webinar addresses alternative approaches to conventional energy based industrial heating methods. Find the link to the full webinar here and the presentation here.