Appliance Design - January 2008 - (Page 33)

MOTORS retrofitted. The initial measurement of the original SP motor fans’ input power was 271 W with the two fans combined. Following the retrofit, the power was 88 watts for two fans combined. The average supply voltage throughout the two-week monitoring period was 207.4 V. Overall, the ECM equipped fans used 67 percent less energy. The ability of EC motors to use less energy in applications, which typically consume a lot of energy, is not merely the wave of the future, but it is a technology whose time is already here. Whether driven by regulations or energy costs, manufacturers of commercial refrigeration equipment will continue to pursue more efficient technology even if that technology is initially more expensive. < Service Technology Center (FSTC) in testing for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The testers installed and monitored two GE ECM motors in a walk-in freezer. The motor utilized a permanent magnet, three-phase, brushless DC motor combined with a built-in electronic AC inverter that was used to drive it. The freezer evaporator unit originally came equipped with two shaded-pole 1/15 HP fan motors, but was For more information, enter numbers: Ebm-papst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Or email: sales@us .ebmpapst .com Elco Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Or email: sales@elcomotors .com GE ECM by Regal Beloit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Or email: ecm .marketing@regalbeloit .com Source: Food Service Technology Center 59, for instance, works with three motor control schemes — multiple line voltage inputs, pulse-width-modulation and direct serial interface. Neal says that multiple line voltage input is the easiest way to create multiplespeed equipment without high development costs. For a second discrete speed, a third wire can be added to the conventional two-wire voltage input. VAC control can help manufacturers update existing equipment to meet California Title 20 rules, because it makes ICE 59 a motor-for-motor match to conventional shaded-pole designs, says Neal. The PWM works with existing variablespeed equipment, using the manufacturer’s plug harness to modify motor speed from 500 RPM to 1,800 RPM. Product developers gain access to the motor’s full range of operating speeds, but it comes at the cost of having to develop an external fan controller that can send the PWM signal to the motor. Digital serial interface gives designers access to the built-in intelligence of the ICE 59, including live command processing, real-time speed control, and BlaKBox Diagnostics, a data recorder built into the motor control board. “Interchangeable controls are tremendously important for backwards compatibility with existing products, but it also allows designers to create gradual system redesigns without having to create an entirely new equipment platform, says Neal. “If a designer makes an incremental change to system components, the original ICE 59 motor can accept a different kind of control input or be adjusted to run at a more appropriate speed.” The ability to replace traditional shadedpole motors with more efficient ECM units was confirmed by researchers at the Food www.applianceDESIGN.com For more Information Enter 110 applianceDESIGN AD01084Elco.indd 1 January 2008 33 12/4/07 10:47:09 AM http://www.elcomotors.com http://www.elcomotors.com http://www.appliancedesign.com

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Appliance Design - January 2008 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Makers of Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Turn to Variable-Speed Motors to Improve Energy Efficiency. New Motor Design and Control Scheme Makes Brushless Motors More Economically Feasible for a Wider Range of Applications. External Gas Molding, a Relatively New Technique, Solves Many of the Challenges Associated with the Injection Molding of Large Plastic Parts. Plastic Housings Offer Many Benefits: EMI Protection Isn't One of Them. But, New Materials and Techniques are Solving that Problem. Choosing the Optimal Strategy for Effective EMI Shielding Depends on Both Mechanical and Electrical Requirements Ethernet-Enabled Microcontroller Makes Networking Schemes Easier and More Cost Effective to Implement The Ever-Changing Array of Microcontroller Memory Options Makes it Imperative to Keep Abreast of What's Available to Determine the Optimal Choice for an Application. A Vast Range of Components and Finished Products will be Exhibited at the Country's Preeminent HVAC/R Show, AHR Expo, which is Scheduled for Jan. 22-24 in New York. Advertiser's Index Association Report: PRBA

Appliance Design - January 2008

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