Consulting-Specifying Engineer - December 2008 - (Page A4)

“ We commonly see a payback for a new oven from energy savings alone of from one to four years. When you take into account higher productivity with newer designs, and reduced downtime, the payback can even be shorter. — Paul Branson of Aeroglide Corporation ” Grande also suggests that owners should verify that exhaust and inlet air dampers are set properly. He says, “Over-exhausting is one of the most common culprits, and can easily waste thousands of dollars per year.” Another important step is to clean the burner fuel and air ports to assure they are providing the right mix. Grande recommends adding an inlet air ﬁlter on the combustion inlet air blower. This will help prevent fouling of the combustion air ports. Grande indicates, “Burner ports get dirty after a few months or years in operation and an oven can become 10% to 20% less efﬁcient. that these features are in increasing demand by today’s oven buyers. He notes that over half of new oven buyers at Wisconsin Oven choose the ﬁrm’s E-Pack™ package of energy-saving features on new ovens. Potential of Heat Recovery For many types of ovens, a potential energy efﬁciency solution is heat recovery. Energy recovery systems take waste heat from the oven exhaust and redirect it to heat the oven itself. This approach has been around for some while, but only recently has been offered for ovens in the mid-range temperatures – less than 1000° F. Paul Branson is a senior engineer from Aeroglide Corporation, a manufacturer of ovens for the food industry, and many other industrial applications. He indicates also that veriﬁcation of operating parameters in existing equipment is important. “Owners should check exhaust temperature settings, and oven operating temperatures, especially in conveyor ovens.” In a recent presentation at a Technology and Market Assessment Forum sponsored by the Energy Solutions Center, Branson noted the differences between ovens and driers. “There is some overlap, but driers generally operate at lower temperatures, with higher airﬂow. With both ovens and driers, temperature control for the speciﬁc product is critical, often with varying zones within the drying zone.” Door Switch for Immediate Savings Another valuable recommendation is to add a door limit switch to shut off the heat when the oven door is open. This is one of the quickest payback items since it can save thousands of dollars in energy costs per year, and a limit switch typically costs only a few hundred dollars. According to Grande, even larger energy savings are available by replacing an existing oven with a newer product. Newer ovens, for example, usually are designed with more wall insulation. Grande says, “This makes a big difference by reducing the amount of heat lost through the oven walls and can save up to 15% of the oven operating costs.” Newer ovens typically already have the combustion air ﬁlter and the door limit switch. Grande indicates A8 gastechnology / WINTER 08 WWW.ENERGYSOLUTIONSCENTER.ORG http://WWW.ENERGYSOLUTIONSCENTER.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Consulting-Specifying Engineer - December 2008

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - December 2008 Contents Viewpoint News M/E Roundtable ARC Awards New Construction Gold New Construction Silver New Construction Bronze Renovation Gold Renovation Silver A Green Approach to Air Conditioning Systems Turning Down the Lights Case Study New Products Equipment Lifecycles Advertiser Index Green Space Gas Technology Pure Power Supplement

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - December 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.