Drives make cost savings as easy as pie

Poole's Pies of Wigan produces 200,000 meat pies a day, as well as 80,000 other puff pastry products.

When the company installed a new production line with spiral freezer, it was an opportune time to look at improving energy efficiency.

For many companies in the food manufacturing sector, refrigeration can account for 70-80% of the electricity bill, so any savings made in this area are likely to be significant.

Installed by Seward Refrigeration, the refrigeration system operates on pumped ammonia refrigerant at an operating temperature of -40°C.

Seward Refrigeration chose ABB drives to run two of the major components in the refrigeration system. The condenser is an evaporative type with the fan controlled by an ABB standard drive. Variable speed operation of the fan gives significant reduction in power, even for a small reduction in speed. For example, a 10% speed reduction gives 30% less energy consumption.

"With variable speed control of the compressor at Poole's Pies we now have the best of both worlds: good efficiency at both part-load and full-load," claims Brian Seward of Seward Refrigeration.

Poole's Pies is now looking forward to an 11% cut in its electricity costs, which is worth over £6,200.

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