PRACTICAL HAND BOOK on ENERGY MONITORING

ENERGY CONSERVATION ENERGY AUDIT &

ENERGY MANAGEMENT

BY

ASHOK SETHURAMAN

BEE ACCREDITED ENERGY AUDITOR

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I place my Sincere Thanks and Appreciation to the Organizations who have enriched us the Energy Auditors with
huge amount of Energy conservation data thro their guide books, Refresher guide and Energy Conservation
Guidelines, Newsletters, Magazines and conservation Tips and Hand books.

1. B.E.E. Bureau of Energy Efficiency, B.E.E. India.

- Guide books to Energy Managers and Energy Auditors,
- Refresher guide to Energy Managers and Energy Auditors.
2. P.C.R.A., India - Petroleum Conservation Research Association, India.
- Energy conservation Tips and Guidelines.
3. IAEMP – Indian Association of Energy Management Professionals
- Technical papers & Activities on Energy Conservation
4. IIPE – Indian Institution of Plant Engineers.
- Technical knowledge sharing thro Plant Engineering News.
5. TECKXPERT Group - Technical Expert Group of Facility Managers, India.
- Knowledge sharing seminars and webinars pan India.
6. ISHRAE – Indian Society of Refrigeration & Air-conditioning Enggrs
- Knowledge sharing seminars and webinars pan India.
7. SEEM – Society of Energy Engineers and Managers, India.
- Knowledge sharing thro Energy Manager Magazines.
8. IGEN – Institution of Green Engineers & GREEN9.ORG, India.
- Energy Efficiency Research Group Activities in SDG 7,9 &13.
9. TECA - Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers Association.
- Electricity conservation, safety, costing Newsletters.
10 SIMA – South India Mills Association.
- Textile Industry related Energy conservation News Bulletins.
11. I.T.F. - Indian Texprenurs Federation.
- Innovative and Fast Acting Energy Conservation & Productivity Improvements.
12. COINDIA – Coimbatore Industrial Infrastructure Association
- Trainings & “Energy Clinic” programs under UNIDO-GEF-BEE project.
 CONTENTS PAGE
CHAPTERS
1. ENERGY-MONITOR YOUR UTILITIES DURING EE REPLACEMENTS 4
2. WHEN CAN YOU CONDUCT ENERGY AUDIT IN YOUR INDUSTRY? 10
3. LEARNINGS FROM THE ENERGY AUDITS TO YOUR INDUSTRY 14
4. PRACTICAL GUIDELINES TO CONDUCT ENERGY AUDITS 26
5. ENERGY MONITORING BY FIELD INSTRUMENTS IN INDUSTRY 34
6. THE MYTHS IN ELECTRICAL POWER METERING 44
7. MONITOR THE INDUSTRY’s T & D ENERGY LOSS 46
8. MACHINE LOAD MONITORING PROMPTS ENERGY OPTIMIZATION 52
9. NEED FOR BASIC ELECTRICITY PARAMETERS MONITORING in BUILDINGS 58
10. PRACTISE ENERGY MODESTY IN BUILDINGS 64
11.INDUSTRY to SPLIT-Match Their UTILITY Workings 76
12. COMPRESSED AIR PARAMETERS’ MONITORING IMPROVES EFFICIENCY 82
13.WALK YOUR TALK ON ENERGY CONSERVATION ON YOUR BLOWERS 90
14. STEAM DRYNESS FRACTION IS A POINTER TO PRODUCTIVITY 96
15. REFERENCES 100
16. ABOUT THE AUTHOR & LINKS TO 4 PUBLISHED ENERGY BOOKS 102

KINDLY GIVE YOUR VALUABLE FEEDBACK & THANK YOU

ashok@energymeasuretosave.com
To buy the Practical Guide on the Energy Conservation & management books online:-
1. https://notionpress.com/read/practical-guide-to-energy-conservation-management/paperback
2. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-conservation-management-in-textile-mills
3. https://notionpress.com/read/conserve-energy-and-restore-productivity-in-machines-by-belts-and- pulley-drives
4. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-monitoring-conservation-practices-in-residential-commercial-buildings

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO
ENERGY ENGINEERS,
ENERGY MANAGERS,
ENERGY AUDITORS & ALL THE
ENERGY CONSERVING PROFESSIONALS.
 1. ENERGY-MONITOR YOUR UTILITIES DURING ENERGY EFFICIENT REPLACEMENTS.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor, Mail to:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

The industry is now replacing the energy efficient utility and auxiliary replacements in their equipments like the motors,
pumps, compressors, and drives etc. During the replacement, the industry goes for apple to apple replacement as supplied
by their machine OEM say a decade back.

This article is a wakeup call to the industry to have in-depth energy analysis of each machine
working in terms of energy consumption at the input, hot spot and output functioning parameters.

Your utility Machine OEM makes thousands of the equipments like that of yours and gives a readymade product only to
your industry. It is your working only to suit this readymade machine to your suit to your process requirements and after
meeting the process demands, you do your best to optimize the energy consumption and improve productivity.

Macro viewing the objective of the Machine Designer and the OEM, they give priority to the safety of their machine first
during the warranty period and also beyond that. So the Designer keeps % safety margin and over-sizes his equipment to
start with. So on an average, up to 20 %, energy saving is possible in your existing utility and auxiliary equipments. As a
decade old user of the machine, you know better about your machine’s loading and usage patterns.

Now you from industry can replace today, the right sized utility to your existing process. Always do not oversize your utility
like the motor, pump, compressor or blower, DG etc. Any utility when running less than 50 % only as loading is losing its
efficiency right from day One, though it may be energy efficient equipment even when you bought today.

WHY ENERGY CONSERVATION IS NEEDED NOW?

Thanks to Resource from Linkedin Postings:- This explains the difference that existing between the
operating pressure and the design pressure. 50 % reading on the normal pressure gauge reading
indicates the gauge is sized rightly. The same approach is applicable to all utility sizing & operating.
 Now the user industry after say a decade of years, have decided to replace this utility. That readymade
utility is not tailor made to this industry, the user is aware. After many years of logging the utility
energy parameters, the user can specify with clarity the size of the new utility like the motor,
pump, compressor or blower for his existing requirements from the process or from the auxiliaries.

 So, the user industry is very much aware that around 20 % energy conservation is possible when the readymade utility
is used at this loading for his given tailor made application set by the Designer. Now the first and foremost thing the
user can do is to achieve the saving out of the 20 % margin between the Design and operation, by optimizing the
equipment’s loading to the process and thereby achieve the energy savings in between.

 After achieving the energy savings in his decade old utility, if further saving is not possible at lower cost, the user plans
for replacing his utility like motor, pump, blower or compressor. So before the replacement procedure is initiated, the
user has to monitor that utility fully before physically removing that from the process connection.
 Whatever your equipments or process consumed excess When the industry loading pattern is less,
energy, this has resulted in excess emission, energy waste, (JIT) Just-in-Time preparatory measures
and the pipelines choked heavily by Excess flow over a
Energy conservation by condition monitoring Route
decade. Hence Focus on your utility replacement, along with is the key to Survival NOW.
connected piping at its suction and delivery to start with.
Energy that is transmitted is obstructed fully or partly to flow either
by the flow process or piping or the wiring connections, then hot spots
result in such locations Hot spot is a symptom of blockage of energy
flow at any given instant of process.

The law of energy conservation indicates to us that Energy that is

inputted to process is going towards output and losses. If the losses
increase in-between the Input & output, then Output drops further.

So the short cut to save energy savings in your given process in the
Electrical and thermal side of energy flow, First optimize your energy
16
input, next is to remove Obstacle in-between and make energy flow
streamlined to reach & cross thro process intermediate stages. 56

EXISTING PRACTICES FOLLOWED BY INDUSTRY, DURING UTILITY REPLACEMENTS:-

MOTOR REPLACEMENT:-

When you have decided to replace the utility equipment like the motor, pump, compressor or blower etc, you call next the
concerned utility OEMs and discuss with them about your energy efficient replacements. You had purchased this utility
from A OEM say a decade back, now you will contact this existing A OEM and other B & C OEMs for the competitive pricing
and based on the L1 pricing your purchase decides on the Low Initial cost of the proposed new energy efficient equipment.

 One industry had done more rewinding in their motors over this decade. So they decided to replace One to One wise.
But after purchasing they found some of their new motors though energy efficient, but are forced to run at less 50 %
loading, here the motor’s running efficiency drops due to poor loading. This existing motor being old got de-rated and
the multiple rewindings had reduced the output to the driven machine all along but not noticed minutely.

So here one to one replacement of new IE3 motor can be done only after ascertaining the loading over the number of
hours it has run on an average. Also you can talk to your machine OEM, whether your production machine can
withstand a size lower than the existing motor’s KW size. The speciality of IE3 motors, (though one size below) is that
they can withstand the starting torque compared to existing IE1 motor. This is a point to be noted while sizing..

 Over the years, you had observed that your old motor had taken 50 % loading only. So you give your user’s feedback to
your original & old OEM and ask him whether you can slightly undersize (slightly to the lower size than the existing). By
this way, you can confirm the right sizing of your proposed new IE 3 motor for the next ten years further.

 By now all the user industries are aware of their compressor motor capacity and its motor is working only at is 1.2 SF,
the service factor. It is prudent to replace say a 75 KW motor to 90 KW motor to achieve energy savings and ensure the
motor’s running safety during this load & unload zigzag cyclic operating cycles. In some industries during the energy
audits, we came across 75 KW motor measured 95 KW at input during run. This is not good for motor in the long run.

BLOWER SUB SYSTEMS REPLACEMENT:-

As per the BEE guide books on Fans and Blowers, the efficiency difference of forward curved centrifugal blower
and that of backward centrifugal curved blower impeller is 18 %. Thousands of forward curved
centrifugal blowers were installed years back; and still used as AHU Air Handling Unit by some AC brands.

 Many of the IE3 motors replaced in the variable torque loads like the centrifugal blowers, axial flow fans, and in the
centrifugal pumps, resulted only in the increase in power consumption after the replacement, due to the IE3 motor’s
RPM increased visibly compared to the old rewound motor. The IE3 motor can be replaced only in conjunction with
VFD retrofit, or the pulley needs to be resized thro cogged belts to match to driven equipment RPM as working before.

In toto, if the above forward curved blowers are replaced with backward curved impellers,
and with IE3 motor, and retrofitted with VFD and the resized pulleys using the cogged belts,
appreciable 20 to 30 % energy savings is possible in existing AHU that were running since a decade.
 Leave alone the HVAC segment; many of the industry blowers still have backward flat faced impellers, working since a
decade. If the same is replaced with backward curved impeller + motor replaced with IE3 motor + VFD retrofitted with
the motor + pulleys are resized to match to cogged belts, this can achieve around 15 % energy savings possible.

COMPARISION of IE VERSION MOTOR STANDARDS Heat Exchangers used in the utility & Auxiliary routinely face
TO IE 3 & PM MOTORS- Courtesy:-ABB motors. ambient air at RH at 50 & 80 %; Hence Kg of water vapor /hr
Your motor at less 50 % loading is a big energy loss. for every 1000 m3/min almost doubles to 45 Kg from 28 Kg.
cyclic & seasonal RH variation in Ambient surrounding
between day and night, season to season cyclic variations.

 Thanks to BEE guidebooks on the compressor air inlet conditions the cyclic RH changes in the surrounding atmospheric
ambient during the day and night, or due to the change of seasons, this is applicable to any type of Heat Exchangers
used in the utility or the Auxiliary. The equipment’s heat exchangers depend on the outside surrounding air’s
temperature and RH to improve its heat transfer and in turn, improve system overall efficiency.

 Assuming any of your industry’s Heat Exchanger is prematurely choked due to dust, dirt and the cyclic RH surroundings,
this will increase your PV process variable’s temperature beyond the limits, and leads to overall energy in-efficiency. So
monitoring the pressure differential and the Temperature Differential across the heat exchangers routinely will help
you to detect the fault timely and not allowing escalating the fault and as well you will have control on its energy flow.

PUMP + CONNECTED PIPING REPLACEMENT:-

 The 5 Star rated pump or higher efficiency pump is replacing the existing inefficient and de-rated pump. But the feed
and delivery pipings have to be looked into for the scaling inside the pipes. If this is not done, then automatically the
replacement will not fetch the user industry, their expected results.

 Also the new pump OEM only does the flow & pressure measurements of the pump to suggest to the user industry to
replace with their pump. Also, the industry can engage neutral Energy Auditor or Energy monitoring service provider to
measure the pump flow, pressure etc measurements to assess the existing efficiency and then call the many EE brand
pump OEMs to conclude on their pump replacement, along with the discussion of connecting piping conditions.

COMPRESSOR REPLACEMENT:-

 Many of the compressor user industries face the problem of elevating their header pressure during full load running of
process. But this is due the compressed air leakages intermittently and continuously happening in the pneumatic sub
systems like poppet type solenoids, actuators, FLR, and other compression pipe fittings.

 Now the industry has to prioritize their leakage % norms to match with their industry segment’s air leakage norms.
After reducing the leakages, then the user has to concentrate on the pressure drops in the compressor house, across
the dryer, across pipeline filters, when the compressor is fully loaded to cater to the process. These heavy pressure
drops more than 1 Bar can be corrected first, before planning to procure higher sized new Energy efficient compressor.

Also the user needs to specifically ask the new compressor OEM what is their package power for the given
CFM output and at what pressure in Bar. Many industries are running their compressors on overloaded
motor because they had purchased 7 Bar compressor to match to say 7 Bar process pressure requirements.

 First assess your compressor generation efficiency by the pump up capacity by yourselves and repeat the same as per
the BEE norms. This will give you a crude indication of efficiency status / drop in your compressed air generation.

 Before planning to buy a new compressor, the user industry can call compressed air flow monitoring service providers
and ask them to take trend reading over a shift and a day of your running process. This will give the Watt per CFM over
 the hour; shift and day’s operation based on cumulative readings of compressed air flow, and totalized KWH readings.
Many industries are contented with instant study or an hour’s study to decide about the future sizing of compressor.

Here the user industry practically does not call the compressed air flow monitoring service provider to measure flow.
But they call the existing OEM, or the other compressor OEMs to study flow; to give their quote for the new
compressor. Instead, before itself they can install header flow meter to know their existing compressor’s efficiency.

 When buying a new compressor, they can plan to procure 8 Bar or 10 Bar compressor to suit to their requirements of
say 6 or 7 Bar. After operating over many years, you will be aware that your compressor is safe & efficient at say
around 75 % loading, instead of ramping the motor load to SF 1.2, this will be the right option. You had overloaded
your compressor motor, all these years, it had reduced your compressor motor’s efficiency and prone to breakdowns.

 Plan for buffer air receiver towards cleaning applications. Many user industries say that due to unscheduled air
cleaning, their compressor heavily fluctuates between load & unload cycle, gets accelerated ageing & de-rating faster.

DG set REPLACEMENT:-

 When you have overloaded your air compressor, you are under loading your DG based on the DG OEM instructions.
Take your 500 KVA Dg set, check your records for the units generated by your genset per hour; the same is averaged
over a month and for a total of 12 months. And what are the Units delivered per Liter of Diesel. It is less only around 3
units per liter on your steady but under-load. You will recollect what your OEM had instructed you.

On your 500 KVA DG set your OEM recommends not to operate your DG about 80 % loading for safety.
Also he recommends you to keep average PF around 0.80. So you are forced to run your 500 KVA DG set
for 320 units per hour maximum and always less than that only. Instead if you have good control of
your APFC during DG running, you can generate up to 360 units per hour and 10 % Diesel saving in UPL.

 Since you needed more loads to be operated by your DG, you plan to increase its size by replacing or adding one more
set. Instead of that, you can load-end PF compensate at your linear motors, and provide DG specific 3 CT APFC with
dual set point, to operate during the DG back at 0.90 lagging PF, and on EB Incoming side at lagging 0.98 PF average.

BOILER REPLACEMENT:-

 In the case of boiler utility, it is a CAPEX budget, which comes in at the start of the project commissioning. So the
industry owner or the management anticipates the future growth of the company in another five years from now. So
instead of buying 2.0 TON Boiler where the load will be around two thirds, the Management procures 4.0 TON boiler in
anticipatory thinking of future use of the boiler. So on this new 4 Ton boiler the loading is around 40 % only now.

Any of the old Boiler run below 50 % loading, runs with poor efficiency and the day to day fuel loss
is eroding the thermal side of OPM Operating Profit Margins in the boiler operated industry.

 They could have gone for 2.0 TON Boiler to start with and may be during their expansion planned after few years, they
can replace with higher Ton boiler, as well they can sell their old boiler to the needed industry during their upgrade.

TRANSFORMER REPLACEMENT:-

 The utilities can be classified in two ways as Active and Passive utility. The utility like the transformer is passive and is
more of a conductor to the energy flow from HT to the LT side. So the conductors have to be bigger in size and the
Rotating parts or the motive loads have to be smaller in size. This is similar to our roads that need to be broader width
and the vehicles need to narrower width for better and smooth streamlined road traffic.

 So the utility like the transformer replacement has to be given a serious thought and field monitoring over months can
only facilitate the user to select the right sized transformer, considering his mix of linear and non linear loads prevailing
now. That is why transformer loading at around 50 % is the Best Efficiency Point or Range for the transformer.

So before sizing the new transformer, the industries have to focus on their load end PF compensation to the 5 HP and
above motor loads. Demarcate in the SSB, the linear and non-linear loads; provide Detuned RCC capacitors at the SSB
of VFD Incoming, Sized Line choke at VFD Incoming to locate at VFD itself (this is called House Arresting the Harmonics
at Source). Before replacement, take all the steps to reduce the KVA demand from the field and reduce the Line Losses.
 So reducing the electrical distribution losses end-to-end from the Power House to the tail end of the plant is the first
step after proper monitoring at each stage for months and arrive at the sizing of the new transformer.

ENERGY MONITORING DURING UTILITY REPLACEMENTS:-

 One of the low cost & affordable monitoring of say Rs.3000/- is towards 3 phase 4 wire KWH meter + Run hour meter
costing Rs.400/- only. The above decision on sizing of your new motor can be made only by your energy monitoring of
your existing motor for a month at least to say 3 months monitoring before the replacement.

 Also you can hook up the run hour meter for the motor to be replaced, so that you know how many hours that motor
had been running and the cumulative KWh consumed, so as to indicate the Units per Hour UPH, and confirm the
average loading of the motor in these 3 months.

 Slightly a costly solution is 3 phase 4 wire Multi function meter, to know the cumulative, KWH, KVAH & KVARH along
with instantaneous values of basic parameters like Volts, Amps, Hz etc. + run hour meter, now some brands have
already brought out this run hour meter built in this KWH meter or with the Multi Function meters.

 In industry that is already having EnMS system, you can add this motor input energy parameters’ trends on 3 phase
Amps, volts, KW, KVA for your existing motor and study that of the old and new motor and their RPMs like this as well.

 As far as the motor is concerned many metering brands have come up with Portable Motor Efficiency Analyser, Motor
Current Signature Analysis tool etc. This can be used on hiring basis as well to know your existing motors’ efficiencies.

IOT BASED ANALYTICAL TOOLS WILL DETERMINE YOUR UTILITY EFFICIENCY:-

 Thanks to the IOT based trend analysis of any utility or auxiliary or even the production machine the user industry can
opt for this specially made IOT based analytical portable tool and hook the same to the existing utility like motor, pump
or blower or compressor.

IOT based analytics in the process or utility efficiency monitoring is still in the nascent stage. Suggest user industry
can immediately contact IOT analyst now to study the input & output parameters of existing and proposed utility.

 IOT based analytical tool on the compressor can measure the compressor package’s input KWH etc parameters as said
before. Then on the output side, it can measure compressed air header flow meter, air intake temperature, compressor
discharge pressure and discharge temperature before and after the post air cooler built in the hood, air intake filter’s
Delta Pressure differential, compressor RPM, compressor run hours, load and unload hours.

 Next, the compressor’s Oil injection element’s pressure and temperature, Air end element temperature. The above can
be made instantly available on the mimic panel or many of the above parameters can be trended over a shift or a day,
to arrive at the running daily compressor efficiency.

 Compressors’ discharge temperatures before and after the post air cooler indicates the cooler’s efficiency. Also the
pressure drop across air intake filter during full delivery of compressor indicates the flow starvation during peak
output, zig zag fluctuations in the compressed air flow and the input KW variations, all point to scope for saving.

 IOT based analytical tool on the blower, can measure the motor input KWH parameters, motor RPM, blower RPM, the
blower output in static pressure in Pascal for the given volume of flow, or both the static pressure and the flow of the
medium using the flow transducer, flowing medium’s temperature. This will give the blower’s static efficiency over a
shift or a day etc duration for the existing and new blowers.

 IOT based analytical tool on the pump can measure the pump KW, suction pressure, delivery pressure of the pump, the
pressure differential across the suction filter / strainer, the fluid temperature, the fluid’s discharge flow rate, all the
above are the factors to determine the pump efficiency of your existing old pump and the new pump. Also the pressure
differential at the end-to-end of the piping at the Suction side, and at the Delivery side to the feed line to the header.
Any turbulence or fluctuations in the measurements indicate the scope for energy saving in pump, indirectly as well.

 IOT based Analytical tool for boiler sub systems, can measure feed water tank level, temperature, steam discharge
pressure and temperature, make up water temperature & flow, feed water temperature & flow, flue gas temperature
 etc This will help the user industry to monitor the energy losses happening in the boiler sub systems. This tool can
alone, or work along with the Boiler Efficiency Monitor given by the boiler & metering brands in the market now.

Macro-viewing the utilities like the motors, compressors, blowers, pumps, boilers and DG sets, we understand from
the hundreds of energy audits we had done since a decade, the each of the above utility loading at 70 % is the Best
Efficiency band so that the user industry will get the optimum and energy efficient performance from that utility.

CONCLUSION:-

 It is suggested once you have decided to replace your say, decade old equipment, study the root cause analysis of the
equipment’s accelerated ageing and de-rating. Out of the batch of machines, why some of your machines are prone to
frequent failure and breakdowns? Gone are the years, where you plan to run your old utility to the full load possible
to cater to the production? Now the prevailing trend is that utility size needs to be 50 % more than running loading.

 Is it due to location constraints or due the starved auxiliary like the cooling water, compressed air etc to the
equipment, which paved the way prematurely towards its breakdown. During the replacement, we have to analyze this
before the replacement, and if any reason due to poor maintenance or location & orientation disadvantage, at least
the same can be corrected during the arrival of the new equipment.

 Always the trended energy monitoring on the equipment over months either thro log book or thro EnMS Historic Trend
Assignments of the given equipment will prompt you to go for retrofit, revamping or the replacement to sort out the
field related energy flow programs thro the equipment. Energy Auditing measurements by the Auditors are more or
less instantaneous, will not be able to accurately predict the nature of problem in the existing equipment. This energy
audit observations + your trended readings can give a direction to you, how to go about in proposed replacements.

In general, BEE always insists of monitoring energy parameters so as to target its reduction. So this condition
monitoring approach using the monitoring of direct energy parameters like KWH, Fuel, Diesel, Steam etc and indirect
energy related parameters based on the process variables like the pressure, temperature, level, flow etc.

Pleased to share the practical case studies and practices in

Energy conservation in Industry, Textile & Buildings.

1. To buy the above books online:- https://notionpress.com/read/practical-guide-to-

energy-conservation-management/paperback
2. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-conservation-management-in-textile-mills
3. https://notionpress.com/read/conserve-energy-and-restore-productivity-in-
machines-by-belts-and- pulley-drives
4. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-monitoring-conservation-practices-in-
residential-commercial-buildings
5. Kindly give your valuable feedback mail to:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com 30

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 2. WHEN CAN YOU CONDUCT ENERGY AUDIT IN YOUR INDUSTRY?

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor, Coimbatore

Many industries have not conducted energy audits for more than a decade. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency BEE always
mandates that the industry under the PAT scheme must conduct energy audit mandatorily once in three years on a rolling
PAT cycle. The same yard stick of conducting the mandatory energy audit needs to be deployed to each and every HT
Electricity consumers spread in all the States of India.

When the prevailing Electricity tariff is getting revised, it is better to plan for your energy audit once in three year cycle.
Many group industries, Medium scale industries are talking about the energy audit since many years over a decade, but
they don’t’ come to conclusion; on why they should conduct energy audit which they feel it is a namesake liability exercise
always. Your industry needs to come out of this mindset that your machines are working energy efficiently since a decade.

WHY THE INDUSTRIES ARE NOT CONDUCTING THIS ENERGY AUDIT ONCE IN THREE YEARS?

The industries are not interested to conduct the energy audit because they feel it is waste of exercise and it is a waste of
expenditure now for them to conduct this exercise. They think that their equipments are working healthily since many
years, and this audit will not bring in energy efficiency improvements in their equipments.

So the Government thro the Power Ministry has to mandate this 3 year PAT rolling cycle Energy Audit and
enforce this MEA, the Mandatory Energy Audit to each and every HT consumer across all the States in India.
If this is not enforced or thrusted on the industries, they will not conduct this energy audit in their industries.

The industry takes on ISO certification, and is confident of their Best Operating Practices compared to their peers in their
segment. So they are in no mood to conduct energy audit, unless demanded the ISO Auditors from respective segment.

Referring the Annual company report of listed companies, the REAL energy conservation done in each year has to be listed
by each industry’s annual report. This ENCON statement needs to show the year to year reduction of energy consumed by
the company. Many industries have simply listed their ENCON measures in general like LED replacement or compressed air
leakage arresting etc. This needs to be verified & signed by the external BEE certified Auditors every year as part of report.

Why the above is said here because, the whole country is aware of the coal crisis and the electricity supply &demand
volatile situation. This enforced energy conservation thro energy audit route will reduce the gap between electricity
supply & demand, and each and every HT consumer company can target 5 to 10 % electricity savings now.

Many of the big industries attend the BEE’s MSME cluster training programs and since they get an idea about the energy
conservation measures, they think that they are getting updated with the ENCON latest technologies prevailing in the
market and that there is no need for them to initiate the energy audit for their industry.

The cluster initiatives give only the direction to the LT service type Electricity consumers and motivate the MSME to jump
into the robust and proven energy conservation measures, gadget retrofits like the LED tube light, BLDC fans etc. But the
big industries in the given industry segment, they have to take pioneering initiatives to dig out the energy losses in their
industry thro their energy audit & conservation program. Also they have to showcase their case studies to the others here.

BEE’s training programs to the cluster or to the big industries should have more sessions from the big industries how they
had achieved their energy savings practically and this trend needs to be encouraged. When buying a gadget from e-
commerce site, we first look into the users’ reviews and then only conclude to buy and use for ourselves.

In some industry segments, the buyers insist that your industry must conduct energy audit to bring down your energy
consumption on electricity and other thermal fuels & water etc. Otherwise this can be done to please the MNC buyer only.

Your industry would have purchased the latest energy efficient equipments say 10 years back and at that time that was the
latest. Here the energy efficiency of that equipment will not be the same after 5 or 10 years during its lifetime. Also you
don’t spend much on its running consumables in time, over its life. So equipment gets de-rated or its efficiency is reduced.

Some industries delay the replacement of the oil, filters etc either in time based interval or based even on its existing
condition. So, after delayed-replacements were done, the equipments’ health detoriates and results in the overall
equipment inefficiency and the same is measured by the energy monitoring done by the industry on each equipment.

Some industries find their power to production % costing is meagre say around 5 %. Also for them, their sale cost is double
that of their production cost. So their management does not care about energy conservation. Even if your energy
consumption is negligible, still you need to conduct energy audit to ensure the safe loading, your power consumption is
okay & within norms, and smooth running of your machines need to come along with you in your growth, for many years.

This can be identified either by your internal audit or by the external energy auditors. Some macro level analysis is
possible when you are allowing the third party inspection by this energy audit to assess your equipments.

First you must believe that some of your age old utilities when replaced will give you, say 20 to 40 % energy savings. Then
only you can convince your management and get the audit done and work in team with your Auditor to achieve savings.

PRIORITIZE YOUR AUDIT FIRST BEFORE EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT:-

But this article is not canvassing about the energy audits. If your industry has decided to conduct energy audit, what are
the preliminary steps to be taken by your team before conducting the energy audit? Also use this energy audit as a tool
to take your decisions of energy efficiency equipments replacement in the production and in the utility machines.

Your industry feels now that energy efficient replacement in your equipments is badly needed to survive in the market and
so as to improve your OPM, the Operating Profit Margins. This utility or auxiliary sub systems include compressor, blower,
pump, and cooling tower etc machines that need immediate attention to optimize first and if not possible to replace the
same. So first conduct energy audit so as to get a route map to energy conservation first and later the efficient replacement

MOTOR REPLACEMENT BY IE2, IE3 MOTORS REPLACEMENT:-

You are aware that your industry is running with multiple-times-rewounded motors since decade.
So before replacing to the IE2, IE3 type motors, it is prudent to do energy audit and conservation in the
existing motors and machines, to know where you stand in the process of energy efficient motor replacements.

Taking the case of one industry, they have just planned now for energy audit after talking to the Energy Auditor. But, before
starting the energy audit program, the industry management discussed with the motor OEMs and went ahead to
implement their energy efficient motors replacement, under the Shared Savings Scheme.

Your Motor – when its Self-Loss is more over years, then you must treat it as a Consumable only.
What happened during the energy audit conducted after is that, the energy monitoring study of those motors & machines
yielded lot of inputs to the industry about the deviations in motor sizes needed to be replaced as EE motor.

The energy audit findings yielded motor sizing can be one step smaller in some of the cases,
to have motor loading of say 70 % (between 55 to 95% band), and motor size to be increased in case of compressor.

Many of their high capacity motors are coupled thro belts and pulleys to run their centrifugal blower systems. Backward
curved centrifugal blower is a variable torque load, they had replaced their existing heavy power rated Vee Belts in multiple
times over many years; to sit on those worned-out pulleys. This was also consuming power excessively. After retrofitting
the VFD and re-sized pulleys on motor and blower and changing over to the raw cogged belts, they found around 10 to 20 %
electricity savings in their blowers. In some blowers, the old impellers were not energy efficient, needed replacement.

Removal of your Technical Barriers & ENERGY CONSERVATION IS IN YOUR HANDS

update your Energy conservation plans Annually.
• There are two kinds of employees in your industry.

• First stage to measure the Macro SPC of the industry • Some believe they can make things happen,

• II stage to measure in the micro SPC of equipments • and others believe that things happen to them.

• The first group believes that the outcome of Energy

• Measure First & then to Minimize Energy consumption.
conservation works is more or less in their own hands
• We need both the Macro & Micro SPC as a tool to show
• The other group takes wait and watch approach: -
the industry is healthy and to catalyze the to go how fast &
• They sit & wait for bus to take them somewhere slowly.
quick for Energy Efficient retrofits / changes in equipments.
2:37:54 PM 1 Now
• 9:20:08 PM Decide where & how fast you can save our energy
2

So the industry felt that they could have opted for lesser capacity motor for their existing loading after achieving the energy
savings in their existing motors and further take up the replacement program as mentioned above.

After the energy conservation done after the energy audit in those motors & machines,
good number of motors are over-sized for the given applications and running around 50 %
loading only as the average loading KWH versus run hour recordings seen in the new EE motors.
At this juncture, their industry management observed our findings and felt that our energy audit team should have visited
their premises before the motor replacement exercise and completed the energy audit before itself.

This Energy audit finding could have enabled them to choose the right & the correct new EE motor sizing & type of
motors. They felt that motor procurement is part of CAPEX and done say once in 10 to 15 years on their motor inventory.

ENERGY EFFICIENT COMPRESSORS REPLACEMENT:-

Your industry is having already say, more than 30 % compressed air leakages still to be attended to. Since the leakages are
more than the norms, you have raised the compressed air header pressure to accommodate the air leakages and so as to
run the pneumatic equipments with sufficient compressed air pressure.

The first and foremost step needed by you today to your plant is to correct the compressed air leakages and then assess
your compressed air generation efficiency. So you call the energy efficient compressor OEMs around you and ask them to
give the replacement solution of EE compressor replacement of say 160 Watts per CFM at 7 Bar pressure.

Your industry had 2 no of 75 KW /100 HP screw air compressor rated 500 CFM each but struggling to meet the air demand
from the process. So the compressor OEM suggests you to replace with 160 KW screw air compressor giving rated delivery
of 1100 CFM at 7 Bar. So you went ahead with the replacement and now compressed air supply demand problems did not
arise, and it is smooth now. Hence you are satisfied with the compressed air workings in this case now.

Your management is asking you to conduct the energy audit in your premises covering production and the utilities. After
conducting the energy audit, the Auditor says okay with the new compressed air SEC, Specific energy consumption is
around 160 Watts per CFM,

But the Auditor questions why your compressed air consumption is around 6 % of the total plant electricity consumption
when the best operating peers in your segment have around 3 % only as compressed air consumption.

So again you work with the Auditor as team and take immediate steps to reduce the compressed air leakages, to reduce the
pressure drops from end-to-end due to choked pipe line filters, go for energy efficient COANDA type air guns for cleaning
application, fix a Buffer1000 liter air receiver towards the cleaning application, that too fed forward by the pipeline air
pressure regulator so that cleaning receiver feeds only 5 Bar always to the cleaning applications.

Energy consumption and Conservation pattern Varies from Safe & Best operating practices Automatically yield
machine to machine and industry to industry. What suits to Energy savings along with machines’ health.
one consumer may not suit next consumer.  Thinking & Acting on Conservation Measures catalyzes
Horizontal deployment thro cluster program will give you our social responsibility, caring for others
the direction only. Instead of being smart, let us be WISE to
and sacrificing our selfish comforts.
conduct OUR energy audit and conserve of our OWN.
 When we are safe and healthy, conservation prevails. If
safety fails, conservation fails and Pollution starts.

 The Good Things & Bad Things happen to us because of

us & our Actions Only and others can only Catalyze.

 So Cultivate good House Keeping Habits to visualize &

reduce Internal Invisible Losses than showing to others
2:39:50 PM 3 2:40:20 PM that we reduced the visible losses externally. 4

More than this, your auditor insists you to install header air flow meter at an affordable cost, and he says this will be daily
monitored to maintain your plant’s required CFM daily, daily compressed air KWH consumption and compressed air
consumed optimumly with no wild deviations which may occur due to leakages. After implementing zero and low cost
energy conservation measures, air demand dropped from 1000 CFM to 600 CFM at 6.5 Bar at compressed air header now.

Now your management is questioning you why did you buy the oversized compressor almost double the size of the
existing compressed air requirement, when your requirement / demand can be reduced from the plant machines?

So your energy audit program can be prioritized before your compressor replacement. After energy auditing and
implementing the ENCON measures in distribution and usage, then plan to go for optimum size compressor replacement.

OPTIMIZING THE CENTRIFUGAL BLOWERS BEFORE REPLACEMENT:-

Many of your industries decide to replace by increasing your centrifugal blower capacity as the main waste collection
blowers, since you had added more machines in their blower’s common suction now. But your industries have not
measured the static pressure in Pascal variations with respect to the norms, at each of your machine.

When we went for energy audit in an industry, they had upgraded from 45 KW to 55 KW centrifugal blower just an year
back to cater to the new additional machines. They said their new Energy Efficient blower consumed only 42 KW when the
old blower was running at 46 KW at the full load but with more leakages in the machines.

Let us say you have 10 machines are feeding suction to this blower system, so measure the Pascal at the each machine end
after the primary and secondary filters, duct pressure drops etc. During the audit, we found more than 900 Pascal static
pressure drop across the end-to-end in between some of the machines and the blower. We told the user to check for
suction leakages in those machines, and after correcting all the leakages the pressure drop came down from 900 to 600
Pascal, the blower was consuming 38 KW after the leakages correction now in their new blower system.

After the audit study, we suggested them to retrofit VFD and resize the pulleys to the new sets of cogged belts so as to
operate at a lesser HZ than what is running now. After this conversion exercise, the blower consumes only 33 KW running
over a month now with this VFD setting at lower Hz + resized pulleys and cogged belt system.

The mechanical maintenance after observing this reduced KW and sustaining over a month, asked us whether they could
have run with their old blower rated 45 KW itself after correcting the leakages and resizing & retrofitting etc as above.

Energy auditing your premises especially in the waste collection blowers, will show you the energy losses at the motor, at
the belts, at the blower, at the distribution ducts, leakages inside the machines, and help you to optimize your Pascal at the
machine end for the given existing blower and later only if not possible, you can think of raising your blower capacity.

Energy Conservation Practices to be adopted by all Energy conservation is a Low Hanging Fruit now.
departments in your industry, it is common to all. If left un-plucked now, this will silently eat your
operating profit margins now, and soon & later too.
• Procure energy at lowest possible price
• Manage energy use at highest energy efficiency • So you are running your equipments with this higher
• Reusing and recycling energy from the process stream. energy consumption for many years till date.
• Select Optimum investment technology to meet present • Hence your plant equipments are over-loaded than
requirement and environment condition optimum loading and they get de-rated over years.
• Make use of wastes generated within the plant as sources of • Now to prolong the health of your old equipments, you
energy or sell it outside to whom it is a resource. have to optimize your process flow & energy flow as well.
• reducing component of purchased fuels and bills •If your Power & Fuel Bill is in Rs 100 Lakhs per year,
• Condition monitor your energy consumption with the your • you could save 10% thro better energy saving practices
peers in the segment. • ASK YOURSELF
• Productivity to compare others’ production workings •How much your product to sell to earn Rs.10 Lakhs year
• Utilities energy consumption to others’ utility & norms.
•This 10 Lakh Rs is within your premises as embedded
energy loss inside your industry & recover same, annually.
7

It is not only for the high capacity blowers, but hundreds of small 5 HP blowers are used in thousands of textile industries in
each region of India. In fact, many textile industries keep this different size of Pneumafil impellers as active spare and based
on the routine product requirements, they swap the impeller. The Fan OEM makes a standard size impeller to suit to all the
industries for the given 5 HP size, but the OEM is supposed to give the Fan spec and its efficiency details to the industry.

After purchasing the fan along with the equipment as its auxiliary, the industry checks the static Pascal end to end for their
existing fan, and if found more for the given process, they just replace with the reduced fan dia impeller. So first, you have
to optimize your fan impeller size to your running process and then only plan to replace your existing multiple times
rewounded motor, there may be scope for reducing your new IE3 motor sizing.

After changing the motor to the new IE3 motor, your industry conducts the energy audit and the auditor gives you the
suggestion to replace with reduced dia energy efficient multi-vaned impeller. Impeller Dia reduction gives appreciable
energy savings and optimize your fan impeller to suit to the process demand first.

Here in this case, the new IE3 fan was consuming around 60 % of the rated KW with the old impeller and with the new EE
impeller, the loading dropped to 40 %. Now your new EE fan’s efficiency droops heavily below 50 % motor loading.

Here, Energy auditing and conservation at the load side to be first done in your industry and then only you can plan for
replacement of the prime mover motor to IE 3 motor. Your motor’s load side reduction or optimization gives much energy
savings to you, than the energy savings that achieve in your IE 3 motor replacement.

Definitely your decade old motor needs quick replacement to IE2, IE3 version motor,
but first focus on your load side management first and replace your hundreds of motors.
OPTIMIZING THE AXIAL FLOW FANS BEFORE REPLACEMENT:-

The same problem is happening in the many sets of supply and exhaust axial flow fans used in the industries. The industries
purchased gravity die casted Aluminum fan sets decades back, but they did not have the Fan Performance curve for the
fans and as well the Fan’s static efficiency was not told to them by the Fan OEM. So many industries assumed their fan
efficiency is good since the installation done decade back and opted for changing the fan motors only for replacement.

So first you ascertain your fan’s efficiency before going for its motor replacement. During the energy audit we came across
11 KW rated decade old axial flow fan with new motor was consuming around 7 KW. This fan did not have Fan Performance
curve and the efficiency data / name plate data was not available with the plant Engineers.

Hence this industry could lay their hands on their motor only and replaced the motor. The old motor
was consuming around 7.50 KW and on replacement to the new IE3 motor the same loading was consuming
only 7.0 KW. The industry was satisfied with the % energy savings achieved with the new motor.

After this bulk motors replacement program in their industry, they conducted energy audit. The energy auditor assessed
the impeller efficiency after taking record of fan in CMH and its Static Pascal end to end from the fan end to the premises
end. They compared this fan’s efficiency with that of the similar industries they had already audited previously.

Since they checked to find the existing fan efficiency was around 50 % only, they suggested this industry to replace with
Aerodynamic profiled energy efficient fan impeller and to procure the new fan impeller along with its Fan Performance
curve and specs. The industry found that the new fan’s efficiency was 65 % and hence on replacement of the new EE
impeller on the old fan mounting, and this exercise gave them appreciable energy savings with a payback of few months.

Now the industry observed their motor loading dropped to less than 50 %, they felt they could have opted for 9.3 KW
rating instead of the 1:1 replacement done recently. Any new IE3 motor when operated at 55 to 95 % loading only will
run at optimum energy losses. When motor loading drops to below 50 %, then even new motor’s efficiency also drops.

OPTIMIZING YOUR PUMP BEFORE REPLACEMENT:-

Your pump meant for TFH (Thermic Fluid Heater) oil circulation to your dryer system is focused here. The pump name plate
shows that the delivery head range is 27 to 35 meters and the Best Efficient point is 30 meters. You were running this pump
at more than 4.0 Bar pressure since many years. Now the replacement scheme for motor and pumps etc has been deployed
in many industry segments, you decide to replace with the higher Head rated energy efficient pump.

VFD is needed to any machine, especially with variable loading for the variable torque load. Upto10 % speed reduction is
normally done gives 27 % power savings. And upto 20 % speed reduction may give 48 % power savings, but this reduces
the static pressure by 36 % from its rated static. So too much RPM reduction is not right way of the Energy conservation,
but to change to the lower sized machine and operate the machine at 70 % loading is better, generally said.

Now after all the replacements done on pumps and motors, you are conducting the energy audit now. Thermal imaging of
the TFH insulated lines, the valves and fittings showed there was heavy deposit of carbonized particles across the NRV at
the header. After clearing the same, the pressure also dropped to less than 3 Bar delivery and the Thermic Fluid oil
circulation improved resulting in the better heat transfer inside the dryer. So your auditor had to recommend VFD here.

VFD proposal to an oversized pump so as to optimize the delivery pressure is energy saving only but still it is a damage
control exercise only that is meant to match the pump rating capacity to operating delivery parameters required here.

Either conduct internal audit or organize external energy audit first before any replacement of pumps. In some industries
the pump replacement solves only half their problem. The feed piping and the piping starting from the delivery flange of
the pump acts as RO Reduction orifice to throttle the flow initially and thus makes the liquid delivery flow turbulent.

So first provide suction and delivery pressure gauges or transducers to monitor & record the pump suction and
delivery pressures. Then conduct the energy audit and share your inputs on the above process parameters. Energy audit
on pumps without monitoring suction and delivery pressures will not give accurate energy conservation proposals.

POINTERS TO THE BEE, under the Ministry of POWER:-

Many thousands of Energy Managers & Auditors are available across the country thanks the BEE certification exams from
2004 and in the past two decades, we have to look into the total numbers of the companies that had conducted energy
audits by the BEE certified Energy Professionals and how many companies have repeated this energy audit to conserve their
energy, year after year over the two decade years?
When BEE had certified so many thousands of Energy Managers and Energy Auditors since 2004, what is the use of the
same to industry and to the Nation? Has the industry fully explored the potential of Energy Auditors still?

The BEE certified Energy Managers are not absorbed by many of the Designated Consumers even today as on 2022. For the
PAT cycle to be more effective today, many DCs can have full time BEE certified Energy Managers. They have to ensure that
their in-house energy conservation records are monitored, & focus on the energy action plans further.

BEE has certified the Energy Manager and Energy Auditor, but the EA are not able to practice since two decades as a
profession. The EA have to canvas for the energy audit like marketing the product and the industry is asking the Auditor
what is the commitment he can give as Fruitful proposals to their industry before he enters the industry premises?

As the energy audit programs in the industry are not enforced by the BEE under the Ministry of Power and hence the
Industries are also not willing to take the energy audit voluntarily. So after two decades of the Energy Act since 2002,
contribution can be much more from the Small, Medium, & Large Scale Enterprises towards % achieved energy savings?

And the same is accounted in terms of the number of industries, the % of energy savings achieved by them and so much
had contributed to the National Energy Scenario over these twenty years. The % energy savings can see a quantum jump if
the Energy Auditors are looped into the industry’s energy audit & conservation targets, at least now.

Here we the CEM / CEA / AEA Energy Professional members must admit that we are all together now
and we are able to speak about the energy conservation theory and practices learnt thro the
BEE exams and the BEE Refresher courses. And special thanks to the BEE that has equipped all of us.
But what is learnt by the EA, is not put to use by him, because the industry does not recognize him.

And it is a pitiable condition for the many thousands of the Energy Auditors, who were equipped with Energy Efficiency
knowledge and Practising techniques, but cannot perform the energy audit, since the industry is not able to decide on the
energy audit for many years. Many Energy Auditors after certification at the peak of their career, are idling for decades till
now because the industry is not told by the each state BEE SDA to call the Energy Auditors for their energy audits.

When four States in India, made this Energy Audit as compulsory and gave a push to the industries in their States, why
not the BEE under the Ministry of Power horizontally deploy this to all the States in India, as this will benefit the
individual State’s energy efficiency index and the States will toe in line with the BEE norms, directives and regulations.

Every citizen is aware that typical of any Indian, the industries are used to accept and implement only mandatory
requirements like to avoid PF penalty & Harmonics Penalty in Electrical Distribution, to support the National Electricity Grid.

BEE can sync with the CEA, the Central Electrical Authority and BEE can insist now thro SDA to all HT consumers spread
across all the States that they should conduct their energy audits atleast once in three years otherwise BEE SDA should
say that they have to put penalty to industry that are not taking up the energy audits over every three year rolling cycle.

BEE is doing an excellent job in the Energy Conservation propaganda thro the training programs and videos, cluster
programs in the MSME. But what is the use of educating the industry by soft pedaling the issue? When is this strict warning
be given to the industry to compulsorily conduct energy audit and conservation and the same industry must report back to
the Local BEE SDA what have they implemented energy savings in their industry annually to reduce energy consumption?

CONCLUSION:-
So when you have made up your mind to replace some of your utility equipments like compressor,
pump, and blower or even motor, it is better to conduct energy audit by the
BEE certified Energy Auditor to be specific on that utility or the total utilities or your total plant.

Your Energy Auditor will give your management the zero / low / high cost proposals to conserve your consumption. If your
equipment is really inefficient, very old and de-rated and not able to run even less efficiently, then the Auditor will suggest
you for the replacement. Also you can ask your Auditor whether energy efficient utility to be replaced shortly. Accordingly
he will focus more on the energy efficient utility replacement as well; apart from his existing energy monitoring practice of
detecting the energy losses in the running of your existing equipments.

Because industry also knows it is only voluntary service, they can run their industry without energy auditing for decades.
It means that BEE directions towards the energy efficiency needs to reach the industry still, otherwise the most of
industries would have followed the BEE norms to make themselves energy efficient first, next for the benefit of nation.
 Industry improve on its energy performance only if it
conducts energy audits routinely and implements
Energy conservation measures annually & religiously.

• our energy costs have decreased, year to year?

• our energy efficiency has increased annually?

•our emissions of C02 have decreased annually?

•our consumption of fossil fuels has decreased annually ?

•Generation from the Renewable energy increased ?

6
Investing
• 3:23:47 PM
done in clean, energy-efficient technologies 5?

Energy Education to the industry is Half done in the Energy conservation, that is the saying.
But the same energy education by itself will not reduce the energy losses fully in your industry.

Knowledgeable energy professionals are there in your industry maintenance, but that is not enough to reduce your energy
losses. Your industry management’s initiative and the commitment must be there to implement your energy conservation
measures. That too, this will be half-done only by your internal audit based energy conservation routines.

Even though the energy saving knowledge is there in your industry maintenance, you have to team up with the energy
auditor to conduct the audit to generate ENCON proposals and implement them in your premises on weighted priority.
You need the expertise of Energy Auditor to get the direction & priority of implementing your ENCON proposal listing.

If you want to conserve energy positively and effectively in your premises, it is better to engage the Energy Auditor shortly.
Many industries talk about the energy audit since many years, but it did not walk their talk. Though they are aware, they
could not conclude their proposals to concrete their Energy conservation results. Suddenly your management wakes up to
look at your energy losses thro magnifying glasses, and then your energy conservation will happen thro energy audit route.
That is why always it is said, that the industry management must take quick decision on energy audit and initiate this early.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 3. LEARNINGS FROM THE ENERGY AUDITS TO YOUR INDUSTRY
Er. ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor, Coimbatore.

Energy auditing in the industry is sustainable only when the industry feels the energy audit brings out the energy losses in
their industry and this practice helps to restore or improve the productivity. This service cannot be canvassed by the energy
auditor and only when the industry feels that there could be energy losses in their premises in the production and utility, this
can be done successfully with positive outcomes.

Talking about the energy audit & conservation for many years is the thing of the past. It is time now to walk thro the ENCON
measures, this is needed badly. The industry has to ramp up from the 3rd gear & accelerate further; instead of idling in the
first gear; to act on ENCON workings, then only Audit & Conservation will happen rightly and quickly. You have already set
your target goals to reduce your energy consumption and your Auditor will team up with you to achieve your energy savings
collectively.

Feeling of energy losses is there in your industry, but your inertia obstructs you to go for the energy audit. The industry has
come to out of its shell-like approach and invite the energy auditor to find out the hidden energy losses there. Or the Govt
needs to mandate to each and every HT consumer service that the energy audit must be done once in three years as
followed in BEE PAT norms.

LEARNINGS DURING THE ENERGY AUDITING PRACTICES IN THE INDUSTRY:-

Recently after having conducted energy audit in one industry, we, the Energy Audit team was projecting to their MD during
our post-energy audit discussion. We had given the practical energy saving potential of 5000 Electricity units per day in
their existing electricity consumption of 70,000 units per day. The amount to invest to fine tune or optimize or retrofit on the
existing machine or replace to energy efficient part of their utility, we had given our proposal for Rs. 1 Crore as Investment
with a Simple Pay-back period of around ONE year.

The MD said, that they recently invested around Rs. 5 Crore to put 1 MW Roof Top Solar, which gave an average of 5000
units per day to be generated round the year. After listening to our projections from our energy auditing, he felt that
Energy auditing and Energy Conservation must be given the first priority before the Solar Investment. He also said that both
the ENCON and the RENEWABLE need to be implemented immediately.

• The industry needs to understand

that the Energy Audit is a Tool to
Thermography based Preventive & Predictive
facilitate the recovery of energy Energy Management practices.
losses happened, due to mismatch
in the design & operation. • Energy Auditing Practices using the Thermal
•Energy Auditor Can work well Imager in the industry areas, especially
with the Industry, only when
Management feels that there is
• in the Electrical Prime Mover Systems in the field,
energy loss & wastage in the • Process flow trains in the Production and utility,
process and needs to be recovered. • Machine condition monitoring as a System.
Audits cannot be canvassed at all.
• Energy & Raw Material given in the Input
So the Energy Audit can happen
only when the industry volunteers • And energy & product delivered in the output
that; or the Govt mandates TODAY, • & Energy & Material in Exhaust, wasted areas.
to all the HT consumer industries,
the energy audit once in 3 years, • MLM – Micro Level Monitoring &
similar to PAT cycles. • MLA – Macro Level Analysis -what is wanted now 40 !

When the Roof Top Solar implementation is done, it is the sole discretion and the implementation of the management.
Whereas in the ENCON area, the Industry Production & Maintenance has to achieve this Energy amount of savings after
initiated from their management.

What is your priority now? Invest Rs.1 Crore to generate 1000 units per day or Invest around Rs.1 Crore to reduce the
5000 units per day in your decade old machines in your industry? Both are important to you, but the priority must be
given to the Electricity conservation TODAY and in parallel take up Roof Top Solar Electricity generation in the premises.

ENERGY ACTION PLANS TO IMPLEMENT ENCON MEASURES AFTER THE ENERGY AUDIT:-
You the industry manager, is listing out the energy conservation proposals based on zero / low and high cost pay backs after
the post energy audit discussions. Please have a neutral and pro-active approach towards the ENCON implementation.

Some industries, even after consulting with the Energy Auditor, they again go back to their existing production and utility
machine OEMs, consultants, A grade Electrical contractors to verify the proposals and then only take forward. In a way, it is
good, but instead of talking on behalf of OEM and consultants to your Energy Auditor, you argue healthily with them; on
behalf of your achievable energy savings, why these energy audit proposals cannot be implemented in your machines. Some
of the Energy Action Plans get stuck due to the following;-

Energy Conservation Is Itself A Short Cut To Your Energy Saving Measures.

Please Don’t Under-Cut Your Short Cuts; This Will Reduce Your Overall Efficiency Only.

1. ENERGY ACTION PLAN – ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION:- - The Auditor suggests you to install an unbalanced servo
towards the lighting circuit with SPD protections even after installing 100 % LED lighting in your industry. This is only for
LED lighting circuit safety and not for your energy savings here. Here you are told by other consultants, that already
OLTC type transformer is there to regulate your incoming voltage to take care of your soft load like lighting as well. But
this old OLTC voltage regulation did not protect your LED tube lights failing or depreciating Lumens each month now.

In the old days only, your industry installed servo stabilizer to the FTL, HPSV, MV etc HID lamps circuit for energy saving
and now since energy saving is not there, this servo looks redundant to you. The servo’s voltage deviation correction
rate is in few seconds, whereas your OLTC takes MANY minutes to regulate the same, by the time already the
electronic cards prematurely fail due to overvoltage stress.

When the machines are sophisticated and soft loaded, it is the right time to go for this vertical servo stabilizer to avoid
further breakdowns. Many of the LT services have retrofitted at their EB Incoming side, and avoided the daily head-ache
of voltage fluctuations etc. Your Auditor suggests you to install Lighting servo stabilizer for safety of the LED tubes
against failures and this will facilitate to adhere to Luminous Maintenance - LM 79, LM 80 specs with this regulated
lighting, not for LED light energy saving.

2. ENERGY ACTION PLAN PF COMPENSATION:- Since your industry has a mixture of linear and non-linear electrical loads,
your Auditor proposes to go for Load End PF compensation for all your motors above 10 HP. But your Electrical
contractor had already fixed 25 KVAR multiple capacitor banks in your Power House. You feel you cannot duplicate this
again, already this much KVAR installed inside, so further retail KVAR cap cant’ be procured.

And so you conveniently postpone this proposal giving safety reasons to install PF capacitor in the motor panels and this
KVAR gets duplicated at power house and in the field. Now you are facing more Line Losses, voltage drop at load ends
and marginal increase in KVA demand, due to not-accepting the load end PF compensation practices.

3. ENERGY ACTION PLAN –VFD & HARMONIC ARRESTING:- Your VFD OEM says that his VFD had already the built-in DC
link choke to take care of the current Harmonics spreading towards the EB Incoming and no need for Harmonic
mitigation further. But you are already in the Harmonic penalty region. Your Auditor proposes to install additional Line
Reactance sized choke at each of your VFD feed connection, so as to reduce the current Harmonics towards Incoming
and partially House Arresting the Harmonics within VFD circuit.

This will partly bring down the current Harmonics by one third and reduce the overall THD. But you had gone ahead
with De-tuned RCC banks at the power house and if required you plan for AHF as well, Active Harmonic Filter.

Nipping the Harmonic pollution in the bud at the source itself is better
and low cost and that is the proper way of electrical installation as well.

4. ENERGY ACTION PLAN – MOTOR LOADING:- In your motors inventory, in some machines, the machine OEM had gone
for Over-sized motor to cater to heavy torque load. This motor will face high initial torque during starting and low
running torque during running. So your Auditor proposes you to go for Automatic Delstar gadget to retrofit to your Star-
Delta panel, and this will run on Star on condition based running Amps is less than 40 % of rated motor Amps.

But your Field Electrical team gives you a short cut idea, to connect these motors on permanent star mode. After a
week or two, these motors get heated up and get burnt out silently. The Indian Electricity Rules call for any motor
above 5.5 KW to be started with Star Delta Starter only instead of DOL starting. Here for petty energy savings, you had
star connected manually your motor and you have to lose heavily on motor loss and its efficiency loss once the
rewinding done further.

Many industries are facing this energy loss in their High starting torque & Low running torque type motors running at
40 % and steady under loading only. This is a positive short cut here. Your industry is also planning to replace with
Energy Efficient motor since few years; to achieve say 5 to 10 % energy savings. Here by retrofitting this Automatic
Delstar convertor you can achieve say 5 to 10 % energy savings on your same existing motor with a payback of few
months.
5. ENERGY ACTION PLAN –MOTOR-TO-MACHINE POWER TRANSMISSION:- Your Auditor observes during his field energy
study, many of your belt driven motors have loose and wobbling belts and your pulleys are shining well due to heavy
worn-out facing multiple belt changes over this ten years. So the Auditor suggests you to energy efficient cogged belts
& matched re-sized pulleys.

But your mechanical maintenance over-rules that proposal and installs the new cogged belts in your existing old worn-
out pulleys. The energy losses is more only with this ENCON half-working only. Time to replace your pulleys after say
40,000 hours of usage and based on its worn-out condition. This will give you, energy savings and this power saving
exercise restores your productivity as well. Let us see the positive short-cuts on this conversion exercise.

One industry wanted to sell their decade old Sand Mixer machine as they felt it got de-rated; so decided to buy a
machine costing Rs.10 Lakhs. Above simple cogged belt & pulleys conversion exercise restored the productivity of this
machine by 20 % from 180 Kg to 220 Kg per batch. Also this machine’s batch cycle time reduced by half from 20 minutes
to 10 minutes.

This industry saved investing on their old machine by implementing this conversion. They could
restore this machine’s productivity near to its rated capacity of 250 Kg per batch. How many
of your belt driven production machines are reducing silently your productivity in those machines?

6. ENERGY ACTION PLAN –STATIC PRESSURE MONIORING:- Your Auditor after his field energy study on input KW,
output flow in CFM and static Pressure in Pascal, says that your blowers / fans are not working efficiently as per their
Fan Performance curve. But till date, many of the industries don’t even the provision to measure the blower’s static
Pressure in Pascal, also don’t have Fan Performance curve, Fan’s total or Static Efficiency details as record with them.

It is time you retrieve, and compile all your existing Fan’s efficiency parameters and that you are operating your fan in
the BEP Best Efficiency Point or Band of your Fan system curve. Let us learn the positive short cuts on replacing your
VFD driven blower’s pulleys re-sizing on motor & blower, cogged belt conversion, just by optimizing the torque here.

One industry achieved 18 % energy savings in their 60 sets of AHU blowers, sustaining for two years on this above
cogged belt and pulley conversion exercise. They invested Rs.6 Lakhs on their total 60 sets of belts & pulleys and got
paid back in 6 months, monthly return of Rs. 1 Lakh pm and annual saving of Rs. 12 Lakhs since two years.

YOU IMPLEMENT ENERGY EFFICIENCY REPLACEMENT AS SYSTEM, DO IT FULLY & NOT PARTLY:-
Your industry decided to implement ENCON measures. So when you are implementing, plan the same discussing with
the Electrical, Mechanical Maintenance what all the precautions to be taken during the planning and execution of the
same. In some industries, the management had decided few months back and placed order.

On the day of the arrival at site only, the electrical and mechanical maintenance will plan to hook up electrically and
piping connections. Due to your hurry-burry at that stage, you tend to connect the old connection and the pipings to
the new system. And there starts the efficiency de-rating from the day One of your new machine installation.

7. ENERGY ACTION PLAN - PART REPLACEMENT ONLY IN MV PANEL:- In one industry, the management had procured
800 KVA energy efficient transformer to replace their decade old 500 KVA transformer, since their load had increased
last year from 350 to 550 KW loading and now non-linear loads in the addition. They retained their old electrical busbar
MV panel in their Power house.

Here for the given new loads, the busbar became under-sized and their temperatures over-shot by 100 Deg C when
checked with thermal imager during our audit. The Electrical distribution system got de-rated due to the old busbar MV
panel, the drop in voltages and the panels are very hot, the Power House looked like Furnace when entering the house.
So they decided to totally revamp their Electrical Room to have smooth flow of Electricity thro the Power House.

8. ENERGY ACTION PLAN COMPRESSED AIR DISTRIBUTION:- In one industry during our audit, that industry recently
replaced their two decade-old Screw air compressors with one 110 KW Energy Efficient compressor. Previously they
had laid 2 and 2-1/2 inch M.S. pipe header. Now they changed to 4 inch header thro out their plant.

Since during replacement stage of piping changes, they had pipe shortage, they had to retain their old 2 inch line for
just 6 meters from compressor house to the header. This under-sized bit piping resulted in pressure drop of more than
1 Bar and they had 7 % energy loss as they had to keep at elevated compressed air header pressure.
 Removal of compressed air flow restriction in the header here, saves Rs.5 Lakhs annually. So the Energy
conservation also involves in the smoothening of utility or process flow with minimum pressure differential across.

Once replaced this bit piping, the pressure drop came down to 0.3 Bar. So when your compressor is replaced with
higher rating, the piping also needs to be focused from compressor to the plant for streamlined compressed air velocity
around 10 meter/sec.

In one industry they had decade-old 500 CFM compressor and those days the dryer was sized to the same compressor
capacity of 500 CFM. They are on expansion and focusing on energy efficiency, the industry replaced with 110 KW / 700
CFM compressor. And they replaced their compressor only and not their old dryer, this resulted in 1.5 Bar drop in the
distribution across dryer. After replacing to 1250 CFM dryer, the pressure dropped to 0.3 Bar across the dryer, this
resulted in energy saving of around 8 % in their compressed air consumption.

Pressure Differential across your under-sized Ref Dryer caused here Rs.6 Lakhs loss annually. Sizing of your dryer
with respect to your compressor and expanded feed & delivery piping sizes to the dryer is needed now.

Of late, the industry understood why their ref dryer needs to be oversized say 50 to 100 % compressor capacity
because the compressor’s post air cooler inside the hood is gradually getting de-rated and dryer gets overloaded by
this. The old dryer specs say that the dryer gets de-rated when the inlet air goes above 45 Deg C. So when you focus on
compressor replacement, also focus in parallel, the dryer size, filter components in distribution need to be oversized.

Leave alone the sizing, the industry still had not come out of the timer based water drain valve on the compressed air
receiver. They have to replace with Level sensing automatic water drain valve, along with inlet pipe Y type strainer daily
or routinely cleanable online to make this level sensing and control done clearly without any malfunctioning. You waste
your precious compressed air by purging thro this water drain valve every 5 minutes, even when water is not there.

Leave alone the piping, many industries don’t’ give weightage to the compressor location. They just push their new
compressor in a cramped verandah with poor ventilation and Asbestos low-height roofing on compressor top. This
leads to higher air intake of 7 Deg C compared to ambient surroundings and is energy loss by 2 % to the compressor.

During our energy audit study in a premium foundry, based on our zero cost proposals in their compressor house, they
achieved energy savings. A battery of compressors of ratings 160 KW & 75 KW screw compressors is running in their
compressor house. On relocation of the pressure control sensor from individual modulating compressors to the main 5
KL receiver, they achieved 5% energy savings average due to load-unload pattern changes in modulating compressors.

Zero cost working of relocating the Pressure control Sensor from your compressor hood to the Immediate Air
Receiver gave them, Rs. 7 Lakhs annually. You can implement this No-cost Measure and save in Lakh Rs annually.

This industry saved 300 Units per day out of their 6000 units per day average compressors’ consumption. This industry
studied this proposal and pounced upon the idea to implement immediately; and we as Energy Auditors are delighted
to observe how the industry grasps the Low Hanging Fruit here in this case; and admire the industry’s ENCON
initiatives. Why not the other industries too, take this instantly implementable Initiative done at no-cost in premises?

9. ENERGY ACTION PLAN –COMPRESSOR HOUSE IMPROVEMENTS:- In some industries, the compressor does not
have a duct on its exhaust hood, so that the hotter rejected air is easily removed out of the compressor house. So your
compressor needs a expanded double stage air pre-filter and an expanded duct to quickly remove the hot exhaust air.
As a user, you have to be alert about higher than ambient compressor house temperature, and bring it to ambient.

10. ENERGY ACTION PLAN PUMP VERSUS PIPING REPLACEMENT:- Your pump OEM will give a delivery flange of say
3 Inches means, you have to plan for your header size of min 4 Inches. And your pump needs to linked to the header
with 3 inch to 4 Inch expander fitting to be fitted at the pump delivery flange. Please check how many of your pumps
are like that and even today you can correct this JUST-IN-TIME working and reduce pressure drops in the pipings.

These are the areas where the sharp piping bends and short size piping result in turbulence of medium flow thro the
pump suction and delivery pipings. You have replaced your new energy efficient pump with old flanges and under-sized
joints in your piping. Though you had aimed for energy efficient pumping, this minor working limits pump efficiency.

This is not only in pumping circuits, the same is applied to your compressed air piping layout, that you have to go for
higher size than the compressor or the dryer flange in your compressor house and further down the header to plant.
11. ENERGY ACTION – TOTAL MOTOR REPLACEMENT:- When your motor is replaced with Energy Efficient IE2, IE3
motor, you have to look into the old motor mounting, the base plate, the foundation etc. Many industries have
installed their new motor in the old foundation, but the alignment and the foundation etc are old & rusted, where the
matching is poor and leading to vibrations. This is not only with motor alone replacement, but when your motor is
coupled with pump or blower or compressor etc, the linkages also need the replacement on the safer side.

When your motor is belt driven, the vibration also needs to be studied in your old and the newly installed motor. When
the motor to machine alignment is okayed, and belt tension is set to optimum, you look for your vibration levels in
mm/sec. The old motor-linked-pulley and old belts would have given excess vibration due to wrong alignment, wear &
tear of motor & machine pulleys, the slackness of uneven belts sitting on pulleys etc.

During the new motor installation, when the above erection components are worn out, it is better to replace in total
and not the motor only. If the new motor only is replaced, then the above erection & the power transmission
components will reduce the overall energy efficiency of your motor system, which you wanted to achieve now.

When replacing your motor, study your motor KW monitor and as well the output RPM of motor. For given Hz at your
motor input either from VFD or from EB mains frequency, measure your motor output RPM and check for the
difference. Many industries miss this data of EB Incoming Hz frequency reference, simultaneously to be taken during
your motor RPM measurements.

SHOCK & RELIEF & DELIGHT ON THE ENERGY SAVINGS ACHIEVED NOW TODAY:-

Let us say this Industry was started ten years back. This industry had the records of their electricity consumption since many
years. They are aware that they are consuming 30 % more of their energy now.

As a thumb rule, we can say, to achieve up to one third of savings say 20 % in energy consumption,
this is possible by the Energy conservation by optimizing, retrofitting sub system, or automating or fine-tuning.

From 20 to 40 % of energy savings is possible only by the Energy Efficient replacement

of similar systems like the Pump, compressor, Blower, etc.

From 40 to 60 % of energy savings is possible by replacing yours with the Energy Efficient Technological
Replacement from your ordinary fans and tube lights to BLDC fans, LED tube lights etc.

Here the motor is only a sub system of the whole Motor + load system. Hence motor replacement can only say up to 5 to 10
% (that too lower HP motors) due to right sizing, optimizing to the load, avoid over-sizing and VFD compatible to savings.

For 100 % energy savings, only the energy generation by say Roof top Solar etc,
is also needed in the premises to the industry to be done in parallel to the ENCON workings.

So the industry views its yearly record of energy consumption over ten years, the breakup of energy consumption towards
the production, auxiliaries and the utilities. So it is time now that the industry visualizes the energy savings that will result
after energy audit and conservation.

On the date of realizing the energy savings, your industry is at SHOCK all along the past 10 years, you had wasted this
much energy till date, and today you find RELIEF that energy loss has reduced and tomorrow it is DELIGHT for you that
you can run at less energy consumption to achieve the same production or more production at less energy consumption.

PRACTIAL KEY POINTS FACED DURING THE ENERGY AUDIT DISCUSSIONS:-

1. The industry MD or the top management in GM, or VP etc, simply representing them here as the INDUSTRY MANAGER
hereafter in this article; is well aware of the latest ENCON technologies to reduce energy and as well to restore /
improve the production levels. But the same points are not come across by the middle manager. Either they are aware
or not they are keeping silent about they are not knowing about the prevailing utility SEC, specific energy consumption
figures and this must be taken to the management during these discussions.

KNOWLEDGE COMMUNICATICATION FROM TOP TO BOTTOM IS THE FIRST TO CARRY OUT ENCON NOW.

2. As discussed previously, the management’s job is to initiate the Energy conservation process thro energy auditing
procedures and practices. Many industry top managers talk more about these ENCON happenings, but their shop floor
team hesitates to co-operate or have negative mindset towards energy savings during the energy audit & conservation,
because they are not made aware of the today’s market on energy efficiency improvements.
 ENCON POSSIBILITY WILL NOT COME KNOCKING YOUR DOOR, YOU HAVE TO GO AFTER THAT ALWAYS.

3. In some industries, the industry manager goes by his macro viewing of what is their daily or weekly or monthly
production and what is the corresponding energy say electricity (or tons of fire wood or coal) consumption. If there are
any day-to-day deviations with reference to their yard-sticks, then they assume it is due to external factors like raw
material, excess waste exhausted here.

So during the energy audit discussions, BEE always insists on energy monitoring of each production or utility
equipment above the size of 10 HP minimum and better from 5 HP onwards. In fact, the relative condition monitoring
in between the machines will give you the clue or prompt you to take up your energy savings. The each machine energy
monitoring will prompt you to take action against why deviation is occurring in between the machines?

ENERGY MONITORING DAILY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TARGET TOWARDS ENERGY REDUCTION.ENERGY

General Guidelines for Improving Energy Efficiency

1 Courtesy:- Sourced from Knowledge sharing “Linkedin” platform.

25

4. Your industry’s energy conservation cannot be achieved only by your one man army either electrical or mechanical or
production. It is a team work to collectively discuss what and where energy saving is possible and at what cost and
payback this is possible. So everyone of your team need to own the responsibility of excess energy consumption till date
and from today work towards the ENCON measures in all departments.

CONSERVATION IS NOT THE RESULT OF ONE-MAN ARMY, BUT YOUR TEAM’S COLLECTIVE WORKINGS GIVE RESULTS.

5. When your industry wants to achieve energy savings after discussing with your Auditor, you take your shop floor
workers into confidence and discuss with them transparently, what the monitoring conveys before and after the
conversion. In fact, the work spot innovations only bring in condition based energy monitoring and conservation
possible from your machines and the processes.

WORK SPOT INNOVATIONS BRING IN PRACTICAL & TANGIBLE RESULTS, MOULD & APPRCIATE THEM.

6. Most of the industries discuss about the ENCON in the meeting but only the technical teams only involved. The Industry
manager does not loop in the purchase to this meeting, but at least make the Purchaser to be aware of buying only
Energy efficient gadget, sub system and machines, as it is knowledge sharing is MUST.

 Recently after the post energy audit discussions with the industry the Auditor had suggested to procure IE3 motors for
this variable loading application. The purchase procured the motor on L1 basis, with no marking of IE2 or IE3 motor
etc., not even the Serial no. Also the pump needs to be procured based on its higher energy efficiency star labelling.

MAKE YOUR PURCHASER BE AWARE OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY; THIS IS THE ORIGIN OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY.

 The motor OEM can also give his motor spec in detail and what is the no-load KVAR rating for this given motor. The motor
OEM can sell his motor along with this PF compensating capacitor. The motor dealer on his part can give in the motor
control panel, provision for this capacitor, the MCB at the Incoming of capacitor in the panel.

So the origin of efficiency especially to maintain, say around PF 0.9 for the given motor
starts from the motor OEM and their dealer at the point of sale only.
  Some industries after having achieved their energy saving targets committed to their management; get slackened in
their ENCON activity schedules. Even the ENCON weekly meetings get postponed due to change in priorities. Your
industry must keep on targeting on your energy reduction every week, month and quarterly and annually.

YOUR ENCON RACE IS NOT LIKE HARE & BUT TORTOISE TYPE, THIS IS SLOW STEADY AND ALWAYS TO KEEP PERFORMING.

Energy Auditor will be a part of Energy conservation Efficiency Improvements Before and After the Energy
team to work inside premises & from outside premises. conservation Exercise – BEE Refresher Guide.
TRUST them but VERIFY thro Monitor is really needed.
• The industry is vendor-centric, they have to come out of the

mindset that Energy Auditor is always contradicting the OEM.

• The objective of Energy Auditor is to reduce the gap between the

Design and Operation in a equipment or process during running.

• When the OEM suggests to run the machine safely thro its life, the
Auditor suggests industry to run the same more efficiently

• So instead of treating Energy Auditor as another vendor to

industry, Industry needs to get the Best out of Auditor’s Expertise.

• Auditor is a partner to Energy savings not a challenger to savings. 27

As per BEE norms of energy monitoring, the dealer can add KWH meter + Run hour meter (now few meter
brands have come out with this combo KWH + RUNHOUR MFT meter) in the motor control panel so that the
user will know what is his machine’s consumption in KWH unit per hour and totalized for that many hours.

REVERSE EDUCATE YOUR MACHINE OEMs TO PROVIDE ENERGY MONITORING IN THEIR PANEL
 This is not only applicable to the motor dealer. This is applicable to all your equipment suppliers that you can reverse-
educate your supplier OEM, vendors and the local dealers to have this as COMBO panel. This is applicable as per BEE
recommendations, any motor above 3 HP three phase can have this add-ons and this Add-ons will prompt you, the motor
loading and running details as right or not.

 This motor can be in your motor, pump, machine, compressor, blower, Special Purpose machines say above 3 HP 3 phase.
As a user, you procure the energy monitoring for all your machines like the above and you know what, where and how
much do you consume in each of your machine / utility.

 In the residential and commercial building segment, the user can have this Voltmeter + Ammeter + run hour meter fitted
at the incoming of main switch of their equipments above 1 HP in pump, geyser, AC, etc. This will cost the user around
Rs.500+, but any deviation in Incoming volts or Ampere deviation due to overload / dry-run can be spotted instantaneously.

 Also it is time now that your Auditor advises you to go for Electronic MPR motor Protection relay which saves your 3 phase
motor against current unbalance across the phases, single phasing upto the motor winding, even though your motor panel
is say 100 meters away from the motor, fool-proof overloading, under-current as dry running etc.

Simply Refer Your Equipment Name Plate Or Its Technical Specs (Keep It Available Near Your Equipment).
The Deviations Between The Spec & Running Parameters, Prompt You To Optimize & Conserve Energy.

 This industry after the energy audit discussions is procuring LED lights and the purchase bill must give the brand, the model
spec, Lumens per Watt, and if procured in bulk, your Electrical maintenance to collect their LM 79 specs for LED lamps.

 The industry procures energy efficient blowers and fans after the energy audit discussions and the EE fans & blowers
mention only CMH cubic Meter per hour for the given input KW. But that is not enough, it must mention at what static
Pressure in Pascal the CMH, KW parameters are specified.

DON’T EXPECT THE SAME PERCENTAGE OF ENERGY SAVINGS, ACHIEVED BY OTHER INDUSTRY / SEGMENT.

 During our Audits, we come across many industry managements ask us why the percentage energy savings is not more for
them, but others in the segment are achieving. We the Energy Auditor tell the industry that the energy saving is typical of
each machine, its loading and ageing pattern for the given industry.

 You will not achieve the same energy savings achieved in one machine to come to all the other machines. The constant
Watt loads like the LED tube light or the BLDC fans will surely achieve the same percentage of savings compared to your old
lighting or fan circuits, but not on your variable loads like motor, compressor, pump, blower etc old machines.
 ALWAYS DON’T EXPECT ZERO COST INVESTMENT TO HIGH COST ENERGY SAVING RETURN

 Some industries after our energy audit study is over, will ask us why their energy bills not reduced just because of our visit?
Some industries will ask us, that if they go for ENMS total energy monitoring system, will they achieve energy savings? The
industry needs to work focusedly to retrieve their energy losses, but they will get LESS energy savings if they opt for Low cost
investment. When the losses are more, if they go for High cost investment, their energy savings also will be more.

 Some industries have short-sighted approach. They reject our Energy Auditor’s proposals if the simple payback period is
above one year. If you are always looking for zero and low cost proposals within one year payback from your Auditor, then
you can achieve the lower side of energy savings only, this will not be appreciable at all.

 Some industry managements implement only the zero and low cost proposals and postpone their high cost proposals. This
is not giving healthy growth for that industry in the long-run. Working on the immediate zero and low cost proposals is only
your knee jerk reaction to your audit. But in parallel, Do plan in advance to implement your high cost proposals as well.

SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE TO SAVE OUR ENERGY IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE:-

 Also as an Auditor, He gives the suggestions based on his learning from the other professional bigger group industries. If
the Auditor’s proposals are meant to improve the safety of your system first, please plan that as well, because only when
your machine systems are working safely then only you can achieve energy savings by optimizing the loading parameters.

 Here you will understand your Auditor is also like your team man, having gathered knowledge on right & wrong working
practices during his audits. You are swimming on a single pool for decades, but your auditor has swam in different pools all
these years, and he is trying to share his Dos & Donts’ experiences what he had learned from his previous auditing practice.

 Here, the industries big or small are hungry to know more about energy savings achievable from your Energy Auditors. But
you are equally and socially responsible to share your worked case study achieved by you to your Auditor, if he does not
know. But unfortunately, only few professional industries share their worked case study knowledge to the Auditor, and the
Auditor will equally share the prevailing Energy Efficient work practices to the other industries, for all to get benefitted.

That is why BEE, TERI, CII etc and many other Socially Responsible Industry organizations are conducting this
free knowledge sharing seminars and webinars to educate the fresh user to adopt to the latest technologies.

FOR YOUR KIND INFO, ENERGY EDUCATION TO THE USER IS HALF DONE IN THE ENERGY CONSERVATION EXERCISE.

 This is meant for the Energy Auditor as well. You, the Auditor may have conducted 10th or 100th Audit spreading over the
past decade years. Go to each industry even today as if you are going to learn something from this industry. Each industry
will give you workable knowledge and have the attitude to take it pro-actively with your new audit today.

ENERGY AUDITORS BECOME MORE PROFESSIONAL NOT BY BOOKISH KNOWLEDGE, BUT THEY LEARN MORE ABOUT
AUDITS, WHEN THEY INVOLVE IN THE PRACTICAL ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES IN YOUR INDUSTRIES.

 What you had taken from industry energy audit case study, please try to share the same with the case study as situation to
the other industry. This can happen to you not in the same segment but can be deployed in other segments as well. Sharing
your case study knowledge to others inside the industry is saving the ENERGY COMMON to you as the individual and the
industry and the society as well.

 As initiated by the BEE PAT cycles for Designated Consumers in each industry segment, plan for the energy audit once in 3
years. When the DC, Designated Consumers mandatorily conducting this Energy Audit on 3 year PAT cycle, the other
industries say any HT consumer in each industry segment take the lead from them and conduct audits periodically.

 The above content shows the direct and indirect benefits to you every year after; and immense knowledge gain about the
energy break-up of your industry. To gain more lateral knowledge about your energy consumption & conservation in your
segment, don’t’ employ the same Energy Auditor repeatedly for your successive audits. Look for the alternate Energy
Auditors, SME Subject Matter Experts to deep dive in to your energy conservation and management, so as to GAIN MORE.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 4. PRACTICAL GUIDELINES TO CONDUCT ENERGY AUDITS,

TO THE INDUSTRIES & TO THE ENERGY AUDITORS

The practical guideline to conduct the energy audits is meant for both the industry and the Energy Auditor. This will
facilitate the industry to prepare for the energy audit program before, during and post energy audit in their premises and as
well this guidelines with practical nuances surely will equip the Energy Auditors, in their energy audit step wise workings.
The Auditor converts your industry’s energy losses to financial values and the management wants that only to act promptly.

Why it is practically discussed here because the Energy Auditing will be successful only when the industry is serious about
the real positive results of the Audit, and not done for namesake by both. The idea is go for quality Energy Audits which will
give you, the tailor-made Low Hanging Fruits of ENCON proposals. If you are choosing your Energy Audit services on L1
basis; you will get ready-made proposals, after your energy audit and the expected outcome of your audit not happening.

Also energy audit & implementation of ENCON proposals must go together immediately. If the same is not done ASAP,
then the energy audit report will be on paper only till the management wakes up to the findings of energy audit
immediately. So the management needs to motivate the team to take steps to correct the defects / anomalies in
equipments & fine tune the process, this conserves energy, restores productivity of machines & process optimization.

STEPS OF PREPARATION BY THE INDUSTRY & THE ENERGY AUDITOR:-

The industry management initiates the meeting of teams of production & maintenance to sit together to plan for the
energy audit. Why are they going for this audit is that they want to reduce their energy consumption for the given
production, or to restore their productivity? Each dept have to put forth to the management, their proactive opinion
towards the energy audit and what is expected from the audit for their dept?

If any breakdown is persisting for a long time, this also can be part of the energy audit study. When safety of the given
equipment is LESS, automatically conservation fails and breakdown starts. Higher the energy consumption in equipment, it
is the initial symptom of internal wear & tear.

Before the energy audit preliminary study starts, the industry needs to prepare its own format of the equipments, their run
hours, rated capacity, and running loading either in KW or in Amps. These formats are the basic document to be submitted
to the auditor during his energy study in the premises, and the same will be incorporated in the audit report by Auditor.

Taking the Electricity part of the energy consumption, the industry will have the format of trailing 3 years, what is their
production in figures in each month and for that what is the corresponding KWH consumption and the thermal fuel
consumption as well. They have to work out the SEC figures Specific Energy consumption figures each month and study the
deviations in the SEC month, season wise, and they have to assess the cause for the deviations happening over a period.

PRELIMINARY ENERGY DATA COLLECTION in DIFFERENT FORMATS WILL BE USEFUL TO THE INDUSTRY FIRST.

• Energy Data For 1 To 3 Trailing Years in XLS Format.

• Corresponding Production Figures to Study Sec over the Period.
• Single Line Diagram SLD From EB Incoming Up To The Motors
• Capacitors / RCC Installation At MV Panel / SSB and at the Load End machines.

• P & EM Diagram – Process & Energy Monitoring thro out the Plant.
• For The Sanctioned KVA Demand and Recorded Demand Variations.
• Earth Grid Details at the Power House and at the Field, on the safety aspects.

Normally the above formats are followed in big industries, but the same needs to be followed by the MSME whatever
possible. When the industry pays heavy fuel & electricity bills each month, above formats are required for your internal
auditing first.

Relative condition monitoring of data month to month in each year and year to year, all the same with respect to
production done in each month. In graph format, some industries display this in their month wise CUSUM format to know
what the average SEC is in each month, which month records MORE or LESS with respect to production figures?.
Some of the above data only needs to be shared to the Auditor in person. But practically, many of the above in physical
format can be shown to the Auditor during the 1-to-1 discussion with the concerned dept Heads. The Process & Energy
Monitoring PEM is required for your internal audit so as to assess your relative consumption monitoring versus production.

BEE recommends KWH monitoring of any machine above 10 HP running for 2 shifts a day. So the KWH and hour meter
monitoring especially for a batch process will assist the industry & Auditor to draw conclusions motor loading & efficiency.

INDUSTRY TO PLAN FOR IN-SITU INSTRUMENTS ON PIPELINES BEFORE AUDIT:-

During audits, the Auditor gets stuck to monitor the compressed air header flow, or the Blower’s static Pascals, because no
provision is done already by the industry. For your assessment of auxiliary and utility flow thro equipments, the industry
can fix pressure and temperature gauges in production auxiliaries and utilities. The industries do have pressure and
temperature gauges on pipelines, but they have gone out of scale within few weeks of operation due to pipeline vibrations.

When fixing your pressure and temperature gauges on pipelines, please take care to mount the gauges on wall / mounting
stand and connect the gauges to the process thro impulse piping. For pressure gauge installation, you need this Block &
Bleed valve (costing few Hundred Rs) and this will be useful to you check your gauge LIVE Zero online thro block & bleed.

The pressure and temperature readings of pump, compressor, blower, etc utility are important because the Auditor cant’
fix a pressure gauge in a process to study the pump or cooling tower or heat exchanger. Without this measurement, the
audits on these utilities will be incomplete in the assessment. Also Guesstimates of process parameters can be avoided.

SURF THRO NET, ABOUT COMPANY, SEGMENT’S ENERGY NORMS & EFFICIENCY:-

This is for the Auditor. When the industry has initiated the dialogue with you, to discuss about the energy audit, know more
about the industry, its segment, the SEC norms, and also search thro net to know about the company, its website its Annual
report if available on net, and its workings. The relevant BEE manuals, guidelines and the cluster programs targeting that
industry specific will be an added input to you before talking to the industry during the preliminary technical discussions.

COLLECT PRELIMINARY DATA IN PERSON / OVER MAIL / THRO VIRTUAL MEET:-

Before giving a Quote for the energy audit, the Energy Auditor needs to have his Preliminary Energy Audit Questionnaire to
suit to that type of industry; same to be filled-in by company. This will have the macro view of both the Electrical and
Thermal energy consuming equipments listing, along with the overall energy consumption details. This will help you to plan
your number of readings, instantaneous, trend analysis towards total working days in energy study period inside industry.

PRELIMINARY DATA COLLECTION OF ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION FORMATS:-

• To categorize the loads like Electrical / Electronic / lighting loads?

• Single line diagram in the case of PF maintained end to end
• What are the industry safe norms to maintain the PF band?
• What power quality issues, industry is facing in power distribution?

• Industry THD is as per the norms or any deviation faced now?

• Voltage fluctuations from EB side, OLTC transformer’s parameters.
• What are the voltage surges, spikes, swells, transients symptoms
• Categorize the plant loads as Constant / Variable Torque loads.

The classification of loads as electrical Heavy duty and light / soft electronic loads is listed first. Electrical SLD need to
confirm that inputs are safe & steady & regulated before reaching loads. Also PF improvements done in stages from motor
to MCC can be recorded so as to assess line losses. What your industry segment PF band, you can maintain the same.

Still big industries are using single CT based APFC to maintain unity PF at the incoming. And they end up in maintaining
leading PF situation most of the times, have to face leading & fluctuating voltages as well and end up in paying penalty to
the EB due to this over-reactive PF compensation. Always the PF per phase average is different and hence to be controlled.

None of your industry motors or machines are a Perfect Balanced 3 phase load. So you need 3 phase 4 wire monitoring at
all your machines. Also 3 CT based APFC must be operated at the MCC at a stabilized band of say 0.97to 0.98 PF. You can
improve electrical incoming safety parameters by compromising by very slightly lagging PF.
Also ensure the SPD at the EB incoming against the switching surges and as well for the Lightning surges. Next the Harmonic
suppression chokes are put at right place at the VFD input so as to arrest the Harmonics at VFD itself and not to spread
vertically & horizontally.

THE INDUSTRY NEEDS TO MAINTAIN SEPARATE LIST FOR CONSTANT AND VARIABLE TORQUE LOADS:-

CONSTANT TORQUE LOADs – power varies directly with speed. Ex/- most of your production machines, conveyor, crusher,
agitator, screw compressor, VFD saves Less on Power consumption, but retrofitted for flexibility of process operations.

VARIABLE TORQUE LOAD – CUBE law- Excellent candidate for VFD, apply VFD in mid region, blower, fan, centrifugal pump
& compressor, but saves Less due to high static head in the centrifugal pump. So we have to focus for more energy savings
in optimizing the speed to sync with torque demanded by the load. Thanks to BEE Refresher Materials for the EA and EM.

PRELIMINARY DATA COLLECTION – MOTORS:-

• Production & utility equipment Name plates and rated capacities.

• BEE norms say Monitor to target, equip with In-situ MFT meters
• Motors classified to VFD driven or non VFD driven along with RPM details.
• Motor loading – Below & Above Average loading & overload
• Motors rewinding status / multiple / repeated & nature of failure

• Why motor burnout happened – to reason out so as not to repeat.

• RPM by Strobo / Tacho at motor and machine, monthly recording.
• Motors in Production & in utility – run hours per day average
• When Safety fails, conservation also fails, breakdown starts.
• So to avoid breakdown, or repeat failures, ENCON is a MUST.

Data collection of motors will highlight you many a points towards energy conservation. Plan to have RPM monitoring of
motor and your belt driven machine to see the monthly RPM variation in between the machines. RPM loss in production
machines is a direct loss of your production. Same RPM loss in utility and auxiliaries is energy lost. Have you brought down
to motor to machine power transmission slippage in your monthly readings less than 2 % as recorded in your log books?

As an Auditor, you have to check the motor burnouts details, how the same had happened and what steps taken by the
industry so that the same motor burnout is not repeated at the same location after that. And we the Auditor have to
educate energy loss to industry in their multiple-rewound motors practically measuring their no-load KW parameters etc.

ENERGY AUDIT PROGRAM TO PROCEED IN 4 STAGES:-

PRELIMINARY DISCUSSIONS THRO MEETING VIRTUAL / PHYSICAL WHERE POSSIBLE, BEFORE AUDIT:-

The industry and the Energy Auditor after initiating the initial dialogue thro mail correspondence, plan to have virtual or
physical meeting before the audit, 2 meetings during the energy audit study days, as Opening Meeting and the Closing
Meeting. After the energy audit report is completed, Auditor needs to come again to industry for post audit discussion
either in person preferably or thro virtual mode at least, to study the pros & cons of your proposals positively.

Then after a month or say when the industry says it has done or initiated energy conservation proposals on zero cost and
low cost, then the Auditor needs to visit the industry to know the practical implementation of the proposals and how the
same have worked out well for the industry. This will be satisfying for both the industry & Auditor.

TO PLAN FOR OPENING & CLOSING MEETING / APPROACH WITH KNOW-HOW:-

This is for the industry and the Energy Auditor. These two meetings are a MUST and will favor the industry to get more out
of the Energy Auditor’s expertise. The Management initiates the opening meeting with the plant Head and all the Dept
Heads in production, maintenance, projects and planning etc teams to sit together with the Energy Auditor to familiarize
them about the energy audit procedures briefly and what is the result expected out of the energy audit.

During this meeting only the management’s intentions and commitment will be opened up to the Auditor and as well to
user depts. So the users in the Depts, have to ask the Auditor their technical queries regarding their energy consumption
and conservation. First brief the Auditor about the Energy flow inside the process IN & OUT to give a macro view to them.
Why it is told here, in many industries, either the shop floor or the user dept Heads are not aware of the energy audit
process. Hence either there is no response from them to Auditors in the field or they do not co-operate with the Auditor in
sharing their energy log books, maintenance practices or their nature of repeated breakdowns as they work in isolation. So
this will go un-noticed in the Auditor’s findings and a neutral pro-active observation and suggestion gets lost in between.

This opening meeting with the Auditor calls for prior meeting within the industry. The management has to call for a meeting
to discuss about the energy audit and ask the feedback of each dept, so that everyone is aware of the energy losses in the
industry and the cup-to-lip-energy-losses needs to be reduced with the pro-active suggestion and feedback from each dept,
and the list of their inputs to be discussed with the Auditor during the opening meeting.

During the closing meeting, the Auditor needs to give a tentative macro view & observations in their energy study. The
Auditor will be very much aware of the scope of energy saving during the closing meeting. So he can briefly hint to the
industry, the scope and the areas where the energy loss is seen more, the same will be enlisted in their audit report.

Look for Energy Conservation from Low to High cost, based on Root cause analysis of In-efficiency.
• Maintenance – predictive condition monitored maintenance.
• Bring in Automation in the sub systems of utility & auxiliary and by-product is Energy SAving.
• Reduction of KVA demand by stage wise PF improvements.

• Proper motor / pump / blower / compressor - Sizing versus loading.

• Compressors bank – what is base load and modulating compressor?
• Compressed air flow balance – generated, used and leaked out qty?

It is high time the industry started using their Infra red Thermal Imager routinely in the Electrical panels in Power house and
in all their equipments. As on date, the industry has used the thermal imager to spot the Electrical Hot spots that are
symptom of possible electrical breakdowns only, so this is meant for safety purpose only.

The Auditor can use his Thermal Imager for visualizing the energy losses as hot spots due to stagnation of energy due to
restrictions in the process, auxiliary and utility mediums’ energy & mass flow and movement. His Thermal Imager will give
him a clue & the industry more scope for energy conservation proposals, so we have to visualize the hot spots in the wetted
process flows and infer the energy losses by experience; and quantify the same by their Audit experience.

The Auditor can also think of automation of auxiliaries or the utility sub systems; this will bring in better health of the
overall systems and as well achieve energy saving, as a by-product. Always apply the Paretto Principle that 20 % people
account for 80 % people’s actions.

The same is applied here. The 20 % sub systems to work effectively now to reduce the higher deviations happening in the
80 % energy consumers. This is typical of HVAC segment that sub systems of primary & secondary pumps and the AHU
blowers, determine the daily working hours of the main HVAC chiller.

Energy Conservation from Low cost to High cost to be based on improving overall health of system:-
• Proper pipe sizing/ MOC / take off eccentric expanders etc retrofit
• Replacement of belt to cogged + resized pulley + VFD in blowers.
• Air operated condensers to retrofit with Indirect Evaporative type

• Moisture separator retrofits on steam piping at the End to End.

• Actual Feed water temperature improvements in package boilers
• Instead of looking at Delivered utility – look at its Suction loss?

Having collected the preliminary data, the Auditor can look for low and zero cost energy conservation measure first. After
analyzing the overall data, then only he can suggest to go for high cost replacement. Once you enter the industry, you will
come across many zero cost fine-tunings and low cost proposals still to be done.

This can be arrived at condition monitoring of the silent parameters like the Static Pascal, pressure and temperature
monitoring across the equipments etc. Keep probing with your Thermal Imager on open pipelines from the pump delivery
to receiver vessel or HX, especially in the Heat transfer applications especially on the Eccentric reducer and expander at
pump inlet & outlet. Subject to emissivity of detection and if temperature gradient exists in pipelines, it can be detected.
INFRA THERMOGRAPHY BASED PREDICTIVE ENERGY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES:-
• This has become affordable & Practical. Mandatory for each industry to detect hot-spot losses
• Energy Auditing Practices using the Thermal Imager in especially in the Electrical Prime Mover Systems in the field,
• Process & Energy flow trains in Production and utility prompts you to take decisions of health & ENCON proposals.

• Machine condition monitoring as a System / Energy & Raw Material given in the Input
• And energy & product delivered in the output & Energy & Material in the Exhaust, wasted areas.
• MLM – Micro Level Monitoring & MLA – Macro Level Analysis -what is wanted in your audits by them now!

As on date, the industry has not made use of the thermal imager fully as on date. This is a versatile predictive tool to tell
you, well before the problem on your utility goes bigger and to visible breakdown. It can be used wisely to spot the hot
spots in the process side apart from your routine hot spots in electrical side and in the auxiliary / utility sub systems.

PROBLEMS IDENTIFICATION METHODOLOGIES IN YOUR UTILITY EQUIPMENTS:-

• Transformers – optimized loading and effects due to non-linear loads / OLTC counter operations/day peak/ nonpeak.
• Electrical Distribution – stage wise PF & Harmonics reduction in Power house, SSB and in DB upto the Motor ends.
• End to End Electricity / Energy losses to monitor, symptom of voltage drops in T & D (Distribution loss is more now).
• All production machines, to restore to their ratings for optimum running suiting to market demands, monthly.

• Air conditioning plant – Generation, Distribution & usage optimize. Energy savings in Usage is very much happening.
• Compressors – Generation, distribution & usage & LEAKAGE. Leakage forces you to operated higher header pressure.
• Fans & Blowers – Generation, distribution & usage & leakage / Pascal monitoring end2end will surprise you now.
• Commissioning report of all the above utility etc / this will show how much the machines de-rated over years?
• AMC reports, if any breakdowns reported in the above / look for repeated reporting – point to analyze for savings.

The origin of In-efficiency creeps into utility machines right from wrong installation and commissioning; silently ignored still.
The communication gap exists between the OEM and the user industry after the point of sale. The OEM needs to be your
supportive partner to operate his machine efficiently in your premises thro out its life period to sustain its efficiency.

Kindly re-visit to your installation done few years ago and what are all procedural lapses done unknowingly and how the
same can be corrected now. If not corrected now, then never it will get corrected till the life time of that utility. For this the
industry & utility OEM needs to partner over its life cycle to achieve the OEE, the Equipment Effectiveness sustainably. After
all, vendors are not fly-by-night operators, both the industry & OEM vendors to keep in mind for smooth working always.

NAME PLATE DETAILS OF YOUR UTILITY & PRODUCTION MACHINES:-

Kindly collect all your equipment name plate or the technical specs / Installation manual and O & M manual and keep in
record. Production equipments are well taken care by the production team as it is visible in their product output quantity &
quality. But in the utility only, you need to plan in ordering, installation & commissioning implementation from day One.

Your utility OEM has to demonstrate to you, the deliverables and put on record; maybe you may not have the tools to
confirm that. For ex/- does your compressor’s commissioning report gives the Watt/CFM, what is the deliverable CFM @
what pressure & temperature for the given inputted KW to the package over an hour / shift / day duration?

You purchased your compressor 50 HP screw for say Rs.10 Lakhs and its annual air delivery cost is around Rs.24 Lakhs. Out
of which Rs.8 Lakhs is lost thro leakage. If the same is monitored thro your compressed air header flow meter costing Rs.1
Lakh, you will have control of your leakage so as to arrest the same.

But most of the industries have not still purchased the flow meter to monitor their battery of 100 HP screw compressors.
BEE always mandates you to monitor your energy consumption to target the reduction. This Monitoring approach will self-
motivate the realization of your ENCON proposals.

• Utility equipment commissioning reports say in compressor, blower, pump, cooling tower, boiler etc.
• Compressor & compressed air layout diagram end to end.
• What is your rated Watt per CFM, and running Watt per CFM at rated pressure and at running pressure?
• What is your blower CFM at rated Static pressure and what is CFM at running Static Pascal for input KW?
• YOU have to record or retrieve all your FAN PERFORMANCE CURVES for all your fans and blowers.

• This will indicate whether you are operating your total blower system is at 30 % efficiency/ fan static effy 50 to 70 %
• Till now only few industries have really focused on static Pascal in your blowers, Time to Focus more.
• What is your pump delivery in LPM at rated discharge pressure at running pressure for given KW input?
• All the above is applicable to your production auxiliaries and to restore Production system improvements.
• What all the Pipe In-line filters you have, to keep record of Delta P across them at rated, average, mini & max?
•
Auditors come across fans & blowers are running in your industries for decades. Kindly collect your Fan Performance curve
to know whether you are operating your fans & blowers to deliver the m3 per sec @ static pressure demanded by your
process. Most of the industries are not measuring routinely, the static pressure in Pascal to assess their blower efficiency.
So before your Auditor comes in, make provisions to monitor blower static Pascal from blower end to process machine end.

In general, NPSH of the given pump, or FAD for the compressor, is the un-noticed area of energy loss. Suction pressure
alarm / Air intake static pressure alarm from switches can be set you TODAY. Low Hanging ENCON proposal is to optimize
energy inputs to equipments & utility. Study the Root Cause of running the defect & not the Effect of stuck energy flow.

DIGITIZE ALL YOUR PROCESS MONITORING & MAKE USE OF IOT & NETWORKING:-

By now, your industry has come across many process and utility parameters in pressure, temperature etc. Instead of going
for local gauges for monitoring and control, you can plan to digitize the same and give prompting alarms to the user in case
of any deviation. If your process control is computer controlled, then you can add these digital inputs from your process to
be remotely viewed by you and alert you when crossing Lo / Hi alarms setting and then plan for automatic controls further.

Assume you are monitoring your compressed air header analog pressure gauge at resolution of 0.2 Kgsc only, if you retrofit
with digital gauge, you can view the same accurately with two decimal accuracy say 6.34 Kgsc instead the analog gauge
shows 6.2 or 6.4 Kgsc for the same digitally measured value. This is the same with static Pascal measurement with your U
tube manometer, gauge resolution 10 mmWC=100 Pascal, whereas digital Pascal gauge gives accurate say 963 Pascals.

PRELIMINARY DATA COLLECTION – BOILER & STEAM SYSTEMS:-

• Boiler name plate details and at what are the parameters are you operating?
• Apply BEE Thumb rules on Boiler & steam parameters, measure the thumb rules are implemented strictly.
• Boiler house-keeping and continuous monitoring of the same, itself yields steady fuel savings always.
• Sub systems – Feed water, fuel quality, combustion, Flue gas etc automation improve efficiency.

• LOOK ABOVE ( COLOR OF CHIMNEY), BELOW ( STEAM DRAINS THRO TRAPS) AND AROUND (STEAM LEAKS)
• Need for Moisture separators installation at Boiler end & Tail end, especially in all your Package boilers.
• PRDS installation, Flow metering installations as per norms / Flow slope and straightening to improve.
• Insulation at header & sub headers. Moist Insulation, conducts! Insulation also has life, what is yours?
• Your process needs Indirect heating of steam or Direct? Tune Boiler & steam distribution set accordingly.

Modern package boilers have limited steam space & evaporation surfaces which may give rise to very high steam take-off
velocities and production of wet steam under certain circumstances. Moisture separator removes moisture, ensures dry
steam to process.

This improves your Steam Dryness in stages from boiler to steam header up to each of branch header feed & tail end. After
recovering condensate from these Separators, trend feed water temperature reading to confirm that.

Also the steam flow monitoring is done as per the steam installation for streamlined flow & annual calibration norms.

Many of your in-situ instruments like gauges and flow / pressure meters do need annual calibration. That also needs to
check in audit for drift in readings. Why it is said here, because the industry uses Thermocouple measurement for your sub
200 Deg C measurements.

It is prudent to replace with RTD to measure accurately, repeatedly without any drift and always linear in measurements
etc. as the above aspects are not there in your Thermocouple sensing, this will lead to variable errors in readings taken from
your process. Many industries are heating their ovens etc in excess temp and losing energy.

TRUST THE INDUSTRY’S ENERGY RECORDS BUT VERIFY THRO YOUR ENERGY MONITORING.
• Industry is vendor-centric, they have to come out of mindset that Auditor is always contradicting OEM.
• The objective of Energy Auditor is to reduce the gap between the Design and Operation in a equipment.
• OEM suggests to run machine safely thro its life, Auditor suggests industry to run the same, efficiently

• Please don’t’ treat Energy Auditor as vendor, Industry needs to get the Best out of Auditor’s Expertise.
• Auditor is a partner to your Energy savings not your challenger, don’t’ approach with negative mindset.
• Energy Auditor will be a part of Energy conservation team to work inside & from outside premises.

The auditor will be a neutral Expert on Energy conservation and Efficiency. He will give his proposals based on the energy
losses happening inside. So the industry also needs to come out of its mindset from relying on machine OEM only and apply
logical reasoning to accept the ENCON proposals of the Auditor and discuss openly and transparently with the Auditor now.

If the Management alone accepts the Auditor, then the proposals out of Audit fail to click in that industry. Also if the Audit
proposals cannot convince the shop floor Engineers, then the proposals don’t’ reach the management convincingly. So
during the Audit, the Auditor, the management & shop floor all need to be in sync with; and accept the proposals by
collective discussion and achieve energy savings first and further to step into productivity improvements.

YOUR ENERGY AUDIT REPORT MUST SPEAK WHAT YOU WANT TO CONVEY, PRECISELY IN THEIR LANGUAGE.

• Your energy report needs to follow the BEE guidelines and formatting in full & full
• First few pages precisely to address to the management in your Executive Summary, proposals & payback.
• Illustrative representation like the Sankey Diagram, PYE / Bar charts, etc to highlight the deviations.

• Industry wants you to highlight their deviations, where and & what extent have they deviated?
• Middle management to be informed of technical ENCON measures proposed with Investment & payback?
• Discuss proactively with industry to go for energy saving & ask them to effectively utilize your expertise.

The Energy Auditor’s report can be precise, to the point of energy saving. The proposals need to be assessed, and then the
user is recommended to implement the proposal detailing the Investment required and the simple payback period. Your
proposals need to accelerate the implementation. When the industry is in 2nd gear, the proposals have to push the industry
to move up to 4th gear & not to retard back to first gear. Here, we have to deliberate one point. The Energy Auditor has to
mentally partner with the industry as the industry team during the time of audit, understand them well to give proposals.

YOUR AUDIT REPORT IS A CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT.

• The shop floor / workers to read the next pages on proposals & steps to implement ENCON measures.
• They have to study ENCON readings, trend charts, and in-depth analysis of process and understand to proceed next.
• The report to have adequate pages to quickly go thro instead of volumes of pages with copy-paste formats from BEE.

• Build your own Template on each ENCON proposal and improvise your template to match & size to any next industry.
• Your Audit report contains the production, process parameters and statistics of the industry, so keep it confidential.
• You have to collect true & plain plant inputs so that you can give value addition in process, energy & in infrastructure

During the post audit discussion, the Auditor briefly and precisely highlights the energy savings possible in macro view.
Then he outlines to the middle management technically about the proposal, the investment and payback details. Next the
Auditor has to elaborate the workings to the shop floor people, and make them understand first, respond to their queries
and clarify the practical workings of the proposals. The man at the work spot, if he understands the proposal working, then
the ENCON is half done. So the Auditor’s proposals need to reach the shop floor employee, then only it gets done smoothly.

Plant Management Initiates, technical team is aware of energy usage and losses, the culture is spread to conserve.
The Energy Auditor needs to talk to all the Three to confirm Energy Education from Top to Bottom is Half done in ENCON.

The energy audit program will be successful in your industry and if your management initiates this and commits to promote
energy conservation. We come across so many Annual reports of the companies in the net, some companies share their
real ENCON activity, sharing their Saving to Save OUR Energy. This is a welcome trend by those with Share-ENCON attitude.

When we study the annual reports of the companies, sometimes we wonder why the same ENCON measure is repetitive
now. Replace to LED tube lights, Arresting compressed air leakages, and Replace either compressor or pumps. Hereby we
request the companies to trace their real audit report executive summary and embed the same in their Annual company
report. Now ENCON summary annexure is added for namesake only. Kindly visit the esteemed companies in your segment,
they report their ENCON measures on Actual savings, and this tempts other companies to go into Energy Professionals to
implement. Even the BEE wants real ENCON summary after audit from company to give feedback to BEE in the PAT studies.

SOME MORE INFO ABOUT THE INDUSTRY & THEIR PAST ENERGY CONSERVATION INITIATIVES:-

 Industry history; started in the year and the latest additions in their premises, till date.
 Industry has put VFD in what type of production loads and what type of utility loads
 When did the industry conduct the energy audit before and had they implemented their proposals in the past?

 What is the Simple Payback period on an average, their management is looking for?
 What are the ENCON proposals recently in the trailing one year they had done in their premises?
 Had they recorded the energy savings achieved in their previous proposals?

When you are entering into the industry for energy audit, we must be aware that this industry is running for decades, had
done modifications, extensions, and expansions over many years. It is better to keep those inputs at the back of mind, while
looking for proposals inside.

Did that industry implement previous Audited-proposals years back and resulted in energy savings or production increase?
Management needs to accept your proposals financially and the middle managers also have to accept your proposals
technically to proceed further in the industry’s ENCON measures in the post-audit period.

Some industries say strictly to the Auditors that all your proposals to have payback period of less than one year only. The
ENCON proposals are short-sighted and far-sighted. If we find the TOC –total owning cost of the proposal is lower after the
proposed implementation and Returns are higher, but with a higher payback period, we have to give priority to that first.

If the industry is running an inefficient utility (this has become obsolete in your peer segment), it is better to replace the
same at the earliest opportunity available to you, now that ESCO companies are there to facilitate that as well.

Energy Conservation NOW is a Collective Responsibility of All the Departments, it is not of the Monitoring dept only.
So Listen to the Management first, but observe & interact with the shop floor, you will get more inputs from field.

Now we can put more concentrated efforts pointing towards energy conservation and reduction of SEC, the Specific
Energy Consumption, by al depts. Maintenance, Electrical, and Mechanical and especially the Production & Quality
Let us pro-actively work to implement ENCON measures, by correcting the defects & losses in our machine & Optimize.
Industry management is with you to continue the energy savings and definitely we need momentum now from all.
Energy Audit is done in your company to find out the root cause of failures happening in some of the Audit’s proposals.
Surprisingly, the management questions only the Electrical dept about higher energy consumption. In fact the production
dept consumes more energy for either more production or to meet out their today’s production over-demands.

So the preliminary audit discussion within the premises before the Auditor’s visit is important first. The internal audit will
reveal the reason for high energy consumption. So all are responsible for this high energy consumption thro out the year.
The CUSUM chart of Production vs consumption thro out the year, will give you macro deviations in your energy
consumption, the reasons for higher versus lower consumption in some months due to operational loading patterns as well.

• The Result of the Energy Audit is verified by the follow up visit only.
• The energy audit is successful, when the industry accepts your proposals, thro a brainstorming session there.

• Industry will start their ENCON measures on Zero, Low and plan for High cost Pay-back ENCON measures.
• First they will correct the immediate un-safe practices that lead to energy loss and breakdowns in the findings.
• This ENCON measure witnessed by you will be learning to you. BEE is interested in the consumer’s feedback only.

When you are quoting for energy audit services, do include your post audit visit and your follow up visit after a month or so.
This follow up visit, will show whether your audit findings have been fruitful to the company. This will also give feedback to
improve your ENCON proposal in next audits.

Also you can ask the industry to fine tune to maximize their energy savings. This report by the company after your follow up
is the consumer’s actual feedback on your audit and BEE wants that only.
 What is in the National T & D Loss, is applicable to industry. Visible loss in production is controlled by Management.
• Invisible energy losses in utility & Production machines can be quantified by team of Auditor & Maintenance only.
Make the industry, understand that your Energy Audit is a Tool to facilitate the recovery of their energy losses
happened, due to mismatch in the design of the equipments & the deviation in their operating practices till date.

• Energy Auditor can work well with the Industry, only when Management feels that there is energy loss & wastage in
their process and needs to be recovered. Energy Auditor cannot canvas his services, only industry can initiate now.
• So the Energy Audit can happen only when the industry volunteers that; or the Govt has to mandate TODAY, to all HT
consumer industries across India, to conduct Energy Audit once in 3 years, similar to PAT Designated consumers.

Ultimately the industry after the energy audit, must experience the Shock of realizing the energy losses that had happened
till yesterday before the audit, Relief today after starting to implement the ENCON proposals on war footing, and Delight
tomorrow and further months & years to come; that you will be energy saving each month, recovering from losses now.

The views expressed here, is the Author’s own personal views based on his practical experience in conducting more than
450 energy audits in various industry segments. He recently conducted two webinars on the Practical Guidelines on Energy
Audits to the Industries as well to the Energy Auditors in the IAEMP Virtual Academy & TECKXPERT platforms and the same
is well-received by the industry & EM & EA Professionals audience, available in channel:- youtube/energymeasuretosave

Having seen the overwhelming response to this webinar content ppt posting with more than 10000 views in some of the
linkedin platform’s energy groups in 20 days after posting, hence this is detailed in above article to share the knowledge
earned in audits.

So that some of the points will be useful to both in conducting the energy audit programs. Many of the Auditors may be
practicing these procedures, but still it is shared for the benefit of the new Auditors who have entered to the field of Energy
Auditing & conservation recently, all the above is done as per BEE guidelines & Thumb rules of ENCON.

The idea is to revisit or to visualize the practices to be followed by the industry & Auditor
during & post the Energy Audit Program. If this is useful to you, share to others.

This procedure of “PRACTICAL Energy conservation Measures implemented by the industry, post the Energy Audit
reporting & Discussions” is much needed by the user industry & the Energy Managers & the Energy Auditors and the Energy
Efficiency Professionals. Let us share to SAVE OUR ENERGY.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 5. ENERGY MONITORING BY FIELD INSTRUMENTS IN THE INDUSTRY
ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor, Mail to:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

The industry has many field instruments in their process pipe-lines, and utility piping systems but for namesake only in
some industries. But the same instruments in the equipments are working as demanded by the equipment OEM to ensure
safe running of their equipments. The field instruments are there physically, but they are not either working or failed in the
safe mode.

And routinely the equipment & the process maintenance log books are filled up based on the previous readings, or the
assumed readings as told by the concerned process or machinery OEM, practically happening in some of the industry
segments.

This article focuses on the need of working field instruments and their impact on the energy monitoring
and the industry can as well act on their measurements to optimize their process.

INDUSTRY TO FOCUS ON WORKINGS OF IN-SITU INSTRUMENTS ON PIPELINES & EQUIPMENTS:-

The industry needs to monitor the compressed air header flow, or the Blower’s static Pascals. The industry can fix pressure
and temperature gauges in production auxiliaries and utilities. The industries do have pressure and temperature gauges on
their pipelines, but they have gone out of scale within few weeks of operation due to pipeline vibrations.

Mount your Pressure gauge with B & B – Block & Bleed When the local temperature gauge to be installed in the
valve. This will help to check your gauge zero check routinely pipeline, care is taken to choose the point to drill in the
online, by blocking the gauge from the process piping and pipeline, so that the process flow direction impinges more
bleeding to check gauge Zero. Routinely check your on that sensor insertion point in the pipeline. One rule of
pressure gauges & transducers for zero check & calibration. thumb is to insert a thermowell anywhere from one-third to
two-thirds of the way into the fluid stream.

The Pressure and temperature parameters are the symptoms of system healthiness in the pumping, or blower or
compressor system. Also they are energy-influencing parameters in the utility and the auxiliary equipments as above. So
the monitoring of the same must be given the care from their installation stage, to install in stand or wall with impulse
piping to process.

So check the instrument is healthy to monitor your equipment for many years. Compared to equipment or process piping
cost, this is just a meager fraction of costing, but it must be considered to have worthy instruments that can be useful to
your plant till the life of the equipment. Why it is emphasized here, let us ponder.

END-TO-END E2E TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION LOSSES FROM FEED TO TAIL END:-
Provide pressure gauges on the end to end from the feed end to the tail end in the main header first, and then to each of the
branch headers. This medium can be compressed air, blower air, water circulation, oil circulation or steam steam as well.

The End to End pressure gauges can have pressure switches to provide Low pressure Latch type alarms to find out when the
pressure drops due to excess flow in opposite branch, low incoming flow due to starved filters at intake or choked pipeline
filters, restrictions in the pipeline like the RO or MO type orifices, excess scaling in the sharp bend fittings or long bend
fittings etc.

This set up can be made digitalized with IOT devices as well to trend the pressure recordings at the end-to-end locations
and this will show you the energy loss due to flow deviations and the reasons to raise the header pressure to keep the flow
rates to the optimum due to the leakages.

Many industries have kept their compressed air header pressure high so as to take care of the
compressed air leakages only. More the leakage, higher the header pressure.
Similarly the temperature gradient in the pipe lines end-to-end is also measurable like above, recordable thro IOT
mechanisms, you can find out the reason for higher temperature drop due to what reason like poor insulation on pipe
flange fittings, internal wall restrictions due to heavy water in steam, poor steam dryness, and other factors of moisture
separator or the traps malfunctioning.

Law of Energy Conservation applied here as Hot Spots as Symptom of Losses in the System Energy Flow Sankey Diagram.
Law of Energy conservation states that the total energy inputted to the system in machines at Production or Utility,

(this can be pump, compressor, blower, or machine) has to come out as Energy embedded at the Output + Energy that is
exhausted towards Losses. This is also measurable in the gauges thro deviations in the
pressure and temperature parameters of the process &utility flow.

Why insisted here because, most of the industries are not field monitoring the Blower’s static Pascals, and this parameter is
also contributing to the blower’s running efficiency.

The pressure and temperature monitoring helps to study the running efficiency of the utility, say like the cooling tower,
pump, compressor, Heat Exchanger, Heat transferring Blowers, Air Handling / Washing units, coil coolers, chillers, boiler
and steam systems. Apply the thumb rules of each utility efficiency calculations. The parameters mentioned to calculate
their efficiency, contribute to that, and need to be measured locally in the field & Remote’.

IN-SITU INSTRUMENTS AND PROVISION FOR MEASURING PARAMETERS IN EQUIPMENTS AND PROCESSES:-

 For the blower, the in-situ Pascal meter + Static pressure switch for the alarm or the provision to check blower
efficiency. For cooling tower, the pressure and temperature at the inlet and outlet of cooling tower to study Range &
Approach. The pressure differential indicates the choke inside the tower hence its health, and the temperature
differential, its efficiency.

 In any screw air compressor, heat rejection is around say 70 % and Pascal monitoring at the exhaust duct of
compressor is needed to know the hotter air is getting out of the compressor house easily and freely. Some industries
provided chute like duct, others expanded short duct to quickly exhaust air. This is making the blower to struggle to
push out the hot air out.

 You will see the Pascal difference in the hood’s exhaust duct, when the post air cooler in hood is choked or the exhaust
duct is narrowed out. Unfortunately many industries have not even provided exhaust duct on their compressor hood.
This makes their compressor house hotter than outside ambient, it is energy loss only.

 The compressor’s air intake filter, pipeline filter etc differential pressure when high shows that the compressed air
generation loss and the distribution loss due to heavy pressure drops in above filters and are you measuring with
distinct gauges now?

The compressed air receiver temperature gauge + alarm switch after the compressor before the drier will show the
daily healthiness of post air cooler inside compressor hood and also the ambient-cool dry healthy compressed air.

 The temperature differential of around say 10 Deg C around the ambient temperature across the Refrigerated dryer
shows the efficiency of the dryer. The pressure differential across the dryer during peak air flow must be around 0.3
Bar, are we measuring this differential now? You provide differential temperature and pressure switches across the
dryer to alert you regarding the dryer malfunctioning and increasing the distribution energy losses in compressed air
header?

 In the Freon systems of refrigerated dryer, only the dryer OEM have provided the suction and delivery Freon pressure
gauge and switch to monitor and control. (No other Air conditioning OEMs provide in their split, or duct or packaged AC
systems to measure the Freon pressure at the suction and delivery of their Freon compressor). This Freon suction and
delivery pressure monitoring will help the user to routinely monitor and control the refrigerated dryer’s daily function.

This is applicable to Heat Exchangers where the pressure differential indicates the healthy flow of medium
and the temperature differential shows the efficiency of the Heat exchanger to achieve the heat transfer across.

 Any pump in general needs a suction strainer so that the pump internals don’t get choked due to dust or dirt in
medium and this suction strainer needs a pressure differential across the same. This helps you to monitor the pump
daily functioning.
 Provide a RTD based temperature monitoring and recording for your package boiler feed tank. Invariably in most of the
boilers we measured the averaged recorded temperature is around 60 Deg C only. But you will always vouch that you
are feeding 90 Deg C feed water temperature thro out the day. So monitor& trend your feed water temperature over
24hours now to decide.

 This can be feed water improvements can be instantly improved by you today, by providing the Moisture separator on
the immediate steam delivery from the package boiler and the other Moisture separators in branch and tail end of
headers and bring back the hottest water separated by the moisture separator, back to your package boiler feed tank.

Instead of relying on the condensate water to be received at a lesser temperature to your feed tank, this is a logical
alternative to improve the feed water temperature instantly by say 20 to 30 Deg C, achieve 5 % energy savings.

 Follow the OEMs recommendation of your PRDS and the steam flow meter installations. Most of the industries have
procured branded instruments; you often fail to install the same correctly as demanded by the metering OEM and
blame for inaccuracy.

 Follow the BEE thumb rules of boiler & steam energy saving and instead of assuming that we are achieving energy
saving by thumb rule, it is always fool-proof to measure the pressure and temperature points wherever possible to
confirm the same.

Many of maintenance managers affirm that they are aware of BEE thumb rules but practically the energy saving in
the thermal side is not happening because the field monitoring is not provided, they are blind-folded to arrive at
energy losses.

 Simple and logical concept of maintaining the streamlined flow of the fluid inside the pipelines say steam, air etc with
not only adequate but sufficient pipe dia lengths on the upstream and downstream is always the need during the
commissioning time.

FIELD PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE GAUGES’ SIZING AND MOUNTING FOR SMOOTH MONITORING:-

1. Buying a branded and right sized range, big dialed and right selection & type of the pressure gauge type to suit to the
process. Many industries just fix a gauge on the date of commissioning of equipment, without prior planning to procure
the same. Some process need 4 inch or 6 inch dial gauge, and range of instrument to be selected near to the max
working process pressure.

2. For a compressed air header or air receiver pressure gauge, some industry is using 2 inch 16 Bar range gauge, the
resolution is very poor there. So they need to select say 4 or 6 inch dial gauge and 10 Bar pressure range, so that the
working pressure is shown by pointer in around half the region of display dial for accuracy, linearity and for better
resolution.

Here the industry can also go for digital dial pressure gauge to read at two-decimal resolution.
Also this digital gauge needs to have dual alarm settings to prompt or alert the operator
for any high or low pressure jump at any instant.

3. If you have only the dial pressure gauge, plan to have provision to install pressure switch for high or low pressure
alarms. This will alert the operator in case of (high or) low pressure that can happen momentously due to heavy
leakage or consumption.

4. The same is applied to field temperature gauge selection, right sizing and range for readable resolution. For the
ambient temperature-around monitoring, it is better to have 60 Deg C range gauge instead of 100 Deg C and above
gauge. Like the pressure gauge, the temperature gauge also can be digitized, and alarms can be set for low / high
temperature alarms.

5. Normally the industry procures the quality pressure / temperature gauge, but they have to take care in the mounting
of same. When fixing your pressure and temperature gauges on pipelines, please take care to mount the gauges on
wall / mounting stand and connect the gauges to the process thro impulse piping and Block & Bleed valve provision.

6. Suiting to the process demand, you can fix a snubber or gauge saver add-on to make your gauge work safely for many
years. The pressure gauge can be safely relocated & impulse piped from pipeline to either side stand or on the wall.
7. Normally the field local instruments like pressure or temperature gauges are to be checked routinely for either zero or
the calibration alternatively. This is just to ensure the gauge is functioning correctly and as well sensing is okay from the
process.

Do you routinely and annually do the calibration of your pressure control sensor of your utility compressors?
The calibration report needs to show what was before and after readings,
and the error corrected after, at the normal value measured?

BEE insists “MEASURE TO MANAGE ENERGY”

Data collection of motors will highlight you many a points towards energy conservation. Plan to have in-situ RPM
monitoring of motor and that of the belt driven machine to see daily / weekly / monthly RPM variation in between the
machines. If In-situ is not possible, plan to have stroboscope and instantly monitor the RPM difference without switching
off etc.

RPM loss in production machines is a direct loss of your production. Same RPM loss in utility and auxiliaries
is energy lost. Have you brought down to motor to machine power transmission slippage in your monthly
readings less than 2 % as recorded in your log books?

Energy conservation Measure – Before and After Study

indicates Higher Productivity or Less Energy Consumption.
So give provisions to monitor all the parameters.
First you Energy study and Audit Internally. Next once in
three years, conduct energy audit study to find out from
Energy Auditors, where YOU are losing compared to others
in your segment. Audit cant’ be replaced by Guess-Estimate

27

Courtesy – GRUNDFOSS pump installation image from Linkedin. This shows how the pump suction and delivery is
expanded at the pump suction and delivery flanges thro expanders and the way, field gauges are mounted on the
pipelines at right location.

Plan to install or retrofit in your panels, the Electronic Motor Protection relays with two sets of contacts for alarm and shut-
down. These EM relays are fool proof compared to thermal overload relays and will not allow your motor to burn out at any
cost but trip your motor on single phasing, dry running, over loading, current unbalance etc.

Here it is told because you make the machines and motors to prompt you about idle running, healthy running, and
fluctuating overloading in Amps, by these relays accurately.

BEE always recommends monitoring any motor above 10 hp working for two shifts a day, by fitting the KWH meter. And
if your industry is running as batch process, you can add-on Run hour meter along with the above KWH meter to know
your motor’s average units per hour for the given loading per cycle or shift or day or night or week or month etc.

TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION HAPPENING IN THE INDUSTRY:-

•
• Voltage Drops From Transformer Secondary To Tail-End Equipments:-.
• Power Factor Pf Variations From The Load End To Transformer Secondary:-
• Air Conditioning Plant – Generation, Distribution & Usage
• Compressors – Generation, Distribution & Usage & Leakage.
• Fans & Blowers – Generation, Distribution & Usage & Leakage.

NAME PLATE DETAILS OF YOUR UTILITY & PRODUCTION MACHINES:-

Kindly collect all your equipment name plate or the technical specs / Installation manual and O & M manual and keep in
record. Production equipments are well taken care by the production team as it is visible in their product output quantity &
quality. But in the utility only, you need to plan in ordering, installation & commissioning implementation from day One.

Your utility OEM has to demonstrate to you, the deliverables and put on record; maybe you may not have the tools to
confirm that. For ex/- does your screw air compressor’s commissioning report gives the rated and running Watt/CFM,
what is the deliverable CFM @ what pressure & temperature for the given inputted KW to the package
over an hour / shift / day duration?

Also the screw air compressor is kept as a box only in the compressor house. Only few OEMs insist the hood to be
retrofitted with expanded duct to expel the hotter rejected air in the tropicalized region like India. Let the OEMs be strict in
recommending this retrofit, otherwise the compressor house runs at hotter temperature than ambient always thro out its
life time.

The industries buy the screw air compressor as a box and give connections to the delivery to air receiver. If the compressor
OEMs educate the industry to allow their Pressure control sensor to be shifted to the air receiver during its commissioning,
this will make their compressor healthy and wild fluctuating zig-zag of load-unload cycles can be avoided right from day one
to say till 10 years.

This leads to accelerated ageing of the compressor and this reduces the life of the compressor element due to hotter air
sucked inside thro the element and the starved hotter air outside that passes thro compressor body, making it hotter and
inefficient to compress.

The Quote is Compressor in air is like submersible pump in water. You need water for sub pump to cool externally and the
same water to be pumped out. Likewise, compressor needs cool dry air to surround the compressor body to cool near to
the ambient surrounding temperature. Also the compressor needs at its intake, the cool dry air to compress the same it
efficiently.

So you have to re-locate the pressure control sensor in such a way, so that it picks up the non-pulsating delivery air pressure
from the air receiver. Unfortunately, the industry acts only if the OEM guides them. So the OEM and the user need to
conclude on relocating the same.

But the same industry accepts to put additional pressure control sensor on the receiver, if they retrofit VFD on automatic
closed loop control to their existing compressor. As an Energy Auditor, we have failed to impress the industry to accept
our suggestion for re-location of this sensor, since ten years of our energy auditing in the various industries.

You purchased your compressor 50 HP screw for say Rs.10 Lakhs and its annual air delivery cost is around Rs.24 Lakhs. Out
of which Rs.8 Lakhs is lost thro leakage. If the same is monitored thro your compressed air header flow meter costing Rs.1
Lakh, you will have control of your leakage so as to arrest the same, daily or weekly or monthly during the shutdown or
forced shut down times.

But most of the industries have not still purchased the header flow meter (this has become affordable around a Lakh of
Rupees) to monitor each or total of higher HP screw compressors. BEE always mandates you to monitor your energy
consumption to target the reduction. This output flow Monitoring approach will self-motivate you to achieve the realization
of your ENCON proposals.

The compressed air header flow metering installation needs to be done correctly so that the user industry measures near to
the actual flow delivered by the compressor. Compressor OEM has their yardstick to their FAD specs and the Flow meter
OEM have their own bench marks to measure the compressed air flow at the given pressure and temperature.

Sometimes, why the flow meter shows the wrong reading because, this flow meter is not installed
as per the flow meter OEM’s recommendations as follows.

1. If the flow meter is located next to the compressor at is delivery before the air receiver, this is wrong, because the
meter senses air mixed with heavy water ingress, due to air compression at the immediate delivery pipe, and is not
accepted.

2. Some industries have their 1 inch flow meter, bought at a low cost, and they will try to use in their say 4 inch header,
by providing pipe-reducers in between. This is wrong due to flow meter over-range and air is turbulent at its measuring
location.
3. Prevailing trend in measuring the screw compressor’s delivery is to go for Insertion type Thermal Mass Balance flow
meter. This insertion length inside the pipe is critical, and it needs to be done in consultation with the meter OEM
strictly.

4. Also the orientation of the flow meter in the pipeline during the mounting procedure needs to be confirmed by meter
OEM.

5. When we talk about the laminar flow measurement of compressed air, it is always better to have around 20 times
the Dia at the upstream and downstream of flow meter, straight running of pipe.

6. When the user is deviating from the straight line piping norms or straightened flow norms, he has to get the
recommendations from the meter OEM to fix at the right location on the delivery line and taking care to avoid any
immediate Tee, L joints etc and how to go ahead with the installation?

• Compressor Rated Watt Per Cfm, And Running Watt Per Cfm At Rated Pressure & Running Pressure?
• Blower Cfm At Rated Static Pressure And Cfm At Running Static Pascal For The Input Kw?
• Only Few Industries Have Really Focused On Static Pascal In Your Blowers, Time To Focus More.
• Pump Delivery In Lpm At Rated Discharge Pressure At Running Pressure For Given Kw Input?
• Applicable To Your Production Auxiliaries And To Restore Production System Improvements.
• Pipe In-Line Filters You Have, To Keep Record Of Delta P Across Them At Rated, Average, Mini & Max?

Kindly collect your Fan Performance curve to know whether you are operating your fans & blowers to deliver the flow in m3
per sec @ the required static pressure demanded by your process. Most of the industries are not measuring routinely, the
static pressure in Pascal to assess their blower efficiency. So before your Auditor comes in, make provisions to monitor
blower static Pascal from blower end to process machine end.

Focus on the above table which gives the energy efficiency parameters of two blowers. The static pressure, total pressure,
dynamic pressure, operating temperature, air density at reference and at operating temperature, speed, motor’s efficiency.
So whatever possible to be measured at the field during the running condition is needed to analyze the blower’s running
efficiency.

In general, NPSH of the given pump, or FAD for the compressor, is the un-noticed area of energy loss. Suction pressure
alarm / Air intake static pressure alarm from switches can be set you TODAY. Low Hanging ENCON proposal is to optimize
energy inputs to equipments & utility. Study the Root Cause of running the defect & not the Effect of stuck energy flow.
This Delta Pressure across the AHU filter etc can be given more focus now in the HVAC segment. Because the fresh air is
dusty and the fresh air contains more SPM, very shortly, this filter by day and night variations in RH and temp, the dust gets
clogged to the filter heavily in a shorter duration, and AHU fans are all centrifugal fans show less KW in running due to
starved flow rate.

Also portable sling type psychomotor to be routinely used in your industry which depends on the
Ambient weather pattern as well in your utility like HVAC, and other process related RH considerations.

This you may think it is energy saving, but it is only energy cutting and the inside premises gets starved of fresh air and
the premises user is not aware of that restricted air movement and this detoriates the indoor air quality very early.

DIGITIZE ALL YOUR PROCESS MONITORING & MAKE USE OF IOT & NETWORKING:-

The compressed air user and the compressor OEM are well aware of what will be the effect of Starved
Air Delivery instead of Free Air Delivered FAD to their compressor. Instead of trivializing the differential
pressure measurement with an ordinary vacuum multi color band indicator, the OEM can
pin-pointedly give better instrument to measure it more accurately.

Nowadays, 2 inch square digital pressure indicator with two decimal resolutions is fixed on every FRL that comes with each
machine that is how the machines OEM give respect to compressed air input to their machines. What should we do now at
the main air compressor intake is to measure with high resolution, as this compressor is feeding to hundreds of digitalized-
air FRLs?

The air intake differential pressure and compressor delivery pressure can be with finer resolution from OEMs. Also the
pipeline filter differential can be made measurable, if better resolution of the pressure gauges can be provided in the
pipeline.

Assume you are monitoring your compressed air header analog pressure gauge at resolution of 0.2 Kgsc only, if you retrofit
with digital gauge, you can view the same accurately with two decimal accuracy say 6.34 instead analog gauge shows 6.2 or
6.4 Kgsc.
 If your process control is computer controlled, then you can add these digital inputs from your process to be remotely
Viewed by you and alert you when crossing Lo / Hi alarms setting and then plan for automatic controls further.

By now, your industry has come across many process and utility parameters in pressure, temperature etc. Instead of going
for local gauges for monitoring and control, you can plan to digitize the same and give prompting alarms to the user in case
of any deviation.

Digital Pascal public display @ PREMIER Mills. This is the same with static Pascal measurement with your U tube
manometer, gauge resolution 10 mmWC=100 Pascal, whereas Portable digital Pascal gauge gives accurate say 1289
Pascals, courtesy – TESTO Brand.

ENERGY MONITORING INSTRUMENTS IN THE BOILER & STEAM SYSTEMS:-

• Apply Bee Thumb Rules On Boiler & Steam Parameters; Check Thumb Rules Are Applied In The Field.
• Boiler House-Keeping And Continuous Monitoring Of The Same, Yields Steady Fuel Savings Always.
• Sub Systems – Feed Water, Fuel Quality, Combustion, Flue Gas Etc Automation Improve Efficiency.
• Moisture Separators Installation At Boiler End & Tail End, Especially In All Your Package Boilers.
• Prds Installation, Flow Metering Installations As Per Norms Recommended By The OEMs.

Many of your in-situ instruments like gauges and flow / pressure meters do need annual calibration. That also needs to
check in audit for drift in readings. Why it is said here, because the industry uses high range Thermocouple measurement
for your sub 200 Deg C measurements. The detection of temperature is not accurate and hence not reliable as the readings
are not stable.

Your scheduled calibration reports of all the field measuring instruments either done by you or outsourced by you, MUST
have two sets of calibration readings, what was before and what is it now after calibration.

If there is no change, it is good. If changes are there, this will indicate your energy losses that had happened due to over
heating or cooling due to instrument measurement error. Accordingly you can plan to prevent the measurement errors in
your field instruments.

TRUST, BUT VERIFY, What your field instruments show or measure, this helps to fine tune your process parameters.
Courtesy www:engineerscommunity.com, this table speaks of need of RTD over thermocouple in many cases.

It is prudent to replace with RTD to measure accurately, repeatedly without any drift and always linear in measurements
etc. as the above aspects are not there in your Thermocouple sensing, this will lead to variable errors in readings taken from
your process. Many industries are heating their ovens etc in excess temperature and losing energy.

To measure your process temperature say upto 350 Deg C, accurately with excellent stability, and repeatedly accurate and
without any drift, RTD is the best choice compared to thermocouple, for the most accurate and repeatable and reliable
measurements. During our energy audits, we came across the readings monitored by the in-situ thermocouple, are prone to
drift, not accurate, etc.

CONCLUSION:-
Many of the industries are operated as a batch of equipments either in continuous process or in batch process. But their
utility and the common pipeline systems in the headers and the branch or the sub headers to each of the equipment also
become part of the process under daily operation.

So the flow pressure and the temperature parameters of the flowing medium also become contributing factors
to assess the energy efficiency of the sub system, and the total system and that of the process.

Large scale process plants like the Refinery and continuous process plants have high density instrumentation in the field to
monitor the process thro remote computers from the central control room. A fraction of the same is explained here, why
the field instruments are the first interface to the operator to study the process, or to the user to ascertain the process
running efficiency.

This can be very much employed in the MSME in their small process and auxiliary and as well in their utility to the
betterment of the small & medium scale sectors. BEE always recommends “MEASURE TO MANAGE” and the same is
applied here with the practical inputs from the field.

To buy the Practical Guide on the Energy Conservation & management books online:-
5. https://notionpress.com/read/practical-guide-to-energy-conservation-management/paperback
6. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-conservation-management-in-textile-mills
7. https://notionpress.com/read/conserve-energy-and-restore-productivity-in-machines-by-belts-and- pulley-drives
8. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-monitoring-conservation-practices-in-residential-commercial-buildings
ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 6. THE MYTHS IN ELECTRICAL POWER METERING
S.ASHOK, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor / Mail to:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

BEE Mantra is Monitoring to Target the Energy / Electricity Reduction. 1 KW of Electricity saving per hour in the
industry equals to Rs.50,000/- saving per Annum, in industry running with 3 shifts per day. We have to account for every
unit of Electricity used in our industry. The existing practice in the industry is that we are now guess-timating the energy
losses in the routine checkup of machine / process parameters.

 Our approximation of energy consumptions will vary by 10 to 20 % to arrive at the macro specific power consumption
of the process / machines because we do neither have the time to micro level monitor MLM the individual machine
consumption, nor plan the time to MLA analyze the macro power consumption. One of the reasons for this gap in
assumption of power consumption is that either we don’t’ have the power analyzer or even if have that, we don’t’ have
time to install & take measurements.

 Having visited hundreds of industries who are energy guzzlers in this region in the recent years, I am surprised to find
many industries in the segment have bought POWER ANALYZERS costing Rupees 2 to 3 Lakhs, few years back but the same
is idling in the industry office shelf and sparingly put to use during routine maintenance.

 The reason attributed to this poor usage of this power analyzer is that, it takes say 2 to 3 staff say Electrical Engineer,
Supervisor & Electrician to hook up and it takes around half to one hour time to take out the first measurement of machine
with this analyzer and then the trending starts.

 After visiting the above industries few years back, I suggested them to buy a CLAMP-ON POWER METER costing less
than Rs.10 K to at least be aware of the instantaneous power parameters of KW, KVA, KVAR, PF apart from the routine
measurements of V,A, etc.

 With this meter, I explained to them both the Maintenance & the Management, that they can take many instant
power readings immediately in any machine, within 10 minutes. They can measure the motor input power in the 3 phases
one by one phase with respect to neutral and individually each phase power parameters and sum the same for total power
consumption.

We talk KW, KVA measurement accuracy of 0.5 % in meter & spend later only, lakhs of Rs!

 But today, we can walk the talk with 2 % accuracy & spend Rs.10 K to measure!
 In my next visit to the above industries, to my pleasant surprise, I found that 90 % of them, not only the small &
medium scale industries bought one clamp-on power meter per industry immediately, but even large power consumers
 bought 2 to 3 of the above meters for their shift maintenance crew at least to know the instant power parameters at load
ends and at the SSB.

 Later, I was given to understand that the above type of meter was very much user friendly, even the Electrician uses
it easily. And both the electrical & process managers talked to me about KW, KVA loading issues, optimum power
consumption / machine during my next visits, there.

 Inside the industry, this process of routine sharing of instant power parameters of machines between production
and maintenance allowed the industry, to know that they were operating the machines safely and were to able to achieve
the optimal energy conserving patterns on machines.

 This metering practice, I wanted to share with you all in the industry that some basic power monitoring routinely &
monthly can be added along with Sophisticated & Accurate monitoring every year over a long time gap with dedicated
manpower and micro-studying for long man hours.

 Reg the accuracy part of measurement, when no routine power readings were done, the industry manager talks only
at 10 % accuracy, but not act. Now after buying this clamp on meter measurements, today the same industry manager can
pin point the losses now at 2 % accuracy.

 To circumvent the problem of low PF measured during motor no load parameters, I have suggested them that we
can connect across the motor terminals, the sized capacitor and take the power readings so as to improve PF & maintain
the accuracy in no-load KW measurements. Now this meter has provision to measure in LPF mode for VFD application.
Apart from this, this meter can capture the Inrush / Peak value of measurements done.

 The sophisticated metering used with single CT mode or with 3 CT mode again depends on the dynamic load
variations which normally happen in electronic driven non linear machine loads. Hence we have to plan to use the above
meters to suit to the application and process variables.

 For the given linear load of motor, though the theory says it is a balanced load, but still 3 phase 4 wire method of
measurement gives an accurate individual and sum of power parameters in 3 phases. So a single CT probe measured as
above, gives motor parameters in few minutes, is OK.

 This article is addressing the power metering application to small and medium scale industries who find it difficult to
meet both the ends that is how to maximize the usage of sanctioned quota of KWH, KVA so as to get better production with
the rationed quota. This exercise may sound trivial to large scale industries since they have already MODBUSSED the
Integrated Power & Production parameters and are dynamic monitoring, trending by windows compatible mode.
 What we are paying to EB is in KWH, KVA etc every month. Presently the EB power is the cheap and best as it is
subsidized < Rs.7/-. Compare this Kwh rate to the Kwh generated per liter of diesel in our captive DG sets. The Kwh from
our own DG set has made all of us, think that electricity unit is costly at one third of Diesel Liter. This forces us to conserve
the subsidized EB units usage now.

 Now the industry is getting only Rationed Electricity. This makes us to use the Electricity rationally and we want to
maximize the use of sanctioned KVA & KW given to us, by reducing the losses. Priority to the industry now is to run our
existing equipment efficiently and next comes the thinking of energy efficient equipment later.

 By energy conservation in the industry, we try to recover the losses which go as waste. By Energy Measurement, we
draw a line between Avoidable and Unavoidable Losses and plan to minimize same. So Measurement is the first step to
Conserve Energy, first the instant power & then Trend.

 Hence we have to see that our motor is matched to load now. The industry can visualize the motor is not like 1000
watts bulb which draw always only 1 KW during its usage, but 1 KW motor consumes power to match to its load demand
say from 300 watts to 1300 watts. Lighting load is constant and visible to us where as motor loads are varying & the losses
not visible to us.

 Looking thro an aerial eye view of the industry power consumption pattern, the invisible losses that is seen between
the cup and the lip from the transformer up to motor terminals and beyond that at the inefficient loadings, it is my personal
view that it is mandatory for the industry to have more instant power clamp-on meters than being content with one Hi Fi
trend power analyzer.

 What the best operating practices call for and as per the BEE guidelines is that any motor 10 HP & above operating at
two shifts a day or 6000 hours an year, needs mandatory KWH metering. ‘To use the above meter or in-situ power meter
readings monthly or routinely’ can also be made mandatory.

 ‘This metering is a must not only for the HT consumers but also for the LT consumers as well. Ultimately this helps the
consumer to know precisely what he consumes at each of his loads in KW, KVA, PF etc; sump up and then he can optimize
the loads accordingly. The power data displayed in this type of Low end clamp-on power meter can reach the bottom most
ITI trained Electrician inside the industry and he is made aware of what is he measuring in each of the machines compared
to the machine power ratings. In fact, the harmonic levels THD in volt & current up to 49 levels are displayed in these
meters now.

 Energy conservation can be achieved in an industry only by Energy Education to the bottom most employee. When the
same employee measures the power parameters and compares this to ratings, then automatically he will come back to the
Electrical Engineer with more avenues for saving.

 The Good Things & Bad Things HAPPEN TO US BECAUSE OF US ONLY and others can only Catalyze. So cultivate
good House Keeping Habits to visualize & reduce Internal Invisible Losses than showing to others that we reduced the
visible losses externally.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 7. MONITOR THE INDUSTRY’s T & D ENERGY LOSS

IN TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION & TARGET REDUCTION.

Ashok Sethuraman, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor,ashok@energymeasuretosave.com
What the industry pays towards EB units consumed as per the monthly EB bill, the same units is not reflected from
the machine’s KWH consumption. The drop in units percentage from the Mains to the Load ends, in Electricity, compressed
air, Diesel, LPG, steam etc fuel inputs is observed in each and every industry. The industry’s T & D energy loss in distribution
can be focussed now to target the reduction of the same now.

EXISTING LOSSES IN UTILITY NOT QUANTIFIED:-

1. The industry goes by the EB Authorities meter to confirm their electricity consumption in all their feeders at
the MV panel.
2. There is a lot of difference in kwh measurements from the power house and at the load control centers.
3. What we see towards EB side, the monthly KWH / KVAH, the same ratio to be monitored at the load end
distribution side.
4. Compressed air is generated more in the compressor house but at the points of usage, it is air flow dropped
heavily in between.
5. Atleast compressed air leak gives audible sound, but the blower leaks silently and heavily at the distribution
& more in machines
6. Diesel is not fed to the continuous running genset at the right pressure, temperature, thereby optimum
viscosity of Diesel is lost and hence less UPL, units per liter.
7. LPG is bought in Tons thro multiple cylinders, but the difference exists between cylinders consumption and
the Kg/hour of LPG consumption of all the LPG driven equipments.
8. Steam is generated in boiler, but most of the times, it is wet, and wetter only, causing loss of thermal
efficiency, productivity loss due to thermal energy, corrosion of equipments and pipelines.
9. So what is consumed by the steam consumers is much less than the steam generated at the boiler house and
hence the boiler’s run hours increase due to inefficient heat transfer.
10. The symptoms of losses are voltage drops at end-to-end, compressed air pressure drops, blower Pascal
drops, LPG pressure drops, steam pressure & temperature drops due to inside-water & poor insulation, Diesel
return in DG at high temperature etc.

ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION LOSS:-

The industry is procuring and buying excess capacitors to mount in the Powerhouse MV panel to maintain to unity
power factor, the same industry motor load ends are very much lagging in their PF for the given motor loading.

Large Scale Industry groups have realized this Left-out Low Hanging Fruit now in Electrical Distribution and have
reverted back to this, looking for direct power KWH saving benefits and indirect benefit of DG running at higher capacity
than now. BEE must mandate this option of buying a KWH meter and sized capacitor for motor as a System Efficiency
Improver cum Monitor NOW.

SOLUTION:-

When the industry is having of mixture of Linear and Non-Linear loads feeding from their Power House, it is always prudent
to deal the linear loads separately (non linear loads separately) at each Load end point by improving PF at motor which only
pulls down the PF. This improves the safety of electrical distribution and reduces their KWh consumption & KVA demand
reduction.
 Courtesy:- BEE notes on Motor Maintenance Guidelines on the
Existing Motors & Rewinding procedures.
HT sides AVR, Automatic Voltage Regulator, HT capacitor solve many of the industry’s voltage fluctuation, drop, loss
problems. This industry Incoming is at the transmission tail end from the sub-station. Inside your industry, an OLTC On load
Tap Change-over type transformer will bring down the T & D losses further on the heavy loads.

On the soft loads like the Lighting or Electronic loads, Unbalanced servo stabilizer at the Distribution Board, has become
mandatory now not only to reduce the energy losses but also to ensure the safety of operation of the SOFT loads and
elongate their MTBF the Mean Time Between Failures.

VOLTAGE DROPS:-

The voltage drops occurring in the three phase motor Incoming circuits from the EB Incoming to the MV panel, to the SSB &
DB to the motor panels are more now to loose / dry / corroded contacts / joints in wires & cables cause around 5 to 10 volts
in 5 out of 10 industries. Some industries are losing around 10 to 20 volts.

This causes volt unbalance and consequently the current unbalance in motors. Thus de-rating occurs in the motors, and
chokes the motors to struggle and starve for balanced volts when running on normal loading. This strains the motor-health
and at times aggravates this to Single Phasing and burn out the motors.

SOLUTION:-

Thermal Imager scanning of all the intermediate junction/ contact points will surely pinpoint the cause of the problem. Next
is to spot and isolate the voltage drops in circuits, Put your digital volt meter or more like Power quality analyzer to record
the voltage drop in the Incoming of the SSB.

Let us say you are running 5 machines in that SSB, record the voltage minute drops when each of the five motors is
switched on & off. That motor when switched on, shows heavy volts dip compared to other motors, this motor’s incoming
circuit upto the motor terminals need to be checked thoroughly. Also when that same motor is switched off, if the voltage
at the Incoming improves, then the problem is generating from that motor circuit only.

MOTOR & MACHINE POWER TRANSMISSION LOSS:-

In your industry’s motor-to-machine’s power transmission efficiency thro belts and pulley drives, please check this.
If your belts are slightly (not firmly and over-grip) gripping the pulley, then you are maximizing your Belt Transmission
Efficiency. If your belts are only touching slackly the pulley, then your belts & pulley consume More Power and Less Belt
Transmission Efficiency now.

The industry must visualize TODAY, the visible loss in their belts and pulleys. If you change your V belt today to
Raw Edged Cogged REC belt, this transmits power without loss sustainably for double the life of that of V belts, to deliver
near the rated RPM, Revolutions per Minute and hence it gives you more productivity.
 V belt transmission from motor to blower is over-designed Healthy Running MOTOR SKIN TEMPERATURE
with High factor of safety resulting in Heavy Belts & Pulleys. To be less than 20 *C above surrounding Ambient.
cogged belts by design, is having 30 % power carrying Symptoms for healthy Running –
capacity. Better grip & higher coefficient of friction reduces Warm & not Hot motor, Temperature difference in Drive &
slip to less 2 % sustainably & improves drive efficiency. Non drive, Left & Right, Top & Bottom’ to be minimum

35

Motor to Machine Power Transmission losses and the hot spots viewed by the Thermal Imager.
The origin of In-efficiency is due to over-design in selection of belt & pulley drive transmission starts from the
machine OEM only. The efficiency of the mechanical power transmission depends on grip between pulley & belt, further
depends on the co-efficient of friction and tensile strength of the belt transmission sustainably for years.

You the industry need to be aware that your pulley (also due to this cyclic belt movement under harsh conditions) needs
to be replaced after 40,000 hours say after every 5 years because this old pulley is dished out, worn-out, having faced
multiples of belts replaced over this 5years.

SOLUTION:-

Simultaneously if you optimize the ‘motor & load’s pulley size & speed ratio to suit to the same output as load RPM, then it
is power saving for you. Please concentrate on your slippage from motor to machine now.

The Slip between the Cup & Lip in the energy flow is there always, but in some cases we find now, the Cup is slipped in
between! And Slip is reported above 10 % when slip during installation was recorded as only 2 %, few years back and not
checked by your Tacho / stroboscope routinely.

COMPRESSED AIR DROPS IN DISTRIBUTION:-

Air Compressor users in the industry focus compressor health only in the compressor house. Instead, the user needs to
focus on compressed air healthiness & treatment at compressor house especially to separate water from compressed air
and remove it then & there. Presently, the compressed air supplied to the plant is having moisture / water drops
condensed in compressed air and same is not removed effectively at compressor House.

Compressed Air – Dynamic Variable and hence Digitally Hot air Receiver is a symptom of poor compressor health;
measured & trended to control now @ LS Mills Theni. Let us cool the air before dryer to improve energy savings in
CA system & sustain the compressed air health. Either keep
the existing Post Air Cooler working efficiently or Add NEW.

Compressed air treatment done correctly from compressor to load end, improves Pneumatic Health & Energy
savings.
Compressed air treatment improves the pneumatic health of the industry. The condition monitoring of compressed air
treatment process involves the pressure drops across the compressed air distribution, velocity gradient of compressed air
flow, temperature gradient in header piping in the mains and branches.

SOLUTION:-

If the water is not removed in stages from the compressor house, or at the tail end, then this will lead to more air pressure
drops, breakdown of pneumatics in compressed air sub systems in machines. More than that, this is one of the contributors
of the compressed air leakage in distribution and in usage at machines.

The water trace in air makes the pneumatic fittings, prone to leakage and pneumatic health suffers.
The user cant’ afford to take leaks more than the norms said to industry and further reduce.

Also, we have to check the air loss associated with each loading machine. For this, install a digital pressure indicator on the
header ahead of the load feed end. Let us say, this compressed air header is feeding to say 10 machines. Isolate each
machine air supply ball valve and check & record the pressure momentary increase in the header.

When switching on the machine, check and record pressure dip that happens at the header now.
So this will infer to which machine is consuming more air for usage or leakage inside.

PASCAL PRESSURE DROPS IN SUCTION - BLOWER PROCESS:-

Let us say the blower is used to evacuate or purge the system, or recover the left-over process material from the system.
Today you visit your specs about the machine demanded Pascal static pressure and what your blower is generating at one
end of the process. The difference in the Pascal pressure between the blower & consumer machine specs is very high.

What is the point in generating suction spec in a waste collection blower above 2000 Pascal,
when your machine needs suction Pascal pressure 600 Pa only?

SOLUTION:-

Install a digital Pascal indicator at the header feeding to batch of 10 machines. Close the suction of each machine one by
one at a time, which machine drops more Pascal when opening its inlet damper, that machine is consuming blower air and
leaking out thro open end suction flanges. So relative monitoring of each machine Pascal, will show you the way to leaks,
and hence the same can be corrected immediately.

LOSS IN STEAM DISTRIBUTION:-

Industry needs to focus on condensate return water parameters in Steam Moisture separator losses - PCRA Case study
their Boiler. But the small package boiler users do not quantify the
• Moisture separator Installed.
return water in Liters. Also they do not maintain the condensate
piping insulation. So Condensate at 100 *C from field reaches to • Boiler Capacity:850 kg/hr • Fuel Rate : 45 LPH ( 630 lpd )
boiler at 60 *C only at Feed water. Here, 60 to 90 *C in Feed water • Fuel consumption (LDO): • Boiler RUN hrs:14 / day
temperature raise @ boiler, can improve boiler efficiency by 5 %.
50 Liters - LPH (900 LPD ) • Energy Conservation
• Boiler run hrs: 18 / day Potential: Daily fuel saving: -
270 liters
• Boiler is feeds to Reactor • Annual reduction in fuel bill:
Rs. 10 Lakhs
and dryers both indirect
heating applications • Investment towards Moisture
Separator - Rs. 8,000/-
• No moisture separator • Production capacity increased
due to availability of machine
installed in the line & only
TD traps for drain points for longer durations.

Focus on Condensate Return water temperature & Steam Dryness Fraction Factor at Boiler & at tail end
Equipments.

The steam must be generated at its highest pressure say the rated pressure of the boiler in the boiler house and to be used
at the lowest pressure that is recommended by the machine OEM. The steam losses happen in distribution due to steam
pressure, temperature differences between the generation and at the process feed end.

SOLUTION:-
 Also the losses happen due to variety of factors, mainly due to presence of moisture in the steam that is steam dryness
fraction of 5 % not maintained in steam header thro out the day. The moisture carry over in steam is evident in PRDS
Pressure Reduction Distribution Station, Flow metering installations, etc many areas where the steam traps are not installed
correctly or not maintained by routine predictive means.

LIGHTING LOSS IN DISTRIBUTION:-

Lighting loss starts from the point of Source. If it is a single point source as bulb, it has to be higher wattaged. If the same
single point source is converted to Line Light Source say, Tube light format, then the light emanating from the tubelight will
diffuse into the premises in a streamlined way. Also the Reflection type Mirror optic luminaire multiplies the lighting effect
to the user. The Inverse square law of Light Source and Distance needs to be revisited by all in the premises.

SOLUTION:-

The inverse square law defines the relationship between the luminance from a point source and distance. An alternate form
of this equation which is sometimes more convenient is: E1 d1² = E2 d2².

Thanks to BEE LIGHTING MANUAL. Task lighting in the BSNL switch room installed at about 2.5 meter
above the ground as against the earlier practice of 3 meters. Their studies indicated that illumination level
increased by 1.7 times when the mounting height was reduced from 3 to 2.5 meters.

CONCLUSION:-
First the industry has to measure the breakup of loss at the transmission at the header end and loss at the
distribution end by switching the load, on and off the record the impact of energy loss in the incoming header. This relative
condition monitoring at the load end when the machines go on & off is the practice to be followed now.

This will give inference to the user which machine is consuming more than its rated consumption or the leakage
happening inside the machine. Many Relative energy parameters can be measured inferentially now at the feeders itself
and target the energy reduction at the tail end load where it is consuming more.

This is what, we find in the industry, the Electricity flow in the Load end capacitor or Load end reactor
compensation and the intermediate compensation at SSB in the Electrical distribution and in the compressed air
distribution, the role of intermediate feed air receivers and load end air bottles buffering thro branch header.

Ensure the flow of Electricity, compressed air, water etc in the process locations to be smooth and streamlined
and not as turbulent and intermittent wild flow etc. E2E – the End-to-End energy losses for any industry will be reflected at
the transmission header tail end, when phantom loading appears in between.

The T & D loss in energy / electricity distribution from the Incoming gate to the load ends to categorized to monitor
and reduce the same. In the Transmission loss segment, if the tail end of the transmission at the Entry of consumer
premises is fine tuned to bring transmission tail end electricity variation to a narrow band instead of the wide band of
variation, this is the first stage to reduction of T & D Electricity loss at the consumer end.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
8. MACHINE LOAD MONITORING PROMPTS ENERGY OPTIMIZATION IN THE INDUSTRY

Ashok Sethuraman, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor,ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

BRIEF :-
The industry needs Electricity & Energy Monitoring now to ensure the equipments are working safely, rationally
and optimized for the sustained energy & health of the production & utility machines. The Large Scale Continuous Process
Industries, when measuring any process variable, use the Alarm and Trip Function / Device in any equipment / vessel /
process / pipelines etc to alert the user. The same concept can be horizontally deployed in all the industries right from SME
segment now in any motor or machine control applications in batch process / standalone process as well.

Here the brief idea is to overcome the deficiency of thermal overload relay and at the same time, use the
Electronic over & under Current relay to alert the machine operator against the alert levels of machine loading condition,
and utilize the tripping of the machine on thermal overload relay settings.

So the idea is to incorporate in all the three phase motors say from 3 HP and above, this additional Electronic Over
& Under load relay (to the existing thermal OLR in the starter panel) to give audio visual alarms when the operation needs
to be alerted for over-loading Amps and Idling-loading Amps at an affordable cost of say Rs.2000 + slightly more than
thermal OLR.

The industry plans in future, for the IOT based machine prompting communications in the sophisticated
machines. This article is suggesting the thousands of industries & machine OEM to incorporate this
type of Low cost Alarm & Trip Function in their Machine Control Panels (and in their existing machines
already running for decades in the field) to alert the Machine user for optimum loading.

Any higher motor loading point or the idling loading point in its inefficient loading range will be alerted to the
machine user to fine tune his machine loading operations. But this article brings out the 2 way use of the Low cost
Electronic OLR Retrofit to the motor control; firstly to alert the user with Hi & Lo Amp settings & secondly to protect Motor
against Burnouts.

ELECTRONIC OLR to Function as MACHINE LOAD MONITOR:-

The normal motor control contains the Start and Stop functions thro the contactors and automatic trip function
using the bimetallic thermal overload relays to trip the motor when the motor faces the abnormal condition of Overloading
only. This article shows how the safety of the equipments as a system is ensured against the breakdown related deviations
like over loading, Unbalance between the phases, single phasing conditions by the prompt & reliable monitoring of motor
loading pattern.

ALARM (AUDIO VISUAL) & TRIP Function to prompt (Based on Inverse Time characteristic / courtesy Minilec Brand.

 For example, a 10 HP 4 pole motor is running. The FLA, the Full Load Amps is 14 Amps. The machine normally run at 10
Amps say 70 % loading approx. Here the panel is already having the Thermal OLR set at 12 Amps – 85 % practically.
Now the Electronic OLR is retrofitted here, & set to say 10.5 Amps – 75 % load. If it crosses this set value, the relay can
give audio visual alarm, reliably & repeatedly unlike Thermal OLR. The machine user to act immediately why motor is
overloading above set value.
 If the motor runs at below 7 Amps (50 % loading approx), you can assume it is running on near the idling condition, just
to alert the user by audio & visual alarm, to show the machine is idling. So the OL & UL settings alert the user of motor
operating at optimized loading. Now the user will have the option to use this Electronic OLR to alarm only, or Alarm &
Trip function (thus can add to thermal OLR) and the Trip function to be done by existing Thermal OLR, already inside
the panel.

 So As Seen In The Pressure Band Gauge:- Green-Yellow-Red diagram, previously the machine user was assuming the
machine was smooth and always operating in Green safe mode. Either the machine runs (green) or trips (red). Now we
are introducing this concept of ALERT (yellow band) to all our conventional motor controls, giving the time to react by
the user when motor loading of yellow band is optimized. Motor loading above and below yellow band is in its
inefficient band.

 Now after the retrofit of the Electronic OLR, the user will be alerted to the slight overloading immediately first, plans
during the reaction time to respond to the overloading due to the incoming or motor or machine fault in the Green
(Tare load) band, and in Red band ( overload land) he can take immediate steps to correct the fault. Also he is alerted
to operate his motor above 50 % at yellow band that is the motor efficient band of loading, in between the Green and
Red bands.

 Here, we must keep in mind, that when the motor runs below 50 % loading, its efficiency droops drastically. Also when
the motor is loaded above 95 %, motor’s efficiency again drops slightly. This motor efficiency umbrella curve is slopier
in curve, in your existing decade-old IE1 motors and they peak their efficiency around 75 % only.

 And the new IE2, IE3 motors have flatter curve (instead of inverse sloppier curve) efficiency between 55 to 95 %
loading and drops on both Lower & at Higher loading levels. So Loading is also factor to contribute towards the motor
Part-Load Motor Efficiency. The same loading pattern will be alerted to the user, to optimize the machine loading
based operating efficiency.

EXISTING MACHINE MONITORING MAINTENANCE PRACTICES:-

1. Consider a case study of 100 machines in an industry, as a batch production running for three shifts a day, round the
year.

2. The industry’s production team daily monitors the machine’s production parameters and looks for the deviations and
tries to sustain the same production or fine tune routinely to suit to production targets set by management.

3. But the industry’s Electrical team assumes the machines are running smooth and look for the machine related
problems to be reported to them, by their production team only daily. Also they send their field Electrician to visually
check the machine panel inside or to observe the machine front panel only to look for any abnormal Amps readings.

4. The machine loading is checked by way motor load current in Amps as one of the phase current only will be visible to
check daily. Otherwise, the thermal overload relay inside motor control panel is set at a higher setting such that the
thermal OLR trips very rarely, its response is slow & sluggish to follow motor overloading as per Inverse Time-Load
characteristics.

ASSUMING THERMAL OLR IS SET CORRECTLY TO SUIT TO MOTOR OPERATING CURRENT, BUT IT IS POORLY SENSING DUE
TO:-

1. When the motor has a Cold Start or Hot Running Start, or motor Restarting when the machine is in fully loaded
condition.

2. When the motor’s thermal withstanding characteristics mismatch OLR in the hot running ambient harsh environments,

3. when the choked ventilation of motor’s fan gives only poor cooling to the hotter motor fins especially at its bottom,

4. when the motor bearings are not greased with specialty grease lubricants as “Polyurea Thickened Lithium Complex
Grease”, thus heating up Drive End bearings as sensed by thermal imager and this leads to drive, belt transmission
losses.
5. when Unbalance of current in the windings either due to motor internal problem or due to Single Phasing at Incoming.

6. overall, the thermal OLR is not timely responding to the motor overloading spikes happening, hence fails in the Safe
mode.

7. Also the Thermal OLR to be selected in so that the relay to trip in the mid region of the Thermal OLR band.

8. Motors burn out in the industry not only by wrong setting of OLR, but also in selecting wrong range of OLR,
mismatching the motor overload current parameters.

9. Alternatively, Thermistor based relay can function provided the thermistor PTC sensors were already embedded to the
windings. But still this PTC relay is an After-Effect Relay only compared to E-OLR, which acts before overloading
happens.

10. But now compare the running cost of your motor, if not protected, goes for motor burnout and rewounded by a local
repair shop, all the costs summed to increase its losses. The manpower involved in removing the burnt out motor and
replacing with Rewounded motor and % points drop in motor running efficiency due to rewinding, all the above is LOSS
to industry.

Single Phasing Fault Diagram / Motor Rewinding Routines Chart / Motor starved of blocked ventilation & poor
Lubrication.

PROPOSED MACHINE PROMPTING PRACTICES:-

 Taking the same case of 100 machines 10 HP rating, let us fix now the Electronic Overload relay on the existing machine
control panel and set the Alert level of 10 % upper band of the running motor Amps, and 20 % lower band for the
undercurrent setting. This Hi and Lo Amps setting of EOL, depends the motor current fluctuations normally happening.
If it is beyond the normal fluctuations of current, the Hi and Lo setting is done to alert the operator to show that the
motor is taking higher Amps.

 Now, the Electrician visits the 100 machines daily, looks for the latched Audio & Visual alarm in any of the 100 machine
panels to know which machine is taking more and diagnoses fault and takes steps to rectify the fault in that machine
panel.

 Now, out of 100 machines, few machines have prompted the Electrician to invite him to attend to the faults there.

 Let the existing Thermal OLR in the panel, function to trip the machine on extreme overload and un-safe conditions.

 The EOL has settable Inverse Time delay characteristics as mentioned below and will alert the machine user for audio
visual alarm so as to attend to the fault. This can be decided in consultation with the machine OEM and not to have
nuisance trip.

 To make doubly sure of the EOL acting on genuine overload withstanding for more seconds like 2 to 10 sec, the setting
of ‘Time to Trip’ as per Inverse Time Delay Characteristics, under the recommendations with the machine OEM.
 To provide to each machine KWH + Runhour meter to assess machine daily health as KWH X run hours / Motor rating.

ALLOW YOUR MOTOR TO ALERT IMPENDING FAULT, TO PREVENT MOTOR BURNOUT NOW:-

 Visualize in any of your machine Incoming or DB or SSB, one phase main contact is having loose contact and develops
current unbalance, thermal OLR cannot protect there, whereas Electronic OLR will definitely protect the motor.

 This current unbalance condition can happen to any motor at any time of the day, so to save the motor from burnout,
the E-OLR trips motor with fool-proof alert and trip function, and that is why the Electronic OLR is need of the hour to
industry.

 Assuming the motor life for a decade, we are running our motor rating to match the machine load demands all along.
But practically in the harsh ambient environments and due to poor response of your existing Thermal OLR due to the
unsafe conditions mentioned above, the motor burns out or prone to damage in front of your eyes due to inadequate
protection, poor quality lubrication of motor bearings, blocked ventilation, though motor OEM increases his motor
skin’s fins to dissipate heat.

Under the circumstances, during single phasing when supply is available only in L1 & L3 (refer diagram above) the
currents taken by the windings A, B & C of a delta connected motor and behavior of the bimetallic relay are
approximately as follows:-

% of Phase
Line Current Phase Current
Rated Current
in sound in series
Full Load in Remarks
Phases Windings
on winding
L1 & L3 A&B
Motor C
EXPRESSED AS % OF RATED FULL LOAD CURRENT
50% 80% 50% 110% Bimetallic relay doesn’t operate. However, motor may not burn
Line current is less than rated current. Winding C is overload. Bi-
57% 95% 58% 120%
metal relay doesn’t trip. Motor may burn.
Line current exceeds rated value. Winding C highly over loaded.
75% 150% 85% 180% Bi-metal relay may operate.
But not in time to prevent damage to motor.
Extent of overload being very high Bi-metal
100% 240% 130% 280%
should operate quickly and save the motor.

Kind Courtesy:- Minilec Brand -Technical Notes on Thermal versus E OLR in Single Phasing condition

 All along compared to the motor price, the industry did not plan to buy Electronic OLR in parallel to the existing
thermal OLR due to pricing. But compared to motor running cost per year, this Add-on relay to existing panel has
become priority now.

 More than that let us PLEASE UNDERSTAND our Thermal OLR is unreliable and not a perfect FIT to motor thermal
characteristics all the times. But this Electronic OLR is dependable, reliable, functions with same repeatable accuracy of
tripping at all times and harsh conditions. Apart from overloading protection, this MPR gives many other features of
alert & protection, at an affordable cost now.

 Because the industry was silently accustomed all these years to the routine motor burn-outs, due to poor thermal OLR
protection, many times in a decade say atleast 4 times rewounded conveniently and routinely thro out its life, thus the
industry is facing the accelerated ageing of the motor and have degraded the motor’s efficiency prematurely.

 Atleast, PLEASE ASSUME this is WAKE UP call to the all the industries to go in for Electronic MPR at an affordable cost.
We are in the process of conversion now, from our decades-old Multiple-Rewounded Motors to the new IE3 motors,
but simultaneously add this MPR in your existing Motor control panel to give fool-proof protection to your new IE 3
motors.
 The CT Sensor used in the Electronic OLR in the alarm system is the second line of defense, and must be totally
separate & stand-alone from existing Thermal OLR used in machine control system. Alarm and trip system information
 and its implementation are given in application of Safety Instrumented Motor Logic Control Systems in the Machine
Control panel.

 When we are talking about the input electric power consumption in terms of KW, the same has to be multiplied by the
actual running hours daily / weekly / monthly / yearly as KWH - the energy consumed by the machine over the period
of time.

 So we need this run hour meter as mandatory to measure the cumulative energy now and also to know the machine
output for the given averaged power input in Units / Hr for the given period say day, week or month etc. and this will
show the healthiness of the machine’s optimum loading that can run for many years.

 The purpose of an alarm in a system is to bring a malfunction to the attention of machine user and maintenance
personnel, whereas the purpose of a trip in a system is to shut down the system automatically. The Alert elements,
planned now to be used in the machine control system are the first warnings of a failure.

 This could show up as an inconsistency in motor running Amps to match the process parameter, or as production
parameter of the machine, going out of its set limits.

Kind Courtesy:- Electronic Motor Protection Relay in Brands :- Minilec / L & T / Soft HARD / Etc… Brands.

Author of the article does not promote these brands, but explains why Low cost Electronic OLR generically needs to be
added on to existing Thermal OLR & user can opt to choose his Electronic OLR only at Rs.2000, slightly costly than
thermal OLR.

MACHINE APPLICATIONS THAT NEED MANDATORY E-OLR (as Motor Protection Relay):-.

 A simple tip is that, when a heavy machine in between, switches On & Off in the same Single Line of Electrical
Distribution, the loose / dry / hot spot joints, contacts in the busbar, will create a temporary voltage Dip and may be a
permanent Voltage Drop to trigger Hi/ Lo Voltage Sensing relay at the corner of the circuit, to alert the user by
condition monitoring. This is done routinely in the Pressure drop survey in the compressed air headers end-to-end in
industry utility.

 Especially at the End of Line Electrical Distribution circuits, the Hi / Lo voltage sensing relay is recommended along with
machine E- OLR now in the industries. This can alert the industry user when and why the voltage drops happen during
routine running of the industry.

 Also the Remote Air Handling units / Air washer blower fan motors which start with heavy torque due to centrifugal
impeller, also this E-OLR can alert when the condenser Heat Exchanger fins are choked partly, indicating drop in motor
running Amps.
 Lift, Elevators, Hoist & Cranes, Crusher Motors, Mining Machines, Power Presses in the Forging Industry, Material
Handling motors like the conveyors, where the stress on the motor due to harsh & heavy starting and fluctuating
running loads. In fact, this E-OLR finds a place where ever the motors have normal Starter / Star-Delta control panel
either along with the existing Thermal OLR, or as stand-alone Trip device. It can be instantly added on the existing
panel & easily hooked up.

 Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Machines - AC out-doors are mounted in open terrace, the minute Freon gas leak can
be sensed immediately with the under current setting in the E-OLR. So steps can be taken immediately to avoid further
leaks.

 Air Screw Compressors – See the above diagram, the compressor motor hunts from half to full load 3times a minute.
This will reduce the motor’s life. Then how can we expect this compressor’ Thermal OLR to act smoothly in cyclic
loading patterns?

 We are facing this problem of using 100 HP Screw Air compressor functioning as Reciprocating compressor or Plunger
pump working, and this will aggravate the compressor breakdown frequently & ultimate failure prematurely. Let us not
allow this.

 So compressed air treatment gains more priority to the load & unload fluctuations apart from the compressed air
demands from the process equipments in the industry. Compressed air is a dynamic process variable and the
compressor is a fast acting machine, catering to the users’ demands. It is worth putting both the volt & current sensing
MPR now in this utility.

CONCLUSION:-

BEE – BE ENERGY EFFICIENT IN BUYING FIRST, BUT THE PRIORITY NOW IS ITS’ USAGE!

The idea thrusted by the Govt. is that to “BE ENERGY EFFICIENT IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE” in using the energy
monitoring gadgets in the domestic & commercial buildings and as well in the industry. In Energy Management, buying
Energy Efficient equipment is only Half done. How efficiently we load and run the equipment is the vital half of energy day-
to-day management by the Users in the buildings & Industries NOW.

Energy measurement is the first step towards the energy management, whether daily or weekly or monthly
logging of consumption depends on the usage and how the individual responds proactively. Also if more than one machine
is there in premises, Relative Condition Monitoring of daily KWH of two or more machine will prompt or provoke the
consumer why the daily KWH difference between two or more machine in premises? The difference in KWH daily readings
will prompt & motivate the Energy conscious consumer to conserve energy, promptly.

The industry is having inertia to replace the Thermal OLR with the Electronic OLR
as it is to break the age old practices. But now we are in a stage that we cant’ allow our motors
still run un-protected. Since the Govt had notified thro Gazette to buy only IE 2 & above,
we are now in Replacement schedule from our decade old IE 1 motor to IE 2, IE3 motors now.

So this is the right time, the industry to invest only few Thousands now first, before investing in Lakhs next, to the
IE 3 motor. So it is prudent to act immediately on war-footing, to add Electronic MPR to existing motor panel before starting
your motor replacement exercise.

So BEE can also give thrust and enforce the all the Machinery OEM to incorporate the Electronic MPR and energy
monitoring of the equipment performance at the consumer end like retrofitting the KWH & Run hour meter on the same.
Monitoring of the Machines will prompt the user to adapt to ENERGY-OPTIMIZED-LOADING mode by ALERT functions and
this makes both ends meet in the National Mission of Enhanced Energy Efficiency in the Energy Monitoring & Control
Aspects.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 9. NEED FOR BASIC ELECTRICITY PARAMETERS MONITORING in BUILDINGS
ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

BEWARE:- SAFETY IS GAINFUL ALWAYS, BUT ACCIDENT IS EVER PAINFUL.

 When Safety Fails, Conservation Fails & Pollution (Breakdown Hazard) Starts. So safety of equipment operation is
the first priority in Building Energy Management System.

The building segment either residential or commercial type, or hospitality segment need monitoring of the basic
electricity parameters at heavy load ends, based on safety priority first and this will avoid electricity leakage related fire
hazards later inside the premises. Especially in their running of heavy equipments like water heaters, Split AC, AC package
plants, blowers, pumps etc above 1 KW capacity, this monitoring is needed now. And next only, comes the energy
monitoring to target their energy reduction.

This basic electricity parameter monitoring ensures overall safety of the premises and accountability of electricity
consumption needs KWH meter and hour meter, to know the run hours per day and units consumed per day, when
cumulated on monthly basis to match to the monthly electricity bill.

This is applied to commercial building as well, let us say 4 no split AC are used in office premises, the basic volt and
Amps monitoring of each AC and relative comparison of volt & current consumption will indicate the premises user, which
AC is running healthy or not healthy.

When the device’ OEMs are launching IOT based devices to improve its utility to the user,
this revisit to the basic safety parameters need to be equally addressed to, by the user now
under the prevailing Electrical Distribution conditions.

EXISTING BUILDINGS’ ELECTRICITY MONITORING:-

Take the case of geyser in a bathroom of house or hotel, this is seen as a black box only as a user. The input
electricity basic parameters like volts and Amps are not indicated near that user location. The Split AC working in a bank or
office premises has Isolation switch only near the user, to switch on or off the AC.

By switching on the AC, the user is not aware whether the AC internals are safe and healthy, or the AC Incoming is
OK, and he is blindly switching on the AC and checks only whether cool air mild or cold air is coming out of the AC. So only
after the electrical fault, / leakage / breakdown had happened, the premises user is aware of the gravity of the problem and
that he has to immediately act upon the electrical breakdown and take care that is not spreading to other equipments
inside the premises.

SAFETY TRIP FUNCTION:-

The Basic Volt & Amp panel to contain either digital or analog CT operated meters, + same / separate CT operated under /
over current relay + OL Alert Alarm + Device’s Run hour meter + 2 pole Isolation switch, this panel to cost less than
Rs.2000/- when manufactured on mass scale and made affordable to the common public. Metering must not be burden
to the buyer / user of any equipment. Govt and OEM need to collectively act now, to make this a MUST Panel to be
installed in homes, offices, buildings.
 The building has got installed all MCB Miniature Circuit Breakers for each of the Heavy consumer devices, like the
geyser, Air conditioner, kitchen circuits, pump, Lighting & fan circuits, and an overall ELCB, Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker to
protect from the earth leakage at the EB incoming of the premises.

This is at the load side of EB porcelain Re-wirable Fuse & holder type fuses and HRC fuse protection in the user Electrical
distribution panels, which offer macro protection against overloading in all the loads in premises. Here we assume, the
neutral connection link is done properly, taking care to avoid floating neutral etc (difficult to trace also) and heavy loads
like the heater or AC, or pump are given fool proof Maintenance- Free chemical earthing protection nowadays.

The above split AC name plate and Installation warning notes points to the variation in Amps of AC compressor due to air
ingress in AC Freon gas, high pressure inside system, leakage etc and the place it needs to be comfortably installed under
weather shade even in open terrace. Govt thro Gazette had suggested us to set at 24 degree C. We can confirm thro Run
hour meter, the reduction of AC runhours.

VOLTAGE MONITORING NEED:-

Let us take the case study of storage water heater with 2 KW capacity is working in the bathroom. On normal
routine running, the geyser takes 9 Amps at 230 Volt AC input. We find the few instances when volts variation is more seen
at the geyser isolation box. If the voltage is coming above 250 volts often, either you have to report this to EB authorities.

If they could not reduce their tap settings in their street distribution transformer, then you have to install a sized
Automatic Voltage Stabiliser at the EB incoming of the premises. This will protect all the electrical and electronic appliances
in your premises, against premature failures that may happen due to over voltage spikes and hazards.

LOW VOLTAGE WHY?

The voltage at 230 volts is observed at less than 200 volts only at the geyser isolation box. This is due any one of
the problems like; the loose connections or joints linked at the EB Incoming from the pole to the premises, Loosely wired
Rewirable Fuse and socket holder at the premises side EB Incoming, the under-sized copper cable wiring from this EB mains
to the heater point, under-sized conduit that carries these wires from mains to load points.

That means, the conduits are already fully thrusted with wires and no space vacant inside the conduit allowing the
wires to vent their heat thro skins. Though the conduits are bigger in size, but L joints used to link conduits are not used a
Long bends but Elbow short bends, which force the wires to kink inside, thus weakening the wires inside the conduit, all
the above done in concealed wiring, and hence hot spot does not come at all, to the notice of the user.

The above incidents are frequently happening to many user premises, and we have to take care of electrical
installations right from the building construction and inauguration. But this can be monitored and solved by the Load end
monitoring of Volts and Amps.

VOLTAGE DROPS INSIDE:-

Let us install a voltmeter at the geyser isolation box. All the above mentioned problems can be visualized when the
voltage drop from 230 volts by more than 10 volts to 40 volts for example. The more the voltage drops before switching on
the geyser, shows the Electrical joint problems inside to be addressed to. If the voltage drop happens after switching on the
geyser, then it could be a problem with the geyser as well. If the Heating element is shorted or earthed or due to the wiring
fault from switch to heater, then the current shoots up more than 9 Amps.
So voltage drop is a symptom of over current by the load device and as well due to loose joint from the Incoming side of
Isolator switch. This needs to be immediately attended to, instead of aggravating to more electrical fire hazards. That is
why, now to avoid the voltage drop near his split AC outdoor, the AC OEM is installing his voltage stabilizer on the outdoor
itself recently.

But they have to take precautions in installing this stabiliser at the outdoor in open terrace. Let us plan to provide a total
weather shade with ample head room for the total outdoor unit, this will be safe in the long run, and energy saving too as
the outdoor AC is comforted against the direct Sun heat ingress. This makes the AC to run for less hours per day only than
when it was directly under Sun.

AMPERE MONITORING NEED:-

Whatever equipment or device or appliance you buy, please document the nameplate or its spec for your records.
FLA, Full Load Amperes/Rated Amps capacity will be definitely be there in all name plates.

Single phase open well submersible 2 HP consumed before, 24 Amps double the rated current compared to its name
plate rated 12 Amps. This was due to earth leakage due to the damaged cable from EB room to pump, in turn caused the
repeated failures of capacitor in pump panel and lastly the pump motor winding also got earthed. After rectifying the
faults, the pump now is taking only 12 Amps, rated Amp.

Any deviations from this Amperes, is an indication of internal faults in the device as mentioned below.

1. Take the case of storage water heater, if the current of 2 KW geyser increases more than 10 Amps, then it is time
to look into the nature of fault. Is it due to low voltage, or heating element needs cleaning, heating element gets
earthed, or the plug is getting hot due to loose wiring at the load.

2. Take case of split AC, the 1.5 Tr size draws more than the rated 10 Amps single phase. It is due to dirty clogged
condenser at the outdoor, or overcharged Freon gas, or the condenser coil internally getting choked etc. The same
AC takes less than rated Amps as 7 Amps say, then it is due to Freon leakage from AC link pipes from indoor to
outdoor or air got ingressed in Freon during charging, Indoor filter choked etc.

3. Take the case of pump 2 HP single phase draws 12 Amps the rated current. If the Amperes is more, then the wiring
from the pump panel to openwell submersible pump got earthed, got damaged, low voltage happening at
incoming, or due to loose wiring at the pump side, pump flow is erratic due to leakage in pipes in between, etc.

4. Also the pump takes say 8 Amps instead of rated 12 Amps, this is due to choked foot valve, forcing the pump dry
run, delivery line restricted with sharp Elbow fittings down the line instead of installing the pipe long bends (let us
not look into the plumbing aesthetics here as the plumbers look for well-laid piping finish), water flow in line is not
in the sized head band in meters and the rated pump flow in LPM etc.

5. So for all the above, the Ampere monitoring is the bare necessity now. You can choose the additional alarms in the
panel, so as to improve your building’s safe monitoring practices.

Each Device needs BUILT-IN PROTECTION:-

1. Take the case of geyser, the protection is there to the user directly, in the controlled water temperature, whereas
the heating element does not have direct stand-alone protection against overloading as on date.
2. Even in remotest chances say In one in hundred chances, the geyser is ON with partly filled water, or with no water
inside, then the heating element will get burnout, causing indirect earth leakage of current to the user, will surely
result in electrical fire hazards to the user.

3. So here, there are two thermostats inside geyser tank, one for cut-in cut-out and other for trip function. If the trip
thermostat is brazed with heating element thermowell in the new geyser, this will give fool-proof protection to the
geyser, its heating element overloading, and as well tripping on water temperature High, in case control
thermostat malfunctions.
4. In the existing geyser at user end, OEM can recommend and give their retrofit like pipe clamp between Heating
element and Trip thermostat thermowells’ top portions with interconnecting thermally conducting copper rod
(externally insulation coated) and firmly clamp both to ensure maximum thermal contact and heat transfer
between trip thermostat & heater, so as to trip.

The geyser bottom assembly must have provision for local thermometer, readable by user.
The user needs to know his comfortable level of bath temperature before taking bath.
Next, Trip Themostat and Heating element to be thermally linked for max heat transfer to trip.
Next, Scaling thickness induces efficiency loss. Lime scales may increase EB bill by 25 %more.

5. Likewise, we need over-current trip manually resettable (this makes the user, aware of overload) in all the devices
/ appliances in the premises. The built-in protection needs to work in each device, as fool-proof protection against
overloading condition, and will protect the user at any abnormal loading of the device.

6. The OEM can recommend external safety precautions like overload, ELCB etc as additional only to his device and
his device must take care by itself, against any type of overloading.

DEVICE MONITORING for HEATER Externally:-

1. Let us provide volt-ampere metering panel near the geyser switch, or the AC indoor switch.

2. This will compromise of 0 to 20 Amps CT for single phase, volt and ampere meter either digital or analog type. The
sized CT responds accurately and repeatedly when the Amps flowing in the conductor is around half the CT rated
capacity.

3. The CT operated digital ammeter to have undercurrent relay setting Low amps say for 1 Amp setting as the
changeover contact, to know the start of heating ON & OFF cycle, initiated by the cutting-in & out thermostat
inside the geyser.

4. The undercurrent relay will energise above say 1 Amp, and its relay contact will activate the Run hour meter in the
same box, once heater cuts in and this relay contact will de-activate the hour meter once the heater cuts out and
its Amps reduces below 1 Amp under current relay setting.

5. This undercurrent relay is provided here, for the locational convenience to fix runhour meter inside the same box
only which is visible and accessible to user in premises, and this relay will follow the heater thermostat cutting-in
and cutting-out on high water temperature.

6. The High Amps to have fixed -Seconds inverse time delay characteristic (needed for motor, AC, pump, fan loads
and not for heater loads) as changeover contact to alert or trip on over-current in the heater.
7. This shall prompt the user at the first instance, the overloading latch-able trip inside the panel. And the user can
take EARLY action against the abnormal observation NOW.

8. The overload current relay shall give a manually resettable output only as OVERLOAD ALERT panel indicator. The
user is made aware of the overload, and he needs to manually reset this.

9. Usually we are relying on the MCB rated 16 Amps connected to the heater or AC (whose running current is around
10 Amps) as extra safety protection to the device, and unfortunately this will never trip on even sustained minor
overloading. Because this MCB wants for the overload current to climb to 16 Amps to its rated breaking capacity,
so as to trip the circuit.

10. This MCB protection is a macro protection but with delayed response we are used to, in the single phase AC.
Instead of that, this Electronic overload relay is reliable and repeatable of trip setting function even on sustained
slight overloading, as early warning to the user.

DEVICE MONITORING for SPLIT AC EXTERNALLY:-

11. In case of three phase three phase AC machines like AHU, AC compressor, pumps etc, the thermal overload relay
function is there, but with poor response time to overload, poor protection against unbalanced current, single
phasing, with inaccuracy and insensitive to varying loads now.

12. 3 phase Electronic overload relay scores fool-proof in all the aspects above those thermal relays now. Industry had
understood this and taken steps to address their motor burnout issues, the building segment needs to follow this
practice now.

13. Remember, your cold thermal overload relay will not protect your 3 phase AC machines’ hot running motors.
Unfortunately after the damage had happened only to your motor, like burnout, overload, single phasing etc, this
thermal relay responds late only.

14. So it is high time you insist for Motor protection relays Electronic version (which trip on Negative Phase
Sequencing function) and replace your thermal OLRs in all 3 phase loads in your building.

15. The same panel with volt and amps monitor and under/over current relay will function in the same way at the
incoming of split AC, pumps, etc heavy single loads installed in the premises.

16. We have seen the voltage dips even when the Zerox machines are put to operation in premises.

17. The undercurrent relay is sized in cut in & cut out so that, the evaporator and condenser blower fans’ Amperes are
measured as the under current relay setting is kept well above that.

18. Say if the two fans’ rated Amps is around 1 Amp, we can set the undercurrent relay as 2 Amps and this relay on
energisation, its contact will activate the run hour meter only for compressor run.

19. This undercurrent relay with sized Amps setting will follow the AC compressor cut-in and cut-out timing duration
and will activate the run hour meter only for the AC compressor run hours and not for the two fans’ run hours.

20. In this condition the run hour meter can be located at the AC Incoming isolator switch, accessible & visible to the
user in the premises, instead of the need to locate the run hour at the outdoor panel near the AC compressor load.

We can infer cumulative KWH Monitoring from above DEVICE:-

21. KWH and run hour monitoring of each machine daily or weekly, or fortnightly or monthly will indicate the
machine’s health, relative efficiency compared to the adjacent AC in the premises, and will allow the user to
monitor and control, reduce energy consumption per machine.

22. KWH monitoring for a heater can be easily calculated as heater’s power factor is unity and hence a MF
(multiplication factor) on the Amps for the given 230 volts AC, will show the KW instantly consumed by heater,
multiplied by run hours x MF will indicate why the heater is consuming more KWH or less and more time to heat
up, which indicates heavy scaling, poor insulation or insulation failure of heater container say in this week or
month.
 Star rating of geyser is determined only by the heat retention time of the geyser
or the value of heat loss lost over a period in hours indicates the star rating now.

23. Going by the name plate of pump, AC, blower, the rated PF at Full Load Amps decides the actual running KW of the
machine, and also after measuring for power parameters of KW, KVA, PF, and KVAR with the single phase clamp on
power meter, the MF can be calculated to infer & match the KW and note the MF on each machine.

24. This is another way of approximate measurement & monitoring of KW per machine x run hours give the
cumulative KWH of the machine for a day / week/ month etc. Hence recording of run hours times the MF, the
multiplication factor gives the kwh consumption of all the machines inside the premises.

25. This can be counterchecked with the MV panel distribution area’s power and energy kwh multi function
monitoring and recording the same.

CONCLUSION:-

Accidents are happening in bathrooms due to unsafe situation since installation by electrical hazards and by the
unsafe incidents which go beyond the control at that instant. The electrical hazards are happening due to the
unsafe installation practices of AC hooking up, the outdoor to the indoor, lack of condition monitoring the same
and frequent power interruptions make the Split AC to overdraw the initial rush current in unmanned areas.

Accident happens not only due to unsafe practices, but the accident is initiated only by the unsafe installation
without monitoring the running parameters, and blindly running them. Safety conscious public have woken up, but
why not we, like all others can plan to condition monitor our equipments daily or routinely for few minutes?

When the Electricity Supply and Distribution to your premises are taken care by the Authorities, still we
have to safeguard our high power consuming equipments above 1 KW in our building premises. This is good for us
and better for the EB supply and surroundings.

Accidents really hurt us instantaneously; leave the Scars behind us for long years but, Safety expects from us, the
initial spade work only, in providing safe Installation. Mentally be prepared not to face the accidents in your
equipments later, foreseeing that during installation and take steps to Stop accident accordingly, otherwise the
accident will stop you and drain you.

To buy the Practical Guide on the Energy Conservation & management books online:-

1. https://notionpress.com/read/practical-guide-to-energy-conservation-management/paperback
2. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-conservation-management-in-textile-mills
3. https://notionpress.com/read/conserve-energy-and-restore-productivity-in-machines-by-belts-and- pulley-drives
4. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-monitoring-conservation-practices-in-residential-commercial-buildings

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
10. PRACTISE ENERGY MODESTY IN RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS ATLEAST NOW.
ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited ENERGY AUDITOR, / ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

When the Authorities are struggling to give the subsidized rates for the Electricity, LPG etc, we as the
consumer have to be proactive to conserve the energy inputs to our buildings. There is an ample scope of
energy saving from 20 % to 35 % in the existing building and in the new buildings.

This will reduce burden to the Nation, especially in the Electricity supply-demand crisis we are facing today.
Whatever you buy in during annual festival sale offers, also to replace your energy guzzling old appliances
with 5 Star rated’ appliances.

Per each consumer, we may save few KWH per day, but millions of consumers in residential & commercial
segment implement this electricity saving exercise today, then this will go a long way to stabilize the day to
day electricity supply-demand balance in the region and helps the nation to tide over crisis.

COLLECTIVE STEPS TO ACHIEVE ENERGY MODESTY:-

The Govt must reduce the taxes on Electricity conserver devices like the LED bulbs, LED tube lights, BLDC ceiling
fans, 5 Star rated water Pumps, Heat pumps in place of conventional geysers, 5 star rated AC etc.

Like the LED tube lights and star rated AC, the Authorities like BEE, EESL have to focus on bulk promotion of
vertical type servo stabilizers to ensure building incoming electrical safety and preventing electricity over voltage
etc related fire hazards. Also the LPG leakage protection devices need promotion to avoid LPG leak accidents.

Also the BEE, EESL to focus on the VFD + resized pulleys combo retrofit to the existing AHU blowers without
replacing the existing impeller, and AIRCON savers to retrofit on existing Air conditioners to achieve around 20 to
30 % energy savings in blower or Aircon saver, at a low cost and few months pay back.

It is high time the education phase is over and the enforcement must begin. For that the OEM when pushed to
High volume Low margin concept on their sales, naturally the prices will come down for the buyer.

The buyer will now be tempted to buy 5 star rated gadgets because of slender margin. The OEM or the vendor to
display the Life cycle cost of the gadget between 3 star and 5 star, at the point of sale or even in their
advertisement.

BEE always thrusts on Monitor your energy consumption to target your energy reduction. But what is happening
now is the consumer has purchased 5 Star rated appliance, but the provision is not there in the appliance for
the user to monitor the input KW units for the delivered output parameters in Air conditioners.

Any appliance above 1 KW rating needs to be monitored at the appliance for its daily run hours, daily KWH. This
is apart from the Electrical basic parameters like the Volts, Amperes meter box at the input switch for any AC
installation, this metering box is needed for the electrical safety of the AC now.

ENERGY CONSERVATION IN BUILDINGS TO BE GIVEN THE

TOP PRIORITY TO ACHIEVE 20 TO 35 % ENERGY SAVINGS

Thanks to the EB authorities, in this 3 phase 4 wire Static Energy meter fitted at incoming of our residence, we
are able to measure the KW, KVA instantaneously now by scrolling down the basic electricity parameters like
Volts, Amps per phase in all three phases, instant power parameters like KW, KVA, PF per phase, Frequency, and
the energy parameters like the KWH, KVAH accumulated for the period.

Let us say you have 4 fans, 4 lights, 1 fridge, 2 no 2000 Watt storage water heater, kitchen appliances, in your
flat, first keep all of them ON and stand in front of your EB meter. This is to keep readings readable with the
above giving the load to the meter for better monitoring.

Now switch of batch of lights, or each fan or fans, fridge, and after switching on and off all the small power
consuming appliances, in the last, switch off the geyser one by one to assess the W VA of each of the batch
appliances.

Any reading say appreciable enough, on the readable resolution by keeping all the loads on, and then switch off
and on one by one to assess the increase or decrease of the instant basic, power parameters easily now. These
above readings of all the appliances of your house, what is the running Amps, Watt, VA and PF and compare the
same with their name plate rating. This will give an idea of your consumption instantly.

In a commercial building, if you have the BMS or the BEMS, the Building Energy Management System is
incorporated in the BMS, it is fine and easy to monitor for you.

But with the basic Static Energy meter, as mentioned above, ask your Electrical Maintenance to monitor the
readings twice the 8 hour shift in 3 shifts. This will give you an idea of your daily electricity consumption. Now
Smart meters will make this monitoring easy.

The Authorities’ direction now is not only to replace the existing gadgets to star rated’ but also to educate the
consumers how to improve their existing gadget’s efficiency by condition monitoring and comforting practices to
the existing gadgets to deliver more to the user, suiting to the ageing of gadget.

It is time now that the consumers who had used 5 Star gadgets
bring in more consumers by showcasing their energy savings.

REDUCE ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

Domestic Electricity consumption can be categorized as Low class, Middle, Upper Middle, and High class. Let us
concentrate on the residents who consume 10 units per day (without AC) on residents (with AC) who consume
more than 20 units per day.

1) A typical Low class consumer consumes less than 3 units per day,
2) Middle class household (with Fridge) consumes around 5 to 10 units per day,
3) Upper middle class consumes 15 to 20 units per day (with AC)
4) Upper class (with 2 AC +) consumes around 20 to 30 units & above / day.

ZERO / LOW COST ELECTRICITY CONSERVATION MEASURES:-

1. If your house or flat in your colony is located at the feed end or at the tail end from the street transformer,
but always face 250 + volts in night and say around 240 volts in daytime. Talk to EB authorities to reduce the
transformer tapping one step below so that your residences will face 220 to 230 volt near feed or tail end of
the transformer.

2. The transformers are rated for 415 volt and 433 volts at secondary, but it is not necessary to feed excess
volts above 250 volt + to your house now. Thus optimizing voltage tapping after observing for weeks, this
is will give you, the electricity saving + safety to gadgets.

3. Here it is more important now to focus on EB Incoming parameters on the hospitality buildings, hospitals,
hotels and the public office usage buildings. On the safety aspects, It is a MUST to install Vertical type
 Servo stabilizer for the building incoming to deliver strictly 400 volts + /- 1 % strictly, as they have a voltage
correction rate in seconds. This gives electricity savings as well electrical safety to the Air conditioners and
unmanned area electrical equipments. Hazardous breakdowns due to over voltages can be avoided.

THE TABLE BELOW COMPARES THE BEHAVIOUR OF

5 H.P MOTOR AT HIGHER THAN 400 VOLTS
Study taken by Reputed Servo stabilizer Manufacturer

The savings are more visible in lower HP motors

than the higher HP motors in the industry.
Input
Current KVA PF
Voltage

400 7.5 Amps 5.2 Kva 0.8

8.3 Amps 6.2 Kva

425 0.7
11% More 18% More

Kind courtesy:- MUSKAN Servo Stabilizer Kind courtesy:- JINDAL Servo stabilizer.

4. YOU replace your old bulbs & tube lights to LED bulbs and tube lights and this will give you 60 % savings.

5. YOU replace your existing ceiling fan bulky regulator with the Switchable Electronic ballast regulator to
achieve 20 to 30 % electricity saving by operating at lower but optimum speed to comfort you there.

6. YOU make use of the winter and summer settings for your fridge thermostat and see to it that the icing of
the freezer tray is kept to minimum in daily run. This makes your fridge healthy & it gives energy savings.

7. When using YOUR storage water heater, reduce the settings to less than 50 Deg C as now the setting is at 70
Deg C set by the Heater installer. Always use the bucket to store the heated water to take bath next. That is
you are trying to use the storage geyser as instant output hot water to take bath.

Human body temperature is 37 Deg C and it is medically proven good to take warm water say 10 Deg C
more than our body temperature. This reduces your geyser’s electricity consumption by 20 % daily.

8. YOU install a meter box of 0 to 300 V voltmeter + 0 to 20 Amps Ammeter +run hour counter next to heater
switch outside the bathroom to ensure you get correct volts (without any voltage drop) and correct Amps
for say 2 KW heating element (to ensure heater element is healthy electrically).

9. This Run hour meter will show the daily run hours your heater is switched on by you. Also when the
temperature setting of heater is reduced, you can confirm the lower run hours of your heater daily. In
summer and winter, the heater setting also can be changed to suit to your needs of warm-water-but-not-
hot-water.

10. YOU also have this meter box of Volt + ampere + run hour meter panel for your water pump. This will show
your daily water consumption, pump is healthy without overload or dry run from the bore / sump.

11. Normally in your overhead tank, YOU have set your Automatic float level control from 20 % to 90 %. Instead
of that reset the level settings from 30 to 70 % so as to operate your bore pump for better intermittent yield
instead of continuous run.

Also not allow your precious water to overflow from the overhead tank often.
12. For heating the water and cooking functions at kitchen, use YOUR Induction stove to supplement the LPG
gas stove. Definitely Induction stove is efficient than gas stove and also the cooking is fast.
13. Also the Induction stove OEM strictly recommends going for broad based vessel. The public to go now for
10 inch broad vessel now to make LPG cooking faster and efficient as told by our PCRA LPG saving
practices.

Keep Active Spare Burner Head. Please Swap your

old burner with the New burner head costing around
Rs.100/- and maintain by solvent cleaning routinely.
-------------------------------------------------

You will be surprised to see the cooking time reduces,

And case study shows LPG cylinder comes longer up to 5 %,
say 53 days average instead of normal 50 days consumption.
The above is based on your existing condition of burner now.

31

Routinely serviced and cleaned burner head at the LPG stove yields around 5 % LPG savings.
Retrofitting above Auto trip device on existing domestic cylinder + regulator gives around 10 % LPG savings.

14. Buy a spare set of your LPG stove burner caps, rinse-clean routinely say monthly with tamarind + lime
water your active spare burner caps, and swap. This active spare gives around 5 % LPG savings in cylinder.

15. Buy LPG Auto trip cum Saver device (this needs to be approved by LPG Authorities still, though millions of
devices working already in India) to retrofit on top of your LPG cylinder and further connect to the existing
regulator to LPG stove thro SURAKSHA hose.

This device automatically trips on sensing the LPG leaking from the regulator to the
lpg stove, thus preventing huge LPG fire accidents. This device also saves LPG by 10 %.

16. All the above suggested is towards your safety, savings and healthy running of your equipments. This cost
around Thousand Rupees only and payback to you is in few months, still the Authorities have to approve.

17. Basically LPG can be saved more by LPG conservation practices as listed by PCRA. To follow the same
easily, Numbering knob position is suggested below. But still, if the housewife knows the position of ZERO,
SIM and MAX in terms of 0,1,2,3,4,5,6, etc in knob clock positions, then she can tune her working based on
the numbers set by the LPG knob.

By this numbered knob position she can tune her own cooking method uniformly in her
daily routines. LPG stove OEM can think of this numbering to make it more user-friendly.
 Thanks to ALAMY’s knob image / Courtesy – PCRA LPG conservation Practices guide.

PCRA’s LPG CONSERVATION PRACTICES QUOTED BELOW:- Reduce the flame when boiling starts

“When a vessel’s contents reach boiling point, a low flame is enough to keep them boiling. Addition of more
heat at the boiling stage causes further evaporation of the liquid without serving any useful purpose. Hence,
when water or any other liquid is boiling, reduction in the flame will reduce wastage.

This is possible in a gas stove by turning the knob to ‘simmer’ position. Experiments conducted have revealed
a saving of 25% fuel when the flame was reduced after boiling had started. Try it yourself. You will find that
the time taken to cook is just the same” quoted by PCRA.

Here 25 % LPG savings can be still highlighted to housewife by asking her to practice at the Numbered
positions daily say position 3 for SIM and 5 for High Flame. LPG savings is highlighted to the housewife to
prompt her to turn her knob to SIM more often in cooking.

When PCRA highlights about the Simmer position, this “SIM” needs to be put in
BOLD letters along with numbering of positions in each LPG stove.

The one thing that many people have trouble with when it comes to using a gas stove is how to use Sim. It
takes some practice. You will find that when you turn the flame down low, your pan will continue to receive
heat. This numbering the knob position will make it easy for housewife to achieve the above 25 % savings.

18. Heavy water consumption is there in the commercial buildings and the waterless & odor-less retrofit
concept in the urinals have to be installed right away to reduce the water consumption immediately now.

19. In the residential buildings, the simple display at the point of use on the flush tank will bring down the
water consumption during flushing after urination in the residential toilets by more than half.

20. The city may be flooded with rains, but still each house or apartment has to either use bore water to raise
to overhead tank and the excess water consumption in flats leads to overloading the STP running cost.

21. Assuming 6 times usage of urinals per person per day in flat, this will save around 18 Liters (instead of 6 liter,
only 3 liter only used now), hence 18 liter x 4 persons per flat x 30 days in a month x 12 months in a year; this
means 21600 liters of water per flat can be saved in each flat at focus this point, say for 100 flats

TWO & half Million Liters of CLEAN water can be saved annually in Group of Flats.
22. Millions of flats in gated community residences, flats in commercial, hospital and hospitality segments can
just save water by half by educating the user at the point of use. This is how the Power Ministry instructed
the AC users across the country to increase their Air conditioner settings to 24 Deg C. Similarly this needs
to be forced upon the user at his point of use. This AC remote minimum setting change gave 24 % savings.
23. But the fact is that the Flush tank OEMs have given Dual Flush in their flush tanks, but the same needs to be
displayed at the point of Press in the flush tank top. The OEM must give two Push buttons for High & Low
Flush modes, physically separated in between, still be at the same location. But the two push buttons to be
distinctively marked in opposite colors and displaying HI & LO flush.

Here they can give the double colored sticker to the existing user to fix around the dual flush press button to
high light this. Also the flush tank OEMs have to give a conversion kit to existing user to convert their
supplied flush tank to dual flush mode.

24. This is told often by water conserving Experts and still not followed by many practically. Decades back, we
used to splash half a mug of water in our urinals, why should we waste more than 6 liters of water now?

25. All you have to do is to put inside, any of your used PET bottle of 1 liter or 1.5 liter size into the flush tank.
(depending on the size of your flush tank), fill up the bottle with ordinary water fully and few glass beads etc
for giving weight, tightly close the cap, and drop this bottle into your flush tank. This multiple-times flushing
water in toilets is a bigger load to STP and electricity is consumed wastely here & there too.

26. This small no-cost, no-effort water saving exercise will save a minimum of 10 liters per day per person.
Assuming 4 persons are there per flat in the occupied 100 flats now, 6 times flush tank used per person per
day x 1 liter saving per flush. Water saving per flush is 6 liters / person/ day x 4 persons / flat x 100 flats =
8500 liters per flat saving on conservative estimate, say 0.86 Lakh liters water saving per year, almost

ONE MILLION LITERS OF WATER SAVING YEARLY POSSIBLE in GROUP OF FLATS.

HIGH COST ELECTRICITY CONSERVATION MEASURES:-

1. Considering the Electrical safety aspects, the gadgets working for long hours like the TV and the Fridge need
to have additional Automatic voltage stabilizer with Time Delay provision to give protection to your gadgets
against the over voltage happening from outside.

2. If you are putting a Big servo stabilizer at the Incoming of your residence either group of flats, or shops in
the commercial mall or for hospital or hotel buildings or Government offices, then you can maintain 230 volt
+ or – 1 % voltage regulation and all your house hold equipments will be safe against over-voltage surges.

This exercise needs to be taken TODAY by the user, only for the safety reason in keeping unmanned areas.
This will give fool-proof protection to all equipments in premises, as the servo has 30 volts correction /sec.
This type of active voltage regulation with fast response is now needed in buildings with electronic loads.

3. Your old transformers were non-OLTC type and pass on the high voltages in night above 250 volt + to your
building. Even if you have OLTC type transformer, your voltage from 250 volt to 230 volts step in few
minutes duration is very longer, in-between, breakdowns in your buildings can happen due to over voltages.

4. Incidentally, all your old Automatic AC stabilizers were operated for 170 to 270 volts Incoming to give output
of 200 to 240 volts. So when your existing AC’s Incoming voltages go up to 270 volt only, then your AC
stabilizer will start bucking the output voltage to 240 volts.

5. Why this cant’ be trimmed to buck at 250 volt itself? Any appliance say fan or AC working on above 250
volt +, even on after putting on the conventional stabilizer, then over-voltage is a energy loss in the
machine and not safe, as well prone to breakdowns.

If the Automatic voltage stabilizer OEM kept this stabilizer on passive regulation, only when the low voltage
comes, its boost relay works. This stabilizer needs active incoming voltage regulation to give safe output
voltage of 210 to 230 volts band.
6. This is also one among the reasons, why many AC related breakdown hazards happening. Rated voltage
of AC compressor is 220 to 240 volts only. So it is high time to act to protect the commercial building as a
whole with the Main Incoming Servo stabilizer.

7. After retrofitting this servo stabilizer at the incoming, Energy savings is achieved first and as well the
breakdowns due to high voltages are totally avoided.

8. Replace all your Fans with the BLDC fans and operate the same in mild speed setting & 60 %energy saving.

9. Your decade old fridge consumed 3 units per day before and now the equivalent Liter size fridge consumes
only 1 unit per day in the 5 Star rated category.

10. This replacement can be applied to TV, water pump, Geyser, and confirm your energy savings here where
your usage hours per day is more and which equipment is inefficient, to focus there now.

ZERO / LOW & HIGH COST ELECTRICITY CONSERVATION MEASURES IN AC PREMISES:-

1. You replace your ceiling fans to the BLDC fans. The fan must circulate the air inside the room and not to the
adjacent spaces. Also air blast on our human body is bad to our health compared to mild air breeze.

2. Wherever you have the split AC in cabin or hall, or room etc, retrofit this BLDC fan to circulate air in the hot
& cold packets of the premises. This will be effective in the area of fan throw inside the room only.

3. “BLDC fan retrofit to Air conditioned room” – this concept is still in the nascent stage only and this needs
to be mandated not only for energy saving but also for medical comfort of humans with air circulation.

4. Appreciate the Ministry’s circular to go for minimum Remote setting of 24 Deg C from 18 Deg C for the split
AC. But remember, the Human body temperature is at 37 Deg C and it is high time that we have to raise
the user setting from 24 to 28 Deg C now. JAPAN had done this 28 Deg C setting strictly few years back.

Thanks to BEE Recommendations of Minimum Remote temperature setting of Air conditioners.

But still you can keep your operational setting in your remote as at 28 Deg C, and save 24 %
 The Ministry of Power claims that “countries like Japan and US have already put in regulations for the
functioning of air conditioners. Japan introduced a default setting for air conditioners at 28-degrees-
Celsius. While in the US, states like California have enforced limits on lowering the air condition beyond
26-degrees-Celsius.”

It is high time we deploy in India and achieve 24 % energy savings in each

Room Air conditioner from 24 to 27 Deg C, this collective energy savings will be HUGE gain to the nation.

Thanks to TERI:- THE ENERGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, FOR AN IN-DEPTH CASE STUDY ON AC SETTINGS.
5. The MILD air circulation should super-impose on the air-cooling by the AC inside the premises. This mild Air
circulation is possible only with BLDC fans as they produce less Static pressure only, but that is adequate to
the Humans, who feel the embrace of air breeze from this BLDC fan. This is a feel-good symptom of
healthy mild air-circulation surrounding your selves in the AC premises.
HOW MUCH CAN YOU SAVE BY RAISING YOUR AC When Air conditioning energy is 20 times that of Air
TEMPERATURE SETTING FROM 18 TO 27 Deg C = 30 % circulation energy, let us all try to minimize the run hours,
•SOURCE: TERI – THE ENERGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE raise the AC temp settings and start with Air circulation and
combine Air conditioning if needed only, at times.
•ASSUMPTION:- LOCATION NEW DELHI, 5 STAR WINDOW AC
1.3 KW /Hr. 10 Hr/ day x 30 day/month x 8 month/year Room Energy Energy CO2 emission
conditions Demand Consumption
• 30 % Energy saving x 1.3 KWH x 10 Hrs = 4 units per day 20 kg/m2
Air 9 W/m2 15 kWh/m2
•4 x 30 days =120 units/month x8 months= 960 units /year movement
•960 units/year x Rs.6.50/unit = Rs.6240 saving per Year.
Room Energy Energy CO2 emission
•What further do we need to sustain this energy savings? conditions Demand Consumption
90 kg/m2
•Install a Run hour + KWH meter costing Rs.1000/- total. o
29 C/ 70 % 39 W/m2 70 kWh/m2
RH
•This will show you, what KWH consumed for given hours?
•Install BLDC ceiling fan cost Rs.3500/-payable in 7 month. Room Energy Energy CO2 emission
conditions Demand Consumption
•For the same human comfort, you can reduce your current bill 310 kg/m 2
by 30%, reduce local Warming outside, help the Nation in crisis. 24 o C/ 60 % 194 W/m 2 244 kWh/m2
RH

6. Zero cost setting is to increase temperature setting to 27 Deg C, yields 30 % energy savings in AC.

7. Condition monitoring of AC by the above said volt, Amps, Run hour, KWH metering at each AC will surely
provoke the consumer to conserve by relative monitoring of his AC in the given hall or offices. The consumer
is given a shock or jolt on receiving his monthly EB bill now and if the above metering retrofits are done,
then daily the consumer can monitor his consumption to target KWH reduction.
8. The subtle difference between 3 star and 5 star AC is that the heat transfer area / efficiency of the AC
outdoor is more. Why not the AC OEM or the Authorities recommend providing a weather shade for their
outdoor unit? Also provide Heat Reflective Paint on the open terrace to reduce the Solar Heat Ingress to the
premises under. This is proven, only the consumer to take the initiatives here.

9. Also they can install during their routine AMC services, a velocity recovery ring for AC outdoor fan. This
improves the smooth flow from the fan, thus increasing the fan efficiency in the heat transfer at outdoor.

10. Next to provide Freon gauge to be in-built in the AC outdoor and make it visible to the user, so that user can
see for himself during routine checkup whether load / unload pressures are within the band suggested by
the OEM? When the outdoor and indoor units are linked by piping, there is chance that minute Freon leak
can happen in few months or years, this needs monitoring with an in-situ Freon gauge & visible outside.

11. Install AIRCON saver type device on your existing AC (after discussing with your AC OEM) And this gadget
gives excellent energy saving around 20 % based on the usage, sizing of the AC for the given premises. This
costs around Rs.4000/- whereas the Star rated AC costs Rs.40,000+

12. Typical of any buyer, first he will try to retrofit this device to achieve his energy savings first than replacing
his AC later. With due promotion to this device this can be sold in millions NOW, and AC related energy
savings can be achieved instantaneously.

13. If your AC is very old and wear & tear is more, your daily monitoring of KWH and runhours show that your
AC efficiency is poor and KWH consumption is more, it is time to replace with 5 Star rated”.

14. Condition monitoring of your AC KWH daily parameters especially before and after the service will show
you, the effect of AC service will bring down your electricity consumption.

15. Solar Water Heater – Evacuated Tube Collector type is a MUST in your house. The Authorities must make
this as mandatory for individual house with open terrace provisions with the required minimum sq foot.

16. When the house or flats with open terrace is available, the matching Roof Top Solar PV MUST be installed
in each and every flats, gated community type where common utility services consumption is more.

17. Water metering to the individual flats in the building is the permanent solution now. Thanks to IOT devices
on the water monitoring, this will prompt the individual resident to consume less.

When water usage is kept common, we do have lodge-stay-mentality to use water carelessly.

18. The DG set needs to be sized during installation itself or if possible reduce the size of your DG to supply to
essential loads only like the lifts, common utility pumping services and say 1000 Watt output rationed to
each flat thro the ACCL, the Automatic Current control Limiter at each flat.

19. We have come across flats building have a big size DG as white elephant and check your UPL, the Units per
Liter during your DG running every month. We are paying around Rs.50 per KWH unit and above, which is
DG delivers less than 2 units per liter of Diesel, kwh cost Rs. 50/- here. Size your DG and optimize its loading.

REDUCE ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

1. Apart from the low cost and high cost energy conservation measures in the Residential buildings, the
following steps to be taken in the commercial / office / public utility buildings.

2. The Air conditioning load is half the load of the premises. From a guzzling 2 KW per Ton of AC, now it has
come to 0.7 KW per Ton, say more than 60 % energy savings is possible in latest main chillers.
3. Leave alone the chillers, the sub systems like the pumps when replaced with 5 Star rated version, it gives
30 % energy savings. The operation of these sub systems only decide the hours of operation of your Main
AC chiller compressor. Sub system operational efficiency is as important as the main AC compressors’.

4. In your on your existing AHU, first retrofit VFD drive, and resize your motor & blower pulleys to match to
cogged belts. This had given around 20 to 30 % power savings in many of the building AHUs. This is a low
cost and affordable exercise where VFD will assist you to achieve Best Efficiency Point in your fan curve.

5. This also restores the blower speed (which was lost due to slippage before) and this moves forward to
improve the IAQ, the Indoor Air Quality in your premises, especially after covid, IAQ needs to MUST-
Improved.
Case Study of AHU in 10 TR AC pack at Tool Room – For same Impeller, Proposals suggested towards the existing AHU Blower – Retrofit
Retrofitted VFD + Resized pulleys, > 40 % ENERGY SAVINGS HERE. VFD + Resized pulley drives, this yields 20 to 30 % energy savings.
STUDY @ TOOL ROOM -10 TR AC Pack AHU – LECS Ltd, Cbe -Dec 2019 I stage Install KWH & Run hour meter in motor panel
DATA Existing - NO VFD VFD + PULLEY RESIZED II stage -First replace Blower motor with IE 3 motor.
MOTOR – 4 pole 5.5 KW / 1449 RPM 5.5 KW /1449 RPM III stage - Retrofit VFD drive to the new motor.
BLOWER RPM 1215 @ 50 Hz 1760 RPM @ 50 Hz IV stage - Replace the existing V belts and pulley drives with
MOTOR PULLY DIA mm 130 170 cogged Belts and re-sized pulleys for motor and the
MACHINE PULLEY mm 155 140 blower shafts. This will go along with II stage work.
Blower RPM 1215 rpm @ 50 Hz 1215 rpm @ 35 Hz • It is easy to install and commission immediately.
BELTS & TYPE MITSOBOSHI CLASSIC MITSOBOSHI COGGED
• user will not be disturbed except for above time duration
AMPERE 7.70 Amps 3.10 Amps
• There is no physical relocation of blower as system.
AHU Working Optimized at II trial 5 KWH UNITS 2.54 KWH UNITS
• The existing blowers are mostly over-designed for peak summer
Recorded Average Units per day 120 UNITS 61 UNITS ( 49 % saving)
conditions, hence fixing VFD will only give energy savings. In a
INVESTMENT Rs.30000/-
partly loaded blower, VFD + Resizing of pulley drives + changing to
SAVINGS PER MONTH Rs.11000/-
cogged belting will yield in total around 20 to 30 % energy savings.
SIMPLE PAY BACK PERIOD 3 MONTHS.

6. Existing blower impeller can be replaced later with Plug type or Plenum type impeller, which ensure HVLS
high volume and low speed characteristics and achieve an excellent savings in the HVAC segment AHU unit.
Costlier option is to totally change to Electronically Coupled EC fans with BLDC motors & plug fans, this also
gives more than 40 % savings, initial costing is the barrier to EC fan retrofit, and this is in nascent stage.

7. If the same user concentrates on the scales inside the water piping, either de-scaling or replacing with rigid
PVC piping ensures water flow smooth without friction, this gives 20 % around energy saving.

8. HEAT PUMP concept has stabilized and this needs to be mandated in all the hospitality buildings apart
from the Solar Water Heater on the open terrace. 70 % energy savings is achievable here.

9. The package air conditioning systems are fitted with conventional cooling towers. To save water, it is high
time to switch over to Indirect Evaporative cooling towers. Evaporative cooling towers work by using
evaporation to pre-cool the air flowing through a closed loop coil cooler. The water consumption in the
existing cooling towers can be saved upto 90 % by this retrofit exercise.

CONCLUSION:-

It is high time the Decision Making Authorities act fast and prompt now. When energy losses like over voltage &
LPG leakage hazards are happening in buildings and delayed-actions taken, then pollution starts, and whole
place rots. Justice delayed is justice denied. Energy conservation not done now, then breakdown starts next.

Having done energy audits in the buildings segment, I have shared some of the fine pointers in energy saving.
Engage our youngsters to daily monitor our electricity consumption from main meter, and educate them
about the energy losses of say 20 to 30 % happening now in our buildings and motivate them in implementing
the energy conservation measures in our buildings, present & next generation will be benefitted more now.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 11. INDUSTRY to SPLIT-Match Their UTILITY Workings
to suit to PRODUCTION’S VARIATIONS.
ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor, Mail to:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com
Industry has to match their today’s utility machines running & loading to match to their today’s
production.. Basically our industry is market driven, say this day or this month, the market wants only say 40 % production
output means, the production team plans to run the adequate batch of machines to meet the market demand.

But the Industry Maintenance team has only one utility which is oversized to match to full capacity and they are not able
achieve the SEC in their utility during lean production. The Industry Top Management is questioning their Maintenance why
their SEC fluctuates wildly for the given variations in their production, in spite of VFD type modulating controls retrofitted
to their utility equipments?

CUSUM CHART of PRODUCTION Vs ENERGY CONSUMPTION:-

The management always wants the industry’s SEC to be below than the CUSUM plotted line of Production Vs
Energy. They question the maintenance, why the utility SEC is more during the lean say < 50 % production. Here the
permanent solution is during CAPEX and OPEX planning of any industry since startup to operation phase, to have Split type
Utility rated capacity, so as to reduce the running cost at any loading of production.

VFD can’t give solution to various loading levels of production. Rational thinking is to switch on and off part of the
utility than to run all the utility in VFD mode. This will create aggravated breakdowns prematurely, and wear & tear of the
machines increases, and mainly the power consumption of utility auxiliary goes up and overall resulting in higher SEC due to
the mismatch of today’s utility loading for today’s lean production pattern.
What is your Relative monthly Power to Production
costing % Above or Below DOTTED LINE ?
Y = MX + C : Energy consumed for the period Y =
M x Production for same period + C
M is the energy consumption directly related to production
(variable) and C is the "fixed" energy consumption
(i.e. energy consumed for general auxiliary services

8 9

This chart shows the Production versus Energy Relationship, this also gives the details relating production versus Energy
consumption. Above the line, shows poor efficiency period and below the line shows the period of Improved Efficiency.
The Time versus Energy use, will indicate the effect of energy conservation measure before and after in production as
well in energy consumption. Courtesy:- BEE Guide Books.

SINGLE UTILITY, NOT THE RIGHT MATCH TO FLEXIBLE PRODUCTION:-

The industry management always plan to oversize during their CAPEX Capital Expenditure and go for single oversized utility.
If we broadly classify the utility into conductors and Rotators, then the Electrical conductors and pipe lines have to be
oversized so that the line drop or pressure-drop for the existing process to be kept minimum as per Cabling or Piping
standards.

But if the rotators i.e. rotating machine is oversized and single machine only planned, then its Tare or self consumption
during lean production will be burden to the industry. If they focus on the OPEX, Operating Expenditure of the utility, then
they must go for split type utility of 50 % + 50 %. And an active standby of 50 % rated capacity utility. The industry
maintenance will have one Main utility to operate, and other machine as Active Standby and the third machine as Passive
Standby. The Main Standby schedule can be rotated either daily / weekly as per the routine rotation schedule.

OVER-SIZED AIR CONDITIONED UTILITY TO UNDER PERFORM thro VFD - CASE STUDY:-
1. We are sharing our energy audit case study at Platinum rated IGBC Green Factory. The industry had CNC machines and
Air conditioning utility rating is 30 TR AC package feeding to CNC machine area. The 30 TR AC package system of 3
Outdoor packs of VRF systems each with 2 AC compressors of 5 TR in each pack (2 x 5 TR per pack x 3 no =30 TR ) All
 the compressors are thro VFD try to operate 30% to 80% as much as possible to optimize the efficiency. The plants’
heat load requirements for AC was only 15 TR at night, & say 24 Tr in day, but actually 30 TR was fully ON to maintain
15 TR load.

2. For this night load requirement, 2 packs of total 20 TR will be adequate and sufficient to cater to the 15 TR load; say for
50% load at night, say 15 TR out of 30 TR, they need not run all the three packs of 3 x 10 TR pack at 50 % loading each
pack at 5 TR to run on all 3 packs now? We suggested them to run at night, automatically only 2 packs of 10 TR at 75 %
loading; to match to 15TR requirement and shut off the third pack.

3. Previously they were running unnecessarily 3 AC compressor 10 Tr packs of higher KW even for part loading of 25 %.
Say 8 Tr only. We understand that the AC compressor efficiency for sustained Integrated Part Load Efficiency IPLE is
better at 50 to 70 % load band & than a broader band of 30 to 80 % loading.

Rational control of ON-OFF switch as COARSE control & VFD next to FINE control the utility loadings.

4. Energy saving in any process or here in the Air-conditioning utility can be first achieved by First COARSE step control of
AC compressors switching ON & OFF automatically suiting to process / utility load demands. And next, the FINE control
of each AC compressor operation is done thro VFD throttling to achieve pin-point regulation of the SET indoor
temperature.

5. The first step towards energy efficiency air conditioning is that when the TR head load is demanding only, the AC needs
to come on line. Otherwise, it can be shut off automatically and the AC need not be idling thro inverter all the time
waiting for the load demand.

6. The AC Inverter working is efficient but more efficient is to switch OFF that part of the AC system when not required at
that part of day. The Basic & Rational step of energy conservation in any utility interaction to the process, is to switch
off the part of the utility that is redundant to the process on that part of time say, day / period.

CASE STUDY OF INDUSTRY PRODUCTION VS UTILITY:-

This industry is a batch process industry and has a production capacity of 10 Ton per day, catered by 10 machines,
each retrofitted with VFD. The Screw Air compressor capacity is 1000 cfm and one no compressor of 160 KW rating with
VFD is installed to match the production capacity. Also HVAC of 100 TR chiller is installed with a single Scroll compressor
with VFD. When the industry is running near to full load, industry’s SEC is on par with the Best Peers in the segment. This
full production is there only for few months of the year.

Since the market demand drives the industry, some months this industry has to deliver only 4 Tons per day in that month.
Their production team did not run, all their 10 machines at 40 % loading thro the machine VFD and achieve this production.

And the industry management understood the value of production machines’ spare time availability and
maintenance, so they ran only 4 production machines to match that day / month’s demand and on rotation they run their
any 4 out of 10 machines to achieve that 40 % production, that is required today.

But they have to run their utility like Air compressor 160 kw machine and HVAC 100 Tr chiller to match to the lean
production, hence they are operating their one and only over-sized machine thro VFD to run them better. But that is only a
damage control exercise.

Normally VFD is used in a machine to facilitate the flexibility of production and as well this VFD facilitates the utility to
operate at its Best Efficiency Point of Loading for better SEC. But the irony is some industries even today, are running their
100 % production machines thro their VFD to utilize the production field operators’ man hours even at 40 % production
because they feel that they have to engage their total manpower even in lean mode.

This is typical of the tea industry in Ooty the Hill station. The thermal SEC is production related. When the production is
going down compared to the average monthly production in the winter months, the cost of heating of the Hot Air
Generator goes up heavily here. The industry management has to work on this wild variations in the thermal SEC and how
to flatten the same to the possible extent, thro out the year, covering all the seasons.

Monthly variations in Production cause wide Band of SEC variation, To Analyze. Energy Audit Case study at
Engg Industry, Chennai by our Prof. S.R.Sivarasu, BEE CEA M/s Ramkalam Center for Energy, Coimbatore.

INDUSTRY TO GO FOR SPLIT TYPE UTILITY DURING COMMISSIONING:-

Taking clue from the above case study, this industry in project planning stage itself, must go for 2 no 75 KW Air
compressors to deliver 1000 CFM of compressed air. Also their HVAC package must be split into 2 no of 50 TR chiller. If the
production is 40 % today, they can operate any one of two utilities and the other utility, they can keep as Active Standby.

If the production is say 60 %, they can operate one compressor at manually clamping its VFD or even without its VFD, at 70
% fixed base load, and other compressor to modulate thro VFD to match to the demand. The VFD has to be tuned to
equipment so that at minimum load, the equipment auxiliaries are working healthy.

The efficiency of VFD to any utility system also has restrictions to operate that machine say at 20 % loading or
overloading at 100 % and above loading. The Industry maintenance team has to schedule to run which of the utility to run
to suit to production capacity for that day. So when the production team chooses the part of production machines to run as
production plan, the maintenance team also must plan to operate the part of the utility machines at its best efficiency point
to run for given production plan.

UTILITY LOADING- ONE OF BASIC FACTORS TOWARDS EFFICIENCY:-

First and foremost in Energy conservation of utility is that the same utility is matched to production rationally and logically.
So concentrate on the utility first, to optimize to its best efficiency point of loading.

1. The best efficiency point BEP of loading for Transformer is around 50 % of its loading.

2. The motor efficient loading range is between 60 to 80 % though the IE 3 motors give a flatter range from 55 to 95 %
3. The compressor always runs at full load, so the pressure rating selection of the compressor to be procured 30 % more
than operating pressure. When you want to run your Air compressor at 7 Bar compressed air header pressure, it is wise
to buy the compressor rated 10 Bar and operate the same at 7 Bar, to achieve sustainably, the optimum Watt required
per CFM delivered at lowest operating pressure. We must be aware the compressor’s motor running above its rated
capacity will de-rate faster.

4. Always refer to the nameplate of the pump, when selecting and operating the same pump to the pressure demanded
by the process. The NPSH the Net Positive Suction Head and the optimum minimum delivery given to the process,
makes one of the parameters to operate at its BEP band.

We have changed our conventional motor to new IE3

energy efficient motor. But at less than Half the loading,
this IE3 motor also is inefficient. So Monitor your motor
loading pattern and be around 75 % loading band.

Loading is an important basic factor for IE 3 motor as well. For centrifugal backward curved blower, the BEST
EFFICIENCY POINT BEP Inverted U band is very narrow, here VFD to blower facilitates to bring the best out of
blower to process. Static pressure Monitoring & control for given flow rate is critically observed now. BLDC
type Ceiling fans maintain flow rate at optimum Static pressure for human comfort.

5. Care is taken to run the blower below / around the rated blow / suction pressure of the blower. BEP curve for a blower
is narrow umbrella curve, so better to be in the band of BEP of the blower to effectively use to the process.

6. Industry must be aware of the blower delivery is a Slow variable. So the normally Designer chooses the blower rated
speed around 750 rpm as optimum speed, delivers at its Best Efficiency Band output parameters, for given input KW
consumption.

7. In the case of compressor or pump, the delivery of the same is a Fast Variable. Hence the designer normally chooses
3000 rpm for the pump / compressor application to get the best & fast output of the utility and match to the process
demands rightly.

OVERSIZED UTILITY IN ALL INDUSTRY SEGMENTS – REASON FOR POOR SEC:-

We have come across many Case studies from the industry now where we had done few 100s of energy audits in many
segments. This is applied to all in Electrical utility like the compressors, Air conditioners, pumps, blowers and boiler in the
thermal utililty.

1. Thousands of Small Package Boilers were procured decade back and run in textile processing units, which need in
actual site condition, needed only 2 Ton boiler, but the management by their longer foresight focusing for five years,
buy the 4 Ton boiler and the same 4 Ton boiler will be running for more than five years at less than half the loading,
inefficiently.

2. Thousands of Small package boilers were purchased decade back and run in the rice mill segment, are 2 Ton boiler &
above which normally loaded to 70 % for 2 hours of the day during Parboiling. Balance 12 hours of the day, the same
boiler is used for the drying the rice, but at less than half the loading capacity inefficiently.

3. Decades old Textile mills run with single screw air compressor to match the entire load of mill. If there is any problem
with that compressor, the mill has to be stopped. So the maintenance will be in tension not to allow any breakdowns at
any cost. The mill must go for Active Spare compressor to run the production, which is running at always 24 x 7 mode.

4. Commercial and public utility Buildings procured total single AC package in Tons to cater to air condition of buildings,
run oversized AC compressors at part loading. Many realized the huge cost of running this single over-sized AC and
started reducing their air-conditioned area to reduce the AC load, and this single AC was frequently re-cycling often.
5. VFD retrofitted to system also reduce the fluctuation, and still was a huge running cost and wear & tear more due to
mismatch between cooling premises and heat load variables varying widely due to wrong operating practices.

6. DG sets were purchased as 160 KVA to cater to LT service load of 150 HP only. The Genset operated for 60 KW load,
gave only one kwh unit per liter of Diesel for many years due to poor loading of genset. The optimized loading of DG set
between 60 to 80 % of the capacity, gives around 3 kwh units per liter of Diesel.

7. Back to Domestic energy conservation, the Conservation as Charity starts from Home only. When our family was 6
members, we used 7.5 liter pressure cooker, next with 4 family members we used 5 liter pressure cooker, and now
with 2 members, we are using 2 liter pressure cooker. We did not use the old 5 liter cooker for our 2 member family
now, as we understand our 2 Liter cooker is Time Saving, Water Saving and LPG saving especially compared to
oversized cookers which we used before.

INDUSTRY BUYS ELEPHANT BUT FORGOES BUYING ‘ANGUSA’, THE ELEPHANT GOAD!
The industry buys machines in production and utility, but always ignore to add KWH metering at the input first and
metering of the machine’s output parameter. BEE norms say any motor above 10 HP running for 6000 hours an year, to
mandatorily have a KWH meter. So metering a motor along with Run-hour- monitoring prompts us to know the motor’s
sustainable health.

1. It is high time now, to introduce affordable Electronic Motor Protection Relay to save our motors from BURNOUT,
giving the time to react by user when motor loading if not optimized. Motor loading above & below efficient band is
running inefficiently only.

2. Now after the retrofit of the Electronic OLR, the user will be alerted to the slight overloading immediately first, plans
during the reaction time to respond to the overloading due to the incoming or motor or machine fault in the Alert
band, and in Danger band (overload land) he can take immediate steps to correct fault. Also he is alerted to operate his
motor above 50 % healthy band that is motor efficient band of loading, in between IDLE & ALERT Inefficient loading
bands.

3. Normally, Energy conservation is possible in a machine or process only, if the same machine or process does not have
any defect already crept into the system. A Defective machine or Process, hardly gives scope for the user to conserve
energy and run efficiently.

4. If at all, the user industry wants to achieve energy conservation in the given machine or process, first they have to
isolate and pull out the defect from the system and then only can achieve energy savings and energy efficiency.

5. Thousands of small package boilers still do not have Moisture Separator with air vent provision on their steam delivery
line immediately next to the boiler, because the boiler OEM does not mention about that. Without Moisture separation
immediately from the steam header, the steam dryness fraction drops drastically, and overall thermal productivity of
the Process gets reduced.

6. So after allowing all the moisture to be carried over thro header and finally trapped out thro variety of traps at the
downside after the equipment. This practice does not any improve the indirect heat transfer from steam to process.

7. In a linear electrical load distribution, Motor or transformer, any Inductance needs a compensatory Capacitor so that
the L-C combo to work in each stage for Slightly Lagging PF (low PF is addressed at Inductance Source itself, where the
PF is pulled down) is there in all stages of electrical distribution starting from motor end to the Incoming.

8. So without compensating all the Load End Motors above 3 HP, the over-sized APFC operating on single CT, tries to
maintain unity PF at the EB Incoming in the Power house. This demands more capacitor banks in the power house
standing between load mixture of Linear and Non linear types. This aggravates the THD in the Power house and is
thrown back towards EB, resulting in poor power quality.

9. In a non-linear load electrical distribution, the VFD OEM must recommend the user industry to install Line Reactance
AC choke, to at least partly House Arrest the Harmonics at Source that is generated by manipulation from their VFD. As
per Electrical Circuit, the VFD acts as a variable capacitance and this C needs L reactor to balance at that stage to curb
harmonics to propagate towards Incoming.
10. After allowing the Harmonic Current components to get scattered and thrown back to Incoming, now the industry puts
Reactor Coupled Capacitor and next the costly Active Harmonic Filters now. Suppression of already-distorted
Harmonics at the later stage is inefficient way of tackling the Harmonics, better to nip that in bud at Source.

11. At the Motor end, the motor is ready to transfer the full power to load, and the load is aligned to motor to receive the
full Power. But unfortunately the belt and pulley drives are either chosen very heavy, over-rated to grab power in
between. Otherwise, belts get under-rated due to slippage and grip is lost due to glossy surface of worn-out pulleys
after 40,000 hours of use.

12. When belt and pulley drive is part of machine package, the OEM must recommend the user to replace pulleys as well
after five continuous years of operation.

13. The OEM needs to educate the industry and the industry conveniently ignores the visible loss in power transmission
between motor and machine, this is one another factor of machine de-rating over few years of non-stop working
pattern. Belts transmit power thro grip, which is optimized for sustainable smooth running transmission.

14. Any motor shaft power output is first felt by its Drive-End Bearings only. Here the Lubrication of bearings by the
speciality grease like Polyurea Thickened Lithum complex grease offers excellent sustainable lubrication to withstand
Tangential Shear stress from load.

This speciality greasing is needed for heavy duty non-stop running of motors in harsh environments. OEM and the
user mindset have to change and adapt to specialty grease lubricant application especially for 24 x 7 run motors.

15. The industry user air compressor and an air receiver to buffer the compressor from process. But the correct
compressed air header pressure is demanded by the process, so this needs the compressor load-unload pressure to be
sensed from the buffer air receiver or from the receiver after the dryer.

16. So the user industry needs to control the compressor load & unload cycle or thro VFD, based on the non-pulsating
pressure variable from the air receiver at compressor house last stage. So the relocation of pressure sensor from
compressor hood to receiver makes sense from the process point of view and demand

17. Apart from above in compr house, 6 mm blunt open air hose can exhaust 100 cfm at 7 Bar (equal to 15 KW input
power), it is prudent to install Buffer air Receiver for cleaning & Energy Efficient Air gun for restricted & scheduled
cleaning application.

18. Air Handling unit, Air washers, Waste Evacuation systems use centrifugal Backward Curved Impeller in their blowers to
achieve the heat transfer from the utility to process. What is important parameter here, is the Static pressure of the
blower when kept at optimum Pascal is one of main contributing factors to achieve the heat transfer, or the heat
resilience.

19. On the contrary the industry is increasing the flow or the air changes to achieve the result, but the power consumption
only goes up and the desired result out of the heat transfer to the process is not achieved. This static pressure in-situ
monitor & control is conveniently ignored till date by the user industry.

20. So after putting the closed loop control of static pressure of blower delivery, the industry stands to gain by the heat
transfer, better achieved by reduction / optimization of static pressure there.

CONCLUSION:-
Energy Audit and Conservation plays a vital role in the Planning, commissioning and operation phase of any industry.
Suggestion to the Industry top management is to involve the Energy Conservation Professionals prior itself during the start
of any project in defining the utility sizing and running cost comparisons.

Now for the Existing industry with variable production and who want to improve their SEC, please conduct energy audit
and consult BEE certified Energy Professionals to bring down your power-to-production cost % and optimize SEC on
sustainable priority by condition monitoring approach on power & production.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 12. COMPRESSED AIR PARAMETERS’ MONITORING CAN IMPROVE

THE COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEM EFFICIENCY

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor, Mail to:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

Compressed air parameters in the compressor house need to be monitored not only from the input KW side but also the
deliverable parameters also needs to be monitored. Industry in general goes by the daily and shift-wise KWH monitoring of
compressors’ consumption and equates that to production output quantity for that period or % compressed air KWH
consumption on the overall KWH units consumption averaged over daily, weekly and monthly.

But that is vaguely giving the SEC variation in the compressor. Compressed air SEC is divided into 3 parts, what is generation
efficiency in Watt per CFM, what is distribution loss in terms of Pressure drop observed on an average over a period, and
usage efficiency in terms of individual CFM consumption of a machine with reference to its name plate specs and to the
batch or models of machines of the given process department.

High time, the compressor OEM and the Experts suggest the Compressed air is not healthy when its discharge temp is
industry Globally, to incorporate in the Air Receiver, RTD above 5 *C than ambient. Refrigeration dryer working is
based temperature Sensor + remote Audio & Visual alarm ; healthy when there is appreciable difference between inlet
And as well, all the compressor OEM to guide the user to & outlet air temperature, around ambient temp. Ref:- Our
relocate their Pressure control sensor from hood to receiver, Poweron Projects Energy Audit Study Observations in 2012
so as to give non-pulsating steady pressure input to the
compressor pressure controller. Image Courtesy- NPTEL

The right sized Compressed air treatment, compressor house-keeping practices, piping layout, properly installed right from
the installation and commissioning of the plant, will reduce the cost of compressed air to the plant user and sustain the cost
over its life time in the plant. The following case study shows the dryer re-sizing for the given compressor improves the
overall compressed air system efficiency and sustained utility to the plant over its life time.

The above components of the compressed air treatment system have to be sized optimum as well, bigger than rated
compressed air flow. Compressed air flow is a dynamic variable, and is varying or fluctuating heavily for the given instant or
time duration say for an hour, this is not only due to the nature of fluctuating pneumatic loading of machines but also
mainly due to the leakages happening everywhere from compressor to tail end of the distribution upto the usage point.

So any of the above components, can induce restricted air flow, and this flow restriction will reflect on the total system
utility. So care has to be taken by the compressed air system OEM to install the above sub systems efficiently and free from
restrictions over years. Since the restriction is happening inside, it can be detected only by using the flow and pressure
measurements digitally and on trending the same, we can analyze the flow pattern and pinpoint, what to be done next.

EXISTING COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEM CASE STUDY:-

The existing compressor and the distribution setup detailed below. This plant is a textile spinning mill. The mill’s air
requirement is around 660 CFM normally and around 50 to 100 CFM more is needed for the cleaning air requirement. The
mill had purchased a VFD operated 110 KW Screw compressor at 10 Bar rating. Since the mill was hoping to manage their
compressed air consumption with that 110 KW only and since that was not possible, they had to put their existing & old 45
KW compressor as cleaning compressor to manage the total consumption. The other compressor is a 45 KW screw
compressor at 7 Bar rating kept for cleaning purposes. They are continuing with their old Ref dryer rated 600 CFM and the
pressure drop across the dryer was more than 0.5 Bar when the main compressor 110 KW is operating thro out the day.

COMPRESSED AIR PRESSURE & FLOW MONITORING TRENDS:-

Their daily compressed air KWH is the sum of 110 KW running as base load and 45 KW compressor cuts in & cuts out as
modulating type over the base load. But the problem is that the 45 KW screw compressor runs unloaded for many hours in
the day and the demand comes in due to the intermittent cleaning schedule in each of the 3 shifts a day. And the mill is
consuming around 3200 units per day that is Rs.20,000 per day towards their daily compressed air consumption.
Thanks to CINDAN Compressed Air Flow metering at the header of 110 + 45 KW compressors with 600 CFM Dryer. Main
compressor pressure set 6.5 to 7 Bar, cleaning compressor pressure set 6.5 to 6.8 Bar. Header pressure could be
maintained at 6.6 to 6.8 Bar only and Total 3300 KWH units consumption /day as per above case study readings.

Courtesy:-. Antony Deepak, Compressed Air Flow Metering Expert, 95976 42835, antony@cindan.in

Thanks to CINDAN Compressed Air Flow & pressure metering trends, at header of 110 + 45 KW compressors with 1250
CFM Dryer, Main compressor cut-in & out at 7.2 to 7.7 Bar Clean compressor cut-in & out at 6.2 to 6.7 Bar. Header
pressure could be maintained at 6.2 to 6.6 Bar now, total 3200 units consumed per day. Instead of 45 KW as cleaning
compressor, if 15 KW compressor is used, more than 50 % unloaded hours KWH consumption can be avoided, further.

POSSIBLE ENERGY SAVING SOLUTIONS FROM LOW COST TO HIGH COST:-

1. The pressure drop across the dryer is the fault that needs to be set right, heavy pressure drop of more than 0.66 Bar
across the dryer, so it is suggested to re-size to 50 % more the compressed air generation capacity. The dryer needs to
be over-sized because the existing dryer gets de-rated due to the existing compressor house-keeping practices. This
proposal will be paid back to them in a year either by adding 600 CFM dryer or 1250 CFM in exchange of old dryer.

2. Cleaning can be isolated from the mains. Plan to procure a Receiver-mounted portable Reciprocating compressor for
cleaning purposes says 7.5 HP x 2 mobile sets so that the same can be carried to the points of cleaning and hence the
cleaning applications is isolated from the main compressed air network. This proposal will be paid back to them in 6
months, and they are able to isolate the cleaning application itself by the above. Or to go in for dedicated cleaning
compressor with a bulk 1000 Liter Receiver as the cleaning compressor source end and operate the same separately.
3. Fix Energy Efficient COANDA type nozzles on the compressed air cleaning hose so as to amplify the air flow and
pressure at the point of cleaning. Ensure the compressed air hose is rigidly flexible material like PU hose, sized properly
and fit with the above EE nozzles, ensure the coupling and fittings are free from the direct heavy leaks. This proposal
will be paid back in few weeks and the users have to be tuned to use this cleaning gun and not to use blunt open hose.

4. Compressed air leaking openly from 6 mm hole is around 100 CFM at 7 Bar, but the compressed air that is delivered by
the 6 mm hose of few meters length is just 40 CFM only. So the hole type of leakages is the major leaking sources in the
plant, to be detected by predictive ultrasound imagers and to be arrested then & there immediately on the same day.

5. Schedule the compressed air cleaning procedures so that one hose is used at a time depending on the requirements
and others are put in lock and key inside a box.

6. Compressed air cleaning is to be planned as per the schedule in each shift. Your compressor is utilized in your plant for
all the steady loads like the load end receivers, pneumatic actuators, bleed type or poppet type solenoid valves and this
loading is always steady, but only cleaning application without its receiver will wildly fluctuate to strain compressor.

Only when the cleaning or leaking is heavy, then it tilts the balance between the compressed air generation, and usage.
Each industry segment has its norms in terms of compressed air generation in % in the total units per shift or day, the
percentage towards cleaning and leakage is in a band invariably. Kindly confirm with your peers in your segment
whether do you adhere to your industry norms as far as cleaning % and the leakage losses in % are concerned.

Look into the difference between leakage and cleaning. COMPRESSED AIR FLOW MONITORING
Air leak thro 6 mm hole in comp air header is 104 cfm, Compressor OEM mentions in the nameplate as FAD in m3 / min or
LPS based on the inlet parameters during the reference conditions
6 mm hose after 3 meter hose roll, only 27 cfm ONLY, suggested by the IS 1217 Standards as Ambient Pressure at 1 Bar
+ Energy Efficient nozzles / Study @AMARJOTHI TEXTILES GOPI. Absolute, Temperature at 20 Deg C, and Relative Humidity RH at 0 % .
This below example shows you the difference in what is name plated
and what & where is measured practically by the flow meter at the
Metering Study by M/s.Amarjothi Textile delivery of compressor post ref dryer & air receiver.
SL mill at GOPI, where Flow meter is fixed at CFM @ CFM LOSS % Example FAD flow of 100 m3 /min at Inlet based on the Reference
NO header end. 6 BAR REDUCED Saving condition of 20 deg C, and 0 % RH, sea level. Flow at inlet condition of
1 6 mm cleaning Long hose (without gun) 27 35 Deg C, 70 % RH, sea level = 91.4 m3 /min only.
2 8 mm cleaning Long hose (without gun) 48 Courtesy:- www.airbestpractices.com
8 mm cleaning Long hose
And there will be a difference of say around 8 to 10 % band depending
3 (with gun without nozzle) 45
on the air intake actual condition of temperature at 30 to 40 deg C
8 mm cleaning Long hose with respect to the compressor OEM name plate reference taken at 20
4 (with gun + power saving nozzle) 19 29 60 deg C as per IS 1217, apart from RH changes. 6
5 12 mm cleaning Short hose (without gun) 151

7. Next proposal is if the dryer has gone de-rated over the years. The previous norms, the compressor OEM suggested
were equal size of compressor and dryer rating capacity. But monitoring the dryer over its life time, the industry and
OEM understood now that it is prudent to install minimum 50 % over capacity dryer so as to improve the refrigeration
performance in the dryer and as well to reduce the pressure drop across the dryer.

8. Always plan to have the Low Pressure and High pressure headers in the plant so as to match the pressures demanded
by the batch of loads and arrange them accordingly. In this Low pressure header, cleaning needs max 4 Bar only and
the same can be set with the cleaning air receiver with built in bulk line pressure regulator and that will maintain the
required low pressure in the receiver and maintain the low pressure in the downstream of receiver.

9. Invest in Air Receivers. This is not energy consuming and it helps to accommodate the pressure drops in between. To
address the pneumatic lag in compressed air flow, to plan to have two receivers, wet and dry at compressor house, tail
end receiver at heavy load ends / dept, Feed forward receiver to dept which needs intermittent heavy air demand.

10. The compressor house needs two receivers, one to locate near the compressor so as to control pressure control the
compressor’s cut-in & cut-out smoothly and steadily. The other receiver needs to be placed after the dryer and the
filter and this receiver is positioned to be the final stage of the compressor house so as to meet the plant air demands.

WHY THE DRYER DE-RATES OVER ITS LIFE PERIOD?

1. The refrigeration dryer is getting de-rated right from day one of the installation. Refer your dryer name plate, the OEM
says the maximum inlet temperature feeding to the dryer is upto 45 Deg C and if the temperature is going above that,
then the dryer capacity will de-rate, as per the name plate. Latest dryers are far improved in their efficient features.
2. When the ambient temp is around 40 Deg C in the compressor house, and if the post air cooler inside the compressor
hood especially the PHE the plate type Heat exchanger is getting dusted choked with moisture because of dust and
varying humidity levels in day and night, then automatically the post air cooling capacity is reduced and the compressor
delivery temperature after the post air cooler goes up by more than 5 to 10 Deg C, and this de-rates the dryer rating.

3. The Freon cooling circuit inside the dryer loses its heat transfer efficiency over years, though it is termed as closed loop
system. This is due to minute Freon leakage from the system and de-rating due to choke in the finned heat exchanger
coils. This can be monitored by the Freon pressure gauges fitted on the suction and discharge line of the Freon
compressors. Any deviation in Freon Pressures will reduce the cooling efficiency of the ref dryer.

4. Compressed air sub systems inside the compressor hood and dryer functioning inside the compressor house, all
these sub systems’ functioning is linked, inter-related and it is a chain process of losing the efficiency from first to
next sub system and gets multiplied, leading to overall reduction of compressed air system efficiency from first year.

5. Compressing the air inside the compressor, leads to rejection of hotter exhaust around 70 Deg C air from the
compressor hood. This hotter exhaust air to be smoothly driven out of compressor house without any restrictions. So
the duct needs to be minimum 50 % more sized (OEM gives the sizing) expanded of exhaust fan outlet dimension and
also short length to quickly take the heat of compressor house. When the ambient is around 40 Deg C in compressor
house, it is wise to insulate the duct so that heat from exhausted air not radiate out to elevate house temperature.

• This type of Pipe line Pressure

Regulator attached to air
receiver will maintain Low
Pressure Receiver say at 4 Bar
and this can be kept for
cleaning application or any
other low pressure application
• This will give straight away 15 %
energy savings on pressure
reduction and leakage losses
downstream is reduced.
• After our Poweron Energy audit
• M/s. AIRLOGIX installed this in
M/s. RBR Wovens at Erode and
saved 300 Units per day.

6. Some Ref dryer OEM install in their dryer Incoming as a safety precaution, a conical in-line pipe strainer at the feed
flange. This is not visible to the user and will tend to forget the dust /dirt choke happening in the strainer. When
monitoring the pressure gauges at the inlet & outlet, this pressure drop will be visible and can be corrected.

7. During normal operating steady loads, the Delta P across dryer will be steady and within the limits only. Only when
the leaks and fluctuating loads are more, the Delta P shoots up at peak loading flow, and this increases the
compressor KW and starves downstream air delivery to loads and hence loads trip on momentary low pressure dips.

8. Compressed air treatment OEM needs to give the user, the details of their filters as what is the max, min and normal
operating pressure differential across their filters, and at what air pressure & temperature flowing thro the filter?

160 KW 1000 cfm rated screw compressor, around 1080

liters of water is sucked inside over (8 hour x 6 days) 48
hours running weekly; since ambient air contains 12.5 g of
water vapour for each m3 of free saturated air at 15°C.
This quantity is still present in air at terminal pressure and
discharge temp. Courtesy - GOOD PRACTICE GUIDE 216

12

9. The post air cooler functioning inside the given compressor is important and it can reduce the load on the refrigerated
The post air cooling functioning is very much important for the health and safety of compressor, as this reduces the
 load & pressure drop across the refrigerated dryer. Refer above image, in a 160 KW 1000 cfm rated screw compressor,
around 1080 liters of water is sucked inside over (8 hour x 6 days) 48 hours running weekly;

since ambient air contains 12.5 g of water vapour for each m3 of free saturated air at 15°C. You can visualize at 30 Deg
C at 50 % RH ambient surroundings, you can visualize, the more water vapour is sucked in now, depends on your plant
geographic location?

This water quantity is still present in the air at terminal pressure and discharge temperature. The vapour will begin to
condense as the air temperature is cooled to, or below, that of the pipe work downstream of the compressor.

10. dryer. If still the cooler inside the hood is not functioning properly, then we can even think of Heat exchanger type Add-
on post air cooler. Decade back, many industries have used this retrofit to reduce discharge air temperature.

NEED FOR ACCURATE MONITORING OF COMPRESSED AIR PARAMETERS:-

1. The compressed air receiver temperature is an indication of the compressor’s healthy functioning. As long as ambient
temperature is near 40 Deg C; the inlet & delivery air of compressor is nearly the same, the compressor is healthy.

2. If the receiver temperature increases, then it is due to the compressor house temperature is more than that of ambient
surroundings of the plant, lubrication sub system is not functioning either the oil level and heat transfer of oil to
outside, post air cooler PHE getting choked and workings of the float type drain inside the hood and the pipe line water
separator choked-in-working condition, the same located between compressor and receiver. So each sub system’s
optimum functioning is relevant to the total compressor health, if any sub deviates, then it tells upon overall system.

The compressor or any utility in general are using their Heat Exchangers so as to gain out of the heat transfer to &
from the ambient surroundings. So if you keep the ambient surroundings of your plant healthy, and greenly, this will
sustain. Symptom of inefficiency of your machine or plant or utility is noticed in your surrounding ambience that is
heated up by heat transfer by radiation from your Hot spot equipments. Kindly try to sustain your overall efficiency.

COLOR BAND TYPE DELTA PRESSURE INDICATORS HAS BECOME OBSOLETE NOW:-
The Delta P across the pipe line filters is displayed as Green or Yellow or Red band indicator by the OEMs. We are in the
digital age now. Many of machine OEMs have started to display their machine’s compressed air entry pressure to their
machines by the 2 inch square digital display fitted on pressure regulator, viewed in 2 Decimals resolution say 6.37 Bar.

COMPRESSOR & COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEM Tropicalize compressor to our ambient. Retrofit Two
PARAMETERS MONITOR TO REDUCE ENERGY stage air pre-filtration to the existing paper Micron
filter inside hood, daily cleanable inside & outside
• AIR RECEIVER TEMPERATURE after slide opening the door format pre-filter.
•AUTO WATER DRAIN AT COMPRESSOR, DRYER, RECEIVER
•COMPRESSOR LOADED AND UNLOADED KW
• LOAD AND UNLOAD HOURS
•REF DRYER IN & OUT TEMPERATURE
•PRESSURE DROPS FROM COMPR. TO MAIN HEADER
•AIR INTAKE FILTER PRESSURE DROP DAILY CHECK
•COMPRESSOR NAME PLATE VERSUS RUNNING LOAD
•THERMAL IMAGING OF EACH PART OF PIPING
•THERMAL IMAGING OF COMPRESSOR INTERNALS
• ANNUAL CALIBRATION OF PRESSURE SENSORS & LOOP.

This is in all the industry segments. But the compressed air OEMs show this as color band display in their filters and in 7 out
of 10 plants, this color band display has not indicated correctly or rather failed to the safe green band even when the Delta
P across the filter had increased and crossed the maximum limits.

1. Better fix two Bourdon type dial pressure gauges on the feed and delivery line of the ref dryer.

2. Universally when the compressed air pressure is around 6 to 7 Bar, do not oversize your Bourdon range or Electronic
pressure transducer to 16 Bar, but to fix 0 to 10 Bar range for higher resolution and 4 inch dial size for better visibility.

3. The function of ref dryer is to cool the air first by Freon circuit so as to remove the humidity in the cooled air next. So
fix two temperature gauges on the feed and delivery lines of the dryer to monitor the healthy dryer functioning.
4. Some plants have gone for digital differential pressure switch to indicate the higher DP with audio-visual alarms. The
plants have to fix RTD type thermal sensors across the dryer, and at the air receiver.

5. Here we find that the piping from the compressor to the receiver to the dryer and filters which we will run for few
meters even, can affect the compressor house health and the pressure drops occur not only due to the sharp Elbow
and Tee fittings but also due to the user’s mindset that whatever is the compressor and dryer delivery flange size, the
same size has to be continued for few meters in short lengths in-between the pipes, inside the compressor house.

6. For your compressed air header size 2 Inch (inner pipe dia ), this can match to your compressor's FAD 250 CFM as
max. For your compressed air header size 3 Inch (inner pipe dia ), this can match to your compressor's FAD 700 CFM as
max. For your compressed air header size 4 Inch (inner pipe dia ), this can match to your compressor's FAD 1100 CFM
as max. So better to size your pipings always on the immediately next available higher size and not to size for max flow.

But when the header pipe's length is more than 100 meters then you better go for Sure ONE size more than the
suggested pipe size. We have to maintain the compressed air velocity at around 6 to 10 meter/sec, the same is
measurable by flow meter. You can size the same for 6 meter/sec and not to size for the other extreme of 10 m/sec.

The Long bend connections to the dryer, receiver; with the

same header size pipe dia, and 45 Deg Direction connection
from each compressor take off point to header ( which is
always one step higher size) towards the compressed air
flow direction also matters here to streamlined flow.

Excellent are the above images that show the take off point from each compressor or dryer say with 3 inch delivery flange,
the take off expanded piping must be 4 Inch only. If this is expanded piping not done, this will create pressure drops during
the full flow of compressor / dryer. Also 45 Deg directional piping towards direction of air flow is very much important now.

The user will be thinking that the dryer is de-rated but you will be surprised to find the piping to and fro from header to
dryer say for few meters also, can be culprit for the pressure drop across. Also see the 45 Degree directional connection
from the compressor / dryer take off branch to the main header; this is needed mandatorily in all your compressors.

7. Here during our energy audits, we have come across some Industry management with longer vision, always prefer to
go for one size above so as to have laminar airflow thro out the header end to end. Say for their 700 CFM maximum
requirement, they go for 4 Inch header from the compressor to dryer to the receiver to the main header thro out the
plant. So piping as well 50 % needs to be oversized for the requirement is good for the plant say for another 20 years.

8. Here we must also say some industries pay huge amount for buying the sophisticated larger sized compressor.
Sometimes they stuck to their old habit of retaining their decade under-sized piping for this new compressor, or atleast
they prefer to retain some portion of their old piping in the compressor house and this result in heavy pressure drops.

9. In an engineering industry during our energy audit, we came across a 110 KW air compressor with a delivery around
700 CFM. The industry management decided now to replace their old 2 inch & 3 inch pipelines to 4 Inch pipeline from
compressor house and in the sub headers. But in the compressor house, they decided to retain around their old 2 Inch
piping in some portion, from the compressor house to the main compressed air header.

This mix up of undersized piping resulted in 1 Kgsc drop from the compressor house delivery to the header at the initial
point. After replacing this undersized pipe, the pressure drop came down to 0.3 Kgsc only. Visualize a 40 feet width
straight road for 1000 meter length with smooth road traffic.

But there is a culvert at 500 meters for 20 feet width in this road, the traffic gets congested at the entry & exit of the
culvert in the road. This slows down the overall traffic. The google traffic view in your cell will show the traffic
congestion only at the in-between narrow or encroached roads.
10. Here the refrigerated drying functioning is critical to keep the almost zero water trace in the header. After maintaining
the healthy dryer, the slope in the header to be maintained correctly as 1 Inch drop for every 10 Feet pipe. If the slope
is not given, water gets stagnated in the pipeline, forms rust, and this aggravates the pressure drop in the pipeline.

AIR INTAKE FILTER DELTA PRESSURE NEEDS TO BE SEEN ON COMPRESSOR CONSOLE:-

1. Existing compressors do not have display of their Air intake Filter’s Differential pressure in their panel outside or in
console. Like the pipeline filer band gauge, many compressor OEMs have a Vacuum color band type Air filter gauge,
fitted on the suction line to compressor element. This is practically daily not seen by the operator, since hood is closed.

2. Some compressors have this DP in their console but the resolution is poor as it is indicated in Bar, where as the user
needs the DP in milli Bars or in Pascal monitoring. Otherwise the user assumes 0.00X values wrongly as near zero.

3. This air intake Delta P is also a critical measurement for the air compressor because this choked air filter will not allow
the air to be FAD Freely Air Delivered to the compressor and as it starves the air compressor at its suction.

Right sized compressor suffers and de-rates due to poor compressed air treatment in compressor house.
Compressor KW hunts between Load & Unload cycle from 50 KW to 90 KW, as 40 KW Variation 90 times in 30
minutes, 3 times a minute, due to artificial pressure drop in compressor house. Energy Audit study @ Textile
mill by our Energy Audit team headed by Er.K.Ramesh Babu, Poweron Projects, Coimbatore.

After our energy audit, their plant relocated their compressor’s pressure control sensor to the air receiver to reduce
the pulsations in cut-in & cut-out pressures, and resulted in their energy saving as well. This prompted them to
improve their piping layout inside compressor house. Your compressor needs pre-filter on hood for its air intake.

4. Also when the compressor is in fully loaded condition, any fluctuating and demanding air requirements cant’ be met by
the compressor, as it de-rates the compressor capacity. This will only increase the compressor KW as the compressor
struggles to deliver the compressed air demanded by the fluctuating / phantom type pneumatic loads.

5. So it is better to equip the compressor console with one more digitalized Delta P input with better resolution in Pascals
and as well to prompt the user with audio & visual alarms on higher choking of filter condition, above Pascals set.

6. This will prompt the user to clean the pre-filters daily and the main filter once the Delta P crosses say 1000 Pascal say in
2 weeks, now you are allowing (without knowing) around say 3000 Pascal to fully choke the filter and replace the filter
after 3 months, this is what is happening in your plant. This practice can be changed based on its condition monitoring.

CASE STUDY OBSERVATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS FROM COMPRESSED AIR CHARTS:-

Studying the trends on the compressed air pressure and flow graphs, we derive many inferences now. Heavy Zig zag flow
fluctuations in the graph, shows compressed air leakage at some random points are heavy and intermittent. This needs to
be addressed immediately. Cleaning compressor needed is around 15 KW rated CFM only, higher size at 45 KW is used here
1. When the compressed air flow trend is steadily used by the pneumatic and material handling equipments in some
plants, then the trend looks steady and compressor follows the normal fluctuating plant air demands.

2. Now that the Aluminum piping has proven in most of the plants to maintain the most minimum compressed air
pressure drop end to end in headers and in the sub headers. We always recommend the user to change to Aluminum,
and they hesitate because of the higher initial cost. If they visualize the running cost due to pressure drops especially in
the header End-to-End, then it is worth going for Aluminum / SS / PPR piping etc depending the industry environment.

3. So we suggest to the plant users, to atleast replace the existing piping layout inside the compressor house to Aluminum
piping. To pinpointedly say, if we replace all the Tee junction pipe joints inside the compressor house, this is also a
factor for the false sensing of pressure cut-in and cut-out and compressor toggles often due to momentary turbulent
flow of air at Tee junctions.

Here the Aluminum piping erectors have to provide THE 45 Degree directional connection for the two Conjoining airline
piping instead of Tee connection, or they have to retrofit SS fittings for above joints only.

4. Here the old airline plumbers used hydraulic pipe benders on the MS piping at site and avoided the sharp Tee and L
type fittings. We had suggested in our energy audit to revamp the piping and they had smoothened the air flow inside
the house and this gave them energy savings. Similar longer bend practices have to come to Aluminum piping erectors
in the field. In fact, the Aluminum piping is still costly because of their fittings only, they have to reduce that numbers.

5. What is Kwh the compressor consumed in each shift to deliver this CFM or m3/hr over the shift’s 8 hours? This is to be
taken daily to calculate the daily WATT per CFM is Watts per CFM in normal course. This has to be taken for each shift,
day, week, month and year for the seasonal variations in Watt per CFM, look for daily deviations there to correct them.

6. Here, we find 110 KW compressor rated at 10 bar, and its VFD operated at fixed speed of 57 Hz, acting as base load
consumed 125 KW on average to deliver 660 CFM giving the SEC of 5.3 CFM/ KW, averaging 190 Watt / CFM. On
putting this new dryer of 1250 CFM capacity, the pressure drop reduced by 0.6 Bar and this will result in 100 units
saving per day Rs.2.5 Lakhs saving per annum.

7. And the 45 KW rated modulating compressor (only meant for cleaning purposes only) is without VFD and hence cuts in
and cuts out from 6. 2 to 6.5 Bar and flow spiking narrowly between 660 CFM to 780 CFM.

8. On the contrary, the 110 KW compressor only needs to act as base load without VFD and the modulating compressor
to be with VFD to completely avoid these flow pulsations in the distribution.

9. It is high time the compressor OEM accept the fact that their pressure sensing point inside the compressor hood is
prone to turbulence due to instant line pressure variations in their post air sub systems and is not reflecting the steady
streamlined pressure from the compressor. They can recommend their 0 to 10 Bar (instead of 0 to 16 Bar) pressure
transducer giving DC 4 to 20 MA output, be located on the air receiver.

10. Having come across this artificial zig zag cut-in and cut-out pressure and flows, we have suggested relocating the
pressure sensor to the tank. In general 2 out of 10 plants only listened to our audit recommendation and as well those
2 plants saved energy out of this non-pulsating pressure sensing. Other plant Managers are OEM centric and they
always say that their compressor OEM have to accept this relocation and this did not happen at all since many years.

MACRO-VIEWING THIS COMPRESSOR AS CAPEX BUDGET:-

The following are the steps to be taken by the plant manager before replacing their existing compressor package.
When the plant manager finds the existing compressor as short of capacity to run the plant what he can do now?

1. First install the compressor header flow meter and measure & assess the compressor’s delivered CFM and the
demanded CFM from the plant for daily, weekly and monthly say for few months.

2. We shall take this above case study example; the plant needed a band of 700 to 800 CFM on an average. This sizing is
to be arrived after conducting all the leakage corrections and cleaning improvements, and other optimizing pressure
and flow parameters, demanded by the loads.

3. For the given 700 to 800 CFM requirement, the plant needs to go for 160 KW machine delivering at full load 1050 CFM
instead of 110 KW rating now. Any compressor running on full load or more than full load will look efficient during the
 first year, but in the long run this is not good for the compressor and the plant. Already the compressor & motors are
put to overstrain by 24 x 4 mode Accelerated Ageing pattern as their motor running in its service factor value of 1.2

4. Also the plant manager must visualize that if this compressor has few hours breakdown, total production is stopped
because of this. Future-thinking progressive industry groups always plan for one more equal sized compressor as 100
% standby, so that the maintenance on the standby compressor can be done conveniently.

5. Also, when two equal sized compressors are there, the plant can plan to run for 4 hours each, alternative swapping the
two compressors as mains and standby. This will reduce the hotter running of compressors; ensure cool air is delivered
by intermittently run cool compressor. There are many indirect merits in running this pattern, barring the initial
CAPEX costing, this will improve the scheduled maintenance workings of the compressor, smoothly & effectively.

6. The entire compressor OEMs will say what the sustainable efficient loading % for their compressors is. In general,
the compressor gives sustained efficiency over its life time, if the same is operated at 70 % loading. This is like the
change of norms initiated by the other utility OEMs based on the TOC, the Total Owning Cost of the machine, as DG,
motors, pumps etc sustainable efficient loading at 70 % over its life period and not efficient to run at full load always.

The plant manager, compressor & compressed air Expert in consultation with the Energy Auditor, has to discuss first
to finalize the size of the compressor and its treatment sub system sizing, based on its TOC over its life.

CONCLUSION:-
Having generated the compressed air delivery from the compressor, the compressed air flow is reduced because of in-
between restrictions / obstructions, differing pipeline sizes, sloping-orientation, pipeline filters, sharp bends and sharp TEE
fittings, Water separators, wet and dry receiver sizes, Ref dryer size.

The compressed air usage and leakage has prompted in general to write in their Daily Notice Board, what is the
compressed air that is leaked out daily in their plant. Even a 6 mm leak is around 100 CFM and is equal to running 15 KW
compressor to cater that leak only and costing Rs.3000 per day by way of losing 400 Units per day.

To reduce this compressed air consumption, the industry procures One Inch Thermal Mass Balance based Insertion type
flow meter and thro hose connection at input and output of air connection to machine, study the tail end machines at each
machine entry and study the relative air consumption variation in machines to identify the air losses happening at each
machine. But the same industry can install compressed air header flow meter to assess the individual compressor
generation efficiency, distribution air flow rate variations and the tail end machines’ consumption.

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 13. WALK YOUR TALK ON ENERGY CONSERVATION &
SHOWCASE YOUR BLOWER ENERGY SAVING CASE STUDY TO OTHERS
Energy conservation activity in the industry is to spot the energy losses in the energy flow from Energy input to
all the motors of the plant, in the first phase and this is small % only. But the energy flow from the motor to
machine thro belt drives is a visible loss if the same is above 2 %, then you can’t afford to lose the power in
between after the motor delivered the power to the machine and getting lost in between motor & machine.

A reputed paint Manufacturing industry at Chennai achieved 18 % Average energy savings in their 50 utility
blower AHU systems and sustained the energy savings over one year with a simple exercise of resizing their
old motor & blower pulleys, replacing existing Vee belts with cogged belts with simple payback of six months.

When this is possible in their industry, why not the same can be repeated in your industry at an affordable
cost & can be done instantly so as to retrieve the energy losses happening between your motor and machines?

Even when your industry is planning to replace your existing motor to IE3 motor, new motor RPM goes up by 10
to 20 RPM say on a 4 pole motor. Hence with increase in motor speed, the KW increases in cube wise of RPM as
per fan affinity laws in blowers. So you have to use Non-contact Tachometer or Stroboscope routinely in your
shop floor to check for the slip in RPM from motor to machine with respect to the Speed Ratio. When your new
motor efficiency and RPM is increased, you can’t’ keep the old belts and pulleys in new motor as this will reduce
the overall efficiency. This will not be right to retain the old sub systems still with the new IE3 motor replacement.
When your industry is giving priority to the energy conservation measures with zero and low cost paybacks,
this above conversion needs to be implemented first, now to achieve energy savings & to restore productivity.

Now first you go ahead with the above conversion of pulleys & cogged belts & VFD exercise in your old motor
first, to achieve the energy savings at least initial cost of say few ten Thousand Rs only. Later when you replace
your same motor with the IE3 motor, say costing around a Lakh Rs, then also you can retrofit the same above
belts & pulleys & VFD retrofits on to the new motor, this replacement & re-retrofit exercise will combine the
merits of extra motor efficiency, more RPM in the new motor and on fine tuning the VFD HZ setting, will give
additional energy savings with the new IE3 motor as well.

ENERGY EDUCATION IS HALF DONE IN ENERGY CONSERVATION:-

Utilizing the Covid lockdown times, TECKXPERT team (a group of around 8000 Practicing Engineers spread
across many cities in many countries www.teckxpert.com ) conducted a series of more than 120 knowledge
sharing webinar sessions and well attended by more than 10000 practicing Engineers & Facility Managers
from India and Abroad. TecKXpert group invited the Author to give presentation on energy saving potentials.

This was attended & well received by the reputed Paint Manufacturing company executives from Chennai and
they had implemented this exercise on trial basis on two machines immediately. Having tasted energy savings in
this easy implementation exercise, they had implemented on balance 48 blowers, total 50 sets since one year.

1. And the same is running almost a year after having achieved 18 % overall energy savings in the 50 numbers
of blower systems of total KW capacity of 480 KW rated, the first two machines since two years now.
2. The blower sets are both VFD driven and DOL starter type, and their belt life increased more than double.
3. Also they have confirmed the energy savings in the 50 blower belt driven utility systems and so they have
decided to horizontally deploy this exercise to their production belt-driven machines as well now.
4. This reputed paint manufacturing industry at their Chennai division has tasted success with this low cost
exercise since two years and now they planning to implement in other divisions spread pan India.
5. Having invested Rs.6 Lakhs in this conversion, this paint industry got Rs.1 Lakh per month as ROI and paid
back in 6 months. This improved their blower system efficiency and ensured smooth functioning further.
6. Having done vibration study in some of the machines, vibration levels reduced in motor &machines after this.
7. This above exercise needs to high-lighted to each industry as it is a Very Low Hanging Fruit in the ENCON that
can be easily done in their shop floor to achieve energy savings & restoring productivity of machine.
CASE STUDY OBSERVATIONS:-
1. The blower systems have efficiency of around 50 % only on an average, referring to their specs. So try to
improve the efficiency of each sub system, by condition monitoring the blower as a system, with input KWH
and output Static Pressure Pascal monitor & control for the given flow conditions.

We have to understand worned-out pulleys is a defect to be rectified, otherwise this too increases the
vibration levels in motor & machine. After this conversion exercise, vibration levels came down to normal.

2. The above case study blowers are loading around the half capacity only. Whereas the blower, motor, belts,
are all rated to full capacity. Already the Before-case study shows the existing blowers are consuming less
KW compared to the rated KW capacity, had down-sized the blower speed by pulley drives to optimize.
Motor drive transmission efficiency :-
CASE STUDY OF AIR HANDLING BLOWER IN PAINT COMPANY
Visible Losses seen in Belt Losses from motor to load
CENTRIFUGAL BACKWARD CURVED Before Changing After changing
BLOWER Description Pulleys and Belts Pulleys and Belts
Motor HP/KW / 4Pole / Rated 1470 RPM 40/30 40/30
Type of Motor drive VFD run at Hz 35 30
Motor Pulley Dia. In mm 200 205
Blower Pulley dia. In mm 250 225
Belt Specification 4 no V Belts 3 COGGED belt
Make of Belt XXXXXX MITSUBOSHI
Weight reduction in power transmission 30 Kg 20 Kg (35%)
Motor RPM actual 1038 889
Blower RPM - actual 806 @ 35 Hz 803 @ 30 Hz
Power consumption KW per Hr. - Units 15.20 12.20
Savings in Energy in KW 3.00
Savings in Energy in % 20
Pay back period in months < 3 MONTHS.

Thanks to BEE guidelines on Vee Belt losses. It is time that all industries switched over now to cogged
belts to reduce the belts slippage below 2 %. / Case study of AHU blower with VFD + belts retrofit.

3. So to achieve input KW reduction, this exercise of Combining the benefits of Wedged or cogged belts, re-
designed pulleys and optimizing the settings of VFD has worked out more than 30 % savings in some cases.

4. The Part load efficiency of motor, blower is less compared to rated efficiency, so we have to make to use of
VFD to suit to that. The VFD functioning can be more tuned to operate the same at the part loading more
efficiently than setting at full load.

5. For the VFD to function in the existing worn-out belts and pulley drive system, the belts must get the GRIP of
the pulley. The old pulleys have a life of 40,000 hours say 5 years and gets worn-out with glossy inner
surfaces where belts loose grip and this is based on the machine’s ambient and working conditions.

BLOWER SYSTEM EFFICIENCY IS THE OVERALL OF MULTIPLIED VALUE OF ITS EACH SUB-SYSTEM EFFICIENCY:-
Centrifugal fan blade Design and Efficiency. VARIABLE TORQUE LOAD – Courtesy – BEE REFRESER GUIDE
Many industries are still operate their decade old blowers BOOKS TO Energy Manager & Auditors.
as backward straight instead of curved impeller. Also in the
HVAC segment, still Forward curved working instead of CUBE law- Excellent candidate for VFD, apply VFD in mid
Backward curved / Aerofoil impeller. This impeller change region, blower, fan, centrifugal pump & compressor ,
gives energy savings now. Check your Blade first Today. but saves Less due to high static head in pump

I image –Today you have a look into your impeller, and assess where is your fan’s efficiency?
II image – Variable Torque load to be studied with Fan Performance curve to match to the load.

Here blower being a variable torque load, there is ample scope for energy saving by monitoring the RPM of the
motor and blower, the Pascal at the suction and the delivery of blower, the motor rated KW, the BKW applied at
the blower shaft, the Input KW to the motor, motor RPM, and the blower RPM.
Many of the AHU or any other blowers are having name plate efficiency of 50 % only and there is scope to
reduce the KW for the given output, when the motor is partly loaded only. That is why OEMs are trying to bring
in, EC fans, as a total system change to improve the system efficiency by replacement, but their high initial
costing is the barrier now. First Energy conservation measure can be tried immediately in the existing blowers.

EXISTING BLOWER APPLICATION IN INDUSTRY:-

The existing blowers are used in the industry as a black box without monitoring of the input power and energy
parameters and output parameters like the RPM, CFM and Static pressure deliverable by the blower. The belts
and pulley drives are worn out and not replaced in time, based on the condition monitoring basis. The blower
nameplate gives the specs of the blower and the blower is operated at some deviated parameters.

Most of the industries are using Centrifugal backward curved blower for their applications. Since it is
recommended by Energy Experts, the industry retrofitted VFD only, on the existing blower for energy saving and
could not achieve the expected savings, because they were already losing the grip on motor-to-machine power
transmission thro belts & pulleys. If the same is corrected & resized, then appreciable savings can be visualized.

BENEFITS OF COGGED WEDGED BELTS & PULLEY OVER CONVENTIONAL V BELTS & PULLEYS:-
1. The cogged belts by design, is having 30 % more power carrying capacity compared to classical sized V belt.
2. The cogged belts run cooler, run say, 50 % more longer hours, and occupy less space in pulley.
3. The narrow & cogged belts operate higher speed ratios using smaller diameter pulleys.
4. Hence this needs the existing pulley to be replaced with say 20 % around, less-dimensioned pulley.
5. Being cogged on the pulley side the belt has a better grip with the pulley, to sustain the driven RPM better.
6. Better grip and higher coefficient of friction reduces slippage to near negligible & improves its efficiency.
7. Cogs on the inner surface of the belt increase air flow and facilitate cool running.
8. Very high flexibility due to moulded cogs allows the use of smaller sized pulleys to save on initial cost.
9. Cogged belts’ life almost doubles compared to existing Vee Belts, depending on the loading & application.
10. Slippage in cogged belts less than 2 % and sustained over its life, once the installation is done correctly.

BLOWER SPECS AND FAN CURVE VARIATIONS:-

All the industries are running their blowers thro belt and pulley drives. Whenever they wanted to reduce the
energy consumption for the given flow rate, they optimize the static pressure that is just required for the
process after monitoring the same and they resize their pulley and belts to match to the optimum pressure to
achieve energy savings.

VFD on a fully loaded blower adds extra power consumption due to self loss of VFD, is energy loss only. When
partly loaded ONLY, say around 50 to 70 % of blower rated capacity, then VFD + oversized motor pulley and
undersized blower pulley + Cogged belts combination will give appreciable savings & payback of FEW months.

Blower output air is a Slow Process Variable and hence Blower normally is operated efficiently around at 750
RPM than at any other motor multiple poles like 2 / 4 poles, whereas the pump output liquid is a Fast Process
Variable and normally, pump is operated efficiently around 3000 RPM, generically.

Some industries have directly fitted the motor on the blower and operating the blower thro its motor thro VFD.
Here, these industries did not have the flexibility of optimum speed ratio because of directly motor coupled to
blower. Also blower vibrations are transmitted to the motor and the wear & tear increased vice versa.

VFD TO FUNCTION AS EXCELLENT VARIABLE SPEED DRIVE:-

But many industries have fitted VFD to their existing blower’s belt & pulley transmission and set the Hz in VFD to
select the variable size of the pulley. It is wise to compromise very few miniscule % points thro belt slip, and the
same can be compensated by Pulley re-sizing and matched VFD settings to suit to process flexibility.
VFD function is not to be assessed instantaneously, but it is based on cumulative workings of ‘The Percentage
operating hours versus the Percentage Rated Flow” Especially VFD on blower application facilitates the user to
follow the Fan Performance curve closely near to the Best Efficiency point.

Here for the given blower RPM, the VFD on motor optimizes the torque to delivered to blower to achieve the
desired static and flow parameters. BEE & EESL have to give priority to this “VFD+pulley+belts” conversion
exercise on the existing motors in industry, since in-between energy losses still not detected by industry hence
not recognized & so not accepted.

Know your Blower’s Fan Curve Specs so as

to operate your Blower at its Best Efficiency Point.

I image –VFD retrofit will optimize your blower’s performance to give required flow @ given static pressure.
II image – Thanks to LInkedin Resource on Belt Drive Problems & Corrections – Source of Belt Drive Problems .

CONCLUSION:-

As an Energy Auditor, our Energy conservation proposals based on our energy audit findings that they are based
on the non-conformance / old maintenance practices followed by industry, which become obsolete, when other
industries are already following the latest energy efficient practices, which is initially costly, but less run-cost.

Having done more than few hundred energy audits in the industries, we observed in 9 out of 10 industries, their
pulley grooves looked shining, polished & glossy looking & worn out. Having realized the friction or the grip is
not there between belt & pulley, we suggested the industry to replace with the Precisely Machined & Matched
Pulleys to suit to Cogged-belts. This needs to be recommended by OEMs and BEE, then only they implement.

If the Belts & pulleys may give you say 10 % savings, Combo of VFD and Belt & Pulleys may yield say 30 %; then
the Combo Retrofit is more beneficial to you, ultimately the ROI, Return on Investment facts & figures will speak
of your Energy Conservation and efficiency during various process loading patterns.

All the above details and various case studies in different segments of the industry have been discussed in the
following book published by the Energy Auditor and the Belt & Drives Expert with decades of field experience.
This book will help the user how to proceed on this belt and pulley changing exercise in their existing machines.

Ten years back we studied the hot spots in belts & pulleys in our POWERON Energy Auditing findings and
highlighted to industry. It is high time, industry gives its focus on the belt & pulley losses & instantly act now.

Er. K.S.SUBRAMANIAN, SPECIALIST, Belts & Pulleys, Coimbatore - kss.1966@gmail.com 9442543789

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 14. STEAM DRYNESS FRACTION IS A POINTER TO PRODUCTIVITY
Er. ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor, Coimbatore.

BRIEF :-
1. The industry suffers from productivity loss due to wet steam, and boiler runs more, hence consumes more wood fuel.
2. Thousands of small package boilers in our region suffer from wet steam & Lakhs of Tonnes of wood consumed MORE.
3. To improve dryness of steam at boiler house and at production end, two stage removals of water droplets suggested.
4. Steam wetness is removed at boiler outlet header by I stage moisture separator and in II stage Moisture Separation,
the condensing of steam at the pipeline networks in the mains and branches including valves, before PRV, metering
causing Reduction in line size, etc can be removed at tail end Moisture Separator at incoming of major machines.
5. Moisture from steam to be separated FIRST NOW, at the steam incoming header in stages and before PRDS etc. taken
back to the Boiler feed water circuit, the shorter the distance and condensate temperature is retrieved at feed water.
6. Moisture can be separated only when steam direction is changed inside Moisture separator and air to vent from top.
7. It is mandatory to install this PLMS (Pipe Line Moisture Separator) especially to the Small size Package boilers, because
modern package boilers have only limited steam space and evaporation space inside boiler which may give rise to high
steam take-off velocities at outlet header and production of wet steam by the boiler under certain circumstances.
8. Steam dryness fraction can be measured using the Site-fabricated Steam dryness test kit weekly.
9. Fine tune the boiler level control by resetting Mobrey switch settings on the boiler to avoid water carryover in steam.
10. Focus on Moisture Separation now, will improve productivity immediately and restore health of boiler & steam system.

STEAM DRYNESS AT INPUT HEADER IS THE PRIORITY NOW:-

Steam Dryness Fraction is practically, an ignored factor by the industries that use boiler and steam facilities.
Industry is contented with the moisture / condensate removal by the traps from the outlet of equipments. But the
productivity is the priority and hence moisture separation before the steam enters at the inlet of same equipments is the
need of the hour.

Since the steam consuming equipments are having Float trap and TD traps in the condensate return line, the
industry assumes the latent heat of the steam is fully made use of, in the machine and the rejected condensate is put back
to boiler. But actually, the industry must first study the quality of steam given to the machines, what is the % of direct
heating demand and what is the % of indirect heating demand in the steam consumption.

This indirect heating assumes more significance in the industry now and this has to be ensured at the input of the
equipments first, to improve the heat transfer and raise the overall productivity from thermal aspects.

RIGHT SIZED & CORRECTLY INSTALLED PLMS – PIPE LINE MOISTURE SEPARATOR:-

Kind courtesy:- SPIRAX SARCO Moisture Separator – Typical Installation at the outlet header of boiler where automatic
air venting to be done at top and trap to fix at bottom leg. This can be Mandatory hook up for package boilers hereafter.
Also the same moisture separator is to retrofit at the major Equipment Incoming / branch headers.

The baffle in the Moisture Separator acts as a barrier to steam flow and on hitting the baffle wall, condensation in steam
triggers and is directed to the bottom drain, ensuring no moisture is carried over into the output steam line. It’s Baffle with
large impact area to capture all moisture droplets. Its large internal volume to reduce flow / velocity, and this will provide
efficient moisture separation and reduce the risk of moisture re-entrainment.

THE PROBLEMS FACED BY WET STEAM:-

The best steam for industrial process heating is the dry saturated steam. Wet steam reduces total heat in the
steam. Also water forms a wet film on heat transfer and overloads traps and condensate equipment. Super heated steam is
not desirable for process heating because it gives up heat at a rate slower than the condensation heat transfer of saturated
steam.

Wet steam can reduce plant productivity and product quality, and can cause damage to most items of plant and
equipment. Whilst careful drainage and trapping can remove most of the water, it will not deal with the water droplets
suspended in the steam. To remove these suspended water droplets, separators are installed in steam pipelines.

NEED FOR THE MOISTURE SEPARATOR:-

The steam produced in a boiler designed to generate saturated steam is inherently wet. Although the dryness
fraction will vary according to the type of boiler, most shell type steam boilers is supposed to steam with a dryness fraction
of between 95 and 98%. But the consumer needs to verify this in the field. The water content of the steam produced by the
boiler is further increased if priming and carryover occur.

A steam separator may be installed on the steam main as well as on the branch lines to reduce wetness in steam and
improve the quality of the steam going to the units. By change of direction of steam, steam separators causes the entrained
water particles to be separated out and delivered to a point where they can be drained away as condensate through a
conventional steam trap.

FACTORS CAUSING WET STEAM:-

The dryness fraction of steam depends on various factors, such as the level of water to be a part of the steam. Indeed, even
as simple a thing as improper boiler water treatment can become a cause for wet steam. As steam flows through the
pipelines, it undergoes progressive condensation due to the loss of heat to the colder surroundings;

The extent of the condensation depends on the effectiveness of the lagging. For example, with poor lagging, the steam can
become excessively wet. Since dry saturated steam is required for process equipment, due attention must be paid to the
boiler operation and lagging of the pipelines.

Kind courtesy :- Bureau of Energy Efficiency BEE’s Energy Auditors’ Guide book Thermal Part.

BARREL CALORIMETER SITE TEST KIT:- To get the approximated dryness fraction of steam, Barrel calorimeter kit can be
fabricated at site, done with wooden / insulated metal barrel containing cold water.

Study conducted at site with the guidance of P.VENKATARAMANAN, THERMAL EXPERT, venkettherm@gmail.com
 Steam is taken from the pipe thro which it is flowing and is condensed in the cold water; steam gives out its entire
latent heat and part of its sensible heat. Due to this heat transfer, the temperature and mass of the water in the
calorimeter increases by the amount of steam condensed after.

Sufficient quantity of steam should be blown in the vessel (take care not to allow steam bubbles to get out of water) so that
there is a sufficient rise in the temperature and errors are reduced to minimum. Temperatures of water before and after
the condensation recorded. Knowing / deriving the quantities of steam, and water, we can easily calculate dryness fraction
of steam.

Steam Moisture separator losses - PCRA Case study

• Boiler Capacity:850 kg/hr •Moisture separator Installed.

• Fuel consumption (LDO): •Fuel Rate : 45 LPH ( 630 lpd )
50 Liters - LPH (900 LPD ) •Boiler RUN hrs:14 / day
• Boiler run hrs: 18 / day •Energy Conservation Potential:
Daily fuel saving: - 270 liters
• Boiler is feeds to Reactor • Annual reduction in fuel bill:
and dryers both indirect Rs. 10 Lacs
heating applications • Investment towards Moisture
Separator - Rs. 8,000/-
• No moisture separator • Production capacity increased
installed in the line & only due to availability of equipment
TD traps for drain points for longer durations.

Case study I :- 11.48 kg {( q X 501.45) + 1x (155.5-78)} = 16 Kg x 0.12 x (78-38) => 92 % = q = Dryness fraction.
Case study II :- 22.95 kg {( q X 489,9) + 1x (171-75)} = 16 Kg x 0.12 x (75-10) => 78 % = q = Dryness fraction

Case study I is taken at the location at the Steam Incoming Header at the downstream of Moisture separator in line.
Case study II is taken at the location at the Steam Incoming Header very much ahead of moisture separator.

PCRA case study shows, that after the installation of moisture separator, the fuel consumption reduced and run hours of
the boiler reduced for the given same production quantity

Steam Actual Parameters

System pressure 10 Bar g
Meter calibrated at
dryness fraction for dry
saturated steam 0.98
Actual system dryness
fraction for wet steam 0.80
Indicated flow 2033 kg/h
Actual flow 2250 kg/h
Meter Under-reads by 10 %

Kindcourtesy:- ARMATUREN & Forbes Marshall - guidelines, shows air 20 % in steam, allows to deliver only Heat of
Partial pressure. Metering guidelines indicate that 80 % dryness in wet steam gives 10 % Metering Errors.

Hence Moisture separator fixed downstream of boiler house is not only required for moisture droplets separation
from steam, but also relieves of presence of air in the steam. Moisture separator to be fixed upstream of Flow meter,
Pressure Reduction stations in the steam header and branch headers and at the upstream of steam indirectly heated
equipments.
 Older- version-Flow meter under-reads by 10 %, when the dryness fraction of the steam drops from 98 % to 80 %. But now,
the latest version flow meters are computing the flow with the temperature and density compensation applied to the
steam there.

CONCLUSION:-

Time has come to save energy for the global benefit. We as the industry manager can contribute to it significantly
by saving energy. Lot of scope for energy saving can be found by putting little thoughts in every step of process. Measures
for improvement in energy efficiency in operation along with few examples are shared herewith which can be suitably
applied to our industry to get maximum overall benefits of reduced energy bills and increase in productivity.

Thousands of boilers are running in the textile processing segment in each region
and are consuming Lakhs of Tonnes of Wood every month.

This article is meant not to promote Moisture Separator, but a fine pointer that is still not focused by the
Manager. Visit your steam header today to confirm that the dryness is above 90 % or around 80 %. This 10% water in your
steam header remained invisible all these decades, reducing your steam’s productivity to your Indirect heating process by
10 %.

This Moisture separator costs affordable now and grab this TIP immediately to retrofit & confirm Moisture separation in
your steam header at the Boiler House and at the Incoming of all your Major Process Thermal Equipments, TODAY !

To buy the Practical Guide on the Energy Conservation & management books online:-

5. https://notionpress.com/read/practical-guide-to-energy-conservation-management/paperback
6. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-conservation-management-in-textile-mills
7. https://notionpress.com/read/conserve-energy-and-restore-productivity-in-machines-by-belts-and- pulley-drives
8. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-monitoring-conservation-practices-in-residential-commercial-buildings

ASHOK SETHURAMAN, BEE Accredited Energy Auditor/mailto:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com

CONSERVING OUR ENERGY IS OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY TODAY, FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!
 REFERENCES

1. BEE Guide books & Refresher course for EM & EA, BEE CHECKLIST for Energy Efficiency in Utilities.
2. PCRA – Petroleum Conservation Research Association Case study.
3. GOOD PRACTICE GUIDE 216 – on Compressed Air
4. NATIONAL PROGRAMME ON TECH ENHANCED LEARNING (NPTEL)
5. TERI – THE ENERGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
6. www.engineeringnotes.com/thermal-engineering/steam-dryness
7. PARKAR Compressed Air Treatment Manual.
8. EATON Manual on Industry Average Power Factor
9. TIMKEN Bearing Damage Analysis with Lubrication Ref Guide
10. SPIRAX SARCO Moisture Separator for Steam and compressor
11. Case study Field Images from our Team, POWERON Projects - Energy Audits.
12. FLIR Thermal Images from our POWERON Projects Energy Audits
13. RISHAB MECO and KUSAM MECO Clamp-on Power Meters
14. FLUKE screen shots from our Field Energy Audit Measurements
15. KRYCARD Energy Monitoring Readings from our Energy Audits.
16. MECO, LUTRON LED Stroboscope & LUTRON Tacho - Contact & Non-contact.
17. SONEL – Instruments on Electrical Safety and Energy Audit
18. MINILEC Electronic Motor Protection Relay Application & Details.
19. MINILEC, L & T, ENTES, SOFTHARD Brand Electronic Motor Protection Relays.
20. SYSTEL Comprehensive Compressed Air Monitor @ L.S.Mills Theni.
21. Compressor Installations Ref - OEMs KAISAR, ELGI, ATLAS COPCO, IR, CP, SULLAIR, BOJE Brands.
22. COMPRESSED Air Intake Filtration EN 779 Standards
23. Compressed Air Flow Metering Guidelines www.airbestpractices.com
24. Temperature Monitoring Practices Table www.engineerscommunity.com
25. Compressor Air intake II stage Filters from M/s. Balaji Air Filters.
26. Compressed Air Flow Monitoring – IOT Based - CINTHAN Brand Data Logger - IFM.
27. Compressed Air Layout Diagram from ww.engineeringtoolbox.com
28. Compressed Air Treatment & Regulation from AIRLOGIX brand.
29. Energy Efficient Compressed Air Blow gun from IMSUBS brand.
30. Compressor Energy Flow diagram - BOJE compressor manual.
31. Motor Power Saver details from POWERON brand.
32. Belts and Pulley Drives from MITSUBOSHI Brand.
33. CUMMINS DG Power Factor Spectrum and Instruction Manual.
34. Evaporative Cooling Retrofit on Coil coolers by Ms. MANIKS Enggrs.
35. BLDC fan - SUPER Fan Energy Savings Measurements.
36. BLUESTAR Split AC Installation Manual.
37. VOLTAS Outdoor unit Velocity Recovery ring field details.
38. Indoor Air Quality with Inputs from ISHRAE.
39. PARAG Fans Installation Notes on Axial Flow fans
40. TWIN CITY BLOWERS Performance curves from BEE Guide book.

Sincerely thank the Associations, Standards, Guidelines and Instructions, OEM’s Installation Manuals,
Best operating practices published by you all vide above index, I am pleased to share in this practical
guide, to facilitate the energy conservation measures in the industry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 TARGET TO 20 % ENERGY CONSERVATION NOW !
If you have not started still, Jump into Energy Conservation.
If you had already started, it is time to ramp up your gears.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Measure Energy First & Then - ONLY we can Manage
• Which can be Measured, gets Focused
• Which can be Focused, gets Improved
• Which can be Improved, gets Recognized
• Which can be Recognized, gets Shared by all.
• Hence Sharing the Energy Audit Case Studies here.
 Thinking & Acting on Conservation Measures
catalyzes our social responsibility,
caring for others and sacrificing our selfish comforts.
 The Good Things & Bad Things happen to us because of
us & our Actions Only and others can only Catalyze !

Er. Ashok Sethuraman, B.Sc., B.Tech. (M.I.T.) in Instrument Technology, has 42 years of industry experience in
projects and maintenance, and 16 years of experience in energy conservation and management. He had
professional training and work experience in India and abroad. He recently went abroad to assess the cleaner
production mechanism under the World Bank Project.

He has been writing his articles on energy conservation, for over a decade, in many national technical magazines
like Electrical India, Cooling India magazines and Home Energy Management articles in IAEMP, BEE and SEEM;
textile journals like Spinning Textile, Textile Magazine, Fibre2Fashion, Indian Textile Journal, SIMA Bulletin, TECA
newsletter; LinkedIn and his website, www.energymeasuretosave.com through which he shares his energy
conservation knowledge to save OUR Energy. He is conducting lectures, training programs in many industry
associations and engineering colleges. His detailed presentations are available on his channel –
YouTube/energymeasuretosave webinars. Recently, he published 4 books namely, as mentioned below.

Pleased to share the practical case studies and practices in

Energy conservation in Industry, Textile & Buildings.

1. To buy the above books online:- https://notionpress.com/read/practical-guide-to-

energy-conservation-management/paperback
2. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-conservation-management-in-textile-mills
3. https://notionpress.com/read/conserve-energy-and-restore-productivity-in-
machines-by-belts-and- pulley-drives
4. https://notionpress.com/read/energy-monitoring-conservation-practices-in-
residential-commercial-buildings
5. Kindly give your valuable feedback mail to:- ashok@energymeasuretosave.com 30