Categorized as one of the top manufacturers of hermetic compressors and a global provider of a wide range of refrigeration solutions, Embraco uses WEG energy efficient solutions to optimize the production processes in its manufacturing plants since 2014. Embraco focuses on innovation, and continuously implements methods to minimize environmental impacts on manufacturing processes and on consumption of energy, specifically after the implementation of the World Class Manufacturing methodology which focuses on reduction of loss and waste levels.

A recent initiative was the replacement of old electric motors by high efficiency solutions in cooling tower pumps and fans, resulting in an expressive saving of energy and water amount.

The Solution

The actual solution consisted on the replacement of old electric motors by W22 IR3 and W22 Well IR3 Premium efficiency motors, all of them driven by CFW11 and CFW700 frequency inverters. These frequency inverters are interconnected to a sensor that controls the tower water temperature based on the actual operation requirements. A pressure sensor was also installed to control the pumps.

The old system used to have an On / Off control where ventilation was triggered according to the cooling need and there was no pressure control system for the pumps.

Upon an evaluation, technicians found out that it would be possible to modernize the system and considerably reduce energy consumption in both equipment.

Another innovation was an exclusive system developed by WEG, which simplifies the process by controlling the temperature and pressure directly by the frequency inverter.

On the old configuration, the cooling tower water fan used to consume 159 kWh per day. After the implementation, consumption fell down to 69 kWh / day, generating a savings of 32,500 kWh per year, which is a reduction of 56% of energy.

Before the solution, the cooling tower pumps used to have an energy consumption of 2,205,351 kWh per year, while with the new solution, savings were in the range of 39% of energy or 853,832 kWh per year.

In addition to the reduction of energy consumption, there was a substantial water saving of 11% or 2.2 m³ per day. 

"The major gains on this project was the significant reduction of energy consumption, increase of our competitiveness, technological update of the factory equipment and operation reliability. Once we identified significant thermal idleness in the towers which were part of this project scope, we performed a critical analysis to precisely dimension such equipment. This allowed us to discontinue another tower that was not part of the project scope only by redesigning the thermal distribution. In other words, existing invisible losses have turned into competitive advantages for our company", says Ricardo Luiz Samistraro, project coordinator and Embraco's electrical processes specialist.