Think
of the energy used to continually lose heat from the
machine into the environment that you then have to cool.
The solution? A heat blanket that wraps around your
barrel to keep the heat in. With the blanket on, the
heat loss that escapes from the blanket is reduced dramatically,
keeping the heat around the barrel. The blanket is designed
to make the heater bands work less and save money in
energy consumption.
The
people at UniTherm, in Lewisville, Texas produce the
product. Each blanket that UniTherm produces is custom
made. An Energy Survey can be ran at the customer's
facility so that a payback time can be estimated.
PPR sat in on one of these trials at a molder facility
in Grand Blanc, Michigan. In this article we will
present the results of this test. This will allow
you to determine if the product would be useful in
your facility.
The
results of the test show an excellent payback period
of 8 months. Additionally, this only includes the
direct savings in machine energy usage. There will
also be a savings in air conditioning cost should
you mold in an area where this is necessary.
The
amount of savings will vary. The particular machine
that we tested was a 300 ton electric. The savings
will be different depending on the machine type, the
year it was manufactured, etc.
Unitherm
can give you a specific quote for your style of machine.
For instance, we were not present for the tests, but
we have seen data on several machines where the payback
period is between 4 months and a year.
Sometimes,
people are resistant to make the change to insulation
blankets because they think that they are difficult
to take on or off. We have found that the product is
actually quite easy to install and remove. The blankets
are essentially installed by Velero straps, so case
of use is not a concern.
The
blankets are constructed in three separate segments.
These insulation layers keep the outer surface of the
blanket cool (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit). To demonstrate
the product we had about an inch of insulation placed
on our tester's hand. Then a blowtorch was applied to
the outside of the insulation! Our tester could not
feel a change in temperature on the other side of the
insulation.
We
highly recommend this product. The bottom line is-
it will save you money and improve your working environment.
This is especially important with the ever-increasing
problem of worker retention. People don't like to
work in a sweatshop, period. Give Unitherm a call
and have them provide you with a quote on the savings
and the payback time specific to your facility. You
have nothing to lose (its just a quote) and a lot
of money to save.
To
figure out the savings you will have for a machine
use this formula:
