Subodh Chaudhari

Establishing Baseline Electrical Energy Consumption in Wood Processing Sawmills for Lean Energy Initiatives: A Model Based on Energy Analysis and Diagnostics

ABSTRACT This research focuses on the benchmarking of electrical energy use at sawmills. Lean energy (a programmatic concept similar to lean manufacturing) is facilitated by this research, which furthers the understanding of energy intensity at sawmills, leading to reductions in operating costs and increases in profitability. A user-friendly interactive model, Baseline Electrical Energy Consumption in Wood Processing Sawmills (BEECWPS), was developed to enable the user to create an energy profile based on sawmill process dynamics and to provide information about product, process, and system parameters. These parameters were gathered by visiting six sawmill facilities in West Virginia. A detailed methodology was developed to collect the field data and determine an energy intensity. The proposed model has the capability of developing the energy benchmark for a facility under consideration, upon successful submission of required data, and will aid lean energy initiatives within the organization. Manufacturin...

A computer-based total productive maintenance model for electric motors

The paper describes the development of a computer-based total productive maintenance (TPM) model to improve electrical motors readiness and uptime while reducing capital overhead. The TPM model includes the consideration of reactive, periodic, and predictive practices. The input data is processed and the generated report details a set of periodic recommendations providing guidelines on recommended actions and their frequency. The details about test results indicating the current condition of the motor as well estimated reactive, periodic, and predictive maintenance cost details are presented. Based on the historic data stored in its database, the model can predict potential problems prior to failure as well as prescribe periodic maintenance actions to maximise motor life. The TPM model will be a useful tool to predict the degradation in motor life due to deterioration in insulation, bearing, rotor bar and stator windings of the motor.

The Effect of System Storage on the Performance Profile of Rotary Screw Air Compressors

ABSTRACTAir compressors consume energy and deliver compressed air to the header. The compressed air challenge (CAC) specifies that analyzing system dynamics is critical when trying to improve the performance of compressed air systems. [1,2] The CAC emphasizes that the key to a high performance compressed air system is the utilization of controls, storage, and demand management to develop a system that meets peak requirements and also operates efficiently at part-load conditions. [1,2] The CAC specifies that total storage volume can be used to control demand events, specifically being able to cater to peak demand and facilitating the control of system pressure. [1,2] The emphasis of this article will be to analyze the effect of total storage on part-load performance of rotary screw air compressors. This will be illustrated using an example air compressor operating with varying volumes of total storage.

Product design for energy reduction in concurrent engineering: an inverted pyramid approach

The consideration of energy aspects as X in the design for X (DFX) paradigm in concurrent engineering (CE) is important for enabling reductions in operating costs, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enhancing sustainability. This research presents a CE methodology for the consideration of energy use in product development and manufacturing, specifically addressing the machining process. The research reported in this paper showcases the effectiveness of using a systematic integrated approach towards consideration of energy in product development, addressed through product, process, and system level parameters. It adds an important tool to the DFX toolbox for evaluation of the impact of design decisions on the product manufacturing energy requirement early during the design phases. The use of the inverted pyramid approach (IPA) has been described as an effective methodology for incorporation in expansion of the DFX toolbox.

Facilitation for Load Based Energy Savings in Three–phase Squirrel Cage Induction Motors

ABSTRACT Electrical motors use a significant amount of electricity. Increasing the motor efficiency has an impact on the reduction of energy consumption. There have been efforts to increase motor efficiency over the past decade that have led to the development of premium efficiency motors. The motor efficiency decreases under conditions of low load factor. It is important to match the motor power with that required for the application that it serves, as this will increase operational efficiency. Accurate load determination methods, such as input power measurement, are time-consuming and have safety hazards that need to be mitigated. The development of a method that aids the sizing of electric motors that is simple to use, economical, safe, and accurate, is important. This article reports on data collected during fifteen energy assessments conducted at a variety of manufacturing facilities using the motor load monitoring method as well as the stroboscope method. An analysis of the data was conducted to det...

Design and development of an Energy Efficiency Knowledge Center (EEKC)

Over the last two decades, the Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) at West Virginia University has worked with more than 500 small and medium sized manufacturing companies to identify energy and productivity saving opportunities. The savings, which keep adding up year after year, are appreciable but do not fully capture the potential impacts of the IAC Program. On average, the implementation rate of the recommendations has been only about 40%. This rate was expected to improve with the use of a knowledge center. Energy Efficiency Knowledge Center (EEKC) is a regional system which includes the development and deployment of technical resources to assist industrial facilities in energy assessment phases. It supports continuous improvement by incorporating the knowledge of IAC experts and the plant personnel. The EEKC provides information to clients on how to obtain baseline energy use for their specific energy systems using tools such as Quick Plant Energy Profiler (Quick PEP) by the US Department of Energy (DOE). It helps users to evaluate the energy efficiency measures during the pre-assessment and assessment phases. In this research, the IAC activities and tasks are studied and the steps to develop an online knowledge center are reviewed.

Energy efficiency in continuous galvanizing lines

This paper aims at analyzing the process and system parameters in galvanizing lines using a decision support system. Real time galvanizing line data from the facilities of the participating companies were collected and entered into the decision support system called Galvanizing Energy Profiler and Decision Support System (GEPDSS) [1].The major process and system parameters which are of interest to the galvanizing industry were varied in the decision support model for insight into sensitivity of these parameters with respect to energy efficiency. The results and trends of the variables are analyzed with a particular focus on energy consumption during both production hours and downtime to better understand the productivity of production lines. A detailed analysis is undertaken to study potential energy and cost savings achievable if new pot hardware of increased life were adopted, downtime was decreased or other energy efficiency measures were implemented on a line. Finally a comparison between the amount of energy consumption by the participating lines reported by the decision support system and the actual energy bills of those lines was done to verify the effectiveness and accuracy of GEPDSS.

Process costing of the microchip

The CMOS microchip is the workhorse of the semiconductor industry. The manufacturing model was formed with practical processing times, number of machines, steps of manufacturing process, labour cost and time required, construction costs, land costs, etc. as input parameters. This cost model attempts to analyse costs and calculate the cost per chip. Different sections of costs have been individually analysed in turn to reflect their impact on the finished product. A simulation model has been run to reflect an actual semiconductor manufacturing scenario. Simulation model is also used to estimate labour time and cost required for the process. The cost was calculated based on yield, number of chips/wafer and total expenditure by the fabrication unit. A simulation model was created in Arena 6.0 professional version, which allows the user to make changes to the model to reflect the changes in the fabrication unit.

Real-time data acquisition and analysis for load estimation in electrical motors

It has been found in the plant assessments that plant personnel are fairly uncertain about motor loading. The decisions about the motor sizing are based on judgment or easy slip method to avoid the hurdle of load determination methods. Accurate load determination methods involve working around high voltages hence have safety issues, are time consuming and also not economical. A method that is simple to use, economical, safe and fairly accurate is necessary, on which motor sizing decisions can be based. The paper aims at data acquisition and analysis for tackling this issue. Data was collected from fifteen facility energy audits by carrying out motor load monitoring with help of AmprobeTM data logger and DM II Pro acquisition software as well as stroboscope method. Statistical analysis can be carried out to establish a relationship between them, so that prediction of actual load factor can be made based on the load factor obtained by slip method.