Most refrigeration equipment manufacturers are by now aware of the requirements of the European ErP Directive on fan motors over 125W. This directive affects many condensing unit and chiller fans. Most evaporator fan motors fall below the 125W and are therefore not directly affected by the ErP Directive. However it is now possible to contribute to the “20% saving in energy by 2020” which lies at the heart of the directive and save significantly on the running cost  of chilled and frozen food cabinets by introducing energy saving technology to the evaporator circuit.

Axair Fans has introduced new compact fans from Costech with EC motors which offer efficiencies comparable with similar DC motored fans, but without the need for a separate DC power supply.

The 14W per fan higher input on the AC fan is passed directly into the refrigeration circuit as additional heat, so in a typical 6 fan case the thermal input from the fans is 84W less with the new EC fan. This is not however the end of the story, this additional heat has to be removed by the fridge circuit, in the case of a chilled cabinet with a COP of 2 this requires a further 42W of refrigeration or in a freezer cabinet with a COP of 1.2 an additional 70W.

Therefore the total energy saving on our typical 6 fan evaporator is now 126W for a chilled and 154W for a freezer cabinet. In most refrigerated cabinets the evaporator fans run continuously, except for a short period every 3-4 hours during the defrost cycle, so the fans are running for approximately 23 hours per day, 365 days per year, or 8395 hours per year. This means that the total energy savings per year with the EC motored fans will be 1058KWH for a chilled and 1293KWH for our freezer cabinet, which, at a typical fuel cost of 15p/KWH equates to £158.70 and £193.95 savings per case, per year.

This level of saving means a payback period for the small additional cost of the fans measured in weeks and more significantly £1000s  saving on store energy costs, over £8’800.00 in a store with 25 each chilled and freezer cases, which goes straight on “the bottom line”.

Other benefits include 230V (or 115V) AC input requires no additional power supply, less wiring, possible Carbon Trust approval of products, increased reliability, no PSU to fail. For more information or technical advice contact Axair Fans.

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