Kelvin KBB, Scotland’s leading manufacturer of kitchens, vanity furniture and wardrobe doors, has avoided the need to replace its existing dust extraction system, and significantly reduced its electricity bills, by retrofitting Ecogate energy-saving technology from Cades Ltd.
Established in 1986, Kelvin KBB employs more than 300 people at its modern 106,000 sq ft facility at Cumbernauld, Glasgow, from where it provides leading house builders and developers with an integrated capability in design, manufacture and installation of kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms.
Kelvin KBB is a long-standing customer of Cades Ltd and, when Cades was appointed as an authorised Ecogate installer, it was keen to explore the potential of the acclaimed computerised extraction optimisation system.
Kevin Lumb, facility and maintenance manager at Kelvin KBB, explains: “When the company decided to invest in a new Biesse Stream edgebander, we called in Steve Rhodes of Cades to discuss the changes in our dust extraction requirements. The existing dust extraction system was installed a number of years ago and employs four main extraction fans, with a total power rating of 180kW.
“Adding the new edgebander was going to significantly exceed the capacity of our existing extraction system which meant we were faced with the prospect of having to purchase a whole new system.”
As is the case with most workshops, the four fans had been installed to run continuously, at full load, all day long. However, following a thorough site survey and energy appraisal, Cades was able to determine the extraction demand for every single machine in the workshop, and from this it identified how the four fans could be adjusted for volume and duty cycle, with the aim of lowering the average total volume and, therefore, reducing the overall power consumption of the system.
Steve Rhodes, sales director at Cades, says: “All machines in the workshop are now fitted with motorised Ecogate damper gates, which automatically open and close as machines are turned on or off. By installing Ecogate Power MASTER variable speed drive units, with integral greenBOX 12+ controllers, the speed of each fan is continually adjusted as the individual machines come on or off line.
“Retrofitting the Ecogate extraction-on-demand system means that the existing filter and fans can now cope easily with the demands of the new edgebander and, in addition, Kelvin KBB is saving around £20,000 a year in electricity costs.”
Kevin Lumb adds: “Installing Ecogate obviously made sound business sense and Cades’ engineers carried out the work with little or no disruption to production. We now have a much more efficient, automated extraction system and, as well as the economic advantages, we are also benefiting from having a very much quieter workshop.”
T 0845 838 6166
www.cadesltd.co.uk
