Ecogate, Inc.

1. What is the most important reason to install the ECOGATE® System?

2. What are the factors that maximize the return on my investment with the ECOGATE® System?

3. What size of dust collector is recommended for use with the ECOGATE® MASTER System?

4. How can the Ecogate system maintain correct air-velocities in ducting if you are closing gates on non-working machinery?

5. My workstations are working almost 100% of the time, how you can you save electricity by closing gates and regulating the RPM of fan?

6. What are the possible electricity savings on newly installed dust collecting systems with the Ecogate system?

7. If you are stopping the system so often, then fan starting current increases our electricity consumption?

8. Are other Duct Collector motors also controlled?

9. Are there any additional sources of savings?

10. Can you compare the cost of a completely new dust/mist/fume collecting system with Ecogate vs. without Ecogate?

11. How can you run a standard fan motor with low RPM? This will cause motor over-heating!

12. Do we need to stop production to install the Ecogate system?

What is the most important reason to install the ECOGATE® System?

The most important reason to install the ECOGATE® System is to be cost effective in production because the ECOGATE® MASTER System significantly reduces the cost of the electricity needed to run a dust collecting system. Reducing the production costs is imperative in today's highly competitive market.

Dust collecting must transport the sawdust from the workstations in a container in the most effective way. If a designer designs just the well-balanced dust collection system but doesn't keep in mind the cost effectiveness of the system, he is not taking advantage of the benefits of industrial computer control. Computer controlled technology is used everywhere today for increased efficiency and ECOGATE is taking advantage of computer controlled technology in dust collecting.

You can feel better because you are helping to save the environment through the reduction in electricity production.

OSHA requirements will be stricter in the coming years and the ECOGATE® System will help you to fulfill those requirements in a cost-effective way. If a company tries to meet those requirements without using the ECOGATE® System, the cost to do so will be exorbitant.

What are the factors that maximize the return on my investment with the ECOGATE® System?

With more working hours per day (per week, per year) the savings of electricity are higher, and return on investment is shorter. With a 200 HP dust collector, return on investment if the dust collector is running on two shifts is about half a year. If the same dust collector is running on three shifts, the return on investment is as short as one month. With a 70 HP dust collector the return on investment is about three years when the dust collector is working two shifts per day, and about one year when the dust collector is working three shifts per day. As well, the higher the percentage of non-working machinery there is, the greater the savings, and the shorter the return on investment.

What size of dust collector is recommended for use with the ECOGATE® MASTER System?

We recommend using the ECOGATE® MASTER System with a dust collector of 30 HP or larger, if dust collector is running one or more shifts per day, or 50 HP or larger if dust collector is running two or more shifts per. You can use the system with a smaller dust collector but the return on the investment will be much longer. For smaller dust collectors we recommend using the small ECOGATE® System, without the variable speed drive.

How can the Ecogate system maintain correct air-velocities in ducting if you are closing gates on non-working machinery?

Ecogate is not closing the gates on all non-working machinery! The Ecogate system is programmed to keep a certain percentage (this is programmed during the system setup) of gates open, even if the machinery is not operating in order to maintain proper airflow through the system. This is a system priority, and it is more important than electricity savings!

Explanation of system operation: The Ecogate system monitors activity of all workstations in the factory, and because the proper air-flow and negative pressure is defined in the computer for every drop, the system can easily continuously calculate the total required air-volume (CFM) and total required static pressure (inch H₂O). Based on these values the computer is using a model of the fan to select the proper RPM of the fan (it is similar to using fan multi-rating table to select fan operating point) and to determine how many additional gates should be open and where they are located to set the proper balance of the system.

Ecogate result: Better system performance, Better system balance, average electricity savings 68%.

The Ecogate system is also more flexible, enabling companies to easily add new workstations to the system. By reprogramming the computer via the touch panel display, you can adjust performance of system (higher performance, lower savings). You cannot do this on a system without a variable speed drive.

My workstations are working almost 100% of the time, how you can you save electricity by closing gates and regulating the RPM of fan?

Sensors for the Ecogate system are in most cases installed to open gates only during the cutting time. Your CNC is ON probably almost 100% of working hours. But is the CNC cutting material all the time? It is not! You need to move material in, program CNC, move material out, clean the workplace, and do the maintenance. Often not all heads are used during all operations (gates are installed separately for each head). Real cutting time is in average somewhere between 30-60% of working hours.

The Ecogate system is collecting information about activity of workstations on a memory flash card (like the flash card for your digital camera). Then customers can download these data to Windows PC via modem or via card and display real "cutting" activity of their machinery.

We discover that average number "cutting" workstations during first shift is below 50%, below 40% during the second shift and below 30% during the third shift.

Based on fan laws, you can save up to 77% of electricity, if you are running only 50% of air-flow! Usually our savings is limited by maintaining minimum air-velocities, but still the average number on all installed systems is 68%.

What are the possible electricity savings on newly installed dust collecting systems with the Ecogate system?

If the new installation is for an "average" woodworking factory with average use of machinery, we can save 70-80% of electricity compared with a classical design.

How are we designing diameters of ducting? We developed special software "Ecogate duct Optimizer" which calculates proper duct diameters for all systems. Software is simulating all combinations of open/close gates, with algorithms searching over 16,000,000 iterations to find optimum diameters for minimum losses in the system and maximum electricity savings.

If the system is designed based on these calculations, then the expected savings are over 70% of electricity.

Additional savings comes from using our Transport on-Demand system: this system starts when the first operator starts the first workstation (not 15-30 minutes before the shift as usually) and the system automatically stops when the operator stops the last workstation. This means that the system is not running during breaks for lunch and so on.

If you are stopping the system so often, then fan starting current increases our electricity consumption?

Not at all. The system is starting the fan by using a so called S-curve ramp. The current to the motor is never higher than the name plate current. By the way, this gradual start up also prolongs motor life.

Are other Duct Collector motors also controlled?

If our newly developed unit "Transport on Demand" is installed then even the transport fan (or screw), air-lock, cleaning arm, and compressor are started only if some operator starts any workstations.  All motors start in proper sequence as described by dust collector manufacturer and stops with proper delays and with proper sequence. This System is programmable, so any dust collector model can be connected.

By using "Transport on Demand" the factory can save an additional 2-3% of electricity per year.

Are there any additional sources of savings?

Yes! Another source of saving is using fans with direct drive (commonly companies are using belt driven fans), losses of belt drive is typically 5%.

Also by using high efficiency motors you can save 1% of electricity per year. The more hours you are running per year, the more important is the use of high efficiency motors. Return on investment is usually less than two years.

Most important is to design a layout of ducting for lowest possible losses. Almost nobody is optimizing duct layout (it is almost impossible to optimize the layout without a sophisticated computer program, because it will take too much time to do this manually, making the system design too expensive for most customer). However, with sophisticated computer modeling, you can see mistakes that are causing higher losses everywhere (improper hood design, too big angle in branches entry and in ducts, incorrect tapered contraction, system effect losses, and so on).

Can you compare the cost of a completely new dust/mist/fume collecting system with Ecogate vs. without Ecogate?

Many Industrial design companies are usually using a simple rule for the preliminary   cost of a new system: cost will be approximately $5 per CFM.

Let say total demand (all workstations are running) is 90,000 CFM, then the system cost will be approx. (including installation) 90,000 x $5 = $450,000.

Let say that average number of running machinery is 50%, and customer likes to have reserve to run 70% of machinery at a time. So we will design system for 90,000 CFM x 70% = 63,000 CFM. Cost of such system will be 63,000 x $5 = $315,000.

Difference is $450,000 - $315,000 = $135,000. And this is enough to cover cost of Ecogate system. But in this case customer will enjoy electricity savings around 75% compare with classical system!

How can you run a standard fan motor with low RPM? This will cause motor over-heating!

We are exactly following the recommendation of motor manufacturers to not run standard motors with an RPM lower than 50% of name plate data. At 50% RPM (30Hz in USA), because of the fan law, electricity savings would be 78%! That's means there is no reason to go below this recommended value! We are usually limited not with a minimum RPM of the fan motor of 50%, but by minimum air-velocities required by the system.

As you know it is possible to connect only motors with insulation class F or higher to the variable speed drives. We prefer direct drive high efficiency motors for maximum savings.

Do we need to stop production to install the Ecogate system?

In most cases it will not be necessary to stop production at all! Gates, sensors, all cables can be installed during the normal operating hours. Then the installers will need some time to reconnect power supply from old system to new system. And they will need time to preprogram proper values in greenBOX computer, to measure and tweak system performance.  Usually we are doing this over weekend or after the shifts.