Technico-economical evaluation of the substitution of electric motors present at the IST Alameda Campus according to the Commission Regulation (EC) No 640/2009

Pedro Filipe Nobre Nunes

Key information

Authors:

Pedro Filipe Nobre Nunes (Pedro Filipe Nobre Nunes)

Supervisors:

Mário Miguel Franco Marques de Matos (Mário Miguel Franco Marques de Matos); Paulo José da Costa Branco (Paulo José da Costa Branco)

Published in

05/19/2017

Abstract

Nowadays, concerns regarding environment are part of our daily lives. The global average temperature is rising due to human induced increase of greenhouse gases emissions. The growing concerns regarding pollution, climate change and the wastage of our planet's natural resources led to the concept of energy efficiency. In this thesis, electrical energy efficiency is the one that is going to be the focus, regarding electric motors, which are one of the most important loads. Energy efficiency can be improved in these systems, and these improvements are directly related with the reduction of electricity consumption, which has a direct, positive impact on the environment. The EU has taken several measures regarding this issue, and one example is the Commission Regulation (EC) No 640/2009, which serves as a base for this thesis. Seeking energy efficiency and other environmentally friendly policies in an university campus has been a common trend all over the world. In this matter, IST is no different; the IST Sustainable Campus Project was created bearing in mind this growing need, seeking for improvements in this area. This thesis is integrated in that project. In this thesis, a non-invasive and cheap, but simple and reliable methodology of determining induction motors efficiency is defined, and then it is applied to motors that are part of IST Alameda Campus HVAC systems. The obtained results are analysed and if low efficiencies are verified, high-efficiency induction motors introduction is studied. Variable speed drives and soft-starters are also considered, but not in detail.