Case Study - ECM Motor Upgrade

ECM MOTOR CASE STUDY

SITUATION
ShopRite is the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the
United States, comprised of more than 230 retail grocery
stores throughout the Northeast. Each store contains
a large number of constant run refrigerated systems,
including food product display cases and walk-in storage
areas. These systems must maintain regulated
temperature setpoints in order to preserve fresh
produce and perishables. Inside each system are
evaporator fans that operate 24x7x365 days per year.

Groom Energy engineers surveyed the evaporator fans
at ShopRite’s Livingston, NJ store, determining that they
were driven by shaded pole or permanent split capacitor
motors. These motors operated at 17% efficiency,
producing 9 watts of output power for 53 watts of
input power. This inefficiency also produced
unnecessary waste heat, which compressors had
to remove in order to maintain established
temperature setpoints.

PROJECT
GES engineers calculated that by upgrading the existing
motors to newer premium efficiency electronically
commutated motors (ECM) ShopRite could achieve
significant energy savings, with no change to the
system’s operational characteristics. The ECM motors
would deliver the same amount of evaporative force, but
consume less energy while contributing significantly less
heat, which in turn would reduce the compressor loading.

Groom Energy planned and implemented a turnkey retrofit
with almost 400 ECM motors, carried out over a two-night period so
as not to disrupt store operations. To support this project
Groom Energy also secured financial incentives from New Jersey
Smart Start, the company’s local utility efficiency program.

RESULTS