Validation of energy efficiency requirements for machine tools and industrial washing machines

Abstract: Production equipment accounts for a large portion of the energy use from industry. But so far there has been no standardized way of requiring energy efficiency when purchasing a new machine. Scania is therefore implementing energy efficiency requirements in their purchasing process for production equipment. As a part of this, there needs to be a way of validating that the requirements have been fulfilled. This study aims to find how requirements on energy efficiency in production equipment can be validated in a user friendly and time efficient way. Firstly, the energy efficiency requirements set by Scania and by regulations are mapped. Then these requirements are clearly defined to enable a validation. Two component-level measurements of one machine tool and one industrial washing machine are analyzed. And then a cost analysis is conducted to determine the timespan that can be said to be time efficient for a validation procedure. The results from this are used to develop a validation method and an interactive protocol to make the validation more user friendly. This method is then tested through a simulated validation. The method proposed consists of two parts, an inspection and a measurement. The inspection is purely visual and validates the requirements on efficiency class for electrical motors and pumps, as well as requirements of specific equipment. The measurement is performed by running the machine through four different machine states in eight steps and validates requirements on when energy is used, and how much is used. The proposed method validates all energy efficiency requirements set by Scania for machine tools and industrial washing machines. It can be performed in a timespan that is far shorter than what is cost efficient. The proposed method can validate requirements on the energy use from any electrical components, compressed air use, and visually confirm that required equipment is present and some of its properties based on labelling. It will also be able to validate any new requirements on the energy use of electrical components, meaning it can easily be applied to other types of production equipment.