According to the US Department of Energy, installing a “1 inch thick blanket” on a non-insulated 6-inch gate valve in a 250 psig saturated steam line can save $525 per year.
When Black Hills Energy launched a project to repair the steam system in Mountain Home, Arkansas¡¯ Baxter Regional Medical Center, the utility also partnered with Shannon Global Energy Solutions , Providing hundreds of LT450SS thermally reusable insulation blankets for hospital boilers, sterilizers, and water. Heaters, condensate pumps, traps, valves, etc.
Shannon Thermal Insulation Blanket (T450SS) is a CAD designed, CNC produced, pre-designed thermal insulation system designed to save energy, capture radiant heat, minimize thermal insulation maintenance and improve the surrounding working environment. Shannon can withstand harsh indoor and outdoor environments, and is flexible, easy to install, disassemble and reinstall. Suitable applications include gate valves, globe valves, ball valves, butterfly valves, control valves and wafer valves, flanges, pumps, meters, equipment heads and any complex surfaces. This design serves as a thermal barrier for operating temperatures up to 450¡ãF. The outer jacket and inner jacket are 17.0oz/yd ² (577g/m ²) glass fiber cloth impregnated with silicone resin.
“Black Hills has set aside funds for energy-saving projects, and its energy-saving maintenance and steam system improvements have helped us obtain discounts on reusable insulation materials to cover exposed parts that have lost energy throughout the hospital,” the company Said Marshall Campbell, director of engineering. Baxter area. “The difference between the reusable insulation layer is immediate; the machine room with steam header is a sweat tank, but the temperature drops to 72¡ãF and a blanket is placed on our components.”
Part of Black Hills Energy’s plan includes accepting a letter of transfer, so the utility company can pay directly to contractors like Shannon. This makes the hospital assume the responsibility for completing the project.
Lisa Pfitzinger, energy efficiency manager at Black Hills Corp. said: ¡°Once invited, the hospital will know that we can improve its system for free. Small hospitals are doing their best to survive. This is a Baxter regional hospital initiative. Help small communities keep hospitals open.”
A preliminary steam survey in the Baxter region predicts that reusable insulation covering 136 steam system components can save nearly $24,000 per year. Shannon installed its LT450SS insulation blankets (rated up to 450¡ãF and passed ASTM E-84 testing) in boiler rooms, laundry rooms and other steam components in the Baxter area. After installation, independent calculations showed that the actual cost savings were consistent with Shannon’s initial survey.
Through the contract with Shannon Global Energy Solutions, Horizon Health Network (Horizon) invested in these reusable insulation blankets (model LT450SS) and Shannon¡¯s insulation panels (model LT500HS-TC) at one time. The Horizon Boiler House Sanitation Network is located at Miramichi Regional Hospital (MRH) in New Brunswick, Canada. Since installing the blanket in April 2015, MRH estimates that it has saved 15 million pounds of steam.
Frank Kovacs, President and CEO of Shannon Global Energy Solutions, said: “Reusable insulation materials should last at least 10 years.” “In the next ten years, MRH is expected to save more. 30 million pounds of steam.”
Shannon heat shield (LT500HS-TC) is a heat insulation solution for equipment, machinery and surfaces not exceeding 500¡ãF. The Thermal Heat Shield can be exposed indoors and outdoors. Shannon Heat Shield has all-weather waterproof function and has many typical features of independent Shannon blanket insulation design. The outer jacket is composed of 16.5oz/yd ² (611g/m ²) PTFETeflon ® impregnated glass fiber cloth. The insulating material is 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick non-woven glass fiber.
The hospital staff installed reusable insulation materials for MRH¡¯s boiler room, including its main header, instantaneous heater and condensate pump. Horizon used its facility and energy management software program to audit the energy saved by steam, and measured and verified its facility and energy management software program before covering these components in 2015. In order to determine the initial and continued savings of reusable insulation materials, the hospital staff analyzed the total amount of steam generated from April 2015 to June 2015 and used two different base years (ie, fiscal 2011-2012). And 2014-2015 fiscal year) weather standardized data analysis, comparing it with April 2014 to June 2014. Then, the staff compared the normalized weather data with the actual steam production after installation (that is, from April to June 2015).
Horizon learned about reusable insulating materials, and at the same time studied energy-saving strategies that can quickly recover the investment at low cost.
The review of the MRH system predicts that the reusable insulation covering the steam system components can save one million pounds of steam each year. For the audit, Shannon tracked the steam system and calculated the heat loss in the MRH boiler room and other places. After installing the reusable insulation blankets, the hospital staff calculated that the actual annual cost avoided by the MRH boiler room was nearly three times that of Shannon’s initial audit.
Alexis Tremblay of Preston Phipps Inc., a Canadian provider of steam-optimized products and services and Shannon¡¯s exclusive distributor, said: “We often hear employers say,’We have studied insulation materials. And in good condition, “or’We have no funds. ‘” But Tremblay recommends that maintenance and energy managers require third parties to conduct energy surveys and explore the return on investment of reusable insulation materials.
“Surveys are usually free,” Tremblay added. “If done right, they can solve energy costs.”
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Post time: Mar-26-2021
