Energy saving is on the menu at Pizza Hut
An 85% reduction in cooker-hood electricity costs is being achieved at Pizza Hut’s Watford Dome branch following the installation of two ABB Drives on the air-extraction cooker-hood system. The new system comprises a 1.5 kW drive and a 3 kW drive and was installed by Food Industry Technical to control air supply and extraction by monitoring carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and temperature in the cooker hood.
Fans were previously running 24 h a day and consumed 35 to 45 kWh a day. With the new system consumption averages less than 10 kWh a day, with a payback of 18 months. The savings are achieved by matching the speed of the fans to demand and switching them off when they are not needed to maintain acceptable CO2 levels and temperature.
For safety if a control cable is severed or a sensor fails, the drives will automatically run at 100% until the fault is rectified.
Gary Busby, sales manager with ABB, explains, ‘The current system installed at Watford is on a trial basis. The system offers Pizza Hut a fantastic opportunity to save money and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. We were able to install the equipment on site in a few hours without disruption to Pizza Hut’s daily operation
