The Eco Door. zero energy. an economic and ecological breakthrough

Transcription

1 The Eco Door zero energy an economic and ecological breakthrough

2 Table of Contents Introduction 2 Summary of benefits 4 Design and construction benefits... 5 Energy savings 10 Durability 14 Market potential 15 Environmental benefits.. 17 Commercial opportunities 18 Appendix 1 Tables detailing and comparing parts and manufacturing time for conventional doors and The Eco Door Appendix 2 Professor Dr John Bell, Queensland University of Technology Centre for Built Environment and Engineering, Calculations of Failure Point of Freezer Doors

3 Introduction Glass display doors are the norm in supermarkets, superstores, and other cold beverage, produce, and frozen food retail outlets. However, glass display doors are very inefficient because of their need for heating elements to prevent condensation and thus, are expensive to construct, operate, and maintain. The Eco Door is a revolutionary new concept in fridge and freezer door design and construction that either eliminates entirely and/or significantly mitigates these issues. Utilising for the first time an extruded highly efficient thermo plastics frame incorporating glass pane mounting surfaces and mirror welded corners, The Eco Door is set to replace the complex conventional glass doors using conductive metal frames, metal spacer bars, and internal heaters to overcome condensation. The Eco Door is able to drastically reduce fridge and freezer operating costs, substantially reduce refrigerator and freezer manufacturing costs and remove entirely the need for glass panel and door frame heating. 1 The Eco Door will provide annual electricity savings of millions of dollars to the retailer/end-user and substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions - the greatest contributor to greenhouse gasses. Climate change is a major issue on the agenda of governments around the world as they work toward cutting global greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol. Standards for insulation and energy consumption in both domestic and commercial refrigeration have been implemented. The Australian Climate Change Office has published the Minimum Performance Standards for Commercial Refrigeration while in the US the Department of Environment has recently issued stringent regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the commercial display refrigeration industry. Moreover, corporations are increasingly committing to social responsibility and sustainable development programs. For example, over the past decade Coca Cola has spent millions of dollars and considerable effort to improve its cooling equipment energy efficiency by transitioning to HFC-free insulation foam for new equipment. If Coca Cola replaced their conventional glass display fridge doors with The Eco Door TM they would realise an immediate 30+% reduction in fridge door energy consumption and subsequently operational costs. Walmart, who in February 2010 committed to the elimination of 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emission from their global supply chain by the end of 2015 would realise an immediate 40+% reduction in in freezer door 1 Conventional glass fridge/freezer display doors require electrical heating on both the outer glass surface and within the door frame to prevent condensation. 3

4 energy consumption and subsequent operational costs if they retrofitted their existing conventional glass freezer doors with The Eco Door TM. With the increased efficiency of The Eco Door, smaller compressors can be employed further reducing manufacturing and operating costs. In addition, retailers using The Eco Door technology will experience additional savings with reduced heat loading on air-conditioning systems. The Eco Door is the subject of an international patent 2 and we currently seek expressions of interest to commercialise via: Letter of interest / intent to purchase; World or country by country patent sale; or, Partnership in manufacturing Patents have been granted in Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, Mexico, Israel, Canada, Russia, India, South Africa, North America, and Ukraine with applications pending in Australia, Brazil, and Europe. Summary of benefits While the outstanding features are detailed throughout the text, in summary, The Eco Door technology will: eliminate the production line of insulated glass units reduce labour, machinery, and warehousing by over 50% reduce components by 70% reduce manufacturing time from 24 hours to only 6 minutes save retailers approximately USD300 per freezer door per year and over USD100 per fridge door per year in energy costs reduce fridge and freezer running costs by around 50% massively reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 4.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year per freezer door - equivalent to removing one vehicle from the road eliminate saw-toothing / door frame sag allow for any shape, display, or design allow for any colour including a metallic finish 2 PCT International Application PCT/AU2004/001191, Australian Provisional Patent Application Improvements in Insulated Panels 4

5 allow for full reversal of any left hand or right hand door with either a centre grab handle or full length extruded handle allow for full recycling allow retrofitting to all existing fridges and freezers providing instant economic benefit to the retailer lower air-conditioning costs due to lower refrigerator/freezer heat outputs eliminate condensation on fridge and freezer doors in air conditioned buildings at 24 o and 55% relative humidity eliminate condensation on fridge and freezer doors in non-air conditioned buildings where freezer doors remain condensate free up to 70% relative humidity and refrigerator doors remain condensate free up to 90% relative humidity out-compete all other designs in the marketplace Design and construction benefits Conventional glass fridge and freezer display doors require the initial construction of an insulated glass unit. This consists of two or three glass panes separated with aluminium spacer bars, and sealed with butyl rubber which takes 24 hours to cure. This insulated glass unit is then transferred to a second production line where a metal frame with electrical heating is constructed about it using corner stakes, screws and the like. The Eco Door combines both these assemblies in the one operation, significantly reducing manufacturing time and costs. Utilising extruded thermo plastic, a frame is constructed by mirror welding the frame members together. The frame incorporates mounting surfaces, which both hold and optimally space the glass and acrylic panes. The panes are set into the frame using an ultra-violet adhesive, 3 which provides rigidity to the extruded plastics frame and the entire door unit (Figure 1). The need for a separate assembly line of the insulated glass unit in conventional doors is completely eliminated. 3 Recent developments in ultra violet adhesives allow for a radical reduction in cure-times. Cyberbond s UV adhesives in Germany for example provide either rigid or flexible adhesives suitable for The Eco Door reducing the cure time to only 2 seconds. 5

6 Thermo plastics provides a frame some 1000 times more efficient than the metal counterparts currently employed. Figures 2a and 2b show typical extrusion sections. Mirror welding the frame members solves the common problem of saw toothing or door sag occurring in conventional doors due to the corner fasteners loosening over time. Combined with the removal of electrical heating circuits, all servicing and maintenance costs are eliminated. Figures 3a and 3b compares the design of conventional heated glass doors with The Eco Door. Removing the need for butyl seals reduces the cure time significantly from the 24 hours of conventional doors to only 6 minutes with The Eco Door. This allows faster production with reduced factory space. Also significant is the reduction in parts and stock holding from 50 components in a conventional door to just 15 components in The Eco Door a reduction of 70%! Tables in the Appendix compare the manufacturing time and parts between a conventional door and The Eco Door. Assembly time is similarly reduced from 57 minutes in a conventional door to just 6 minutes with The Eco Door (see Appendix 1 for details). A further feature of removing the separate construction of the insulated glass unit (IGU) is the ability to use optimum thermal spacing between the glass/plexiglass panels. Figure 4 highlights the dramatic loss in thermal resistance once the spacing of glass panes decreases from the optimum of 13mm. The spacing of 6mm to 9mm, common in conventional doors, provides significantly less thermal resistance. Whilst The Eco Door TM incorporates the optimum insulated spaces between panes, it is no larger in dimensions than a conventional door 45mm in thickness. Manufacturers of conventional doors have been unable to utilise the benefit of optimal spacing due to the bulk and thickness of the metal frame required to support the IGU. Where humidity conditions are critical, argon gas may be added to the cavities between the panes - providing a further improvement of approximately 2% relative humidity before condensation occurs. 6

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8 Figure 2a: The Eco Door frame standard extrusion profile Figure 2b: The Eco Door frame extrusion profile with full length handle 8

9 Figure 3a: Conventional door with insulated glass unit, metal frame, corner stakes, and heating wires and strips Figure 3b: Back-view of The Eco Door - an extruded thermoplastics frame incorporating pane-mounting surfaces and constructed by mirror-welding 9

10 Distance between panes in mm Figure 4: Optimal spacing for thermal performance (RSI) 4 Energy savings The new design and materials removes the need for internal heating of the door frame and external glass pane as required in conventional doors to prevent condensation. This eliminates the cost of heating these surfaces as well as the additional refrigerant cooling required. This drastically reduces the heat transfer into the freezer compartment allowing smaller motors, compressors and condensers to be employed further reducing energy consumption. The thermal characteristics and parameters of the Eco Door have been modelled in a controlled environment by Professor John Bell, of the Centre for Built Environment and Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology 5. Professor Bell has determined the failure points for The Eco Door in fridge and freezer applications as well as the reduction in heat transfer when compared to conventional models. The thermal diagram for a non-heated conventional freezer door employing an aluminium frame and triple glazing under normal atmospheric conditions and a room temperature of 23 degrees Celsius is presented in Figure 5. Here condensation occurs when humidity exceeds 35% and commences 4 Adapted from Rousseau M. Z., 1991 Thickness of Air Space in Double Glazing. See 5 Calculations of Failure point of Freezer Doors, Associate Professor John Bell, Centre for Built Environment and Engineering, Queensland University of Technology,

11 at the frame-glass interface due to the high conductivity of the metal frame and spacer bars, and inefficient spacing of the glass and/or plastics panes. Due to the use of extruded thermo plastics rather than aluminium or steel, The Eco Door, when employed in the same conditions, maintains a constant temperature across the interface and does not result in condensation until humidity reaches 76% - more than double that of conventional freezer doors. In refrigerator applications (Figure 6) with an internal temperature of 3 degrees Celsius, and an outer temperature of 23 degrees Celsius, conventional fridge doors condensate at 67% humidity. The Eco Door however remains free of condensation up to a relative humidity of 92%. In the hot Australian climate of Brisbane for example, this equates to a fridge door remaining free of condensation (and therefore without the need for airconditioning) for over 97% of the year in an outdoor setting. Reductions in energy use result both from eliminating heating and the significant reduction in heat transfer associated with the new design and thermo plastics material. At 10 cents per kilowatt-hour the heating of a conventional freezer door is approximately USD175 per annum. 6 Eliminating this heat in turn reduces the heat transferred into the freezer unit. This has been estimated by Professor Bell at approximately 600 kilo watt hours per annum - an additional saving of USD60. And finally the improved insulation of the design reduces power consumption by 680 kilowatt-hours or USD68 per year. In total this amounts to an annual energy savings of approximately USD300 per freezer door per year. Fridges utilising The Eco Door will gain a saving in excess of USD100 per door per year. Without the need of electrical heating with The Eco Door design, gone too is the risk of electrical shock to customers and staff and the resultant potential for legal action. Substituting the Eco Door for existing conventional commercial fridge and freezer doors in Australia, would amount to energy savings of hundreds of millions of dollars, and globally tens of billions of dollars and this is every year. Coupled with the new construction, this reduces door components by 70 percent, and halves the labour required in manufacture 7. Stockholding of parts, warehouse space, infrastructure, and capital outlay are massively reduced. On a production line twice as many doors can be manufactured at half the cost when compared to the conventional models. 6 Bell, J. Ibid 7 See Appendix 1, Comparison Charts between conventional doors and The Eco Door. 11

12 Internal temp -25 C External temp 23 C Conventional door failure at 35% RH Internal temp -25 C External temp 23 C The Eco Door failure at 76% RH Figure 5: Thermal diagram for conventional freezer door and The Eco Door where pane spacing is 13mm in both units. Bell J QUT

13 Internal temp 3 C External temp 23 C Conventional door failure at 67% RH Internal temp 3 C External temp 23 C The Eco Door failure at 92% RH Figure 6: Thermal diagrams for conventional fridge door and The Eco Door where pane spacing is 13mm in both units, Bell J, QUT

14 This new concept in glass door design and construction also applies to insulated glass windows which are becoming increasingly popular for both thermal and sound insulation and with the advent of global warming, may soon become compulsory in both domestic and commercial buildings. Durability The Eco Door has been tested for durability using a mechanical dooropening device (Figure 7) opening and slamming the door at 8 cycles per minute and run to 500,000 cycles. Unlike conventional fridge and freezer doors, no door sag was encountered and no deformity of the frame and glass occurred. Only minor hinge wear occurred with details of the durability trial in Table 1. DOOR CYCLES DISTORTION ON DIAGONALS DOOR SAG HINGEPOINT WEAR COMMENTS /OBSERVATIONS DOOR SAG DUE TO 25,000 NIL 0.1mm 0.005mm HINGE WEAR ONLY 50,000 NIL 0.2mm 0.010mm 75,000 NIL 0.3mm 0.015mm 100,000 NIL 0.4mm 0.020mm 150,000 NIL 0.5mm 0.025mm GASKET SCUFFING 250,000 NIL 0.6mm 0.030mm 500,000 NIL 0.7mm 0.035mm Table 1: Durability test results Figure 7: Mechanical opening and slamming device - The Eco Door exhibited no deformity or door sag during a 500,000 cycle durability trial 14

15 The 500,000-cycle durability test is equivalent to a commercial fridge/freezer door in operation for several decades and proves its enhanced performance over conventional varieties, which exhibit door sag requiring maintenance after only a few thousand cycles. Market potential Commercial refrigeration / superstores Figure 8: Retrofitting The Eco Door to existing commercial refrigeration systems will save millions of dollars in energy consumption and the cost of each door will be recovered in less than two years of usage The potential savings to major retailers, were they to retrofit The Eco Door to their existing supermarket outlets, based on the estimated electricity savings of USD300 per year per freezer door, is presented in Table 2 below. While this list is by no means comprehensive, and using conservative estimates, it covers some of the major retailers in the US, Europe, and Australia. Once retailers in Asia and Russia and service stations, restaurants, cafes, and hotels are considered, the world total would be several folds of these figures. Conservative estimates suggest that glass display freezer doors Australiawide total around 500,000 while glass display refrigerator doors total around two million. 15

16 The Eco Door can be retrofitted, providing immediate energy savings to the retailer / end user. Retailer Origin Yearly sales (USD) Number of doors (estimate) Potential savings (annually) 1 Walmart USA 400 billion 2.2 million 660 million 2 Carrefour France 150 billion 0.85 million 250 million 3 Tesco UK 105 billion 0.58 million 173 million 4 Metro Group Germany 102 billion 0.56 million 168 million 5 Aeon Japan 96 billion 0.52 million 157 million 6 Seven & i Japan 93 billion 0.51 million 153 million 7 Kroger USA 86 billion 0.47 million 142 million 8 Lidl Germany 85 billion 0.47 million 140 million 9 Costco USA 79 billion 0.43 million 130 million 10 Auchan France 79 billion 0.43 million 130 million 11 Rewe Germany 75 billion 0.41 million 124 million 12 Casino France 75 billion 0.41 million 124 million 13 Aldi Germany 73 billion 0.40 million 120 million 14 Target USA 66 billion 0.36 million 109 million 15 Ahold Netherlands 63 billion 0.35 million 104 million 16 Edeka Germany 58 billion 0.32 million 96 million 17 Woolworths Australia 56 billion 0.31 million 92 million 18 Safeways USA 44 billion 0.24 million 73 million 19 Le Mouvement France 44 billion 0.24 million 73 million 20 ITM France 43 billion 0.24 million 71 million 21 Spar Netherlands 39 billion 0.21 million 64 million 22 Delhaize Belgium 39 billion 0.21 million 64 million 23 Supervalu USA 38 billion 0.21 million 63 million 24 Wesfarmers Australia 32 billion 0.18 million 53 million 25 Loblaw Canada 31 billion 0.17 million 51 million 26 J Sainsbury UK 30 billion 0.17 million 50 million Total 2.0 trillion 11.5 million 3.5 billion Table 2: Largest retailers in the western world Glass display door purchases in Australia have been placed conservatively at around 3000 units per week or 150,000 units per year. The Eco Door can replace all existing models providing enormous savings both to the manufacturer as well as the retailer. Extrapolating these figures based on populations for industrialised countries suggests annual display door manufacture is in the vicinity of 140,000 units per week or over 7 million units per year. Similarly, fridge and freezer doors available for retrofitting total some 30 million in the industrialised world. The cost of retrofitting would be returned to the retailer in less than two year s operation. 16

17 Environmental benefits In a modern coal-fired power station for example, 1kWHr is produced from the incineration of approximately half a kilo of black coking coal that in turn produces approximately one kilo of greenhouse gas emissions. 8 As detailed in previous sections, The Eco Door applied to freezer units saves approximately 3000kWhr per freezer door per year. For a typical Australian power station this equates to a reduction in coal consumption of one and a half tons and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 4.4 metric tons per year 9. Motor vehicle emissions are the greatest contributor to greenhouse gases and are often used for comparison. With the average motor vehicle generating approximately 4 tons of carbon dioxide per year, the environmental benefits gained by utilising The Eco Door are therefore equivalent of taking one motor vehicle off the road for every freezer door employed. Similarly, when The Eco Door is used in fridge applications, the environmental benefit is equivalent to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by one motor vehicle for every three doors employed. Were The Eco Door retrofitted to the existing fridge and freezer units around the world, this would provide a benefit to the environment equivalent to taking billions of motor vehicles off the road - significantly reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Figure 9: The environmental benefit of The Eco Door is equivalent to removing one car from the road for every freezer door employed 8 See Australian Greenhouse Office Factors and Methods Workbook at: 1KWHR produces 1.058Kg greenhouse gas emissions. 9 See Australian Greenhouse Office Emissions Calculator: 17

18 Commercial opportunities The Eco Door represents an economic and environmental breakthrough in the commercial glass display door market. With a substantially lower cost of manufacture, zero maintenance, and the significant savings in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, this new product will greatly benefit the end user, manufacturer, and the global environment. We are currently seeking expressions of interest to commercialise via: Letter of interest; License to manufacture; World or country by country patent sale; or, Partnership in manufacturing Entities interested in this revolutionary new product should contact: Julian McKinlay King Partner Campbell Ross McKinlay Inventor The Eco Door The Eco Door M M E julian@theecodoor.com E rmckinlay@bigpond.com W W Or our commercial lawyer: Alec Christie Partner Ernst & Young T M E alec.christie@dlapiper.com 18

19 Appendix 1 Tables detailing parts and manufacture time of conventional doors and The Eco Door Table 1: Materials Table 2: IGU/Glazing components Table 3: Total components Table 4: Machining time Table 5: IGU/Glazing cure and process times 19

20 FRAME MATERIALS Conventional Door The Eco Door Part Quantity Process Approx Time Quantity Process Approx Time Frame m MITRE CUT 2 min 4 cuts m (4) MITRE CUT 2 min 4 cuts Corner 4 OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL Stakes Corner 8 OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL Stake Screws 25x6 mm Earth Wire 1 OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL 6x4 mm SG Cord 2 OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL Screws SG Cord 1 OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL Heater Wire 4.7 m OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL Heater Plate 4.6 m 20x0.7 sheet OUT- Gasket Retainer 4.7 m OUT- Glazing 4.7 m OUT- Channel SG Cord 1 PLACED IN Female FACTORY Connector+ Wiring Circuit Handle 1 OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL $ NIL NIL NIL $ NIL NIL NIL $ NIL NIL NIL $ 1 OUT- / INJECTION MOULDED $ 2 OUT- Handle 2 OUT- Fixings Hinge NIL NIL NIL 2 OUT- Torsion Keeper Keeper NIL NIL NIL 4 OUT- Screws Torsion Bar 1 OUT- $ 1 OUT- Total $ $ $ $ $ Table 1: Materials listing for conventional doors and The Eco Door 20

21 INSULATED GLASS UNIT TRIPLE GLAZED/GLAZING COMPONENTS Conventional Door The Eco Door Part Quantity Process Appro x Time Quantity Process Approx Time Spacer Bar 9.2 m (8) OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL Spacer Bar 8 OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL Corner Stakes Heated 1 OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL Glass Glass Panes 2 OUT- $ 2 OUT- $ Plexiglass/ NIL NIL NIL 1 OUT- $ Glass Desiccant 1 OUT- $ 1 OUT- $ Butyl 1x358cm3 OUT- $ NIL NIL NIL Adhesive NIL NIL NIL 1x25.2cm3 OUT- $ IGU Parts 21 5 Table 2: IGU/Glazing components for conventional doors and The Eco Door INSULATED GLASS UNIT TRIPLE GLAZED/GLAZING COMPONENTS Conventional Door The Eco Door IGU 21 5 Parts/Glazing Frame Parts Total Door Parts Table 3: Total components for conventional freezer doors and The Eco Door 21

22 OUTER FRAME MACHINING PROCESS TIME Conventional Door The Eco Door Part Quantity Process Approx Time Quantity Process Approx Time Outer Frame 4 MITRE CUT 2 min 4 MITRE 2 min members member s CUT Corner Stake 8 DRILLING 2 min NIL NIL NIL Holes CENTRE Earth Wire 1 DRILLING 0.5 min NIL NIL NIL CENTRE SG Cord 2 DRILLING 1 min NIL NIL NIL Screws TAPPED CENTRE SG Cord Hole 1x25mm DRILLING 0.5 min NIL NIL NIL CENTRE Handle Fixings 2 DRILLING 0.5 min 2 DRILLING 0.5 min CENTRE CENTRE Hinge Torsion NIL NIL Nil 2 DRILLING 1 min Keeper Handle 1 2 parts CENTRE SAW 0.5 min 1 OUT- / INJECTION MOULDED Heater Plate 4 GUILLOTINE 1 min NIL NIL NIL Gasket 4 MITRE CUT 1.5 min Nil NIL NIL Retainer Gasket 1 OUT- 1 min 1 OUT- 1 min Heater Wire 1 CUT 0.25 NIL NIL NIL min Glazing 1 MITRE CUT 1 min NIL NIL NIL Channel Weld Corner & Clean 3 min NIL NIL NIL 4 MIRROR WELD 4 HEAD W CLEANER OUTER 12 min 7.5 min FRAME ASSEMBLY 45 min TOTAL 57 min 9.5 min NIL Table 4: Machinig time for conventional freezer doors Vs The Eco Door 22

23 INSULATED GLASS UNIT CURE & PROCESS TIME Conventional Door The Eco Door Part Quantit y Process Approx Time Quanti ty Process Approx Time Spacer Bar 8 CUT TO 1.5 min NIL NIL NIL LENGHT Spacer Bar 2 GLAZING 2 min NIL NIL NIL Corners Assemble TABLE Desiccant 4 DISPENSER 2 min 2 DISPENSER 1 min Glass Wash 3 WASH 3 min 3 WASH 3 min Butyl Seal 1 GLAZING 6 min NIL NIL NIL TABLE Adhesive NIL NIL NIL 3 GLAZING 3 min Seal TABLE Butyl Cure 1 IGU RACK 24 hrs NIL NIL NIL Time Adhesive NIL NIL NIL 1 UV CURE 0.5 min Cure Time Total Cure Time 24 hrs 0.5 min Total Process Time hrs 8 min Table 5: IGU / Glazing cure and process times for conventional freezer doors and The Eco Door 23