- 15 - 16 February, 2012
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UK Technology Day - 23 May, 2012
ElectroTestExpo
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Installation of heat exchanger |
Diodes Incorporated has completed a major project to make clean room air conditioning at its Oldham wafer fabrication plant more energy efficient. Part funded by the North West Development Agency's North West Carbon Challenge Fund, the 'Free Cooling' project, which began at the beginning of the year reduces carbon emissions, costs and makes manufacturing operations greener and more sustainable.
The Diodes wafer fabrication facility historically depended on 3 process cooling water tanks to maintain temperature control of the wafer fab manufacturing equipment. The process cooling tank temperatures were maintained by introducing chilled water generated by refrigerated chillers to achieve the desired set point.
The aim of the project was to remove the need for refrigerated chilled water when the outside air temperature was below that of the required set point of the process cooling tanks; therefore removing the need for refrigeration generated chilled water for over 75% of the year.
To achieve this the company's facilities department embarked on an ambitious project to maximise the free cooling potential of existing clean room air-conditioning /cooling systems, allowing a reduction in the reliance on vapour compression chillers, resulting in reduced energy consumption, an amazing reduced emissions figure of 1600 tonnes carbon dioxide per annum, and the retirement of chillers collectively containing over 1 tonne of ozone depleting HCFC.
Working in collaboration with the North West Development Agency and Fletchers Engineering, the project was scheduled over a number of stages to keep the disruption to wafer production to a minimum.
The first stage of the project involved the centralisation of two separate chilled water systems to optimise efficiency under any given load conditions.
The second stage of the project involved the installation of three additional plate heat exchangers and over half a mile of associated pipe work. This was the only stage where a short manufacturing interruption was required to facilitate the successful implementation.
Stage three of the project was to modify 4 existing cooling towers and connect these to the three process cooling system plate heat exchangers.
The project was complete and commissioned within 6 months and has outperformed all expectations. The resulting 'Free Cooling' solution has significantly improved the stability and control of the three wafer fab manufacturing process cooling systems and a significant reduction in energy consumption is already being realised. The predicted average monthly saving is expected to be around £16,600 a month - an annual saving in running costs of around £200,000.
Neil McCallion, Facilities Manager at Diodes said, "The project to improve the energy efficiency of our clean room air conditioning is a fantastic success story for the company. Even with careful planning, implementing the revised scheme has obviously involved a certain amount of disruption, but our staff and contractors have risen to the challenge throughout the duration of the project, safety standards have been rigidly upheld, and production levels have been maintained. The cost savings and the benefit to the environment have made the project very worthwhile, and very satisfying."
