LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--QM Power, maker of an innovative new high-efficiency motor technology, introduced today the Q-Sync Smart Synchronous Motor, a new class of energy efficient motors that shatters the industry’s standard in fan-motor performance and reduces energy consumption up to 80%. Q-Sync improves the power quality and reliability of fan motors and provides businesses and OEMs with significant new energy savings retrofit opportunities for the same cost as legacy fan motors. Q-Sync is currently available for refrigeration applications and will expand into additional markets in 2016.
QM Power is offering a risk-free financing and services program for Q-Sync to make it easy for businesses to begin reducing their energy costs immediately. Interested businesses can retrofit their equipment with Q-Sync motors at no cost in exchange for sharing their energy savings with QM Power under contract.
“Motors can consume up to seventy percent of all the energy used in commercial buildings, but amazingly there has been little to no innovation in motor efficiency over the past half century,” said PJ Piper, co-founder, president and CEO of QM Power. “With Q-Sync, we’ve reinvented the fan motor to exceed modern-day energy and environmental requirements, deliver bold new energy savings opportunities and dramatically reduce grid congestion. The motor can now be the next meaningful retrofit and OEM opportunity for energy savings in commercial buildings.”
Until today, the commercial refrigeration industry has had two primary choices for fan motors: the induction or shaded-pole motor developed in the 1880s, and the Electronically Commutated Motor (ECM) developed in the 1960s. More than sixty-five percent of all commercial refrigeration motors deployed today are shaded-pole motors, which are only twenty percent energy efficient. The ECM has a thirty-five percent market share and is about sixty percent efficient. Today’s introduction of the Q-Sync Smart Synchronous Motor provides businesses and utilities with a compelling new choice: a seventy-five percent efficient motor for the same cost of an ECM.
The Smart Synchronous Motor – A More Efficient, Reliable and Long-lasting Motor
A simpler, smarter controller with streamlined electronics is at the core of QM Power’s breakthrough design for Q-Sync. An ECM requires continual conversion between AC and DC power throughout its use to operate; however, Q-Sync’s innovative controller quickly and efficiently eliminates the need for power conversion after the motor starts. Q-Sync’s advanced electronics quickly get the motor to its targeted speed, and then efficiently shift the motor to AC power supplied directly from the grid. And because Q-Sync is a permanent magnet motor, it eliminates the additional energy requirements and slip that is associated with a shaded-pole motor. The result is a motor that provides up to an 80% reduction of energy at the meter and an 80% reduction at the grid.
Because its electric circuit runs for a fraction of the time required by an ECM motor, the Q-Sync motor is more reliable and lasts longer. Additionally, it features industry-leading water resistant casing that prevents common wear and tear from on-site elements. As a result, QM Power offers a 2-year warranty on its Q-Sync motors, which is double the industry standard.
Unparalleled Power Quality for the Grid
In addition to transforming electrical energy into mechanical energy more efficiently than an ECM, a Q-Sync motor has a greater than 50% advantage in power factor than an ECM, meaning it accepts energy from the grid more efficiently. Because the Q-Sync motor uses less power, it reduces stress on the grid and can help utilities reduce spikes in energy use and costs.
“The introduction of Q-Sync will lead to a significant reduction in energy consumption and CO₂ emissions,” said Dr. Bryan Becker, a professor at University of Missouri–Kansas City’s School of Computing and Engineering and former Chairman of ASHRAE’s Technical Committee for Refrigeration Applications for Foods and Beverages. “Using Q-Sync technology instead of state of the art Electronically Commutated Motors would be the energy equivalent of taking one of every two motors off the grid. And, using Q-Sync technology instead of shaded-pole motors would be the equivalent of taking four of every five motors off the grid.”
A DOE High Impact, Energy Saving Technology
Recognizing its significant potential for energy savings, the Department of Energy (DOE) has named Q-Sync a High-Impact Technology. Over the course of the year, the DOE is working with QM Power, OEMs, supermarkets, service and retrofit contractors and utilities to install and demonstrate over 10,000 higher efficiency Q-Sync fan assemblies in over 50 grocery sites throughout the US. The results of the first DOE demonstration have been documented in a newly released publication by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Oak Ridge report reveals a broader upgrade of the Q-Sync fan motors to applications beyond commercial refrigeration could reduce source energy consumption by as much as 300 billion kilowatt-hours or more, with proportional environmental benefits.
About QM Power
QM Power delivers high-efficiency electric motor technology that shatters industry standards for energy consumption by up to 80%. The company’s innovative, patent pending Q-Sync smart synchronous motor sets a new standard in fan motor performance, reliability and cost, and has been thoroughly tested and validated by the Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Headquartered in Lee’s Summit, Mo., QM Power has received more than $20 million in venture funding, contracts and grants. For more information, please visit qmpower.com.
