Micronclean is a family owned, innovative laundry business that operates three main production sites in Lincolnshire and employs 400 employees across the UK.
Offering laundry services since the 1920s, Micronclean has grown and diversified over the years to provide a full range of laundered garments, mopping services and cleanroom consumables for both industrial and pharmaceutical companies. Micronclean’s Louth facility is the most technically advanced ISO Class 6 laundry in Europe. Designed from the ground up, the innovative facility is technologically advanced and can process 120,000 garments per week.
Micronclean was looking for a cooling and ventilation solution for its laundry sorting department. The area within its Louth facility was overheating regularly due to the heat of the processes across the site.
When the facility was built, the area was fitted with just one extraction fan for ventilation purposes since it wasn’t considered to be part of the hot laundry process and therefore cooling was not required. However, the team working in the department found that instead of cooling the area, the extractor was, in fact, drawing in warm air from neighbouring areas, causing the working temperature to rise!
As well as cooling the area effectively, the solution had to be sympathetic to the laundry’s huge draw on power and water so as not to add strain to this demand. This meant traditional air conditioning was not an option, due to the additional electrical power needed to run the equipment, so something different was needed.
- Client
The Solution
Micronclean’s Louth facility contacted Celsius Design, one of EcoCooling’s trusted installers to see if they had a viable solution. Following an assessment of the site, Celsius recommended the installation of an EcoCooling evaporative cooling system. It was the ideal solution as it would cool the area ensuring comfortable conditions for workers, whilst using limited energy.
Pleased with the proposed solution, an EcoCooling system was installed comprising of two coolers with associated extract providing a combined cooling power of 70KW. This is the equivalent of cooling an area the size of two tennis courts using the energy it takes to boil one domestic kettle. The low energy demand of the coolers also meant this was all done using existing power without the need for additional costly 3 phase supplies.
The installation, including the supply of power and water, was completed during normal working hours without any interruption to Micronclean’s advanced overhead conveyors and production processes, enabling the team to operate as normal.
Phase 2
After the success of the first install, Micronclean reapproached Celsius about a different room in the sorting department that had no form of ventilation or cooling, which was creating an uncomfortably hot and stuffy environment. The room was much smaller so only required one EcoCooling unit coupled with one extraction fan to bring down the high temperatures and ensure more pleasant working conditions.
The Result
The impact on the working conditions for Micronclean’s sorting team has been remarkable. By providing a flow of fresh, cool air into the department, the conditions are significantly better. Not only is the temperature comfortable throughout the year, but the air quality has also improved as it is not being drawn from other areas of the site as it had been previously.
Most importantly, the evaporative cooling units don’t add any pressure to the site in terms of utility requirements as they are low energy units. What’s more, as they are fitted as part of a full ventilation system, they only run in evaporative cooling mode when it’s needed, which keeps the water and energy usage even lower.
