WEG’s new online payback calculator for electric motors enables pump and fan users to quickly determine energy savings, payback times and reductions in emissions, when evaluating new projects, or the replacement of existing motors with higher efficiency types.

The payback calculator is easily downloadable for use on desktops or portable PCs. It is designed to produce comprehensive reports, and can be used to compare a wide range of variables, based on usage and component specifications, to find the best solution for any application, including multiple motor installations.

The payback calculator is not limited to WEG products: it compares efficiencies with any product on the market. However, with WEG offering permanent magnet hybrid motors and motors with IE3 efficiencies off-the-shelf, the company believes that any other manufacturer is going to be hard pushed to match the economics of using WEG equipment.

An essential tool for calculating the payback time for premium v standard efficiency motors in new projects, the mobile App is equally useful in assessing the running costs of existing motors, to determine the repayment time for replacing them with more efficient types. It also enables users to calculate and display the payback time for a new motor against the cost of rewinding, following a motor failure. Here the system even takes account of the fact that rewound motors may experience a drop of up to 2 points in efficiency.

Simple to use, the online App offers the benefits of dual set-up options, for kW and HP, and euro, dollar and pound as default currencies, with the facility for other currencies via a ‘custom’ function. In addition, coefficients for CO2 emissions are provided for coal, oil natural gas and other fuels. “Both the Payback Tool and the Blackberry App are essential instruments for users of pump and fan motors,” commented Marek Lukaszczyk, European marketing manager for WEG. “Electric motors usually run for thousands of hours every year. Considering this, any gain in efficiency by replacing existing motors by higher efficiency versions will translate into considerable savings, which could pay for the investment in higher efficiency machines in a few years - and in some cases – months even.”