energy consumption on a Super Bull/Juki 441

[esantoro]

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone have any idea of the energy consumption on a Super Bull/Juki 441 with a 1/2 hp servo motor and speed reducer? How expensive is it to run this machine steady for an hour?

I'm trying to figure out if energy costs are significant enough to be factored into the pricing of my briefcases. I'm estimating that each bag requires two hours of machine stitching. Would you say this machine is more expensive to run than a computer monitor? Twice as expensive? Three times?

Thanks,

Ed

[Johanna]

I have no idea what actual difference there is going to be in power consumption, but the things that eat up electricity are appliances that create heat or cold. Refrigerators, freezers, ovens, dehumidifiers, air conditioners etc. I once figured out the network power consumption of the network at church (20+ computers and a server) and it was less than the kitchen used.

Just out of curiosity, are you making your briefcases in an assembly line fashion, or one-at-a time? Have you calculated out cost of materials and rate of time per unit? Most leatherworkers figure out a "shop rate", money they need to generate to pay rent, utilities, insurance, advertising etc (expenses divided by hours worked) and add that into the price.

As an example:

Price of materials+shop rate= actual base cost + either your profit % margin or your rate of pay per hour= wholesale price.

Is that as clear as mud? Bruce, where are you?

Johanna

[The Major]

You will need to find out the specs on the motor first. Mainly you need the amperage draw at load.

Multiply amperage x voltage.(simplified) this will give you the approximate power in watts. I say approximate because true ac wattage is calculated differently. But it will be close enough for the electric company.

Now calculate your KwH usage; Kilowatt Hours = (Watts x Hours of Operation)/1000

Now look at your electric bill. Find out how much they are charging you per KwH. and multiply the two numbers.

This is your approximate cost for a continuous hour of usage.

So assuming your 1/2 hp AC motor draws about 8 amps (estimate).

5A x 115V = 575W

(575W x 1hr)/1000 = 0.575 KwH

$11/Kwh x 0.575 = $6.33/hr of continuous usage.

Edited May 10, 2007 by The Major

[Art]

Hi Ed,

At load the servo motor is 400W for 1/2hp, however they seldom if ever run anywhere near load. The electric company bills at load X time so for an hour's use you will use .4 kilowatthours (kWh). Now look at your bill and see what a kWh costs and multiply to get the maximum cost per hour it will ever use. With the new unregulation, they break out kWh cost into electricity and transmission costs so you need to add those together to get the real kWh cost.

It is not going to cost more than 4 100W lightbulbs to operate.

Art

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone have any idea of the energy consumption on a Super Bull/Juki 441 with a 1/2 hp servo motor and speed reducer? How expensive is it to run this machine steady for an hour?

I'm trying to figure out if energy costs are significant enough to be factored into the pricing of my briefcases. I'm estimating that each bag requires two hours of machine stitching. Would you say this machine is more expensive to run than a computer monitor? Twice as expensive? Three times?

Thanks,

Ed