Big “M” Manufacturing
Taylorville, Illinois
Intern: Eric White
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Big “M” Manufacturing is a family-owned business that has been
producing corn-burning boilers and furnaces for residential and commercial
applications since 1992. The company currently supplies products to over 80
distributors in the U.S.
The goal of the internship was to determine the feasibility of adding an air
conditioning cycle to the corn boiler units to provide cooling during the summer
months. Additionally, the intern performed a lighting audit at the production
facility.
Anticipated Results:
The company purchased an ammonia water absorption chiller to help the intern
investigate different approaches for combining heat-driven cooling technologies
with a corn-burning system. The absorption chiller has the ability to
produce space cooling from steam, hot water or fossil fuels. The intern
identified four possible designs that would allow the chiller to be driven
by a corn burner. The company is currently testing different components
of the system.
The intern performed a lighting audit in the new production building that
was under construction. As a result, the company replaced metal
halide fixtures with fluorescent fixtures. This resulted in an energy
savings of over $3,000 in the first year, with annual savings project to be
$1,400 thereafter. The intern identified several tax credits that are
potentially available under the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005. These
credits will help offset the installation costs of the new lighting fixtures.
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