IMEC wins engineering excellence awards from the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE)
IMEC has been recognized by its peers as the recipient of two awards from the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).
First, the Connecticut Chapter of the AEE awarded IMEC its Excellence in Design and Engineering award for projects completed for Dirats Laboratories in Westfield, MA and NuWay Tobacco in South Windsor, CT.
Dirats selected IMEC to replace the process cooling equipment serving their hydraulic power supplies. Dirats president Eric Dirats commented: "It was instantly apparent that IMEC had a level of experience and expertise that was far more sophisticated than typical process cooling contractors. Their design solution was intelligent and effective, with brilliant simplicity. The quality of the installation exceeded expectations and IMEC worked in harmony with the plant personnel. The heat generated by our large hydraulic pumps is now being captured and the air cooled chillers, which were dumping heat and noise to the area, were replaced with a centralized system with individual programmable temperature and pressure setpoints. The low noise level associated with the new cooling tower eliminated a constant source of aggravation. The power savings exceeded the amount predicted and a significant amount of water was conserved. This was truly a win-win.”
Details on Dirats Labs project
The NuWay Tobacco project involved a facility expansion to add a fourth production line with IMEC providing a system for additional cooling to serve the new line. NuWay's plant engineer Rick Gendreau (pictured left with Joe D'Ambrosio, Sr., president of IMEC on right) praised the project: “When I first met with IMEC, I was looking for additional cooling for our new line. IMEC looked at our entire system and proposed installing one large efficient tower for the whole plant, replacing our air cooled chiller with a more efficient water cooler chiller, designing a more efficient spray system for our lines, and installing heat recovery in our new line 4 process. They worked with Northeast Utilities to secure over $350,000 in utility rebates. The rebate and energy savings made spending the extra money a no brainer. The system has been everything they promised. The installation was smooth and on schedule. An added bonus is the improvement in our product quality.”
Details on NuWay Tobacco project
The New England Chapter of the AEE awarded IMEC its Best Compressed Air Project award (jointly received with compressor manufacturer Atlas Copco) for work for Weetabix, a specialty food manufacturer in Clinton, MA. Weetabix representative Rick Guerrero said: “Weetabix could not be more pleased with the results. We were able to upgrade our compressed air equipment and recapture the waste heat for our boilers. We are saving money every month and enjoying oil free, low dewpoint compressed air in all of our manufacturing areas.”
Details on Weetabix compressor project
The awarding organization, the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), is dedicated to the field of energy engineering and energy management, renewable and alternative energy, power generation, energy services, sustainability, and all related areas. As a growing professional association, AEE’s overall strength is augmented by its strong membership base of over 14,000 professionals in 83 countries and its widely recognized energy certification programs. Its network of 70 local chapters located throughout the U.S. and abroad meet regularly to discuss issues of regional importance.