Company Profile: Ocado is the United Kingdom’s, and the world’s, largest dedicated online grocery retailer providing and delivering quality groceries and household products, toys, books, and magazines directly to customers’ homes.
Inteliair Installation: Battery charging facility for forklift batteries in a distribution centre. Due to the generation of hydrogen gas during the battery charging process it is necessary to keep this area well ventilated however it is rare that all eleven charging positions are in use at once. Without the Inteliair system it would have been necessary for the 5.5kW extraction fan to operate 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. The Inteliair system was installed with automatic control dampers at each of the eleven charging positions linked to current sensing switches which in turn were connected to the supply cables on the battery charging units. When batteries are being charged the switch detects the current draw and indicates a ‘demand’ for ventilation that causes the automatic damper to open and the main extraction fan to start or change speed to serve the demand. The system has been in operation for 5-months and data downloaded from the control system indicates an energy saving of 88% when compared to the alternative requirement for the fan to run continuously.