Open the Door to Energy Savings

01/02/2011 - Source: Handling & Storage Solutions

Union Industries, the UK’s market leading manufacturer of the Matadoor™ Range of Hi-Speed Roller Doors, is helping staff keep warm this cold and snowy winter at Proton Group’s Normanton headquarters.

The Leeds-based company, which designs, manufactures, installs and maintains the Matadoor™ range, has worked alongside the cleaning product company to provide draft and heat loss reduction solutions for its factory.

Proton Group specialises in high-tech, cost-effective and innovative cleaning and disinfection products. It supplies hygiene chemicals to many areas of worldwide industry from its base in West Yorkshire.

In order to reduce heat escaping from the factory, Union’s large Bulldoor™ has been installed in the external doorway of the production area. This main access door experiences almost constant forklift traffic meaning it was constantly open. This caused a significant amount of heat loss and left the production area cold and uncomfortable for staff.

The fast speeds at which the Bulldoor™ opens and closes; approximately 1.6m per second, helps combat the problem of heat loss. The door is open for the minimum amount of time possible before closing automatically, meaning the warm air inside is kept in, and the cold air outside kept out. This makes the building a more comfortable environment for staff, and also reduces energy bills.

The energy-saving nature of the Bulldoor™ has enabled Union Industries to assist Proton Group in securing an interest-free loan from the Carbon Trust to pay for the door. The interest-free loans are designed to pay for themselves through the energy savings that replacement equipment provides. The new door is expected to provide savings of £15,000 and 62 tonnes of CO2 per year! 

In common with the entire Matadoor™ Range, the door features Union’s highly-regarded ‘Crash-Out & Auto-Reset’ facility, which ensures that they remain operable if the bottom beam is hit by a speeding vehicle. This proven system, which has been on Union’s doors for almost 20 years, drastically reduces repair costs and guarantees minimal down-time.

The Union Bulldoor™ was installed at Proton Group just in time to combat the recent ‘Arctic’ weather conditions that have gripped the country. The door has ensured that staff were protected from the freezing temperatures and snowstorms.

Roy Burton, Maintenance Manager at Proton Group, said: “Our production area suffered from high levels of heat loss due to the need for near constant access. This made it both uncomfortably cold for our staff and highly energy inefficient. Saving energy and providing a comfortable working environment are very important to Proton Group and the Bulldoor™ from Union Industries has solved our problems.”