Easyday - Case Study

Easyday, a neighborhood food and grocery store, is an Indian retail brand that
runs chains of consumer retail supermarkets and convenience stores. The brand is
wholly owned by Future Retail Ltd. Bharti Enterprises announced its foray into retail in
February 2007 and the first store was opened in Punjab in April 2008. Easyday
presently has 523 stores across 12 states.

Our correspondence with Easyday began in December 2017 at Janakpuri store

in New Delhi. The objective agreed between both the parties was to reduce the power
cost in the store by installing and analyzing Energyly’s smart energy meter and data
captured through Energyly dashboard respectively. So we split the objective into
workable plan and set out to bring about positive energy efficiency at Easyday.

Our agenda:
•To study real-time energy consumption of every device used in one
Easyday store,
•Find energy wastage and potential for energy savings,
•Get real-time ON/OFF status of devices remotely,
•To get real-time alerts if devices consume more power than the usual,
•To understand health of devices to identify for the need service or
replacement.

Installation
To study the machines used at Easyday, we installed an EGLY 12CH device to them
using a current transformer (CT) sensor.

What is a EGLY 12CH?

EGLY 12CH is Energyly’s Smart Energy Meter, which monitors energy and controls
machines in real-time through WiFi. This EGLY 12CH can be connected to a maximum
of 12 machines at your grocery and departmental store and can also be connected to a
3-phase supply.

How can the device monitor and control?

IoT devices often connect to the cloud using a SIM card that allows them to send data
streams from anywhere. Similarly, an EGLY 12CH has a SIM card placed inside it,
which transmits electrical data of the connected machines to the cloud in real-time.
These data are processed using Machine Learning algorithms and presents it’s analysis
through reports on power consumption, electricity, voltage, and energy in Energyly’s
Dashboard and App just like you can see below.
Machines used at Easyday store:
Before reading further you need to know which machines were being used at the store.
It will give you a clearer understanding of the analysis. The machines at the store and
that which were connected to our energy meter are:

AC : One 8.5 ton AC, one 5.5 ton AC and two 2.5 ton ACs
Diary Chillers : 2 Chillers
Meat Display Freezer : 1 Freezer
Frozen Chiller : 1 Freezer

Findings:
1. Defect in Compressor:
As we know, an AC cools a building by transferring the heat indoor to outdoor. It does so
by using a chemical refrigerant which absorbs the heat indoors and pumps it through
the pipes to the outside coil. The component used to pump the refrigerant to flow
through the system is called the compressor. It is the heart of the AC and is controlled
by a thermostat. This compressor functions only when the indoor temperature is more
than desired temperature and stops once the desired temperature is achieved. This
behaviour continues regularly thereby creating a pattern.

In Easyday’s case, the compressor did not function properly in both 8.5 ton and 5.5 ton
ACs. Although 8.5 ton AC has a regular compressor cut on and cut off pattern, it did not
happen on all days. Whereas in 2.5 ton AC, there was very little to no cut off in
compressor pattern.

2. Irregular working pattern of Frozen Chiller: (need to write)

3. Negligence of Company Policy:

Energyly reports showed that the ACs were being used during the lunch hours
continuously for several days despite there was a company policy that the ACs need to
be switched OFF everyday between 02.00 PM and 04.00 PM. This could also be
assuming that business might have happened during that time, anyway it helps the
company to frame better policies or allot a different period of time for energy
conservation if the lunch period brought considerable business.
4. Machine - Time Mismanagement
At Easyday, we identified that they did not have a fixed time in the morning and
at night to switch ON and OFF ACs respectively. They operated anytime between 08.00
to 10.00 AM and 08.00 to 10.00 PM, which ultimately led to an irregular pattern in
machine energy usage. At many times not having a fixed time may not appear to be a
concern to worry but only by having a system in place we can monitor the machines
regularly which will in turn help us to discover various energy efficiency opportunities.

Energy Efficiency at EasyDay

1. Savings Identified:
a) ACs used vs not used during lunch hours:
•5.5 Ton AC
•Without Lunch Hour Switch OFF (2 hrs): (6 units/hour x 12 hours x 30
days x ₹ 10/unit)= ₹ 21600 per month
•With 2 Lunch Switch OFF (2 hrs): (6 units/hour x 10 hours x 30 days x ₹
10 / unit) = ₹ 18000 per month. Savings potential ₹ 3600
•8.5 Ton AC
• Without Lunch Hour Switch OFF (2 hrs): (8 units/hour x 12 hours x 30
days x ₹ 10/unit)= ₹ 28800 per month
•With 2 Lunch Switch OFF (2 hrs): (8 units/hour x 10 hours x 30 days x ₹
10 / unit) = ₹ 24000 per month. Savings potential ₹ 4800

b) Meat Display Chiller (if cycle pattern corrected):

(2 units per day * 30days * ₹ 10 per unit ) = ₹ 600 per month

•Total Savings Potential per month = ₹ 9000 per month

2. ROI:
Given the savings potential, with a one time purchase of the smart energy meter
and recurring cloud charges, ROI can be attained in less than 6 months. With the
annual cloud charges being merely Rs. 3500, Easyday could easily save around
Rs. 1,04,500 a year per store.