As duty cycles vary from application to application, many motors run at less than 50% of their capacity most of the time, but their power draw does not fall proportionately and they consume much more power than they actually need at lighter loads.

Significant savings can only be made at loads of less than about 65% - you can't save energy that is doing real work.

On the other hand, many motors are oversized to begin with, and then only work intermittently. A good example is a wood saw, which is designed not to burn out even under maximum load for extended periods, but in normal operation the blade free-wheels much of the time until a log is fed into it and its load increases.

Using Powerboss, savings can be achieved both during loaded operation (typically 2-5%) and unloaded operation (typically 10-30%). Overall $$ savings will depend on:

• The ratio of loaded to unloaded operation
• Total operational hours a day
• The rated horsepower of the motor
• Power costs per kWh

Using a sophisticated 3-phase Power Analyzer, Applied Energy Products can analyze how efficiently a motor is operating, both loaded and unloaded, and predict with accuracy how much wasted energy can be eliminated.

Powerboss can even switch motors off automatically (100% energy savings!) when they are not being used - during the lunch hour, or while maintenance is being done, for example.