ENER-G introduces innovative clean air conditioning technology
Sustainable power group ENER-G has partnered with US-based Advantix Systems to introduce DuCool liquid desiccant clean air conditioning technology to the UK.
The new generation technology provides up to 80% energy savings and ‘scrubs’ air clean to remove 91% of air borne micro-organisms and 80% of particles larger than 5 microns, including allergens
DuCool uses naturally occurring salt solutions to absorb moisture from the air and then subsequently cools or heats the air to the required temperature. The technology is clean and can be refrigerant free, providing a greener and more hygienic solution to de-humidifying and cooling buildings.
Users can accurately control both the humidity and the temperature of the air independently, utilising up to 80% less energy.
This clean air solution improves the environment for occupants, but also improves filter life and prevents the growth of mould and mildew within the duct work and building structure. This is because the air recycled back to the unit is cleaned and freshened.
DuCool can provide huge efficiency improvements to both existing HVAC installations, or as a standalone solution for hotels and restaurants, leisure and health establishments, as well as commercial and industrial buildings.
It can also be powered by renewable energy, or low grade heat from many
sources,
including combined heat and power and waste heat from other processes, creating potential for further cost and carbon reduction. The new DuCool system will enable organisations to comply with the proposed Energy Using Product (EuP) directive from the European Commission, which requires seasonal efficiency ratings for all air conditioning equipment, whereby performance will be calculated and expressed according to its seasonal efficiency rating over the year. For further information contact Email:
james.hobday@energ.co.uk Tel: 07554 452359,
www.energ.co.uk
Hospital saves £9,000 on HVAC energy costs
demands made on a ventilation system in a building that was continually occupied. I found IDS to be very confident in gathering the energy use data – they assessed the motors and estimated that they were oversized. IDS then produced robust predictions that fitted in with our own expectations.”
ABB variable speed drives (VSDs) are saving a hospital £9,000 a year on the cost of running its air handling units (AHUs).
Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, is an acute and general hospital primarily serving the needs of people in Medway, Swale and North Kent. It was increasingly concerned by the energy consumption of the AHUs in the three plant rooms serving the hospital’s Block A.
Trish Marchant, deputy environmental manager of Medway Maritime Hospital says: “Our main driver is keeping our CO2 contribution low, as well as cutting energy costs, especially with the launch of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.” The hospital asked ABB Drives Alliance partner Inverter Drives Southern Ltd (IDS) to look into the application and make recommendation for improving its energy efficiency. Says Marchant: “We wanted a company that had experience of working in the NHS and that understood the
24 energy solutions
Each plant room has one supply and three extract fans. IDS measured the power consumption and determined that the AHUs cost a total of over £21,000 a year to run. They predicted that installing variable speed drives could cut this cost to just over £12,000 per annum, a saving of £9,000 and with 32 tonnes of CO2 saved per year.
The installation project involved IDS installing 12, ABB standard drives for HVAC, with ratings between 1 kW and 11 kW. At night, the speed of the fans is set back to 80 percent, while in the daytime they are set to 90 percent. The drives are integrated with the building management system (BMS) so the night set-back is engaged by the BMS to a centrally controlled time schedule. IDS worked closely with the hospital’s BMS vendor to ensure the correct I/O for the drives. “We were concerned about the quality of installation,” says Marchant, “particularly that the cables and drives would be sited so they were easy to
maintain. IDS did everything we asked – we had no issues with them and we found them to be a good, responsible contractor.”
The project was carried out with a loan from Salix Finance, a not-for-profit agency that provides interest-free loans to public bodies such as NHS trusts. Eventual savings from the project are on target to achieve the £9,000 per year, giving a payback time of 2.5 years.
“We have been very happy with the contract,” adds Marchant and have been looking for similar applications that could benefit from VSDs. I have been tweaking the settings of the VSDs to get the right comfort levels in the building. This is one of the major advantages of VSDs, the flexibility to adjust the set-point to suit the occupancy of the building. I would definitely recommend the use of VSDs in other similar situations, particularly for older AHUs where the motors may be oversized.” ABB –
www.abb.com – is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 117,000 people. Email:
energy@gb.abb.com www.abb.co.uk/energy
Building & Facilities Management – November 2010
HVRAC
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