30 Energy-Saving Equipment Chilling new water systems
TO MEET THE demand for a higher efficiency chilled water precision air conditioning product, Airedale International Air Conditioning, has launched a range of dedicated chilled water systems which outperform rival products in terms of cooling capacity for footprint and energy efficiency ratio. Available in capacities from 11kW to 233kW, the SmartCool SD, SN & SR range has been designed to maximise the use of the internal heat exchange area in addition to other energy efficient enhancements.
The new frame design on the SmartCool SD (60kW–233kW) facilitates a larger coil area and improved airflow path. The innovative slab coil arrangement, with filters located on the face of the coil, provides up to 15% more surface area for air flow and allows for low air-side pressure drop, increasing efficiency by lowering fan power. Energy efficiency in the SD model is further increased by locating the fans in the floor void.
The SmartCool SD is also designed with two fully modulating, two-way actuated ball
valves in place of a single three-way valve. In addition to improved efficiency, this brings further benefits as the two-way valve method of controlling the chilled water can be used as an auto-commissioning tool saving commissioning time.
Airedale’s SmartCool SN/SR models (11kW–60kW) are designed with innovative V-frame heat exchangers, again improving air flow through the unit and reducing pressure, to deliver market- leading efficiency levels and consistently outperform rival systems.
All units incorporate the latest release in fan technology. The backward-curved centrifugal EC fans are up to 70% more efficient than their AC equivalents and allow units to be configured to customer needs according to whether they require high airflow/high capacity or low airflow/ high efficiency. This makes units extremely competitive when considering both cooling capacity per footprint and efficiency. The aerodynamic design of the fans also helps reduce noise.
The SmartCool range is available in a number of different configurations to suit
a wide range of specifications including compact applications where space is a limiting factor.
One of the first orders received for the new range by the British manufacturer will see 20 SmartCool SD chilled water units delivered to their eastern European customer in December 2013.
Smart metering makes BPE easy – or does it?
BUILDING PERFORMANCE Evaluation (BPE) is here to stay, writes Alan Gilbert, general manager of BSRIA Instrument Solutions. With government driving towards 20% reduction in costs for its built estate and increasing unwillingness to accept design predictions as sufficient to prove outcomes, objective measurement will be key. Government Soft Landings and the implied BPE activities attest to this.
In the housing sector regulation is increasingly looking to proof of performance with a growing European focus on providing owners with objective labelling of homes. The recent announcements of the 2013 revisions of Part L have largely focussed on fabric issues but it seems likely that attention will now turn to the performance of installed HVAC plant and associated controls which themselves will present a challenge in proving that combinations of low carbon technologies are indeed working properly. All this is happening at the same time as measures to introduce smart metering are coming on-stream.
With a commitment to have full implementation by 2020, smart meters should provide a powerful means to assist with BPE of both commercial and non- commercial buildings but will they really realise this objective?
ACR News January 2014
At its lowest level the smart meter simply offers a remote display of energy use (often expressed in £) so that users are sensitised to consumption. Rarely are both gas and electricity monitored and I know of no instance where water is included as well. Water – especially hot water – is an increasing proportion of dwelling energy use and is largely ignored by householders. There is increasing evidence that this kind of visible display can have good initial impact but that users rapidly de-sensitise. Really, these meters are not smart but simply remote display devices.
More commonly ‘smart’ means that meter readings can be transmitted back to the supply company on a scheduled basis. This is the type currently planned to be used in the present roll-out. Again it is unlikely that all three services are monitored and the data is often collected at no more than half hour intervals. As an alternative to self-read or estimated billing they are undoubtedly an improvement and will help electricity companies come to terms with balancing home generation and network loading but the thorny problem of access to the data remains to be overcome.
Finally there is the possibility of the ‘really smart’ meter which will permit full two way communication between
utility and user thus bringing into reality the possibility of sophisticated demand management options for the power companies. Potentially this could be a rich source of data for BPE but ownership of the protocols and access rights are likely to be a serious hurdle to potential third party users of this resource. Even if full access to a multi-service, duplex remote metering scheme is possible it cannot provide the additional data that a proper BPE service demands. In order to interpret energy use data additional sensors are needed to enable forensic analysis.
Access to large volumes of user data is one key requirement to understanding just how the various interventions in existing dwellings or the application of new regulations in the built environment sector are working. We want to really deliver truly low energy (and carbon) buildings that are also healthy, productive and comfortable to use but, until the tangle of issues associated with privacy and smart metering are resolved then there is little alternative to detailed and expertly run BPE activity. There is a decade or more of this kind of work that will not only resolve issues in individual dwellings but also create a new generation of people able to interpret complex building physics and behavioural data.
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