Page 8 - 251119_BJ_ME-Journal_14_digital
P. 8
Solution
Office and Manufacturing Facility,
Energy Efficiency through Automation
same electrification focus as the office HVACR
system.
Finally, the R&D area includes office space as
well as labs and testing chambers. The HVACR
system in this area is separate but similar to the
main office area and uses the same equipment
(chiller, AHUs, pumps, RTUs) as the rest of the
building but scaled down for the smaller area.
This system allows R&D teams to not only have
an isolated environment but also to apply and
test future releases of both hardware or software
in real-world conditions on active equipment.
The 6-pipe chillers are capable of simultaneously
© ABB cooling and heating by supplying chilled water
and hot water to either the air handlers, the VAV
As demand for increased energy effi- building started as a common, tilt-up construction boxes for reheat, or to the geothermal field. This
ciency and modernization has ramped style warehouse. After the shell was complete, 6600-gallon geo-exchange system allows the
up in the HVACR industry, manufactur- phase 1 started with the 2-story office area, training heat removed from the chilled water to be used
ers of HVACR equipment or components rooms and lab spaces built inside. Phase 2 was for heat recovery or stored in the geo-loop rather
must also expand their capacity to keep primarily the production and manufacturing space than rejected to the outdoor atmosphere. During
up with that demand. While having out- in the same shell building as well as connecting to the Wisconsin winter months, the chilled water
grown their existing manufacturing facil- an adjacent warehouse. Finally, phase 3 included is sent to the geo-loop and draws heat back
ities, the new 270,000 square foot ABB research and development testing labs, services out of the ground. By storing heat energy rather
variable frequency drives (VFDs) factory in and medium voltage manufacturing all within the than rejecting to the atmosphere, ABB reduces
New Berlin, WI looked to increase produc- same structure. energy consumption in the heating months by
tion output through improving manufac- not burning fossil fuels or using electric heat.
turing efficiency. This brand new facility The office space includes a separate HVACR
includes advancements on the production system from the production and R&D areas. The One air handling unit provides air to the office
floor in automation with smart-tools and office space central plant includes the following areas and lab spaces. This AHU utilizes 12 fans
robotics, as well as office space, training equipment: with IE5+ ultra premium efficiency EC Titanium
rooms, and research labs. With this variety WaterFurnace 6-pipe, ground-sourced chiller motors each with their own VFD. Redundancy
of building environments, the design of the with 150 tons of capacity and efficiency were paired in this design and
HVACR system focuses on many aspects Chilled water, hot water and condenser water the drives’ user control panel features were
used to reduce energy consumption and loops with N+1 redundant Taco pumps utilized during the system commissioning. After
maintain occupant comfort. Nortek (Ventrol) air handling unit with 12 fan taking occupancy for phase 1, many employees
array designed for 60,000 CFM mentioned audible noise from the air vents. Not
Building Construction and HVACR System Building pressure relief fans with Baldor EC having full access to the building automation
Titanium and Super-E motors system yet, ABB set out to use the VFDs’
The previous office space and factory were All fans and pumps are controlled with control panel interface to understand what was
used to showcase various HVACR equipment variable frequency drives, including ACH580, happening. By using data in the drives, presented
and drives controlled with a building automation ACH180 and integrated motor drive EC as a graphical trend on the control panel, ABB
system over BACnet. The decision was made to Titanium. identified that the fans were shutting off and
invest in a new facility and location that could turning back on then ramping up to recover
accommodate current demands and be capable of The manufacturing production area has a the duct static pressure. It was discovered the
supporting future growth. The new facility is also separate HVACR system from the office area as Start Command from the BAS was intermittently
meant to be a showcase for HVACR equipment, well as R&D. For the factory space, 12 AAON dropping out due to a loose wire. During
operations and integration, so presentation and rooftop units are spread over the area of the troubleshooting, the team discovered that the
open access to visitors was at the forefront of the building to serve a variety of production lines. Start Command digital input as well as the Status
system layout. Each unit is individually controlled and operating feedback relay output on all 12 VFDs were each
to its own space temperature. All the RTUs are run as a series loop back to the AHU controller.
With new construction comes innovative DX cooling coils, 2-stage compressors, electric When one or more loose wires were discovered
opportunities as well as overcoming challenges. The heat and outdoor air economizing following the on the status outputs, this was the cause of the
8 8 BACnet Middle East Journal 14 11/25
