SAS in suspended ceiling initiative
ASHRAE President to visit Doha
September 2010
trimming costs with CFD
Introducing...
Focus on FIRE safety Natural refrigerants – balancing ecology and economy
refrigeration... inside-out
Low-hanging
fruit?
How appealing is the VRV market? Plus Marketplace, comings and goings events watch www.climatecontrolme.com
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Vol. 5 No. 09 | september 2010
www.climatecontrolme.com 04 editorial
23
“Let’s bypass the procedures”
08 12 12 13
happenings
The region Ashrae update Comings and goings At large
14 MARKETPLACE
Transporting foodstuff from field to fork makes big business, but several issues remain unresolved.
16 perspective The magic number 65
The VRV market is a low-hanging fruit, waiting to be plucked.
20 case-in-point
Trimming costs with CFD The Columbia College, in Illinois, USA, was used as a test case to demonstrate optimisation of the cooling system using CFD analysis. The client was able to reduce both the size of the mechanical systems and recurring energy costs.
cold-chain supplement perspectives 25 When the
compressor goes kaput The pain associated with the failure of a compressor in daily operations of a large, multi-chain facility dealing in food and beverages.
28 The radio route
RFID-enabled sensors can be deployed to effectively track ambient parameters, as required by the cold chain.
30 overview Securing the cold-chain
12
16
Transporting foodstuff from field to fork makes big business, but several issues remain unresolved, say suppliers and service providers.
perspectives 35 All fired up!
Fires cause loss of life, damage property and harm the environment. HVAC fire protection issues inside buildings are, therefore, important.
40 LEEDing up to it
Sougata Nandi of TECOM demonstrates that the LEED certification is an achievable goal.
50 Natural refrigerants – balancing ecology and economy
35
20 4
CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
September 2010
Measures to save energy throughout the life of refrigerating systems are increasingly acquiring significance.
54 events watch
In your web browser, type: www.climatecontrolme.com and press enter. key perspectives on the region’s hvacr industry
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For editorial, contact: B Surendar (Editorial Director and Associate Publisher) Tel: +971 4 375 6831 GSM: +971 50 509 2457 E-mail: surendar@cpi-industry.com
editorial
Publisher Dominic De Sousa Managing Director & Associate Publisher Frédéric Paillé | fred@cpi-industry.com
“Let’s bypass the procedures”
T
here is no dearth of avenues for energy savings in refrigeration from an end-user perspective, be it in the form of evaporator efficiency, compressor and condenser efficiency; fan, rail heat and defrost efficiency and, not to forget, heat recovery. But given the lack of incentives for saving energy, end-users in the region seem more focused on reliability. The absence of a tier-bonus for consuming less power pushes energy efficiency down the list of priorities. Reliability, on the other hand, is viewed as crucial, considering that end-users reportedly lose an alarming number of compressors a year. While they point out to the innate inability of the component to withstand the rigours of operations, they equally blame poor installation practices and inadequate after-sales support and training, both of which, they say, deter their in-house technicians from properly maintaining the equipment or running it at optimal capacity. A case-in point: though suppliers are able to provide automatic controls, in-house technicians, owing to lack of proper knowledge, bypass the procedures and make it manual, which is counter-productive. The issue with compressors represents the so-called tip of the iceberg; indeed, other areas of concern demand attention. This issue of Climate Control Middle East includes the inaugural edition of a focused supplement on refrigeration-related issues. To be out on a half-yearly basis, Food Chain – for that’s what it is called – will seek to keep you informed on latest happenings in refrigeration in the form of feature articles, perspectives and case studies. To begin with, we speak on issues concerning the end-user, where a majority of the word-count deals with compressors. Another issue we have sunk our teeth into is supply chain and logistics, where we look at the world of RFID and how it can be deployed in the realm of cold-chain operations. I hope you enjoy the read and benefit from it. As usual, I’d love to receive feedback (surendar@cpi-industry.com) on Food Chain. As with all new ventures, we are highly excited about the prospect of taking the discussion to a higher realm in the coming months.
B Surendar
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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
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Editorial Director & Associate Publisher B Surendar | surendar@cpi-industry.com Associate Editor Jose Franco | jose@cpi-industry.com Contributing Editors Anoop K Menon | anoop@cpi-industry.com Pratibha Umashankar prati@cpi-industry.com Business Development Manager Vedran Dedic vedran@cpi-industry.com Events / Marketing Manager Deep Karani | deep@cpi-industry.com Design Rey Delante | rey@cpi-industry.com Webmaster Troy Maagma | troy@cpidubai.com Database/ Subscriptions Manager Purwanti Srirejeki purwanti@cpi-industry.com ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Frédéric Paillé: +971 50 7147204 fred@cpi-industry.com Vedran Dedic: +971 50 5574019 vedran@cpi-industry.com USA and Canada Kanika Saxena Director (North America) 25 Kingsbridge Garden Cir Suite 919 Mississauga, ON, Canada L5R 4B1 kanika@cpi-industry.com Tel/fax: +1 905 890 5031 China Sean Xiao Hui China Business Media Group Room 403, Block 17, Wuyimingzhu, No 6 Jinshan Road, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350008, China Tel: +86 591 8386 3000 Published by
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happenings
the region
DEWA’s new unit to serve VIP customers
Also launches region’s first e-service, including iPhone applications
I
n what it claims to be the first-of-its-kind governmental initiative, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced launching a Key Account Management section, which includes a VIP customers’ unit. According to DEWA, the new section aims to strengthen its strategic partnerships with its major stakeholders through the allocation of dedicated account managers. This, says DEWA, will speed up processes, facilitate completion of transactions, and in general, provide quality service, while keeping pace with the development of Dubai and serving all its residents. On the occasion of the launch, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, said: “DEWA continues its development at a steady pace, and moves ahead with
the implementation of vital projects to achieve the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in implementing Dubai Government’s strategy, aiming at promoting sustainable development and consolidating the position of Dubai as a worldwide financial, business and tourism hub.” He further added, “We visited our main customers to enquire on their needs and involve them in our continuing development plans, as well as facilitating the procedures and benefiting from their proposals and to meet their expectations. We also identified their expansion plans and future projects and the ways to secure their needs.” The announcement added that the visits would be
complemented by visits to quasi-governmental institutions, major developers, educational facilities, hospitals, shopping centres and other vital facilities. DEWA has reportedly extended its customer service network of offices throughout Dubai, with a view to reach the largest number of customers and facilitate access to services provided. The press release further revealed that DEWA had opened a Customer Care Centre at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (DNRD), in addition to two centres at Dubai Municipality’s new Community Services building in Al Twar and another one in Umm Suqeim. These centres, claimed DEWA, would enable its customers to pay their electricity and water bills, to
register new customers, pay and receive refund deposits, get meter examination requests and clearance certificates and other services provided by the customer service offices. According to DEWA, it will also open two new centres in the Gardens (Discovery Gardens) and in DEWA’s new building in Jebel Ali industrial area, while it already has seven independent centres across Dubai – Headquarters, Al Hudaiba, Al Wasl, Umm Ramool, Burj Nahar, Eyal Nasser and Al Reef Mall. DEWA also announced the launch of its region’s first e-service, including iPhone applications, targeting what it claimed to be a large segment of customers, who could take advantage of the services. These applications include providing services, such as GPS to locate customer centres, information pertaining to the offices, telephone numbers and working hours, and the ability to save and send data in “Business Card” format. The applications will allow customers to communicate with DEWA through e-mails or by visiting DEWA’s website, DEWA claimed.
Empower announces adopting new water-use technology
Claims that sustainable multi-use in district cooling prevents water loss in its daily operations
E
mirates Central Cooling Corporation (Empower) has announced adopting, what it claims to be an innovative system in water recycling, to enable the reuse of chilled water several times, aimed at saving energy. In this context, Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, said: “Empower tops its priority in preserving water resources through reducing the consumption of water used in providing district cooling services to its clients. The Executive Council in Dubai has ordered all district cooling companies in the emirate not to use desalinated water in its operations, and to use sea water and recycled sewage water instead. This aims at conserving energy
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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
September 2010
resources of the Emirate for sustainable development.” Empower claimed that it monitored sustainable use of the amount of water it used in its daily operations, without compromising the quality of its service. Corroborating this claim, Bin Shafar pointed out that cooling was essential for more than eight months a year in the region, making it even more imperative, not only to take advantage of modern technology, but also go the extra mile by innovating new technologies. He added that communities need to adopt the principle of energy conservation as their core value so that future generations could reap the benefit.
happenings
the region
Lloyds Banking Group to fuel RSS growth in Middle East Credit facility of $15M to be used towards geographic and product expansion plans
L
loyds Banking Group announced that its corporate markets team in Aberdeen has provided $15 million in extra credit facilities to Rental Services & Solutions (RSS), to support the power and cooling service provider’s growth plans. RSS, a provider of rental power, temporary cooling and mobile water solutions, is a global oil and gas services group based in Aberdeen. According to the announcement, the funding package will be used to facilitate both geographic and product expansion plans in response to growing demands for the company’s services in a global market worth £4 billion annually. In this context, Milan Balac, Managing Director of RSS, said: “RSS has been extremely well supported by Lloyds
Banking Group since our incorporation in 2007. We are very happy to have the bank as a business partner and to be able to announce this additional facility, especially during such horrid global economic conditions.” Graham Fiddes, Relationship Director with Lloyds Banking Group Corporate Markets in Aberdeen and North of Scotland, added: “Lloyds Banking Group is continually looking for ways to support the business community, and this announcement is yet further evidence of the bank’s open approach to lending. We are talking to more and more companies about their growth and recovery plans, and enter the second half of the year with very high expectations in terms of the number and size of
transactions and facilities we will deliver.” RSS reportedly has recently diversified into the wider Middle East region in order to reduce its dependency on Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where some of their clients include, the Jumeirah Palm Islands, the Dubai Metro station, Aldar Abu Dhabi, Masdar University and Burj Khalifa. With the assistance of Lloyds Banking Group, claimed the announcement, RSS has expanded its asset base, geographical coverage and range of services to better equip it for current and future market conditions, thus allowing RSS to aim for a bigger share of a growing market throughout the Middle East. RSS is now reportedly providing rental power and temporary cooling in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman,
SAS provides ceiling system for futuristic building Suspended ceiling forms centrepiece for Aldar’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi
S
AS International has announced that it has provided a System 150 metal suspended ceiling solution for the interior fit-out, for what is claimed to be the first spherical building of its kind in the region – Aldar’s headquarters at Al Raha Beach on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi. The Category A international office development, which was voted the Best Futuristic Design by The Building Exchange (BEX) Conference,
10
CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
held in Spain, has 50,000m2 of lettable space. According to SAS International, the suspended ceiling system was required to make a significant contribution to acoustic comfort within the office areas, taking into consideration both open plan acoustic absorption and room-to-room privacy. In addition, acoustic flexibility for future tenants had to be considered, to suit individual space-planning requirements.
September 2010
Given these specifications, SAS System 150 metal ceiling tiles, featuring a bespoke perforated pattern with 100mm wide plain borders, were specified for all floors throughout the 23-storey building, said SAS International. It explained that to compensate for the reduced area of perforation, a special pattern with an enlarged hole diameter was designed and combined with high-performance mineral wool acoustic inserts.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Cyprus and Pakistan. Future expansion will include, Latin America, China, India, Africa and the Mediterranean, the announcement added.
According to SAS International, a metal ceiling system was used, as it is a hygienic and a lowmaintenance option over the course of its lifespan of more than 25 years, as it offers an inert and inherently hardwearing surface, resulting in a ceiling that is both sophisticated and practical. SAS International claimed that the Aldar headquarters had sustainability credentials, as it has been developed in line with the LEED-rating system. It added that the commercial development had been built using a material palette that included steel, glass and concrete – materials that could be recycled.
Doha engineer invents cooling device Solar energy-run Cooling Palm claims to be suited for both indoor and outdoor use
A
ccording to a news item in The Peninsula, Farej Sakeri, a Qatari engineer, has designed, what is touted to be an environment-friendly device, called the Cooling Palm. It claims to considerably reduce heat and high levels of humidity in the atmosphere. Speaking to The Peninsula, Sakeri said: “The multifunctional device can reduce the temperature from some 450ºC to 200ºC. It can also reduce humidity from 60% to 10%, and can also increase the oxygen content in the air from 24% to 40%. It can also absorb the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.” He added that that it had been created keeping in mind the needs of the GCC region.
Alluding to the name of the device, Sakeri explained that since it could be camouflaged to blend into the local landscape in the form of a date palm, it had been named Cooling Palm. Explaining the working of the device, the news item said that the device owes its multifunctionality to gadgets that can filter air. These include a device that absorbs the moisture in the air, thereby reducing humidity. Another device, then, converts the moisture into water, by condensing it. The water is stored in a tank, and is taken to the top of the Cooling Palm when needed. Here, a device called the Industrial Fog Valve converts the water
into cold fog and sprays it into the atmosphere. “The whole machine is based on solar energy and it needs no electricity or water to run,” said Sakeri. “The leaf-like structures in the palm help to absorb the sun’s energy. The whole machine stands at a height of 40 metres.” He added that the fog cloud would reach the height of 35 metres from the ground and cover an area of 100 square metres. This can bring down the ambient temperature to between 200ºC and 250ºC. These clouds can also help block the sun’s rays. “The machine can be installed in all public places. Open areas like the Corniche and the souqs in
September 2010
Qatar can be cooled in this manner, thereby attracting more visitors,” Sakeri told the daily. “The device can be modified and installed at homes.” According to the announcement, though the device was invented by Sakeri, the design of the machine itself was suggested by a senior official in a cleaning company in Doha. The device, therefore, will soon be patented in the name of the company. However, this is not the first device that the engineer has invented, the daily claimed. Sakeri is also credited with creating Zero Smoking, a technology that handles fumes and smoke in factories to reduce its impact on the environment. [© The Peninsula 2010]
CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
11
ashrae update ASHRAE Oryx chapter training programme eQUEST course will equip participants in building energy-use analysis
T
he Ashrae Oryx Chapter, Qatar), will conduct a twoday training programme on October 8 and 9 at Doha Millennium Hotel. The programme is titled ‘The Building Energy Modelling Course’, and is on the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) modelling software, eQUEST (Quick Energy Simulation Tool). Alan Millin, Head of Technical Services, Mace Macro International, will be the trainer. According to the organisers, attendance will be limited to 15 people, on first-come-first-serve basis. For details, the Chapter president can be reached at rgabrial@gmail.com. Alan Millin
ASHRAE President to visit Doha Bellenger to speak on the topic, ‘Modelling a sustainable world’
A
SHRAE Society President, Lynn G Bellenger, will be visiting Doha on October 5, the Qatar Oryx Chapter has revealed. Bellenger, P.E., will be giving a technical presentation, titled ‘Modelling a sustainable world” on the same date at the SinSima Hall at Doha Millennium Hotel. Bellenger, is a partner with Pathfinder
Engineers and Architects LLP, Rochester, New York. She is ASHRAE-certified as a Building Energy Modelling Professional and a High Performance Building Design Professional. Bellenger is the first female president in the Society’s 116-yearhistory. For information on the presentation, contact rgabrial@gmail.com.
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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
September 2010
P
osition will increase involvement with pump OEMs in HVAC, water and other market segments Danfoss has announced that its VLT Drives division has appointed Frank Taaning-Grundholm as Global Pump OEM Business Manager – a position that has been newly created. According to Danfoss, TaaningGrundholm will be based in the company’s headquarters in Denmark, and will be responsible for sales to all international and major regional pump original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including business development, marketing, product portfolio and application support. He will also help increase the company’s involvement with pump OEMs. Danfoss said that prior to assuming his new position, Taaning-Grundholm worked with Danfoss as the Global Business Development Manager, Water and Wastewater. He has more than 15 years’ experience working with variable-speed drives for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and water, and has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.
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happenings
at large
‘Friends of natural refrigerants’ to unite at Chillventa Eurammon invites like-minded parties to attend lecture series
E
urammon, the European initiative for natural refrigerants, revealed in a press release that it would be providing information about the latest developments in the use of natural refrigerants, at this year’s Chillventa – the international trade fair for refrigeration, air conditioning, ventilation and heat pumps – taking place from October 13 to 15, in Nuremberg. The highlight of the event, said Eurammon, is a series of lectures under the rubrics, Applications with natural refrigerants – country situation and experience, that will be held at the CCN on October 14 from 930am to 1130am. Extending an invitation to planners, operators and system engineers, Eurammon claimed that
international experts in the field would be appraising participants on the current scenario and experience gained in the use of natural refrigerants in countries across the world. The initiative, said Eurammon, was an attempt to bridge the gap between industrialised and emerging and developing nations. The event will be chaired by Monika Witt, Chair of the executive board at Eurammon, it added. According to Eurammon, the lectures would be followed by a traditional brunch organised for, what it dubbed, ‘Friends of Natural Refrigerants’, which would provide an opportunity, not only for an interactive session with experts, but also to cultivate contacts with the international refrigeration/air conditioning fraternity.
Programme details: 920am: Inauguration – Monika Witt 930 am: Changes in the industrial refrigeration industry in North America – Bruce Badger, International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration 10am: Natural refrigerants in Denmark – situation and experiences – Svenn Hansen, Danish Technological Institute 1030am: Applications with natural refrigerants – the Brazilian situation and experiences – Tomaz Cleto, Yawatz Engenharia 11am: Reasons and barriers in switching to natural refrigerants in the developing countries – how to overcome them – Risto Ciconkov, University Ss Cyril & Methodius From 1130am: Brunch for ‘Friends of Natural Refrigerant’ at the Eurammon stand, 314, Hall 1
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marketplace
This section contains regional and international products information
Niagara Blower Company
Wet Surface Air Cooler (WSAC)
S
aying that the closedloop, evaporative Wet Surface Air Cooler (WSAC) is a practical solution to a wide range of heat transfer applications for power facilities in simple and combined cycle plants, the Niagara Blower Company, a designbuild manufacturer, has introduced the product to the market. According to the manufacturer, the applications of WSAC include, auxiliary loop cooling, vacuum steam condensing, heat recovery steam generator blowdown cooling, and turbine inlet air cooling.
WSAC at power facility
The company lists the following benefits of the product: • Simpler system design • Lower parasitic energy (HP) • Reduced water use and the ability to use poor quality water as makeup • Ability to run dry during lower ambient temperatures for more water savings • Can be used for water management in certain applications • Competitive installed cost • Minimal maintenance required Niagara Blower Company, pointing out that water use and disposal issues have become increasingly important in power plant design, highlight that sources of water that WSAC can handle include cooling tower blowdown, reverse osmosis (RO) discharge, condensate, pond water, gray water and sewage effluent. The manufacturer claims that due to wide tube spacing and use of more durable materials for construction, higher cycles of concentration can be achieved. It further claims 14
CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
September 2010
that commonly used for adding capacity in ‘thermally challenged’ plants, WSAC coolers and condensers offer additional direct cooling without requiring additional tower capacity or makeup water. According to the company, WSAC can double up as a first-stage evaporator, because, it says that the more water that can be evaporated in the heat transfer mode, the less needs to be handled in secondary (and costly) water treatment systems. Thus, the product has an advantage for zero discharge facilities, it claims. Product features: • Each WSAC system is custom-designed to fit a specific heat transfer application. • Design parameters are based on customer specifications for input and output temperatures as well as ambient weather conditions. • Units vary in size from smaller packaged/skidded to large field-erected units.
E+E Elektronik
Wireless sensor EE240
S
aying that they provide high quality, wireless measurement of humidity, temperature and CO2, E+E Elektronik has introduced wireless data transmission, Wireless sensor EE240. The manufacturer claims that up to three intelligent probes can be connected to each transmitter and that each probe operates independently and can be hot swapped. Explaining the working of the product, E+E Elektronik says that remote probes allow the sensing head to be placed at a distance of up to 10 metres away from the transmitter, making the wireless sensors suited
for industrial applications that require sensors to be routinely recalibrated without affecting network operation. The measured values can be read directly off the display on the transmitter or read remotely, using a web browser from any PC in the company network. The integrated web server allows the user to individually configure the wireless sensor network from a PC without installing any software, adds E+E Elektronik. Product features and advantages: • E+E wireless sensors conform to protection class IP65, making them suitable
for use under demanding operating conditions, as well as in outdoor applications. • The base station features a digital Ethernet interface to connect to the network and for data analysis. • The base station comes with four analogue outputs for connection to the user’s system controller.
September 2010
• A mobile measuring system with up to 500 transmitter stations can be built without having to install any wiring. • Coded bidirectional communication ensures secure data transmission. • Wireless routers are available to expand the network and range or to bypass obstacles.
CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
15
perspective
The magic number 65 The VRV market is a low-hanging fruit, waiting to be plucked, says Anil Pakale, Regional Sales Manager of Daikin McQuay ME, in an interview with B Surendar, adding that the company has set its sights on capturing 65% of the region’s market.
B
acked by what it claims to be 65% of the global market share for VRVs (Variable Refrigerant Volume air conditioning units), worth $7 billion, Daikin McQuay set up shop in Abu Dhabi in January, with the avowed objective of capturing 65% of the region’s market. Anil Pakale at the helm of affairs, has been mandated with achieving the magic number. It is not a difficult feat to pull off, believes Pakale, despite the DC mantra continuing to hold strong in the region. He has his reasons – and probably a few aces up his sleeve. District cooling has lost its sheen, he thinks, and it is time to go back to the future, and the future lies in VRVs, he argues. But he builds the background first, before staking his, and Daikin McQuay’s claim. “Daikin took over McQuay in 2006 and came to be known as Daikin McQuay,” says Pakale. “Prior to that, McQuay was owned by a Malaysian company, where the emphasis was not on R&D but on milking the cow. But Daikin is committed to product innovation and R&D, and that’s evident from the market – the turnover for Daikin is $13.3 billion.” Daikin and McQuay had different distributors before the merger, reveals Pakale. After the merger, one of the strategies the company deployed was to sidestep the distributors and deal with the end-users directly. “It happened as of September 2009. And now, the products are directly sold by our 16
CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
engineers, with the exception of small DX units,” Pakale adds. Speaking about the recently set up UAE operation, Pakale says: “We started building a team. We have six engineers in Abu Dhabi. Daikin McQuay was not doing even $2 million till September 2009. Whatever sales was happening was through distributors and direct sales efforts by McQuay sales engineers, based in Dubai. But this year alone, since we are going without any distributors or dealers in Abu Dhabi, we will do three to four times the business.” Pakale is confident that his company will continue to multiply by a factor of two every year, as he estimates that the market size for HVAC equipment is $200 million in Abu Dhabi. “The market here
Anil Pakale
September 2010
is primarily an applied market or a DC market – chillers, air-handling units (AHUs),” he says. “For three to four years from now, the market will be focused only on the air side of things – stuff like FCUs and AHUs. This is because the largest district cooling provider here – Tabreed – has built a lot of redundant capacity.” Here, Pakale hits the most vulnerable soft underbelly of district cooling – too much of air conditioning tonnage in the market, that did not anticipate the real estate slump. Consequently, district cooling is cooling off in Abu Dhabi, with demand waning considerably. The VRV market is poised to step into the breach, predicts Pakale. In fact, he believes that it already has a foot in the door. “They would still have some places where the developers and owners have not reached an agreement with the district cooling provider. So, they will, on their own, build smaller water-cooled plants,” says Pakale. “They have no other choice but to do so, because their projects have been designed for district cooling,” Pakale pronounces. Pakale’s pronouncements obliquely allude to the worst-case scenario: In the event of not having yet reached an agreement with the district cooling provider, the developers and owners of some of the projects will be forced to install plants – albeit smaller in size – on their own, as against the monolithic ones built earlier with excess capacity, which were unfortunately, not put to
perspective optimum use. Pakale cites instances of such developments – MENA Plaza, Capitala and Arzanah Medical Complex. “All these are typically 4,000 to 5,000 TR capacity plants,” he says. “In the present scenario, not many big-sized district cooling plants will come up,” he prophesies. Pakale offers Sheikh Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, as another example of a customer, who, having waited for a connection, has decided to fend for itself. “It has gone ahead and installed a 6,000 TR plant on its own,” says Pakale. “Fibrex is the MEP contractor for the project. Fibrex is also doing a mall – Deerfield Mall – close to Shahama, which, again, is small in capacity (5,000 TR). It had
18
CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
been designed for district cooling, and, is, therefore, stuck with no other option but to go ahead with water-cooled centrifugal plants.” Speaking against this backdrop, Pakale makes a case for VRVs as opposed to a networked system like district cooling, as he believes that most plants are shifting from district cooling schemes to standalone units. “Had these customers not designed their projects with district cooling in mind, they could have gone for alternatives, such as air-cooled chillers, VRVs and multiple split-unit systems,” Pakale points out. He thinks that the market is now ripe and ready for VRVs, and that Daikin McQuay has responded proactively to
September 2010
the situation. “We would be looking to supply chillers to those that have already been designed with district cooling in mind; for the rest, we are looking to supply VRVs,” he explains. “We are working with the top two or three consultants, who are in association with three government entities – Town Planning, Abu Dhabi Municipality and Musanada. The three entities are looking for energy-efficient possibilities in standalone systems as part of Abu Dhabi’s 2030 Vision.” If this, indeed, is the case, it implies a turnaround, Pakale feels, as this stance is at variance with the generally accepted view, or rather the perception, that district cooling is more energy-efficient than standalone units. In fact, district cooling has always been promoted as a more sustainable solution, he says. “The three entities are not looking at district cooling; they are going to enforce designs on projects,” Pakale emphasises. “The owner is supposed to follow the designs, else Town Planning or the Municipality will not give approval for other things, and so their projects will get delayed,” he elaborates. This is where suppliers of standalone units, like VRVs, come into the picture, Pakale feels. They can supply the projects with VRV systems, which are an alternative to water-cooled systems. Casting our gaze farther, it is interesting to note here that Daikin McQuay also manufactures water-cooled chillers, thus placing it in a win-win situation. If a project has been specifically designed for district cooling, Daikin McQuay has an opportunity to supply the customer with water-cooled chillers; wherever district cooling has not been prescribed as the norm, it can carve itself a market to supply VRV systems. “The three entities are specific about the type of system to be used, and the type of refrigerant to be used,” Pakale points out, and explains further: “They have called lots of vendors and listened to them, and they are looking positively at VRV systems. The VRV market in Abu Dhabi stands at between $10 million and $12 million. But with efforts of all VRV suppliers (that is, getting into discussions with consultants), we can grow the market to $100 million in three years’ time. And Daikin McQuay wants 65% of that market – consistent with our global market share of 65%.” One can almost hear Pakale declaring, “QED – quod erat demonstrandum!” Not content with proving the point he originally set out to prove, Pakale
The magic number 65
takes the logical premises further: “Though it comes at a premium, we believe that our VRV system is more energy efficient than that of our competitors, and that it has a faster payback period than that of our competitors or other systems,” he says, and adds, “Ours is an air-cooled system with the efficiency of a watercooled system, at full load. And at part load, it outweighs and is far superior to a water-cooled system, because it gets the advantage of low dry bulb. (In their case, wet bulb does not drop as drastically as dry bulb.) “We also have water-cooled VRVs that are more efficient (25% additional energy savings), but they have not caught on.” He concludes his argument with a rhetoric question: “If we go for water-cooled chillers, then why not for water-cooled VRVs?” He, then, proceeds to answer the question himself: “If the application permits, then go for water-cooled VRVs; if no water is available, then go for aircooled VRVs.” Pakale drives home the point when he says, “In district cooling schemes, the total installed cost is two to three times more than the cost of equipment. In VRV, we are just 25% of the total installed cost. It is just a straight run of interconnected pipes – copper pipes, quarter of an inch to one inch in diameter, which are easy to lay and easy to service. You clip it (pipe) on the wall and run it full load. You can get 1.1 to 1.2 kW/TR for Abu Dhabi conditions. Another advantage is that it has an in-built BTU meter. Every single indoor VRV machine has an in-built eletronic-expansion valve and that acts as a BTU metering unit. So, we can do a billing system.” It appears that in Pakale’s opinion, the VRV market is a low-hanging fruit, waiting to be plucked. But what about large-scale applications? How do VRVs work there, if at all? Pakale concedes that it is still a district cooling domain. But he is quick to cite an example to prove the contrary. “In Japan, though, in a 100-storey building, which is on a DX system, they have a VRV regimen in place,” he says. Speaking of market closer home, Pakale lists projects in Abu Dhabi that have opted for VRVs: “VRV units have already been applied at St Regis Resort, on Saadiyat Beach, which includes 32 luxury villas. We are doing 100 outdoors there. And 56
villas under supply in ADNOC Ruwais Housing Complex; it is 224 outdoors in that project,” he adds, and further claims, “It is the first time in history that ADNOC is going for VRVs, owing to power and noise reduction. The outdoor unit noise is 65dB at 46 ambient and one metre. In the case of a chiller, if you are standing next to a centrifugal, the noise is 85 to 90dB (some chillers emit even 100dB at one metre). To quantify, every 3dB is twice the noise. So 3dB less is half the noise.” Pakale also adds to the list three schools in Musanada, which are currently being fitted with VRVs. “It will be completed by the time the new semester starts in September. That is 200 outdoors, three schools put together,” says Pakale.
The long-term plan, he explains, is to revamp the system in 400 schools in the coming years by fitting them with VRVs. This, he claims, is just the tip of the iceberg. “We are yet to meet all the consultants,” he says, and adds, “The biggest order in VRV for Daikin McQuay is in Qatar, though – at the Samariya Tower in Doha. It is a 60-storey building, and we are supplying 6,000 TR worth of cooling.” Does this translate into a bigger wedge of the market pie? Is the magic number 65 that Daikin McQuay wants to reach immeasurably near? And more important, will standalone units eventually elbow out district cooling giants? The jury is still out on this one. It might hand in a split verdict – a ‘multi-split’ verdict, perhaps!
September 2010
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case-in point
Trimming costs with CFD
The Columbia College, in Illinois, USA, was used as a test case to demonstrate optimisation of the cooling system using CFD analysis. The client was able to reduce both the size of the mechanical systems and recurring energy costs, write Prashant Ojha and R Srihari. gases with surfaces defined by boundary conditions. The crucial elements of computational fluid dynamics are discretisation, grid generation and coordinate transformation, solution of the coupled algebraic equations and turbulence modelling visualisation. The most fundamental consideration in CFD is, how one treats a continuous fluid in a discretised fashion on OBJECTIVE Mechartés Researchers conducted CFD analysis of the Columbia College auditorium, in Chicago, Illinois, with the objective of optimising the mechanical cooling system in a spacious area. The auditorium is used for filmmaking and animation. So, apart from heat seepage through the walls and also due to human involvement, it had 50 big light fixtures of 5,000 watts, which contributed to extra heat gain of 250KW. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is one of the branches of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyse problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and 20
Figure 1: 3-D Image of the auditorium at Columbia College, Chicago
Figure 2
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a computer. One method is to discretise the spatial domain into small cells to form a volume mesh or grid and, then apply a suitable algorithm to solve the equations of motion, like the Navier-Stokes Equation. (See figure 1). To achieve this end, a 3-D model was created using pre-processing tools, for the auditorium, which is 72 feet in length, 36 feet in width and 22 feet in height. Further, the model was discretised using an appropriate meshing scheme. It must be noted here that various important parameters needed to be considered for the CFD analysis, categorised as inlet parameters. The analysis served the purpose of figuring out the effectiveness of cooling inside the auditorium. A lengthwise displacement diffuser was located at eight feet above the ground, with fresh air flowing at 55oF DBT and 60% RH. The outlet grill was located at a height of 15 feet above the ground level. The floor was designed with radiant tubing. The underneath which was maintained at 2oF above the dew point temperature inside the room and the air flow rate was 3,200CFM. Further, the sources of heat gain were identified in consultation with the client and were appropriately modelled numerically in the CFD
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case study
Prashanth Ojha
R Srihari
software. These sources of sensible and latent heat gain inside the auditorium space were through the external walls, which accounted for the thermal resistance of the wall, human occupants and also due to the equipment. This included light fixtures, which were designed for radiation as well convection heat gain. (See figure 2). RESULTS The analysis was performed with certain assumptions and boundary conditions. Consequently, a steady state condition was achieved, the materials were homogeneous
and there was negligible radiation exchange and contact resistance. The results clearly showed a thermal stratification, where the temperature was maintained at 75oF at a height up to eight feet. Also, the relative humidity was maintained at 50% to 60%. Effective cooling was done only till the height of 10 feet, thus reducing energy consumption by mechanical devices, and the system as a whole. Further, it was also observed that depending on the light positions, the effective cooling provided by the radiant floor varied from 10 tonnes to 15 tonnes.
Relative humidity in %
Radiant floor: Radiant flux in (w/m2)
CONCLUSION The optimisation technique was used to design the cooling system for the Columbia College auditorium
Temperature contours in °F
Velocity contours in m/s
applying Computational Fluid Mechanics. It was observed that the client was eventually able to reduce the size of the mechanical systems – chillers, fans, ducts and louvres – by 50%, which yielded a cost-saving of approximately $250,000 in capital expenditure alone. More important, the recurring energy cost was reduced enormously, and the building was granted a LEEDgold rating. 22
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Prashanth Ojha has a Masters degree in CFD from the Moscow State University and B Tech from NIT, India. He is a Design and Analysis Engineer at Mechartes Researchers. He can be contacted at prashant@ mechartes.com. Srihari is a Diploma holder in CFD with a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, India. He is a CFD Engineer at Mechartes Researchers. He can be contacted at Srihari@ mechartes.com.
a climate control middle East supplement
R efrigeration . . . inside - out
Securing the cold-chain Transporting foodstuff from field to fork makes big business, but several issues remain unresolved.
perspective
When the compressor goes kaput Bharat Asarpota elaborates on the pain associated with the failure of a compressor in daily operations of a large, multichain facility dealing in food and beverages.
T
he use of refrigeration systems is almost indispensable when it comes to several activities in modern society. Such systems are responsible for everything from providing thermal comfort in office buildings to maintaining low temperatures (-25ºC to 0ºC) in refrigerated chambers, so that food products are preserved. For such systems, one of the main components is the compressor. The main function of the compressor is to aspirate a certain amount of refrigerant vapour produced by the evaporator and increase its pressure and, consequently, its temperature. The lifecycle of a compressor can be divided into four phases: definition and conceptual design, detailed design and development, manufacture and operation. At the onset, considering that compressors have a high rate of failure, I would like to say that efforts to improve reliability must be undertaken during the detailed design and operation phases. In certain installations in the
UAE, it has clearly emerged that failures associated with compressors represent 10% of the total failure of the equipment but nearly 45% of the total cost of maintenance, which reinforces the importance of further studies to minimise the failure of compressors. A growing concern to those using the compressor is the efficiency of the refrigeration system, which can be achieved through proper maintenance. Indeed, faulty operation and failure of the components causes a high loss of energy. In that context, answering the following questions related to the system or equipment is necessary: 1) How can each component of the system fail, or what are their failure modes? (By answering this question, a failure mode can be understood as a set of factors and demands imposed on a certain piece of equipment during its operation. Those factors and demands will promote the end of the piece of equipment’s life cycle, or they can be the mechanism that provokes that piece of
equipment to fail.) 2) What are the effects of such failure on the system? 3) What is the evidence that failure has occurred (or, is there any)? 4) In what way is the failure a threat (if there is any) to safety or to the environment? 5) How does the failure affect the production or the operation of the equipment (if at all)? 6) What is the physical damage caused by the failure (if there is any)? 7) How critical are those effects? 8) How can one detect the failure? 9) What are the actions that should be implemented to avoid, prevent, or minimise the effects of that failure? At this juncture, it is important to understand the failures, which can be classified into three types: Early failures: There is a high occurrence of the component failing due to poor application and/or installation errors. The failure rate decreases as time passes. Random failures: This is September 2010
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perspective
characterised by a very low and constant failure rate. Failure is caused by less controllable factors, such as power surges, mechanical impact and vibration. Therefore, the prediction/ prevention of such failures is more difficult. Ageing or wear out: There is an increase in the failure rate at this point due to the natural wearing away (friction and corrosion) that increases as time passes. These failures tend to be dominated by cumulative effects, such as corrosion, fatigue cracking and embrittlement. Based on the analysis of reports and literature, compressors could produce several modes of failures. This can be inferred, because the equipment is composed of electrical and mechanical components that can fail independently and affect performance. Reliability is determined by analysing, for a predefined period, the amount and type of failures that occur and determining the warranty period for that equipment. Based on reports analysed, typically the following failures are detected: 1) Liquid refrigerant flood 26
back (includes flooded start) 2) Lubrication problems 3) High superheating 4) Contamination (includes humidity, air impurities, oxide contamination and copper plating) 5) Electrical problems (includes electrical motor overload and breakup of the coiling of the electrical motor) 6) Fabrication defects 7) Other failures (This classification takes electrical failures, mechanical overloads, fatigue and highand low-aggressive wear into consideration.) It should be pointed out that most of the compressor failure modes have their origins in problems related to the project and/ or the installation of the refrigeration system. Even though these problems are related to the system, their effects directly influence the compressor. My personal experience has shown that in most cases, designers do no revisit their design to verify whether the design works, as planned. Facilities Management personnel have a big role
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In certain installations in the UAE, it has clearly emerged that failures associated with compressors represent 10% of the total failure of the equipment.
to play in maintaining the capital investment made. If the design itself is at fault, the FM personnel can do little but wait and watch for the inevitable to happen, which is a premature failure of equipment. Often, service contracts are given to the lowest bidder, all other things being equal. This may not work with the best results, in most cases. Maintenance providers should have the requisite trained personnel to carry out their tasks. With newer technology being incorporated into equipment, I find that service providers do not invest sufficiently in their personnel to engage new technology. My specific experience is in multiple locations spread over a wide geographical area, wherein it is logistically and economically implausible to have in-house staff to maintain and service the equipment. With the state of manpower movement in the Middle East, trained manpower tends to move to better-paying jobs. If service providers depend on certain key personnel for providing reliable service, absence of these personnel causes a huge impact on the end-user’s equipment To increase the reliability of compressors in the operation phase, it is recommended that the refrigeration system installation be carefully designed, installed and maintained, because a fault in installation can induce failure modes in a compressor. A detailed study of failures will help to improve the performance of refrigeration compressors, as such studies share information that will help others better understand the failures and provide more qualified information for the maintenance staff. The writer is Building Maintenance Manager with Emarat (Emirates General Petroleum Corporation). He can be contacted at bharat_asarpota@emarat.ae.
perspective
The radio route
RFID-enabled sensors can be deployed to effectively track ambient parameters, as required by the cold chain, says Soma Sekhar Vedantam.
W
ell-implemented supply-chain applications provide significant benefits to all organisations involved with increased visibility, tracking and traceability. In the case of coldchain applications, the ambient parameters are also to be monitored and are important. The emphasis on this issue stems from the social, economic and environmental impact it can have. RFID technology provides the capability to automate the supply chain. RFIDenabled sensors can track the ambient parameters, as well, as required by the cold chain. RFID-enabled sensors, working with wireless communications infrastructure and providing location and ambience information in real-time, provide the ability to act on adverse conditions and negative events, and prevent products from going bad. 28
As companies assess their cold-chain practices, RFID-based temperaturemonitoring systems offer inherent advantages when compared to standard data loggers/monitors. RFIDenabled data loggers have yet to be widely deployed, yet the need to protect highvalue, temperature-sensitive drugs/perishables will focus increasing attention on RFID cold-chain solutions. Choices of RFID technologies An RFID system for coldchain purposes generally encompasses a sensor, a tag and a reader that communicate with one another by means of radio transmission. RFID tags can store an EPC for logisticsmanagement purposes, and if equipped with the appropriate sensor and battery power, a limited number of temperature readings.
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RFID tags can be separated into the following categories: a. Passive RFID tags. These tags rely on the power supplied by the reader. When radio waves from the reader are encountered by a passive RFID tag, the coiled antenna within the tag forms a magnetic field. The tag draws power from it, energising the circuits in the tag. The tag, then, sends the information encoded in the tag’s memory. The lack of an integrated power supply means that passive tags can be very small. Therefore, passive tags can be embedded in stickers and other similarly flat presentations. b. Active RFID systems (battery-powered). The reliability of active tags is typically higher than that of passive tags due to the ability of active tags to conduct a “session� with a reader. Active tags also
transmit at higher power levels than passive tags, allowing them to be more effective in environments commonly found during food distribution. Examples of these situations could be the transmission of information in crowded enclosures (examples: humans and cattle); data transmission from tags attached to boxes, which may be placed in the middle of a tightly packed container of fruit, meat or other products with high moisture content; transmission through metallic walls (examples: shipping containers and trucks) or transmission from long distances (example: containers in transit). c. Semi-passive tags. These systems are also batterypowered. However, they use the passive RFID interface, thus allowing wireless access to the device without
using the internal power source. The battery size is, therefore, smaller than in the active tags. The preferred RFID embodiments for environmental monitoring of food supply chains are semi-passive or active tags, coupled with sensors. Tags can collect a wide range of information, such as temperature, humidity, shock/vibration, light, radiation and concentration of gases (example: ethylene). The information collected by the tags is “harvested” by a gateway or hub, which then transmits the data to a server, through the use of digital mobile telephony (GSM) or local area networks, which can be wireless (WLAN) or with wired Ethernet connection (LAN). Data collected in the server can, then, be stored and analysed, allowing the automatic generation of notifications and events. A Web portal may display historic temperature data and frequency data and may trigger alerts for the users, transmitted through SMS messages or e-mails. Given that the information is in real-time, or near realtime, sudden situations that endanger the integrity of the goods can be addressed promptly, as opposed to traditional monitoring techniques that only allow analysis of past temperatures and events. The need for technology for monitoring ambient parameters in real time is not disputed by any party involved. That said, the following limitations and challenges need to be understood: • Uniformity of global standards across technologies for cold-chain applications • Cost of technology
• Difficulty of establishing ROI • Accuracy (sensor accuracy of ±0.5°C and calibrating multiple tags, to be consistent in measurements) • RFID sensors positioning and representation of spatial variation of entire cargo load temperatures • Supply chain silos (growers/ suppliers/manufacturers, logistics providers, retailers operate without collaboration) Ongoing research A heartening feature is that substantial research is taking place in the area of RFID to enhance its usefulness. The areas of study involve: (a) The combination of RFID technology and timetemperature indicators (TTI). This opens up the possibility of tracking the shelf life of chilled and frozen products remotely. (b) Wireless technologies that allow gathering of data and exchange of real-time information with supply chain partners. (c) Multi-sensing RFID nanosensors. The sensor will incorporate ultra-low-power gas sensors along with a thin film battery, allowing data acquisition and storage when no reader is present. Conclusion RFID is a promising technology that can provide numerous benefits in temperature monitoring and performance of perishable and pharmaceutical supply chains. The main limitations are a relatively high cost; difficulties in calculating the ROI; accuracy/calibration, which should be further improved. The writer is Director, TrackIT Solutions, Dubai. He may be contacted at soma@trackitme.com.
September 2010
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overview
Securing the
cold-chain
Transporting foodstuff from field to fork makes big business, but several issues remain unresolved, say suppliers and service providers. Jose Franco has the story‌
30
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C
ompanies engaged in refrigerated transport may not have been adversely affected by the recent economic downturn but many challenges remain for the sector to contend with. And it’s about time it did something to remedy the situation, as the cold-chain involves more than just transporting foodstuff from field to fork. Think of legislative bodies, which should change and modernise the rules and guidelines, and enforce these where temperature-sensitive foodstuff is concerned. Yes, it’s not only the FMCG, or fast-moving consumer goods, group and the general public that need to be aware of the dangers of incorrect storage and transportation of foodstuff. Food safety controls, in matters of the Gulf market, are “light years” away compared to, say, the Western world, remarks Paul McGarrigle, Key Accounts Manager of Transport Solutions for the Middle East and Africa at Thermo King. “But I believe the region is a victim of its own success where the trend tends to be ‘reactive’ rather than ‘proactive’ of late,” he adds. The situation may be attributed to the rapid economic expansion which the Arab Gulf countries have all been a part of in the past number of years, he says. Whilst he believes that the region, particularly the UAE, has the right intentions, reforms can be slow at times. And this is something for the industry to think about, considering the threat of pandemics, like swine flu, avian flu and mad cow disease. “The region needs to understand that food safety controls are put in place to protect consumers, and the Western world has
learned from its mistakes,” McGarrigle stresses. “The Gulf region should not have to make the same mistakes before the changes occur!” The managing director of Güntner Middle East, Adel Kamel, also laments the lack of regulations on the quality of the refrigeration industry, such as the manufacture of equipment and the impact of the materials on the environment. He says internationally recognised organisations, such as Germany’s DKV, or Deutscher Kaelte-und Klimatechnischer Verein, could help set up universal standards for all suppliers to ensure product quality and the protection of consumers. Another problem, he adds, is that most major refrigeration consultancies operating here are based abroad. “That means there often is not enough
Any malfunctioning in comfort cooling leads to discomfort, but any malfunctioning in the refrigeration industry means direct loss of money.
September 2010
experience with the regional market and its challenges – which sometimes makes it difficult for us to offer the optimal and most efficient design,” says Kamel, whose Germany-based company manufactures condensers, evaporators and other components for the HVAC&R industry. Some industry manufacturers, whose 80% of customers are in the food and beverage industry, also find it difficult to persuade end-users of refrigerated transportation vehicles to opt for energy-saving products, which command a higher price. But Amitesh Singh, Manger for Business Development at Emerson Climate Technologies, is optimistic. “We believe that energy efficiency is gaining momentum in the region, and very soon we expect to see energy regulations in the
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overview region,” he says, stressing that Saudi Arabia has already defined its rules on air conditioning and smaller refrigeration equipment. Dubai-based Anupam Dewan, Director of Sales and Marketing, Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning Division, Danfoss, describes customer awareness in the Gulf as “still limited” when it comes to energy-efficient products, perhaps because energy prices are low. He also decries the “generally limited” level of technical skills, delaying the introduction of new technologies. “Refrigeration consultants are almost non-existent in this part of the world – which is a shortcoming when we need to convince a customer to go in for energy-saving products,” he says. Noting that end-users always want to have a cheaper product regardless if they get to pay more for electricity, Dewan warns: “Any malfunctioning in comfort cooling leads to discomfort, but any malfunctioning in the refrigeration industry means direct loss of money.” This sort of forces companies like the European-based Danfoss, which mostly deals in energy-saving products, to change priorities with regard to their operations across the Gulf region. That focusing more on product reliability and lower pricing, rather than energy-efficiency, may be good for them. But Danfoss also has high hopes for its business, as it sees a growing demand for green products in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar. This is not to say that reliability is a lesser issue, inasmuch as the industry is rife with poor installation practices, improper handling of the equipment by operators and inadequate training of personnel and technical staff. Even some of the vehicles and equipment used in the transport of 32
Paul McGarrigle
Amitesh Singh
foodstuff have seen better days, says McGarrigle. All one needs to do, he says, is take a trip to the Fruit & Vegetable Market in Dubai at 3am of any given day, to see the equipment being used to import and export farm produce to and from countries like Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran and Iraq, among others. Besides the amount of spoilage being dumped at the end of trading activity each morning, he says, small operators of vehicles being used to transport goods may have been running and using the same refrigeration components for the past 15-20 years. And even though 99% of the reefers being used in those vehicles are Thermo King’s, McGarrigle says, the company has now evolved to manufacturing products that are more cost-efficient, reliable, traceable and environmentally friendly. These new products will ultimately prolong the shelf-life of fresh fruits and vegetables, and enhance food safety. He stresses, “I would like to see stricter guidelines regarding the age of equipment being allowed across the borders, carrying food that I may end up eating!” Whilst the reliability of Danfoss products is not an issue, Dewan stresses, customers will have problems if they opt for cheaper but inferior products. “Limited application knowledge also leads to improper product
application, resulting in reliability issues,” he emphasises. “We are investing more and more each year in training customers. We also conduct monthly Web training on our products.” Other companies are aware of the same need to conduct regular seminars for clients and end-users on the latest products and technologies. Güntner, for instance, has been offering workshops and symposiums to customers and their staff for the past more than 20 years. “We focus on the installation and maintenance staff,” Kamel says. “The operator should not be affected by the heat exchanger. The refrigerant plant should run unfailingly. Having more than 70 subsidiaries worldwide, Güntner can deliver spare parts at a short notice, and provides two years warranty for them. At Emerson, Singh says there are more products focused on the efficiency side, as customers and endusers increasingly look for such solutions when planning for their business and financial operations. The company has, in fact, developed multiple solutions to address the reliability of refrigeration components. Emerson’s ZX condensing units, for instance, have scroll compressors designed to weather the region’s harsh climate. “We also launched a range of scroll compressors for refrigeration applications which are energy-efficient
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and can provide the large end-users with increased reliability and energy savings,” he says. And whilst Emerson has experienced a slowdown with regard to new projects, Singh says the existing ones have continued, and those that had been stalled are now beginning to pick up. At Thermo King, a manufacturer of temperature control systems for mobile applications, business has been favourable even during the worst of the recent economic crisis. Thanks to the region’s ambient temperatures, where refrigerated transport for foodstuff is a major necessity, equipment sales and aftermarket parts and service sales have continued at Thermo King, a unit of the Ingersoll Rand Company Ltd. “But it’s fair to say that major investment decisions were ‘re-thought’ in 2009 on the back of the very apparent uncertainty that took over the region right through every sector, from tourism to banking,” McGarrigle says. “However, this uncertainty had not caused our customers’ investment and expansion plans to cease; it merely became more difficult since the banks were no longer willing to offer ‘favourable’ interest rates, forcing investors to look for different methods of increasing or replacing existing fleets.” And this has shifted the trend quite rapidly from customers purchasing their own equipment to endusers leasing additional requirements or outsourcing non-core operations and downscaling fleet sizes, he says, in order to manage their working capital. Which is also something good for Thermo King, whose Truck & Trailer business and aftermarket parts and HVAC sales in the Middle East have registered a total revenue of $100 million for the past two years.
perspective
All fired up! Fires cause loss of life, damage property and harm the environment. HVAC fire protection issues inside buildings are, therefore, important. Now, thanks to a positive fire code and a regulatory framework in place, the UAE is better prepared to combat the menace, writes Alexandre Benoit. Fires in the UAE Fire hazards within buildings are still a global concern, especially in the UAE, where more than 2,000 fires occur annually. The fires are caused essentially by accidental human factors (60%) and technical failures (40%). They result in deaths, injuries and/ or damages, which form a threat to residents and tourists in the UAE. For this reason, preventive safety against fire hazards and disasters has become a major strategic objective in the Dubai Civil Defence Strategic Plan 2009-2015. Need for fire protection – preventive safety Safety is a key subject that needs to be addressed, not only by the UAE authorities (civil defence), but also by developers, consultants and contractors, in order to ensure a maximum level of safety for all buildings presently under construction or already built. If sustainability can be considered as a positive trend taking shape slowly in the UAE to promote efficient green buildings (via effective water and waste management, energy consumption ratings and indoor environmental quality), quality and safety need to be further prioritised by the different construction bodies in the UAE. The quality and safety standards
of building construction are still quite low in the UAE. This is due to various factors, such as cost reduction, lack of regulations, minimum specification requirements by consultants, poor labour skills, and disregard towards specifications by actual contractors. As a direct result, the UAE has faced structural collapses affecting some buildings or car parks under construction. But if these collapses constitute tangible and visible proof of bad quality of structural construction, a low level of quality and safety is also affecting the thermal insulation, the HVAC systems, and, indeed, the fireprotection systems, which are really critical, in the event of a fire.
What actually is a fire? Fire is the combination of flame and smoke caused by the combustion of gases occurring at high temperatures. The flame is the visible part of the fire which attacks and burns materials. Smoke is made of combustion gases. The resulting toxic and opaque fumes prevent people from breathing and affect the visibility required to escape a building. This creates panic. At high temperatures, the large volume of smoke generated by fire creates high pressures with convection movement. As a direct result of this, fire can spread quickly and unpredictably throughout the surrounding areas, if there is a lack of efficient compartmentation
and if no smoke-management system is in place. To effectively deal with the possible dangers caused by fire, the European Committee has developed different standards based on the following nomenclature for “the resistance to fire performance of construction products, construction works” (for example, fire dampers, smoke dampers and ventilation ducts in HVAC):
• E: Integrity • I: Insulation (no heat transfer) • S: Smoke leakage (no smoke leakage)
Victims – people, buildings and the environment The first issue is that fire can pose a real danger for a country by endangering its people (family, children, people with disabilities, tourists and fire fighters), with deaths and injuries being often the result. As life is priceless, there should be no cost issues in bringing the best level of safety to a building. The key danger for people caught in a fire comes mainly from smoke inhalation, which can be managed efficiently through proper compartmentation of structural areas, plus an efficient smokemanagement system. The second issue resulting from a fire can be the destruction of a building or parts of a building, if effective compartmentalisation has Figure 1: A winning triptych, ensuring a valuable and efficient building not been implemented. The September 2010
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perspective destruction implies a tangible cost for insurance companies, developers and even owners/tenants. This being the case, it is essential to limit the spread of flame, smoke and heat via efficient compartmentation, with “EIS” fire dampers, and to fight the fire with water (sprinkler systems) to notably reduce its intensity and spread. A fire can also cause damage to the environment, given the large amount of combustion gases emitted into the atmosphere during a blaze. Impact on MEP/HVAC systems There are four key priorities in protecting people, buildings and the environment during a fire: 1) Limit the spread of the fire (flame, smoke, heat) 2) Let people escape the building safely 3) Fight the fire safely to avoid damage 4) Limit the impact on the environment
described above, in new building, and especially in sensitive buildings – for example, high-rise buildings, hotels, schools, hospitals, which have occupancy, accompanied by potential sleeping risks.
instantaneous operation via a fire alarm panel connected to smoke detectors. The key objective is to avoid any leakage of cold fumes through the blades of the fire damper, before the potential activation of a mandatory thermal trip or fusible link at 72°C. In the European EN 13501-3 classification, these fire dampers are classified EIS 120. Moreover, to ensure energy savings and achieve a better sustainability, motorised fire dampers should be operated
1. Compartmentation 2. Smoke-management system 3. Firefighting system Compartmentation: An efficient compartmentalisation is fundamental to ensure a minimum level of safety inside a building. The main objective is to subdivide a building into fire compartments to isolate a fire as soon as it starts and to limit the spread of flames, smoke and heat throughout the existing AC ductwork. It’s critical that there be no smoke leakage and no heat transfer for two hours through any fire dampers. This means an efficient sealing system, for example, intumescent seal, use of sealant, and quality refractory blade material (for example, calcium silicate) should be in place. These fire dampers should be motorised to ensure 36
under an electric signal emission and not by a power cut. Far too many curtain fire dampers (CFD) are still used in the UAE, even though their performance is really poor: smoke leakage through openings, heat transfer and late activation (only when the temperature reaches 72°C). The authorities, developers, consultants and even contractors should be more concerned about these issues, especially on large projects, such as the Masdar Institute of Sciences and Technology, where so much emphasis is placed on sustainability. Safety should come first. After all, a building on fire is not sustainable at all! Curtain fire dampers should be replaced by the more efficient fire dampers,
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The key danger for people caught in a fire comes mainly from smoke inhalation, which can be managed efficiently through proper compartmentalisation of structural areas, plus an efficient smokemanagement system.
Alexandre Benoit
Smoke-management systems: The management of smoke is best done by controlling the high pressure of smoke generated directly by the fire. This allows people to escape safely via fire exits. The way smoke spreads is by moving from areas of high pressure to areas of lower pressure, in an attempt to find a balance. Consequently, there are two main ways to manage smoke: 1) Pressurisation: The objective is to create a higher pressure in opposing areas – for example, staircases and corridors – of the fire compartment to avoid any smoke passageways, even if a door is opened (see figure 2). 2) Natural/mechanical smoke extraction – corridor smoke control): The objective is to create a low pressure point in a corridor – opening through a smoke exhaust damper – to create a controlled smoke passageway. The goal is to extract the most smoke and combustion gases in the early stages of a fire in order to keep the escape and access routes free from smoke and gases (see figure 3). The basic smoke extraction system is made by one vertical riser supplying outdoor air through an air inlet located close to the floor, and another vertical riser that extracts smoke via a smoke fan through a smoke exhaust damper located close to the ceiling. The goal is to create a smoke-free area (stratification) in the bottom area of a corridor to allow a safe escape, and to keep smoke in the upper area of the corridor before being discharged
all fired up!
It’s critical that there be no smoke leakage and no heat transfer for two hours through any fire dampers. This means an efficient sealing system and a quality refractory blade material should be in place.
Figure 2
Figure 3
outside (see figure 4). These two systems have two different strategies. Whereas
the pressurisation system is fighting (with the support of a sprinkler system) against
September 2010
the high pressure of smoke generated by the fire, by creating a higher pressure, the advantage of the smokeextraction system is to control the amount of smoke and heat not by fighting against it but rather by working together with its flow and leading the spread of smoke and heat towards safe exhaust openings. This is a key advantage for a smoke-extraction system, considering that fire behaviour is nearly always unpredictable and uncontrollable. By supplying fresh air and exhausting smoke and heat close to the fire location, a smokeextraction system reduces the danger for fire-fighters due to an under-ventilated fire (for example, flashover, backdraft). In turn, this dramatically eases the firefighters’ operations by reducing the temperature and increasing the visibility
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perspective within the building. Even if the burning rate increases due to the supply of fresh air, the smoke-extraction system creates a safer environment by controlling the fire-spread and intensity. This benefits both the victims and the fire fighters during the early stages of a fire.
Figure 4 Example of a European mechanical smoke extraction system
Conclusion In the UAE, Dubai Civil Defence, with the support of the Government of Dubai, is heading in the right direction by implementing a fire code in the near future. This fire code will address all the main fire-protection issues, to give a tangible framework for all the consultants and contractors in the UAE. Both compartmentation and smokeextraction issues will be dealt with, in accordance to the American and European standards. The publication of the code will be a great step forward in creating a better city for a better life.
As the UAE is participating in the Shanghai World Expo 2010, whose motto is Better City, Better Life, the UAE and the Government of Dubai are demonstrating once again with the new fire code that they are fully dedicated to improving the quality, sustainability and safety of buildings to bring to all locals, residents and tourists safe living conditions. There is obviously a big gap that needs to be bridged between the new and positive regulatory framework and existing construction sites. An efficient training programme, helpful support to consultants and contractors from the authorities and intensification of site inspections, should enforce the right implementation in the UAE market, and considerably upgrade the level of safety in the UAE. The writer is the Marketing Manager for Aldes, ME. He may be contacted at: contactus@aldesme.com
perspective
LEEDing up to it As the person who played a crucial role in the OMD building at Dubai Media City being awarded the LEED Silver certification, Sougata Nandi of TECOM shares his experience of the process. En route, he demonstrates that the certification is an achievable goal.
B
y the time we started the LEED certification programme for the OMD building at Dubai Media City, we had already delivered two LEEDcertified projects at TECOM, and the LEED Gold Metito HQ complex (in 2007). We had, therefore, grown in confidence and, perhaps prematurely, thought that we should be able to deliver LEED Gold projects incessantly. But surprises were in store, and at the end of the LEED certification of the OMD project, for the first time in my career, I was able
40
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to empathise with Sir Isaac Newton’s humility, when he stated, “I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then, finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”1 DUBAI MEDIA CITY – A THRIVING HUB In order to contextualise its LEED-
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certification process, it would not be inappropriate here to describe in brief, the backdrop against which the OMD Building project was undertaken. TECOM Investments launched Dubai Media City (DMC) – its second brand – in 2000, to support and develop a cluster for the media industry. Ideally located on Sheikh Zayed Road, both from the commercial as well as sustainability points of view, it is not close to any water body and is accessible through RTA bus lines. It complies
with development density guidelines, has all support services required for commercial offices within the zone, and several other green building features. As originally envisaged, the cluster has grown tremendously as a thriving media hub. Many global media giants and promising entrepreneurial ventures have joined DMC’s vibrant community. The City provides advanced infrastructure for media-related businesses to operate globally. DMC is the place where activities, such as media consultancy, publishing, music, film, new media, leisure and entertainment, broadcasting, media and marketing services, and business and news agencies flourish. Companies based in DMC include CNN, Leo Burnett, Thomson Reuters, AFP, The Neilson Company and Dow Jones International Limited. Since April 2007, TECOM Investments, through its Sustainable Energy & Environment Division (SEED) has also implemented an Energy and Water Conservation Programme at DMC, in line with the Sustainable Development Policy of TECOM Investments. This conservation programme has achieved significant results for DMC, as summarised in Figure 1. On a cumulative basis, the Energy and Water Conservation Programme at DMC has generated a net utility cost savings of Dh4.85 million during a period of 33 months – from April 2007 to December 2010. Of these savings, Dh3.86 million was achieved from electricity savings, which was a result of good housekeeping practices for MEP equipment. The remaining Dh0.99 million was saved in water costs. The overall conservation programme required an investment of Dh118,000 (approximately), which has paid back in 70 days, at the present rate of annual savings. These initiatives are not only in line with the energy and water-saving goals laid out in the sustainable development policy of TECOM Investments but also support the LEED certification of the existing buildings at DMC. DMC, in collaboration with SEED, has also been pro-active in engaging several tenants in the ongoing energy conservation programme, whereby the tenants are guided on no-cost conservation measures and good housekeeping practices. It is, thus, evident that DMC already had a favourable ethos when the OMD Building project was initiated – an existing free zone in a well-established, prosustainable site with most of its buildings developed.
LEED FEATRURES OF THE OMD BUILDING The project: The OMD building was designed to be a commercial building intended to be occupied by OMD as a single long-term tenant. With a built-up area of 55,715 square feet, the building will house offices, meeting rooms, restaurant, basement and surface parking. The ground floor will be occupied by a food outlet, and the offices will be located on the remaining floors. The chillers, chilled water pumps and FAHUs are located on the roof. Most of the car parking area is underground, and is in the form of three levels of
basements. Although the building has only 55,715 square feet of built-up area, it has three basements, ground and six floors. As it happened, this turned out to be a crucial factor during the LEED certification process. Site sustainability: Site sustainability plays an important role, as it is through this section of the LEED rating system that a building becomes part of a community, and holistic sustainable development is achieved. Given the location of the project within the precincts of DMC, it was able to perform quite well in this segment,
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perspective Figure 1: A threeyear utility cost savings at Dubai Media City
securing nine points of the possible 15. The site had other additional advantages: The ‘Average Neighbourhood Development Density’ worked out to approximately 104,000 square feet/acre, given that the project was constructed on the only empty plot available in the middle of several buildings. The ‘Project Development Density’ worked out to 256,000 square feet/acre. The building footprint being small on both the project as well as the neighbourhood levels, the project was in compliance with the LEED requirements. The project, thus, exploited the advantages of being located in a previously developed community. Again, for the same reasons, the project has the advantage of being accessible via two RTA bus lines, as part of alternative transportation credit requirements. Given the fact that a significantly large multi-storey car park building already exists right in front of the project, we were able to limit the number of car parking slots to only the minimum required by zoning guidelines. This is a further demonstration of the advantages a green building can enjoy, if constructed in a previously developed urban setting with readily available infrastructure. As part of the LEED requirements, and also in the TECOM spirit of transforming the built environment towards becoming more sustainable, SEED prepares a ‘Tenant Design and Construction Guideline’ for every project undergoing a LEED certification. This guideline is now for use by OMD, the intended tenant for this project. Being located in an urban setup, we were definitely mindful of the heat island effect that buildings typically create. Therefore, both credits on heat island – non-roof and roof – were aggressively pursued and successfully achieved. Except for the mechanical equipment area, the entire roof surface is covered with SRI-compliant white terrazzo tiles to reduce solar heat gain. Water efficiency: The intention of this credit is to “maximise water efficiency within tenant spaces to reduce the burden on municipal water supply and wastewater systems”. (Source: USGBC). SEED’s Water Conservation Programme at Site A (DIC, DMC & DKV) has secured the 2009 Emirates Energy Award.
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leeding up to it
94% of on-site car parking spaces are located in the basement Figure 2: Three levels of basement car parking
Being a project located at DMC, water conservation, therefore, was a prime objective on this project, too, and it performed extremely well on this count, securing four points out of the available five in the Water Efficiency category. An additional innovation point was also
SRI = 85 for 81% of the roof area Figure 3: The SRI-compliant roof
secured due to exemplary performance in water use reduction. The project did not pursue the ‘Innovative Wastewater Technologies’, as it is located in an urban setting with connection to the Dubai Municipality’s sewerage network.
Onsite sewage treatment was, therefore, consciously avoided. Here, it must be stated that the project’s water savings performance has been benchmarked against both US EPA standards as well as local practices (See Figure 4).
perspective Against US EPA
As compared to conventional buildings in the UAE
50.5% 61.5% Figure 4: Estimated water cost savings at OMD Building
In addition, the following watersaving measures have been adopted: The toilets are being fitted out with ultra low-flow restrictors on wash basins. For all male toilets, waterless urinals have been made a standard in this building. All flush tanks are of the dual-flush variety. While LEED requires that the water savings are calculated against US EPA standards, we also do a consumption comparison against ‘standard’ consumptions in TECOM buildings (flow rates in water fixtures prior to implementation of the Water Conservation Programme), in order to put the extent of savings into perspective. Therefore, while the project achieved water saving of 50.5% against US EPA standards, when compared to a standard building, the project is 61.5% more water efficient. Water-efficient landscaping: The project has achieved a 100% savings in potable water requirement for landscaping through a two-pronged approach. The irrigation water requirement has been minimised by utilising native plants with low water consuming properties. For the first time in a TECOM project, the AC condensate from the building’s HVAC system has been connected to the irrigation tank located in the basement (See figures 5a and 5b). Energy efficiency: The intention of this credit is to achieve increasing levels of energy conservation beyond the referenced standard to reduce environmental impacts associated with excessive energy use (Source: USGBC). This was one of the two key elements of the LEED certification process that we were surprised with. Energy conservation being our primary thrust area, the most attention was paid to this segment of the LEED certification. Based on past experience of LEED certification projects, a standard set of energy conservation measures are always applied to all our projects. These include:
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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
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leeding up to it
Figures 5a & 5b: Native plants with low water consuming properties were used for landscaping
Improved insulation for walls and glass Heat recovery wheels Demand controlled ventilation using CO2 sensors Energy efficient light bulbs and significantly low lighting power densities Occupancy sensors in common areas Appropriate metering to monitor energy end-use
another LEED segment where the project performed very well, scoring eight points out of a possible 11 points. The facility is designed to enjoy 30% more fresh air, compared to ANSI/ASHRAE 62.1-2004: Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality standard requirements, making the building very healthy for its occupants. Also, the HVAC system design complies with ANSI/ ASHRAE 55-2004: Thermal Environmental
Conditions for Human Occupancy standard, and thus, provides a comfortable thermal environment for the building occupants. The project utilises operable windows in lieu of individual controls, in order to achieve the ‘Controllability of Systems’ credit. The windows of this building are positioned in such a way that 74% of the occupied area complies with the requirement of being within 20 feet from the
Although these measures would typically allow the project to achieve an energy savings of around 20%, the project experienced a couple of constraints: 1) The architectural design of the project resulted in the building envelope having more than 60% glazed area. This is significantly higher than the 40% prescribed by ASHRAE 90.12004 for the base building, and 2) Since building is higher than five floors, ASHRAE 90.1-2004 requires the base building to be modelled using water cooled chillers, which have lower KW/ TR compared to air-cooled chillers. However, for a project having a builtup area of only 55,000 square feet, the HVAC tonnage required is in the range of only 150 TR. Water-cooled chillers will rarely be used for such small capacities, and the project uses aircooled chillers as standard practice. Due to these two severe constraints to the base building energy use, the Visual DOE energy model identified an energysaving potential of only 11%, which is equivalent to Dh50,090 of energy cost savings per year, in spite of the adoption of the energy conservation measures. This meant that the project was able to secure only one point in the ‘Optimise Energy Performance’ category, and also missed the Gold level of certification by two points. Indoor Environmental Quality: The intention of this credit is to “provide optimal indoor air quality to tenants” (Source: USGBC). This is September 2010
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perspective As an offshoot of this, the dissemination of technical and financial information from its projects is helping create local case studies – so vitally important for green building practitioners.
Figure 6: An AC condensate is plugged into the irrigation tank in the basement
Figure 7: Sectorial energy consumption distribution – base case versus design case
external wall and within 10 feet from either side of the window. Of course, thanks to the high percentage of glazing and the shallow nature of the building, the project easily complied with the requirements of ‘Daylight and Views’. PROJECT PERFORMANCE This project secured 32 points to qualify for the LEED Silver certification level. Figure 9 shows the LEED scorecard for the project. The project was able to secure all 32 points that it applied for. KEY PROJECT FINANCIALS At this juncture, it is important to share the financial cost-benefit of LEED projects, in order to dispel the popular myth about green buildings costing more. In fact, after the energymodelling challenges, this was the second key lesson learnt from this project – if an organisation can make green design mainstream, then the concept of green premium does not arise, subject to the level of certification desired. It is interesting to note that, on this project, it was a struggle to identify the additional cost for going green. In fact, other than the administrative costs for the certification and fees paid for the energy modelling, the project did not incur any additional financial burden to achieve the LEED certification. In effect, the project has incurred a ‘Green Premium’ of only 0.11%. Figures 11 and 12 further demonstrate the point. LESSONS LEARNT Although a small project in terms of its size, it taught us two very unique lessons:
100% Figures 8a & 8b: Visual DOE models of the OMD Building 46
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Potable water savings in landscaping
leeding up to it
Figure 9: The LEED scorecard
Saves up to
50% energy on your window or split AC
ECOTHERM Middle East FZCO • Tel: +971 04 4226 944 • Fax: +971 4 4226 943
perspective
Figure 10: Capex incurred (+) or saved (-) for LEED certification
Estimated recurring annual savings = AED 74,816/- per year. Figure 12: Summary of projected utility cost savings
with air-cooled chillers. The project will then significantly lose points on this count. 2. If green becomes mainstream, no additional costs need to be incurred for a project to secure a LEED certification, unless the project aims to secure a very high rating level.
Figure 11: Anticipated Opex savings per year
1. The energy-modelling exercise can be very tricky. Although the ASHRAE 90.1-2004 energy-modelling guidelines require the use of water-cooled
chillers for a building that is higher than five floors, if the building’s HVAC tonnage requirement is small, it will almost invariably be designed
EPILOGUE At the time of writing this article, we have delivered two more LEED certified buildings, bringing TECOM’s tally to five LEED certified projects in 10 months – between April 2009 and January 2010. This achievement consolidates TECOM’s leadership position in sustainable development
further, considering that there are only eight other LEEDcertified projects in the entire GCC, as of January 2010 tally (see figure 13). The growing number of certified green projects clearly removes any ambiguity about whether or not external rating systems work in this region. Of the 13 certified projects in the GCC, three are LEED Platinum, six LEED Gold, three LEED Silver and one LEED certified. A majority of the projects being LEED Gold or above, clearly demonstrates that LEED not only works in this region, but actually works quite well. TECOM Investments, through (SEED), is committed to creating a sustainable development industry in the region. As an offshoot of this, the dissemination of technical and financial information from its projects is helping create local case studies – so vitally important for green building practitioners. Ref 1: Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (1855) by Sir David Brewster (Volume II. Ch. 27)
Figure 13: LEED Certified Projects in the region – January 2010 48
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Sougata Nandi, B Tech, M Tech, LEED AP, PMP, is the Director, Sustainable Energy & Environment Division (SEED), TECOM. He can be contacted at: Sougata.nandi@tecom.ae/ Sougatan@eim.ae
perspective
Natural refrigerants – balancing ecology and economy Measures to save energy throughout the life of refrigerating systems are increasingly acquiring significance. In this regard, natural refrigerants offer a double incentive, as they cut back on costs and help protect the environment, postulates Monika Witt.
T
he decision as to which refrigerant should be used in a refrigerating or air conditioning system is based on the major criteria of safety, costs and protection of the environment. But against the scenario of constantly increasing energy prices, the energy consumption of a system also plays an increasingly important role. Ideally, the chosen refrigerant should have excellent thermodynamic properties, 50
high chemical stability and good physical characteristics. Furthermore, it should have no or only a negligible impact on the environment, while also being inexpensive and available worldwide. However, there is no one refrigerant that fulfils all these requirements. And so, in practice, zeroing down on the most suitable refrigerant depends on a series of different factors. Here, the operating area and
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the operator’s requirements need to be factored in, together with the installation site and environmental aspects. But above all, it is the actual rating of the overall refrigerating system, while taking into account partload conditions, which has a crucial influence on energy consumption. This is because it is the overall concept of a refrigerating system, which has a greater influence on efficiency than the choice
of refrigerant. However, a number of current projects show that systems operating with natural refrigerants are particularly efficient and environment-friendly. AMMONIA REFRIGERATION SCORES ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY Ammonia is the refrigerant with demonstrably the best thermodynamic properties. It is the only natural refrigerant which the industry never
wanted to dispense with, on account of its high efficiency. Ammonia is also unbeatable in ecological terms: it has no ozone-depletion potential and no global warming potential (ODP and GWP = 0), with a favourable TEWI balance, thanks to the high COP of ammonia systems. In industrial systems with capacities exceeding 500kW, ammonia is simply unsurpassed in terms of energy and cost efficiency. Also, it is finding increasing use on a smaller scale, for example, in systems with a capacity of less than 500kW, where the quantity of ammonia can be reduced when choosing a suitable secondary refrigerant. At present, intensive research is in progress in Europe, in particular, in the range of small-capacity systems, with the objective, among others, of developing small, semi-hermetic and hermetic compressors, with output below 100kW. Reduced quantity heat exchangers are also being developed along the same lines. Furthermore, various research projects are also looking at simplified oil management with soluble oils to facilitate DX systems, as well. Moreover, today, ammonia is also being used increasingly in areas that used to be dominated by synthetic refrigerants. For example, all large exhibition buildings in Germany have been equipped with ammonia liquid chillers for air conditioning. Banks, insurance companies and office buildings, too, increasingly use ammonia liquid chillers for energysaving air conditioning. Even modern airports make increasing use of ammonia systems, in the light of riskanalysis results, indicating that ammonia does not pose greater hazard potential for the general public or airport employees than systems using synthetic refrigerants. Ammonia systems,
therefore, have been installed not only in Düsseldorf’s refurbished airport, but also in London Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 and in Zurich Airport. The freight hub in New Zealand’s Christchurch Airport also saves energy by using ammonia for cooling systems. CARBON DIOXIDE – ENERGY EFFICIENT AND ECONOMICAL The last 10 years have witnessed increase in the interest shown in CO2 refrigerating systems. This is due, for example, to the fact that the global player Nestlé has constantly forged ahead with the development of NH3/ CO2 cascade refrigeration plants, demonstrating their energy efficiency, with installations in Europe, United States and Japan. Other companies have followed suit. In addition, this trend has been encouraged by state incentives in some countries. For instance, the Netherlands grants considerable tax relief for CO2 systems, while taxation on synthetic refrigerants has been increased in Scandinavia. CO2 is also particularly suitable for heat recovery or heat pump systems. Applications of this kind are already widespread in Asia, and other countries can be expected to follow. How much energy can actually be saved by using CO2 as refrigerant, depends, above all, on the ambient temperature. The efficiency of a CO2 system is clearly superior to a plant operating with synthetic refrigerants when used in the subcritical range. But success is also being achieved in optimising system efficiency even in the supercritical range. This has been confirmed – among others – by the Coca Cola Company, which uses both CO2 and R134a for its 550-litre refrigerators, with the result that the systems operating with CO2 consume 20% to 30%
In industrial systems with capacities exceeding 500kW, ammonia is simply unsurpassed in terms of energy and cost efficiency.
less energy. In the trans or supercritical mode (temperatures > 31.2°C), CO2 systems are, in principle, less efficient than those using synthetic refrigerants. Even so, when viewed over the whole year, CO2 refrigerating systems are frequently more energy-efficient than those with synthetic refrigerants, as most systems operate in the subcritical range most of the time, particularly in latitudes with moderate weather. CLIMATE-NEUTRAL COOLING WITH HYDROCARBONS Hydrocarbons, such as butane, propane and propene are ideal refrigerants. Butane, for example, is very successful in more than 300 million domestic refrigerators currently being used. Furthermore, butane
ANNEX
Ammonia (NH3)
Ammonia has been successfully used as a refrigerant in industrial refrigeration plants for over 100 years. It is a colourless gas, liquefies under pressure, and has a pungent odour. In coolant technology, ammonia is known as R 717 (R = Refrigerant) and is synthetically produced for use in refrigeration. Ammonia has no ozone depletion potential (ODP = 0) and no direct global warming potential (GWP = 0). Thanks to its high energy efficiency, its contribution to the indirect global warming potential is also low. Ammonia is flammable. However, its ignition energy is 50 times higher than that of natural gas, and it will not burn without a supporting flame. Due to the high affinity of ammonia for atmospheric humidity, it is rated as “hardly flammable”. Ammonia is toxic, but has a characteristic sharp smell, which, when present in air, gives a warning below concentrations of 3 mg/m³. This means that ammonia is evident at levels far below those which endanger health (>1,750 mg/m³). Furthermore, ammonia is lighter than air, and therefore, rises quickly.
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Carbon dioxide is known in refrigeration technology as R 744. It has a long history extending back to the mid 19th century. It is a colourless gas that liquefies under pressure, with a slightly acidic odour and taste. Carbon dioxide has no ozone depletion potential (ODP = 0) and negligible direct global warming potential (GWP = 1) when used as a refrigerant in closed cycles. It is non-flammable, chemically inert and heavier than air. It has a narcotic and asphyxiating effect only in high concentrations. Carbon dioxide occurs in nature in abundance.
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perspective can also be increasingly found in smaller commercial refrigerating systems. The beverages company, Pepsi, for example, compared the efficiency of small drinks chillers with up to 150g coolant and found that units operating with butane consumed up to 27% less energy than those using R134a. Since then, the beverages manufacturer has given preference to butane in these chillers, and it is not the only one. Ben & Jerry used butane for its ice-cream freezers for the first time in the United States, with most satisfactory results. Propane has very similar thermodynamic properties to R22. Some Asian countries have, therefore, replaced R22 with propane in their central air conditioning systems. They report cutbacks in energy consumption between 10% and 30%, with the systems needing only minimum modifications. Unilever is another company that has recognised the advantages of propane as a refrigerant. During the 2000 Olympic Games in Brisbane and Sydney, the company performed a field study with 360-litre ice-cream freezers, comparing operation with propane to operation with R404A. On an average, the propane freezers permitted energy savings of about nine per cent.
After all, more than 80% of the global warming potential posed by refrigerating and air conditioning systems results from system energy consumption and not from refrigerant leaks.
Hydrocarbons
Refrigeration plants using hydrocarbons, such as, propane (R 290, C3H8), propene (R 1270, C3H6) or isobutane (R 600a, C4H10) have been in operation all over the world for many years. Hydrocarbons are colourless and nearly odourless gases that liquefy under pressure, and have neither ozone depletion potential (ODP = 0) nor significant direct global warming potential (GWP = 3). Thanks to their outstanding thermodynamic characteristics, hydrocarbons make particularly good energy-efficient refrigerants. They are flammable. However, with currently available safety devices, refrigerant losses are near zero. Hydrocarbons are available at low cost all over the world. Thanks to their ideal refrigerant characteristics, they are commonly used in small plants with low refrigerant charges.
CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
Global Warming Potential (GWP)
Ammonia (NH3)
0
0
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
0
1
Hydrocarbons (propane C3H8, propene C3H6, isobutane C4H10)
0
<3
Water (H2O)
0
0
Chlorofluoro-hydrocarbons (CFCs)
1
4680–10720
Partially halogenated chlorofluorohydrocarbons (HCFCs)
0.02–0.06
76–12100
Per-fluorocarbons (PFCs)
0
5820–12010
Partially halogenated fluorinated hydrocarbons (HFCs)
0
122–14310
Ozone depletion and global warming potential of refrigerants
Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP)
The ozone layer is damaged by the catalytic action of chlorine, fluorine and bromine in compounds, which reduce ozone to oxygen, and thus destroy the ozone layer. The Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) of a compound is shown as chlorine equivalent (ODP of a chlorine molecule = 1).
Global Warming Potential (GWP)
The greenhouse effect arises from the capacity of materials in the atmosphere to reflect the heat emitted by the Earth back onto the Earth. The direct Global Warming Potential (GWP) of a compound is shown as a CO2 equivalent (GWP of a CO2 molecule = 1).
ANNEX
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Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP)
September 2010
Hydrocarbons have excellent thermodynamic properties, which is why refrigerating and air conditioning systems operating with these substances are particularly energy-efficient. They are well miscible with conventional refrigerating oils, and have a relatively high critical temperature. While the flammability of hydrocarbons requires hermetically sealed systems with explosion protection for electrical components, all components are easily available and the current technology copes well with the demands of safe operation. Given the high energy saving potential of systems with hydrocarbons, a number of companies have announced their intentions of operating new refrigerating systems with hydrocarbons. Up to now, Europe has imposed a 150-gramme filling restriction of hydrocarbons. However, this value was determined arbitrarily, so that it would be preferable to make the filling restriction
dependent on the prevailing conditions in each case. Recommendations for such site-dependent limit values could be compiled and developed, for example, in the framework of a scientific research project. Larger filling quantities could probably be permitted if the propane filling is located up high on the roof of a building, or in large, wellventilated rooms. In the USA, there seems to be a willingness to rethink the situation. While the use of hydrocarbons hitherto was restricted to industrial applications, this restriction may possibly be lifted in future. For the first time, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with its highly critical stance on substances that pose a safety risk on account of the product liability laws, has approved of a field study that will test up to 2000 chest freezers operating with flammable refrigerants. This could lead to a real breakthrough.
recruitment WATER REFRIGERATION – UP TO 25% POTENTIAL SAVINGS The evaporation of water has always been used as a means of cooling. But this method that functions quite naturally in the human body through perspiration, presents a challenge when considered on an industrial scale. A huge flow of water vapour is needed to achieve an adequate cooling effect, which in turn, requires the use of turbo-compressors. Suitable machines here consist either of axial compressors with a relatively small base area and many stages, or radial compressors connected in series. However, these are sensitive to load fluctuations and need the operation to be as constant as possible. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the operation takes place in a deep vacuum, which requires a system that is absolutely tight. Even so, these stringent technical requirements are offset by huge energy-saving potential of about 25%, compared to the currently available R134a liquid chilling units. This is why research is in progress in France and in Dresden, Germany, on prototypes for both radial and axial compressors. AIR – RAPID REFRIGERATION AT LOW ENERGY COSTS Air is interesting as a refrigerant for temperatures below -50°C. Systems with a closed air circuit are convincing, above all, on account of their particularly rapid cooling at low energy costs. But air has not become widely accepted as a refrigerant because of the comparatively high costs for the overall system. To achieve the necessary mass flow density, expensive turbo-compressor/expander systems are necessary, together with special shaft seals to minimise leakage.
However, at the same time, air-cooled systems are also very compact. This is why, at present, they are primarily used for gas liquefaction on tankers, where the high costs are justified in view of the confined space available. BALANCING THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE BALANCE SHEETS Natural refrigerants are inexpensive, available in abundance, and can cover nearly every refrigeration application presently in use. Furthermore, they have a very low global warming potential (GWP) compared to synthetic refrigerants. This alone is reason enough to recommend their use. However, it is just as important to make sure that they are highly energy-efficient. After all, more than 80% of the global warming potential posed by refrigerating and air conditioning systems results from system energy consumption and not from refrigerant leaks. At present, around 15% of global electricity consumption is used to generate refrigeration, resulting in huge savings potential. Measures to save energy throughout the entire service life of refrigerating systems are, therefore, acquiring increasing significance, and can help considerably in relieving the burden on the environment. This is where the use of natural refrigerants comes into play, as they offer a double incentive for companies – by reducing energy consumption, they not only cut back on costs, but also help protect the environment. Everything, therefore, points towards the use of natural refrigerants in both ecological and economical terms, in order to safeguard both capital expenditure and the environment in the long run.
Job Description Date Prepared: September 2010 Job Title: Sales Director Designate - UAE Reporting to: Managing Director
Main Purpose of Job: The post holder will be a Western-educated, qualified MEP Engineer with at least five years sales management experience and able to demonstrate previous successful growth of business sales within the HEVAC sector. The post holder must be able to motivate and manage both the sales team and internal administrative staff, and assume full responsibility for the management of the business in the absence of the Managing Director. Whilst the position is one of management, the successful candidate will be required to have a hands-on approach and will be expected to build strong relationships within the industry. Although not essential, previous experience within the Middle East would be an advantage. Experience • Have previous sales management experience of at least five years. • Preferably 10 years experience in sales of air diffusion, fire and acoustic products • Ability to obtain strong specifications by using the TROX specification document in order to influence the successful contractor to use TROX • Ability to work with new and existing clients to identify future projects and maintain good working relationships with these clients Knowledge and Skills: Knowledge • To understand and comply with the company’s procedures and systems. • To be able to effectively manage and motivate the sales team. • To understand and demonstrate a good working knowledge of all TROX products and systems • Able to make technical selections and application of the various products and product segments • To understand and be able to demonstrate a good working knowledge of air conditioning systems • To understand competitors’ products and features, market share and ranking Skills • Personnel management • Questioning • Listening • Written and oral communication • Presentation Skills
• Planning and organisation • Problem solving and decision making • Negotiating skills • Influencing skills
The postholder may be required to carry out any other duties as
are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job, as requested by the Managing Director. The expected candidate decision date for selection is the end of 2010 with commencement in April 2011, depending on the candidates notice period. The candidate must also have a NOC from his/her current employer to prevent any delay in commencement and visa changes Please submit CVs to q.brent@trox.ae Note: This job description reflects the present requirements of the post. As duties and responsibilities change and develop, the job description will be reviewed and be subject to amendment in consultation with the postholder.
The writer is the chairperson of Eurammon, the European initiative for natural refrigerants.
September 2010
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events watch october 2010 13-15 October 2010 Nuremberg, Germany Chillventa 2010 Contact NürnbergMesse GmbH Messezentrum D-90471 Nürnberg T: +49 9 11 86 06 81 10 F: +49 9 11 86 06 82 47
november 2010 8-9 November 2010, Doha, Qatar 5th International District Cooling Conference & Trade Show The International District Energy Association (IDEA) will be conducting the Conference and Trade Show under the theme, ‘District cooling: greener building, smarter grid’, which emphasises how district cooling infrastructure can improve the end-use energy efficiency in customer buildings and reduce the economic and environmental strain on the regional power grid, in line with Qatar’s 2030 National Vision and Environmental Design
programme, which seeks to harmonise economic growth, social development and environmental protection. Qatar Cool is the Principal Host and sponsor of the event. A highlight for the host will be the inauguration of the world’s largest district cooling facility (the Pearl Qatar plant), on the evening of November 9. The conference programme includes an industry leadership panel discussion; and a peer-topeer exchange summit, with primary focus on: • Infrastructure master planning, design and development • Plant operations and optimization strategies • Work force training and industry cross-training initiatives • Customer service and satisfaction A special focus of the event will be on global best practices – utility rate design and cost of service studies. Contact: Tanya Kozel E: tanya.idea@districtenergy.org T: +1 410 518 6676 Web site: www.districtenergy.org
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Call +971 4 3756833 / (050) 714 7204 or e-mail fred@cpi-industry.com
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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST
September 2010
11-14 November 2010 SMX Convention Center, Manila, Philippines HVAC/R Philippines 2010 The 13th HVAC/R Philippines 2010 will focus on all the sectors related to heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, refrigerating, pumps, valves & pipes, filtration and purification technology. The show will bring together major suppliers of HVAC, refrigeration and pumps & valves industries from all over the world. The expo will serve as the best forum for all the visitors and exhibitors to network face to face, and to build up fresh business partners as well as renovate existing associations. HVAC/R Philippines 2010 will be a magnificent platform for all the attendees, as it will enable them to discover and attain the information of most up to date technologies and trends of the associated market. The targeted visitors in the event include manufacturers, fabricators, importers, exporters, service providers, director of projects, department heads, buyers and related professionals. The profile for exhibits includes air-conditioning, air compressors, air filtration & purification equipment, blowers, chillers, cleaning equipment, compressors, cooling towers, automation components, chemical processing equipment, circuit breakers, engines & motors, environment protection equipment, filtration systems, hydraulic & pneumatic equipment, production facilities, check valves and cold storage facilities. The event is being organised by the Philippine Society of Ventilating, Air-Conditioning and Refrigerating Engineers. 22-25 November 2010 Dubai International Exhibition Centre, UAE The Big 5 International Building & Construction Show The Big 5 is widely regarded as an influential building and construction show in the Middle East. It has a dedicated HVCAR section that draws the HVACR fraternity
from the region. Contact Sarah Palmer Marketing Executive dmg world media Dubai Ltd PO Box 33817, Dubai, UAE T: +971 4 438 0355 F: +971 4 438 0356 E: SarahPalmer@dmgworldmedia. com 28-30 November 2010, Doha, Qatar 2nd Annual Middle East District Cooling Summit Fleming Gulf Conferences will be conducting the Summit under the theme, ‘Innovating energy efficiency in a dynamic region’. Key topics include ‘Is solar district cooling viable?’, ‘Is cogeneration gaining favour?’ ‘Bank’s perspective on the challenges perceived in financing district cooling projects in Qatar’, ‘Why is district cooling crucial to Qatar’s export revenues and its future ability for continuous growth?’, ‘Opportunities for district cooling in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’, ‘BOO/BOT model for district cooling’ and ‘TSE: challenges and opportunities’. The Summit is expected to attract senior officials and key decision makers from district cooling companies, master developers, EMP/MEP contractors, design consultants, power and energy management companies, wastewater and desalination utility companies and regional regulatory officials, the organisers said. According to the organisers, speakers include Abdulhamid Al Mansour, the CEO of Saudi Tabreed; R Seetharaman, the CEO of Doha Bank Group; George Berbari, the CEO of DC Pro Engineering, Mohamed Hamra-Krouha, Partner at Clifford Chance; Jaap Kalkman, the Head of Arcapita (MENASA region); Albert Haykal, the Vertical Market Leaders (district cooling), Trane; Per Jonasson, the CEO of Capital Cooling MENA and Henrik Enstrom, President of Termoekonomi. Contact: Samir Ahmed Marketing Manager E: samir.ahmed@fleminggulf.com T: +91 988 63 54 321