New Products

For further information on products and services visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter the appropriate online enquiry number

LED downlight for hospitality and retail Sylvania is giving premises owners, building specifiers and interior designers greater flexibility over their lighting choices with its new Ludospot integrated LED accent downlights. Ludospot is modular system that allows users to select the LED module required and then choose the right housing style. Ideal for hospitality, retail and commercial applications, Ludospot allows people to get more creative with their downlights.

With Ludospot, choose the module you need and mount on the desired die casting aluminium housing to get the right ambience for your application. A wide range of housing options allows direct replacement of most recessed halogen spotlights’ installations on the market, whatever the diameter and the circular, square or rectangular shape.

The Ludospot 50 Module and 111 Module have a high colour rendering index CRI90, with SDCM <3 light colour consistency. The 50 modules are available with 15°, 28° or 40° light beam angle option whilst the 111 modules are available 24W or 38W with 38° light beam angle. Users can select Ludospot in either warm 3000K and neutral 4000K colour temperatures.

Easy and quick mounting of the modules thanks to the Twist&Lock system, the housings can accommodate single, double or triple LED modules, depending upon the requirements. For complete design flexibility, Ludospot has a choice of round or square, single, double or triple housings. Sylvania also offers IP44 degree protection on a number of the housings. ONLINE ENQUIRY 103

Heat pump for low-energy homes

Panasonic has launched the Aquarea High Performance J Generation Bi-Bloc heat pump, a heating and cooling solution, for new installations, refurbishments, and low-energy homes.

Utilising air-to-water heat pump technology and R32 refrigerant, it is a highly efficient and more environmentally friendly solution compared to R410A refrigerant. By converting heat energy in the air into household warmth, the highly efficient Aquarea technology helps to reduce CO2 emissions and environmental impact compared to conventional boilers and electric heaters.

The J Series also includes quieter outdoor units compared to previous models. This helps to reduce noise outside of the property, which is particularly noticeable in quiet, rural areas.

The unit can be combined with high efficiency hot water tanks, such as the anode-free “A” Stainless Steel Tank in 192-litre and 280-litre capacities. Each tank reduces energy loss thanks to its high levels of insulation, resulting in the most efficient solution. Synchronisation with solar panels is also possible.

Providing a simple yet sophisticated control solution, Aquarea J Generation is also compatible with the Aquarea Smart Cloud, a powerful and intuitive service for remotely controlling the full range of heating and hot water functions, including monitoring energy consumption. ONLINE ENQUIRY 104

Screw compressors deliver higher energy efficiency

Gardner Denver has launched a range of oil-lubricated screw compressors as part of the CompAir L-Series.

The premium range, available in 90 kW, 110kW and 132kW models, combines a fixed speed compressor with IE4 motors. This creates a system that delivers energy efficiency improvements of 2.3 per cent when compared with the standard models.

The new models feature a newly patented oil regulation valve, which automatically regulates oil injections and discharge temperature according to environmental conditions. Not only does this reduce power consumption, but it eliminates the risk of condensate and corrosion in the system too. It also helps maintain the oil’s high quality throughout the compressor’s lifetime, reducing the unit’s total cost of ownership.

The new models also include an improved airend that is supported by the CompAir Assure warranty, which covers the airend for up to ten years or 44,000 hours.

Dora Artemiadi, product manager for industrial compressors EMEA at Gardner Denver, said: “We compared one of the premium units with a number of alternative models. Our compressor delivered five per cent greater energy efficiency, as well as a flow rate up to 12 per cent higher." The company adds that energy savings of €3,700 a year against a number of other competitor models are possible, and even possible savings of more than €6,000 when compared with other compressors available in the market. ONLINE ENQUIRY 105

James Henley is product development manager at Daikin Applied UK

Air Handling

For further information on Daikin Applied UK visitwww.eibi.co.uk/enquiriesand enter ENQUIRY No. 133

Healthy AHUs, healthy buildings

The way air handling units (AHUs) are designed and deployed will play a big part in the UK’s campaign to improve the health and wellbeing of building occupants, says James Henley

The role of ventilation systems in minimising health problems in buildings has been under the microscope this year. It has quickly become clear during the COVID-19 outbreak that target air change rates in buildings needed to be maintained – even in partially occupied buildings – to minimise the risk of virus-containing moisture settling and remaining on internal surfaces.

Building owners were also advised to switch air handling units (AHUs) to full fresh air mode and temporarily disable any heat recovery recirculation so that potentially contaminated air was not returned to the occupied space.

AHUs will also continue to play a vital role in the ongoing threat posed to human health by air pollution. This is responsible for as many as 36,000 deaths a year in the UK, according to Public Health England (PHE).

Long-term exposure to airborne contaminants increases the risk and severity of asthma and is linked to coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory problems and lung cancer. It costs our economy upwards of £20bn a year, largely due to the additional burden on the NHS.

Rethink ventilation strategies Growing awareness of the impact of poor indoor air quality (IAQ) on health and productivity has already forced many building owners and managers to rethink their ventilation strategies.

AHUs are, therefore, under increased scrutiny because of their role as interfaces between potentially highly polluted outside air and the indoor environment. The design issue faced by specifiers of AHUs is that harmful particulates are getting

A client’s requirements can be met by accurately sizing and using innovations like EC fans

smaller, which makes them more dangerous when inhaled as they can penetrate further into the human body. New filtration standards are focused on PM1 particulates (the smallest easily measurable), including those from diesel engines, which have been identified as a Group One carcinogen by the World Health Organization and have also been linked in recent studies to early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

This means very high standards of filtration are needed, which has a profound impact on the design of the unit and the system as a whole. F7 filters are becoming a requirement in line with the international standard EN779.

This combination of heat recovery and higher specification filters means an AHU will be subjected to higher pressure drops. This has implications for the size of the unit and its fan power, which, in turn, could lead to the use of larger motors that consume more energy. This flies in the face of current design trends, which have been moving

‘There are thousands of over-sized systems that can never meet their energy efficiency targets’

towards smaller units to reduce capital cost and free up valuable lettable space in commercial buildings.

As a result, in our highly pricesensitive industry there is growing evidence that some suppliers to the commercial building sector are simply ignoring the new standards to be able to quote a lower price to the client. As standards are rarely policed across the building services sector, this less-than-ethical approach often pays off – at least for the supplier.

However, the outcome is that building owners and occupiers are left with systems that are not fit for purpose; are not legally compliant and leave a legacy of poor performance – and they pay more in the long-run too. As well as missing energy targets, these systems will also leave occupants vulnerable to airborne pollutants.

It is perfectly possible to design a system that meets the energy efficiency and IAQ criteria without having to over-specify on size and price. What is required, however, is the rigorous application of good, basic engineering principles including properly defining the type of system.

For example, if it is a variable air volume (VAV) system then the ErP states that an engineer should establish efficiency based on 65 per cent of design duty – rather than the all too common practice of simply basing all the calculations on 100 per cent duty with 10 per cent added ‘just in case’.

That unfortunate habit has left a legacy of thousands of over-sized systems that can never meet their energy efficiency targets because they are too big. They also fail more quickly because they are continually cycling on and off rather than operating for longer periods at lower duty – and they cost the client more than if a properly sized system had been specified in the first place.

At Daikin Applied, we look to meet the client’s requirements by accurately sizing and using technical innovations like EC fans in order to minimise energy consumption. Fan power is also specifically referenced in the revised ErP legislation so is another design aspect that should not be ignored by specifiers. It also calls for multiple fan systems to build in redundancy as well as improving efficiency.

So, it is perfectly possible to provide end users with a long-term solution that is both cost-effective to operate and helps to protect the health and wellbeing of occupants. You just need to apply the right design principles. 