HVAC & Refrigeration
Main benefits of drives:
- Improved comfort control
- Operating duties matched to required loads
- Optimizing operating conditions
- Achieve improved energy efficiency
- Reduced wear and tear and increase service life
- Lower life cycle installation cost
- Ease of commissioning
- Ease of system tuning
HVAC:
Most basic application :
- Commissioning aid for fixed duty systems of any type where the VFD is set at a pre-set fixed speed, typically less than full speed - static mode
- Airside:
- AHU supply air fans and return air fans where used.
- Typically used to modulate (Dynamic Control) the fan duty to achieve a variable flowrate maintaining target duct static pressure in response to changing demands
- Typical system is a VAV system
- Exhaust air or supply air ventilation fans when variability in load exists:
- Carpark exhaust air fans to achieve acceptable CO levels
- Other air quality/maximum concentration levels of contaminants
- Modulation of flowrate in response to varying temperature demands
- Critical spaces pressure control to avoid contamination and to control directionality of air flow:
- clean rooms and laboratories
- pharmaceutical manufacturing
- switch rooms or equipment rooms
- Critical spaces pressure control to avoid infection control and to control directionality of air flow:
- operating theatres
- sterile stores
- isolation rooms etc.
- Life Safety:
- Stair well pressurisation and lobby relief fans
- Smoke exhaust and smoke control system fans
Refrigeration:
- Variable capacity of refrigeration compressors:
- condensing units
- packaged air conditioning units
- air and water cooled chillers
- External driven compressors or complete proprietary compressor/motor units
- Variable duty primary and/or secondary chilled water pump operation to match changing chilled water system load requirements
- Variable duty condenser water pump operation to match changing cooling tower/condenser water system duty requirements
- Variable condenser fan operation to provide stable and optimised refrigeration system operation in air conditioning and refrigeration condensing equipment