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Chiller Plant Control System Drives Energy Savings - Armstrong Fluid Technologies - Facility Management Product Release


Armstrong Fluid Technologies
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Interfacing seamlessly with an existing building or chiller plant automation system, the Armstrong Opti-Visor controls the key components of a chiller plant, providing the optimal operating settings for equipment such as water-cooled variable speed chillers, variable flow cooling towers and variable speed pumps on the chilled water and tower water circuits.

By controlling the chiller plant settings to maximize system-wide efficiency, Opti-Visor will generate valuable energy savings even when applied to recently installed equipment. Armstrong Fluid Technology estimates that an energy savings of 15-30 percent can be expected from a typical installation on an existing all-variable speed chiller plant.

Armstrong Opti-Visor is a relational control solution for the operation of an all-variable-speed chiller plant. Opti-Visor is an excellent solution for retrofit in buildings with water cooled chiller plants, including those less than five years old, but is also suitable for new construction applications involving variable-primary flow chiller plants that have advanced building automation systems (BAS).

Opti-Visor connects to the BAS/BMS using industry-standard serial communication protocols, and gathers data on building load and plant conditions from the BMS data. Using patented Design Envelope Integrated Plant Control methods, Opti-Visor determines optimal device settings for maximum total plant energy efficiency. The Opti-Visor then sends control instructions to the BMS with the control settings for the plant equipment, such as fan speeds, pump speeds, chilled water set points, and the combination of equipment to operate.

The majority of chiller plants use technology developed during the analog era and operate using independent control loops with PID feedback control. In contrast, Opti-Visor is a digital era technology that operates the plant as one integrated solution. This digital, system-wide approach enables faster response, better stability, the optimization of thermodynamic effects at the equipment level, and reduced cycling stress on system components. Compared to typical BMS offerings, the Opti-Visor provides more in-depth analysis and tuning of chiller plant operations. It also monitors and adjusts component operation to adjust for changes as individual components age.

The Opti-Visor offers a web-based user interface, and local touch screen user interface with menus for easy assessment of key performance and systems indicators including:

• BMS/BAS compliance

• Plant performance (YTD, 30-day, actual)

• Plant status

• BMS communication

• Chilled water plant schematic with equipment status

• Plant operating load (capacity and kW)

• 30-day plant performance trend charts (efficiency, load, and chiller efficiency)

• Alarm history screen

• Default screen showing; plant efficiency, plant efficiency chart, CHWST, ECWT

• Component efficiency levels (pumps, fans)

Opti-Visor offers plug and play installation requiring only minor modification to the existing BAS plant automation module to ensure that the BAS recognizes the control signals from the Opti-Visor and will make available the input data points necessary.

For more insights on the products, technology, benefits and challenges of the Building Internet of Things, visit www.FacilitiesNet.com/IoT


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posted: 11/2/2015