Smart Solutions Category: HVAC

When it came time for Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center (LHDCMC) of Lanham, MD, to update its aging HVAC infrastructure, it quickly awarded the business to the Daikin Applied team in Washington, DC, which has helped the hospital meet its patient care and comfort needs for years. The project leads helped LHDCMC secure a $160,000 energy efficiency rebate from the local utility provider, and the updates will save the facility over $70,000 per year in energy costs. The work had to be completed in the midst of a shutdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Founded in 1975 by a team of physicians committed to improving local access to care, the center provides medical and surgical services to residents in Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties in Maryland (suburbs of Washington, DC) and across the state’s Eastern Shore. It joined the Luminis Health system in 2019 to form LHDCMC and is a nationally recognized nonprofit hospital that has grown into an ultramodern operation with more than 200 beds. 

To minimize the effects of the HVAC overhaul on patient care and staff productivity, the project was divided into phases. Phase one was slated to take place during the winter months to help moderate the demand on the equipment for chilled water. Phase two was scheduled for summer to help reduce the demand on the hospital’s boiler for steam and hot water. “I have never worked with a group that is so efficient and can get things done with minimal disruption,” said Jerry Dyer, LHDCMC’s director of Plant Operations.

The turnkey package included new air- and water-cooled chillers, hot water and steam boilers, cooling towers, chilled and condenser water systems, hot water pumps, and chiller and boiler plant controls. The Daikin team partnered with an MEP engineer to ensure an efficient and code-compliant design. In addition, the team employed seasoned partners in the mechanical, electrical, and controls trades to ensure a high-quality outcome. 

The solution included Daikin’s Magnitude^® magnetic-bearing WMC and Pathfinder^® AWV chillers to form a hybrid that uses a combination of air-cooling technology in the winter months and water-cooled technology in the summer months to meet hospital loads. Magnetic-bearing technology eliminates oil, mechanical seals, wear surfaces, and gears, resulting in longer machine life and increased reliability.  

Using direct drive technology, integral variable-frequency drives, and ozone-friendly R134a refrigerant, the Magnitude chiller can be up to 40 percent more efficient than standard centrifugal chillers. The variable drive responds according to cooling demand rather than operating at a constant rate. The award-winning Pathfinder is one of the most efficient air-cooled screw chillers on the market. It features proprietary, variable-volume ratio^®, single-rotor compressor technology and fully-variable-speed ECM condenser fan motors. Further, the chillers operate quietly and reliably—ideal for the health care environment. 

To further optimize energy consumption, the Daikin team specified a state-of-the-art controls platform, leveraging the latest techniques for running the chillers and accessory equipment at the lowest energy consumption rate possible. The controls also provide facility operators with real-time energy data in terms of kilowatts per ton of performance. 

In the midst of the carefully-timed schedule—but just after the chillers and cooling towers were set in place—Maryland initiated a COVID-19 shutdown, except for essential services. Daikin Applied and its dedicated partners worked to finish the project with a renewed sense of urgency and care. The upgraded HVAC system, with magnetic-bearing chillers and controls optimization, will cut LHDCMC’s energy use to 23 percent of the current chiller plant consumption.

Calculate the true cost of ownership with Daikin’s chiller payback calculator: https://chillerpayback.daikinapplied.com/chiller 

For more information, visit DaikinApplied.com. MCAA thanks Daikin for being an MCAA sponsor.

A construction project at a senior living facility presents a specific set of challenges. For the Brookdale Senior Living Center in Chicago, Daikin overcame those challenges by combining customized products, advance planning, and know-how for successful installation of a new chiller, ensuring the project stayed on time and within budget.

Daikin North Central Regional Owner Sales Manager Robert Ambrose and his team set out to upgrade the HVAC system at the 42-story high-rise senior living residential complex. “The original machines from construction were approximately 30 years old. In the course of conducting a comprehensive inspection of one of those machines in the summer, it was discovered that to continue with those machines just didn’t make any financial sense,” Ambrose said.

Brookdale Senior Living Center is located in a busy residential neighborhood along Chicago’s famous Lake Shore Drive. Installing a chiller in an active neighborhood is a big task on its own. Adding on the needs of an on-site population of seniors to the mix, the installation became that much more of a challenge. “We had a chiller made to order,” said Ambrose, specifically a Magnitude® magnetic bearing water-cooled chiller to serve approximately 158,000 square feet of space. Daikin’s Magnitude WMC chiller is up to 40 percent more efficient than standard centrifugal chillers.

To install the chillers, “We made a pretty prolific rig,” Ambrose stated. “It was a significant lifting process that involved coordinating emergency medical services, city street access, and the care and well-being of 200- plus senior residents.”

Ambrose explained, “We had to consider a route in the event of any medical attention being needed, for services to enter uninterrupted and unimpeded. We were occupying the entire means of getting to this building. We were using almost two blocks to build the crane. There was a hospital one street over, so we made sure their route was open. We had to make sure we could get to this building and do all this within the methods of operation of the city of Chicago.”

With so many moving pieces to consider, getting the work done in a speedy fashion was vital. “The work began at 7 p.m. on December 7th,” Ambrose said. “It took 12 hours to build and erect the crane. It was ready to go by 8:30 a.m. on December 8th. We removed one machine and brought out the other machine in pieces, disassembled the crane, and gave them back access to the site by 10 p.m.”

Even with the quick turnaround, the need for emergency access did come into play. “There was an ambulance call,” Ambrose noted. “We didn’t impede the emergency medical services’ ability to get in, remove the person, and go. We got an ‘attaboy’ from the fire department for that.”

Along with coordinating with the city and emergency services, Ambrose’s team also established a strong working relationship with the management and residents of the building. Jeffrey Ludwig, Brookdale Senior Living’s regional director of property management, was impressed by Daikin’s extensive planning and communication in advance as well as throughout the execution of the project. “Watching the chiller lift was like watching a well-composed orchestra,” said Ludwig. “The Daikin team did an outstanding job. There were no issues. We beat the time and made the budget. It was a mutually successful project.”

Ambrose said it was fortunate that some uncontrollable factors never came into play. While the weather was obviously beyond the team’s control, the Daikin team did its best to plan even for that. “We tried to forecast this,” Ambrose said. “We had everything ready to go four weeks before we needed to do it. We weren’t playing around. This wasn’t a roll of the dice. We were waiting and waiting for the weather to break at the right time, and it did.”

For more information, visit www.DaikinApplied.com.

MCAA thanks the Daikin Group for being a benefactor of MCAA2020 and supplying beverages on Wednesday evening.

When Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua, NH, started having problems with its antiquated chiller system, the facility was eager to make an upgrade and chose Daikin chillers primarily for the energy efficiency. As a result, it has cut energy use in half and reduced maintenance costs.

Keeping patients, staff, and visitors as comfortable as possible is a top priority for any medical center. The HVAC systems “serve the entire building, including operating rooms and patient rooms and general use in the building,” said Alex Finlayson, field supervisor of Daikin Applied’s Boston Service office, explaining the glaring need for new equipment. “They had three non-Daikin centrifugal chillers that were 25 years old [and] that had leaks and control platform issues. The platform wouldn’t support it anymore, so the customer started to look at options to replace the machine.”

Investing in Efficiency

Finlayson gives credit to a diligent administrator for making the right call. “The facility director did his homework. He compared the competitor’s machines they already had and similar replacements with what Daikin had to offer. The energy efficiency of the Daikin chiller he selected was significantly better.”

“It was mainly energy-based,” Finlayson explained. “That was the reason for investing in these chillers. That, and a magnetic-bearing chiller is certainly a cutting-edge piece of equipment. We got involved and introduced to them our WME magnetic-bearing compressor, which improved efficiency and decreased costs.”

Daikin’s Magnitude® chillers can, in fact, save building owners up to $4 million over the life of the chiller. Proven through installations all over the world, the oil-free design may reap up to 40-percent efficiency gains and reduces maintenance costs by eliminating the oil, mechanical seals, wear surfaces, and gears.

Difficult Installation Stays on Target

Despite the clear decision, the team faced obstacles in the path to installation. Removing three aging chillers from a hospital basement was not a simple task. Fortunately, the chiller project was scheduled alongside several other renovations, including new lighting and a new pump system, which helped make the Daikin project less obtrusive.

Even so, Finlayson said it was still a major undertaking. “It was a very complicated rig to get the old chillers out and the new chillers in.” To fit into the basement space, the chillers had to be disassembled, dropped through a pit to the mechanical room level, reassembled, and installed.

“It was very time-consuming,” said Finlayson. “Long days, 12-hour days to get the new machines down into the basement and the old ones out. It was a year-long project, one chiller at a time.” Still, the project came in on time and under budget. In the end, the hospital had three new, highly efficient Daikin Magnitude magnetic-bearing chillers.

Decision Pays Off

The long-running labor effort paid off. In the two years since the project was completed, the facility has seen improved energy efficiency and a significant drop in mechanical issues. Finlayson said the facility director has been pleased. “The maintenance costs were substantially less as well, because the chiller uses a magnetic-bearing compressor, and he didn’t have to deal with changing oil every year.”

It may have been a long process getting the chiller system upgraded, but now the staff at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center can be assured that they are delivering superior indoor air quality for the best patient outcomes. That is an upgrade that every hospital visitor should be able to appreciate.

Read Daikin’s blog post on the effect of air quality on health outcomes.

For more information, visit www.daikinapplied.com.

Built in the 1950s, White Plains High School in New York has stood the test of time, so when an HVAC upgrade was needed, school administrators wanted to keep it simple—and minimize cost and downtime. They selected Daikin Applied variable refrigerant volume (VRV) solutions to replace their aging systems with new, more efficient ones that fit the bill. Now, the school not only has a comfortable climate but also a more energy-efficient, quieter, and healthier classroom environment.

Overcoming Hurdles

White Plains High School’s B-Wing is one of two original structures on campus and leverages the common architectural design methods of the era in which it was built. Exterior structural beams have ensured the integrity of the 12,000-square-foot building over time. However, the original design posed some challenges when it came to updating the HVAC system.

School administrators knew they wanted a like-for-like replacement of the current unit ventilators (UVs) to minimize downtime, avoid the added expense associated with designing a new solution, and continue using the existing hot water system. In designing the replacement system, it was recognized that the exterior structural beams were blocking the free-air space for the new, more efficient compressorized UV design, which required higher condenser airflow than the older UV models.

To eliminate the need for condenser airflow, the school installed Daikin Applied UVs, which come with factory-installed electronic expansion valves (EEVs) and use remote Daikin VRV IV heat pump condensing units. These UVs can bring up to 100-percent outside air directly into the classroom, and without the need for condenser airflow, the existing louver opening was sufficient.

The VRV condensers were placed outside on ground level, where there is ample space and airflow to reject heat in cooling mode. The UVs were also able to use the existing hot water heating system during the cold New York winters. The UVs were ideal for the school because they allow for individual control of heating and cooling and direct integration of fresh air into the classroom.

The design included demand control ventilation, a feature which increased operating efficiency for the school and translates into dollars saved for the district. EEVs in the system modulate the precise amount of refrigerant to each zone, meeting the requested set point in a gradual and efficient manner. The demand control ventilation feature continuously monitors carbon dioxide levels in the classrooms and brings in fresh air accordingly, optimizing the volume of outside air supplied to the space and reducing energy waste.

The single air filter in each unit removes particulate from outside air before it is conditioned and supplied to the classrooms. The filter is easy to access and replace, easing the burden on facilities staff.

Comfortable and Quiet

Daikin’s ductless solutions also mean less noise in the school. The absence of ductwork removes potential audible distractions such as rattling, humming, and buzzing. The outdoor air processing capability bolsters indoor air quality, creating better learning environments Daikin VRV IV condensing units also played a large part in providing an environment that promotes productivity. The VRV IV’s compact footprint offered multiple options for placement, and the best choice was at ground level, where the units could be installed with short, noninvasive refrigerant pipe runs.

VRV condensers come with a corrosion-resistant coating, test-rated for 1,000 hours of salt spray, which makes the equipment suitable for harsh weather and coastal areas such as White Plains, NY. The hydrophilic coating also washes away dirt after rainfall, further extending the life of the system.

White Plains’ Director of Facilities, Frank Stefanelli, was pleased with the solution Daikin provided, adding that the students are the ones who are most thrilled. Before the upgrade, “We got many calls from students and teachers saying that the classrooms were too warm,” said Stefanelli.

“When I went to walk the B-Wing you could see the kids were sweating,” he continued. “Even in the winter, the rooms would get too warm from the lack of temperature control. It pained me to see the windows open on my way home from work.” This winter however, the windows have been closed, and students are thankful for the enhanced comfort delivered by Daikin.

For more information, visit www.daikinapplied.com. MCAA thanks the Daikin Group for being a benefactor of MCAA19 and supplying beverages on Tuesday evening.

With fast installation as high a priority as efficient cooling, Herakles Data of Sacramento, CA, chose pre-engineered, pre-assembled Daikin Modular Central Plants to meet their cooling demands. “Our number-one requirement in selecting a new system was speed,” said Laurence Stancil, director of facilities at Herakles Data. “The new cooling system had to be installed and operating as fast as possible, with minimal interruption.”

Four Daikin modular systems were successfully installed in just one week, resulting in no downtime for the data center. Moreover, the new systems
slashed energy use, earning Herakles Data a substantial municipal rebate.

Cooling Is Critical

Positioning itself as the ultimate data center, Herakles Data offers uninterruptible power, improved cooling, and redundant internet bandwidth to its co-location customers seeking to outsource their primary or disaster recovery IT infrastructure. At a co-location data center, corporations rent specific spaces to operate their data servers in a common physical location alongside the servers of other companies.

“Final site assembly was a very clean process—fast, easy, and efficient. … I would never do it the old way again.”

—Laurence Stancil, Director of Facilities, Herakles Data

With all the critical servers housed in the facility generating heat, “cooling is essential to our business,” said Stancil. “In fact it’s the number-two essential factor after uninterrupted power for our customers.”

Herakles Data President and CEO Lou Kirchner stressed how important cooling is to their success. “We’ve had customers come to us after leaving a previous data center because cooling was inadequate or unreliable,” Kirchner said. “And with the newer servers being more powerful and more compact than ever, they produce even more heat. With our facility near 100-percent capacity, it’s critical that our cooling capacity be able to handle the heat of the newest generation of servers.”

Herakles Data realized that its rapid business growth meant that it had outgrown the capacity of its existing four air-cooled Daikin chillers. It now needed additional capacity that could meet the demands of its mission-critical interior space and ambient temperatures that typically reach 95° F during the summer. “Under California’s Title 24 standards, we couldn’t add a fifth chiller to meet our growing capacity needs, so we had to consider alternatives outside the box,” said Stancil.

“Modular central plants are a simple yet brilliant solution to today’s business requirement for consistent, quality design and zero downtime. It’s the only way to go.”

—Lou Kirchner, President and CEO, Herakles Data

A Pre-Engineered, Pre-Assembled Solution

Herakles Data evaluated its alternatives and selected Daikin Modular Central Plants. Modular central plants are pre-engineered and pre-assembled, with the chiller, pumps, cooling tower, and interconnected piping from one supplier, and then shipped to the jobsite for final assembly. Their unique modular configuration reduces site assembly time compared with traditional “site built” cooling plants, with the chiller, cooling tower, pumps, and piping all coming from separate sources.

Stancil was initially skeptical of the modular central plant concept, but the installation process made him a believer. “Our first four modular ventral plants were dropped, bolted, and wired—fully assembled—in a week. I’d compare it to changing a propeller in flight,” Stancil said. “You have to get it right the first time. And we did. Final site assembly was a very clean process—fast, easy, and efficient.”

It was so fast and easy that Stancil now prefers the modular central plant concept to the traditional site-built central cooling plant. “I would never do it the old way again,” he said.

Kirchner was especially pleased that the one-week installation process resulted in zero downtime for the data center. “It was seamless for our customers,” said Kirchner.

Capacity Goals Surpassed

A total of six Daikin Modular Central Plants provide chilled water to 59 computer room air conditioning units in the 52,500-square-foot data center. Each of the modules consists of a 500-ton Daikin centrifugal compressor water chiller pre-engineered and pre-assembled with pumps, piping, cooling tower, control panel, and associated water treatment system.

Kirchner’s original goal of increased cooling capacity to meet Herakles Data’s projected growth was not only achieved, but also surpassed. “We provide N+1 business solutions for our customers, meaning we meet their needs plus provide redundancy,” he said. “Today, however, we have surpassed that goal, because we typically run only two of the four original modular central plants. That results in 2N cooling capacity today available to our data center customers.”

Energy Savings a Bonus

In addition to fast-track construction and commissioning, the new Daikin Modular Central Plants resulted in impressive energy savings compared with the old system. “Our old system used 3,600 kilowatt hours (kWh)/ton a day; the new system uses 2,800 kWh/ton a day for a 22-percent reduction in energy,” Stancil noted. That reduced energy usage earned Herakles Data a $50,000-rebate from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District for the new system.

With the energy savings, the benefits of the Daikin Modular Central Plant extend beyond the initial benefits of the fast, easy installation. “Those energy savings were a very good bonus,” Stancil said. “With our new modular central plants, we not only got the increased capacity that we needed, we also got significant energy savings over the life of the equipment.”

Kirchner sums up the entire experience as phenomenal. “Modular central plants are a simple yet brilliant solution to today’s business requirement for consistent, quality design and zero downtime. It’s the only way to go.”

For more information, visit www.DaikinApplied.com. MCAA thanks Daikin Group for being a benefactor of MCAA18 and providing beverages on Wednesday evening.

Remote Troubleshooting Ability Saves on Service Calls

To meet the stringent standards for climate control required to protect its treasured artwork and artifacts in storage, the University of California Berkeley’s Regatta Museum installed Daikin Rebel® commercial rooftop systems, paired with the Daikin Intelligent Equipment® solution that provides real-time data. Using the software solution saved time and money during the 6-week startup and commissioning process of a critical control application where rooftop package units are seldom used. “With some fine-tuning, Daikin optimized the control of the Rebel units to meet required tolerances of +/- 2 degrees and +/- 5-percent relative humidity,” said Matt Dodds, Daikin application engineer for commercial rooftop units.

For the major renovation of 21,000 square-feet of its warehouse space, the museum specified two 10-ton Daikin Rebel rooftop systems to maintain optimal cooling and tight humidity control. “The variable speed compressors on the Rebel rooftop units have the capability to provide temperature and humidity control at significantly less cost than the installed price of an air-cooled chiller desiccant system with storage tank,” said Daikin representative Steve Dobberstein.

Each Rebel rooftop unit is connected to the Daikin Intelligent Equipment solution, which gives the museum real-time data it can use to anticipate and respond to operational needs. Intelligent Equipment is factory-installed, so there is no need to call in a controls-specific contractor during equipment installation. At the Regatta’s climate-controlled warehouse, Intelligent Equipment was used to calibrate the rooftop equipment during the commissioning process. Intelligent Equipment controls give almost 350 diagnostic points on the Rebel units. By allowing technicians to dive deep into unit diagnostics, Intelligent Equipment identifies potential problems. During the set-up for the museum, technicians could see and adjust equipment settings remotely, eliminating the need for the facility manager or building owner to make a service call.

“The customer trusted using Rebel rooftops and Intelligent Equipment in this climate-control application. The fact that a Daikin applications engineer halfway across the country can be virtually hands-on with Intelligent Equipment allowed us to sell the job,” Dobberstein said.

“Intelligent Equipment provides a window into basic trending information on base temperature and humidity and other control points such as compressor speed, fan speed, and unit state, giving engineers the ability to adjust the settings and troubleshoot,” said Dodds. “On a remote basis, you can go into the data for a deeper level of insight than you would by talking to a service technician standing by a unit on the roof.”

Dobberstein added, “Intelligent Equipment gave access to hundreds of diagnostic points unobtainable from the facility’s building automation system. [It] is also a helpful application because of the high cost of technician services,” noting the platform’s remote troubleshooting capability eliminated several service truck rolls during commissioning.

With highly secure Ethernet LAN or high-security cellular network connections available, the museum always knows that the only individuals accessing their equipment are those who keep their system running at its utmost peak efficiency.

For more information, visit www.DaikinApplied.com.

Owners Earn $62,000 Rebate from City Utility

Owners of a Washington, DC, apartment complex undergoing renovation selected Daikin products for their reliability and energy-saving potential. The choice not only improved comfort and energy efficiency in the buildings but also netted a $62,000 rebate from the local electric utility, enhancing the owners’ return on investment.

The renovation involved 648 apartments in three 1960s-era buildings at Capitol Park Plaza and Twins in southwest Washington, DC. At nearly 20 years old, the four screw chillers serving the complex were near failure and no longer providing redundancy. “When looking at capital improvements, my goal is to try to maximize return through savings,” said Brian Wilson, owner with Capitol Park Apartments LP in Middleburg, VA. “I needed research. In looking at who did what, it became clear Daikin had our solution with its magnetic bearing technology.”

Analysis Aids Decision

Sean O’Brien, district service manager with Daikin, explained that Daikin offered the owners a complimentary in-depth energy study of the buildings. Panda Aumpansub, P.E., a Daikin representative energy performance engineer in Columbia, MD, conducted the analysis. “Her study gave owners an accurate view of the energy consumption and load requirements at Capitol Park with a lifecycle cost analysis on the proposed replacement equipment,” O’Brien said. Owners also moved forward with other energy-related improvements, such as lighting retrofits.

As an owner, Wilson appreciated touring the Daikin factory in Staunton, VA. “The entire Daikin organization is first-class, and it was validating to see the production of the chillers. Daikin has far and away the best technology, but also probably is the best organized group of people I’ve ever worked with,” he said. Wilson was impressed with the digitally controlled magnetic bearing system on the chiller compressors, which reduces maintenance costs. He also knew the variable frequency drives (VFDs) on the chiller’s dual compressors would contribute to significant energy savings over standard centrifugal chillers.

“The entire Daikin organization is first-class, and it was validating to see the production of the chillers. Daikin has far and away the best technology…”

—Brian Wilson, Owner, Capitol Park Apartments

For example, the two Magnitude chillers in the Plaza building can communicate with each other, so only one compressor on each of the chillers needs to be operated. The system can also easily be adjusted to meet the reduced demands of unoccupied spaces in the apartments during the day because of the VFDs.

Daikin Service Group provided installation and start-up of the chillers and air handlers, beginning in November 2014 and working in stages across the three buildings. Installers had limited access to the lower-level mechanical room, which required disassembly of the chillers prior to installation, including draining of the refrigerant system.

Daikin’s turnkey solution included a complimentary subscription to energy management software that allows the owners to remotely monitor the performance of their buildings at Capitol Park.

Efficiency Pays Off

The chillers have been fully operational at Capitol Park since April 2015. “I think everybody has seen the improvement on the consistency of comfort,” said Wilson. “Before, in really hot months, on the higher levels of the buildings, the old chillers couldn’t cool enough. We don’t have that problem anymore with the Daikin chillers.” Wilson frequently monitors electrical usage of the entire complex through the energy management software portal and values the access to actual consumption data, which allows him to audit bills from the electrical utility. “The ability to manage your costs on a real-time basis is quite significant, and it’s really helpful from an environmental standpoint to see how you stack up against the rest of the country,” he said. Wilson pointed out that the new Daikin chillers have reduced cooling consumption by about 10 percent over the former chillers.

With the Daikin chillers, air handlers, lighting replacements, and other energy improvements, the Capitol Park complex is 15–20 percent more efficient than similar buildings across the country. The energy-efficient chillers have contributed to impressive energy savings. Calculations by the energy management software over two periods (totaling about eight months in the 2015 and 2016 cooling seasons across the complex) reveal consumption savings of 550,160.39 kilowatts per hour (kWh), reflecting electric utility cost savings of $53,430.63—the carbon equivalent of taking about 81 cars off the road. Owners expect even greater savings once an upgrade is made to a cooling tower.

Based on the kWh savings of new HVAC equipment, owners received a $62,000 rebate from the District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility, which further accelerates the owners’ return on investment in the new chillers.

For more information, visit www.DaikinApplied.com. MCAA thanks Daikin Group for being a benefactor of MCAA 2017 and providing beverages on Wednesday evening.