Cems

CEMS Engineering Lowers Energy Consumption of Centralized Air-Conditioning Systems by 30% using National Instruments Technologies.

The Challenge: Lowering energy consumption of large-scale air-conditioning systems The Solution: Using NI Compact Field Point and LabVIEW Real-Time to acquire and analyze real-time data for more efficient cooling.

"Operating instructions determined through a series of variance calculations of the real-time input data, PID control loops, principles of thermodynamics, heat transfer and advanced mathematical optimization and other equations in a LabVIEW Real-Time application, resulted in reduced electricity bills and energy consumption up to 30 percent."

Chiller Energy Management System (CEMS Engineering) Engineering specializes in energy management of centralized air-conditioning systems. CEMS Engineering has made breakthroughs in conserving energy in large scale, climate-controlled commercial and industrial facilities. To cool a large area, commercial and industrial centralized airconditioning systems traditionally consist of multiple machines, commonly known as chillers that control air temperature by removing heat from a coolant liquid through vapor-compression or an absorption-refrigeration cycle. CEMS Engineering has pioneered the technology to lower the energy usage of these chillers while still maintaining the same, cooled temperature of the building. CEMS Engineering uses the NI Compact Fieldpoint (cFP) Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) to acquire real-time input data directly from sensors on the chillers and then uses this data to determine and send new operating instructions to the chillers. These operating instructions are determined through a series of variance calculations of the real-time input data, PID control loops, principles of thermodynamics, heat transfer and advanced mathematical optimization and other proprietary equations in a LabVIEW Real-Time application, resulting in reduced electricity bills and energy consumption up to 30 percent.

The CEMS Engineering systems use a novel approach in determining optimized operating parameters of chillers. Genetic algorithms that combine heat transfer principles, thermodynamics and mathematical predication are used to operate the chillers in the most energy efficient manner, while maintaining industry standards and without compromising the comfort level of occupants in a commercial or industrial building. With the support of National Instruments LabVIEW and Compact FieldPoint hardware, implementation of the CEMS Engineering system was completed within six months of commencement and is now installed and running at customer sites. CEMS Engineering reduced time to market with the integration inherent between NI LabVIEW software and its Compact FieldPoint hardware. With LabVIEW, CEMS Engineering could fully use the power of graphical system design, progressing from a design to a prototype, to working deployment in astounding speed. The system relied on Compact FieldPoint for data acquisition, analysis, decision making and solid state controls.

Author Information: For more information on this Case Study, contact: Thirumalaichelvam Subramaniam CEMS Engineering Sdn Bhd [email protected] http://www.cems.com.my/