These new units have a capacity between 22.4kW and 168kW and an allowable system pipe length of up to 500 metres, making them extremely flexible for installation. The same model can be installed as either a heat pump or a heat recovery system depending on the design of the system.
Water source Heat Pumps work by extracting energy from a large body of water and converting it into useful energy for heating and cooling in buildings. The water source needs to be sufficiently large to be effective and practical, but can be a large pond or lake, a river or large stream, it can be sea water or even underground water, having been used successfully with water in mine shafts and flooded underground mine workings for example.
These new systems can also be utilised in conjunction with energy sources - in the form of hot water - that might otherwise get wasted such as industrial process waste heat sources, cooling towers, computer/server rooms and facilities – and turned into useful energy to heat buildings.
Typically, in combination with different indoor units, the energy taken by outdoor units from the water source can be used to provide indoor solutions including space conditioning, such as heating or cooling via regular air conditioning indoor units, but it can also work with underfloor heating systems or radiators in conjunction with a hydro kit. It can also work well with supplying domestic hot water for buildings.
VRF systems are based on the refrigerant flow between an outdoor unit and multiple indoor units. The flow of refrigerant to each indoor unit can be controlled and adjusted depending on the specific thermal needs in different zones within a building. VRFs are more efficient, more compact and offer greater flexibility that other traditional HVAC systems.
VRF is available in two formats – two-pipe heat pump and three pipe heat recovery options. With a heat pump system all indoor units operate in the same mode – either cooling or heating, but not at the same time. With a heat recovery system, the indoor units can be heating in certain areas whilst cooling in others simultaneously. The energy recovered from the indoor units operating in cooling mode can be transferred to other units operating in heating mode and vice versa.
The new LG Multi V Water 5 products have a number of advantages over competitive units in the UK marketplace. These include a wider range capacity, higher efficiency for the same capacity – lower in weight and a longer installation pipe lengths available, and the new units have a smaller footprint – a smaller area is required for service accessibility meaning LG’s unit can fit in a smaller plant room. The product is equipped with LG’s 5th generation inverter scroll compressor which has a frequency range of 20 Hz-150 Hz, it features High Pressure Oil Return (HiPOR™) along with sensor based oil management along with enhanced bearing technology – the compressor bearing being coated with Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) materials.
The new units can be integrated with Building Management Systems (BMS), using data communication protocols to integrate the different elements of the building services into the building’s automatic control network, using BACnet, Modbus and LonWorks.
LG’s central controllers – its ACP5 and AC Smart 5 – have built-in BACnet and Modbus connections and can interface directly with BMS that supports these protocols. In addition LG’s products also support LonWorks and KNX gateways, providing a number of options for the design consultants to choose from.
The units also come with LG Monitoring View (LGMV) – a troubleshooting and diagnosis tool for LG’s air conditioning systems. These help maintenance engineers to monitor the operation of the units and understand any issues that arise during use. The connection ports for this tool are already built into every outdoor and compatible VRF indoor units for the Multi V Water 5 VRF systems.
“We’re pleased to be able to offer these new units here in the UK,” says LG’s Hong Cheng. “They are valuable additions to the range of equipment available to designers and engineers.”
For more information, please head for partner.lge.com/uk, or you can email LG at uk.aircon@lge.com.