Through an extensive programme of capacity control upgrades at one of its major Military Air & Information sites in North West England, global defence, aerospace and security company BAE Systems has achieved annual savings of 70-80% on computer room air conditioning energy consumption at its Warton site, equivalent to £350,000. The business expects to recoup the costs of the project within just 15 months.
BAE Systems required a cost-effective upgrade solution for its Warton site that would increase cooling performance and deliver significant energy efficiencies without disrupting critical testing and production of combat and training aircraft such as the Typhoon and Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer.
The extensive programme of component upgrades to more than 70 Airedale and Denco precision air conditioning (PAC) units which included installing electronically commutated (EC) fans, electronic expansion valves (EEVs) and other energy efficiency components in addition to controls integration expertise and other system enhancements, has also improved resilience and reduced the risk of downtime.
Airedale’s controls division worked as part of the project team to devise bespoke chilled water (CW) and mechanical direct expansion (DX) control strategies to maximise the part-load efficiencies of the external Airedale chillers. To minimise power consumption and provide redundancy the PAC units were programmed to operate in run/standby mode alternating after a set number of hours, ensuring even wear of components and providing back-up where maintenance is required. The PAC units were also networked and integrated with the existing Building Management System (BMS) delivering remote temperature and humidity management.
The flexibility of the new Airedale controllers also meant that controls strategy and air balance could be tailored to individual room conditions, minimising energy consumption whilst maintaining close temperature and humidity control.
Jon Farmer, Energy Manager at BAE Systems, Military Air & Information, said: “With the help of Joule Consultants, BAE Systems identified an opportunity to reduce energy consumption of the Computer Room Air Conditioning units at our site by up to 80%. Airedale was selected as the most competent company with the best product to meet our needs. The project involved retrofitting new EC fans, chilled water valves and controls to over 70 CRAC units over a 12-month period. The savings have been measured and amortised to give an annual saving of around £350,000.”
British manufacturer, Airedale International, has significant experience of project-managing complex retrofit projects in critical environments having worked on a large number of sites including Epson, the National Gallery, Reuters and Vodafone in addition to numerous public sector facilities UK-wide.