The Study on Recommissioning of a Laboratory Building in the Industrial Park

Abstract

The laboratory buildings are not main part of industrial buildings in the developing countries like China. However, the energy intensity of those buildings is on the top of industrial buildings because of requirement of temperature and relative humidity control. As an example in this paper, the recommissioning of a laboratory building in the industrial park located in the region of hot and humid climate is introduced, including in the issues of controls, optimization of temperature and relative humidity control and savings analysis. Keywords-Recommissioning; Laboratory Building; Industrial Park; Energy Saving I. RECOMMISSIONING AND FACILITY INTRODUCTION Recommissioning technology is widely used for recommissioning service, in order to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings because of inadequate understanding of the problems and insufficient engineering knowledge by some facility operations staff [1]. There are several benefits from recommissioning activates. First, during the recommissioning process, a thorough engineering inspection is conducted and measurements are made. Sustainable engineering solutions based on fundamental engineering principles are developed and implemented [2]. Second, through the recommissioning, the HAVC system can operate more efficiently to meet the building load. Design engineers face uncertainties in building design because they lack knowledge of actual occupancy levels and construction quality. To insure a workable building, HVAC systems are often designed with more capacity than required [3-4]. The HVAC engineers often pay little attention to part-load control and operation. Consequently, working as designed, a system may have poor energy performance. In addition, an excessively large system often creates comfort problems since it may not control well under very low load conditions. Third, during the recommissioning process, the recommissioning engineers work closely with the building staff to identify operating problems and determine optimal operating strategies. The staff is also heavily involved in the decisions to implement specific recommissioning measures and may actually implement these measures. They gain a higher level of skill and understanding of the engineering principles involved in optimal building operation [5]. Finally, the recommissioning can be a service as an enabling factor for a comprehensive facility overhaul. A comprehensive system overhaul or major system upgrade is often delayed or canceled due to lack of funding. This problem can be resolved if savings from the recommissioning process are used to fund the upgrade project [6-7]. The recommissioning process can have another significant impact on retrofit projects. It reduces the audit and engineering analysis cost since major costeffective measures are normally identified during the recommissioning process. It also decreases the risk of engineering mistakes during retrofits since the commissioning process results in an excellent understanding of the characteristics and operation of the existing systems. Consequently, retrofit costs can be controlled to a minimum [8-10]. The laboratory building recommissioned is a 3-story building with a basement. The total floor area of the building is about 7,800m2. The basement has a parking garage. The 1st floor is mainly offices and meeting rooms. The 2nd floor is a material lab. The 3rd floor has biological labs. There are 5 air handling units (AHUs) in the building. AHU-1, AHU-2 and AHU-3 are single-duct variable air volume (SDVAV) systems with the reheat terminal boxes and direct digital control (DDC) on the energy management control system (EMSC), serving the building from the 1st through the 3rd floors respectively. AHU-4 is a fresh air handling unit providing the fresh to the AHU-l International Conference on Logistics Engineering, Management and Computer Science (LEMCS 2015) © 2015. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 555 to AHU-3. AHU-5 serving the 3rd floor possessed is a make-up air handling unit with a heating coil only. Both of AHU-4 and AHU-5 were possessed with local pneumatic control. The terminal reheat boxes were possessed with local pneumatic control as well. The chilled water and heating hot water are served by two building pumps in the basement. Both chilled water and hot water pumps have variable frequency drive (VFD) for its speed control. The chilled water and heating hot water is from the water loop of Industrial Zone. There are 14 exhaust fans on the roof of the main part of the building. Twelve of them are used for exhaust in the laboratories on the 3rd floor, and other two are for restrooms exhaust. These AHUs and exhaust fans run 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. II. HAVC SYSTEMS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE