Luftmeister® offers accurate energy measurements in air conditioners

Take control of energy management, in the field of air-conditioning – with Luftmeister ®
Photo by halstrup walcher

Luftmeister® from halstrup-walcher, the measurement technology specialist, provides the missing link at the interface between energy management, air-conditioning technology and facility management: the world‘s first air meter and air energy meter records air consumption and energy flows within air-conditioning and process air systems based on high-precision mass flow and enthalpy sensors. The new instrument is factory-calibrated and thus offers maximum accuracy. Luftmeister® provides a number of advantages depending on the application:

1. Accurate, continuous flow measurement (in total and locally)

In terms of volume flows in ventilation system networks, most air-conditioning systems today are more or less “flying blind”. This is due to a number of factors:

• In many cases, the only flow measurement ever recorded was taken during the start-up process (old data providing a snapshot of just one moment in time).
• Since then, the layout of the system may have changed. Some sections may now be disused and new sections have been added. Yet the effect of these changes on volume flow distribution is only rarely tested.
• Continuous, decentralised measurement points of air volume flow are rare. If they exist at all, they frequently use X-grids and have a margin of error of 15-25% because they are not calibrated or adjusted on-site. With such low quality data, it is impossible to identify wastage or insufficient air supply with an adequate degree of precision.

Luftmeister® provides continuous flow through data based on accurate mass and volume flow measurements at all centralised (and decentralised) measurement points.This allows the operator to perform the following operations at any time (even for different times of year or day etc.):

• Record, display, check and optimise air exchange or air supply in the individual zones of the system
• Prevent insufficient air supply or wastage of air supply in every zone.

2. Distribution of costs based on consumption

Currently, ventilation costs are either not assigned to the individual user at all (industrial buildings) or are shared based on a rate per m2 of floor area (commercial buildings). There is absolutely no transparency regarding individual energy consumption and therefore no incentive to cut consumption through appropriate changes in behavior. Above all, the tariff based on floor area is clearly unfair as, according to air-conditioning regulations, different volume flows (per m2) are required for different areas depending on the type of use.

Luftmeister® allows operators to calculate a precise total for air consumed (in m3 or kg) as well as the delivered useable energy per zone (in kWh). Energy input (e.g. heating) and output (e.g. cooling) are recorded separately.

The result is that the person/company responsible for each zone can be billed for a fair share of the costs based on actual consumption. Studies into the consumption of a wide range of media have clearly demonstrated that such measures can stimulate changes in behaviour, which result in savings of 10-30%. As these consumption values can be officially calibrated and verified if necessary (commercial real estate, air contracting), the costs also have a clear and legally secure basis.

3. Record and optimise air-energy flows

Industrial companies, which have implemented energy management systems (e.g. in accordance with EN 50001) have already enjoyed success in achieving many savings over recent years. Yet often these have focused on the “low hanging fruit” (savings that can be achieved with little effort) in the areas of electricity, heat and compressed air. If they wish to continue to benefit from EU cost exemptions and claim peak load compensation, they will have to implement, measure and prove further energy savings over the coming years.

Luftmeister® enables operators to record the transportation of energy in air ducts. So instead of just looking at the input energy of an air-conditioning system, they can analyse the complete energy contribution:

• How much energy is flowing into each zone of use?
• What is the energy contribution of the individual zone of use to heat recovery?
• What is the real-world figure for heat recovery or moisture recovery (not just under laboratory conditions)?
• How efficient is the air-conditioning system (as a whole or even viewed separately for the areas of heating, cooling etc.)?

This data provides a base (available via Impulse, BACnet, Modbus or M-Bus) that effectively opens up an enormous range of possibilities for optimising the system. At long last, energy management can now be applied to air-conditioning and process air. As well as reducing operating costs, it is also possible to register the savings achieved. Precisely and transparently.

For more information, please visit http://www.halstrup-walcher.de/en.

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