Heating and Cooling
 NBI
is working to create solutions for low-energy cooling system design,
operations and maintenance. Project work includes:
Field Research Reports on an Indirect Evaporative Air Conditioner
NBI conducted lab and field technical assessments of eight
Desert CoolAire™ prototype indirect evaporative air conditioners
on behalf of NEEA and SMUD. Read or download the Executive
Summary on the 2006 field research, the Complete
Final Report on the 2006 research, or the 2007
Addendum on additional monitoring and equipment status.
Market Assessment of Evaporative Technologies
NBI completed a
report on the range of evaporative, evaporative hybrid and evaporative
condensing technologies for HVAC applications on behalf of Southern
California Edison including: technologies, manufacturers, market
applications and adoption factors surrounding evaporative approaches
to cooling.
Rooftop Unit Savings Research Project
 Improving
the operating performance of rooftop unit air-conditioners is the
objective of a working group and field project conducted by NBI
for Pacific Northwest electric utilities. This project is composed
of four interdependent elements: 1) bench testing of economizer
controls, 2) field testing of repair protocols, 3) devising an appropriate
measurement and verification approach and 4) developing a savings
prediction methodology based on prototypical buildings. The Bench
Test Report on the economizer dry-bulb sensor issue is now available.
Hot Dry Air Conditioner Project (HDAC)
NBI was part of the Market Connections team on the CEC PIER HDAC
project to optimize air conditioners for the hot dry climate in
the West. In the first phase, a 3–ton residential split system
and 5-ton package unit were re-engineered for optimum energy and
demand performance efficiency at 115°F. In the second phase,
field tests were conducted with manufacturer-supplied units that
were expected to meet the HDAC specification that was developed
in the first phase. The field tests showed that it was possible
to reduce demand by up to 35% at the critical peak and energy use
by 20%. The final report is available: Energy
Performance Of Hot, Dry Optimized Air-Conditioning Systems.
Pacific Gas & Electric sponsored two cooling seasons of HDAC
testing that are summarized in two reports: PG&E
Hot Dry Climate Air Conditioner Pilot Field Test and PG&E
Hot Dry Climate Air Conditioner Pilot Field Test Phase II.
As allowed in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007,
US DOE conducting a rulemaking proceeding on residential air conditioner
standards that will take into account up to two additional regionally
climate optimized cooling standards. Substantial comment was sent
to DOE on the conditions for fairly assessing a hot dry climate
cooling standard by the American Council For An Energy Efficient
Economy and other energy efficiency agencies. See ACEEE’s
comment letter on A/C Climate Standards Framework.
Advanced Automated Commercial HVAC Fault Detection and
Diagnostics Program (FDD)
NBI managed the Market Connections component of the CEC-PIER
FDD Program, which consisted of several projects: 1) Enforma
Building Diagnostics, 2) The Advanced Rooftop Unit (ARTU) integrates
a range of “advanced” energy efficiency and control
strategies in a 5-ton package unit. The list of features
that would enhance field performance and a benefit-cost
analysis has been finalized. The ARTU team is working with the
CEE HVAC Committee to support the adoption ARTU features, 3) Embedded
Diagnostics for Rooftop Units represents a breakthrough in managing
and optimizing the operations and maintenance of rooftop units through
an integrated diagnostic sensor suite with a web-based user interface,
4) fault detection algorithms for air handling units and variable-air-volume
boxes developed by the National Institute for Standards and Technology,
that are embedded at the device controller level and report through
the existing Building Automation System. Contact Mark Cherniack
at NBI for details including the algorithm line code and a translation
of the algorithms into Johnson Controls Metasys code, and 5) the
IAQ-42
advanced outside air flow measuring control.
In June 2007 NBI organized the first FDD Roundtable held at
the Western Cooling Efficiency Center (WCEC) and cosponsored by
WCEC, the California Commissioning Collaborative and Architectural
Energy Corporation. Attendees developed a set of action plans to
increase the interest in, and use of, FDD tools for managing the
ongoing energy and environmental performance of commercial HVAC
systems. For details, read the Roundtable Summary
and Notes.
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