HVAC Controls save energy for care homes – Working alongside RDM

Atmosclear have recently aided RDM (Resource Data Management) with the role of designing a new control and monitoring solution for a Care home in the Purley area. The care home had been experiencing issues with their heating system which meant that vital energy was being wasted. After some investigating into the issues it came to light that the heating valves had been forced into a partially open position, resulting in the radiators remaining a constant temperature. During the Summer months the temperature would increase uncontrollably and then decrease in the Winter. This obviously was a matter that needed resolving as soon as possible. It was also noted that energy was being lost through the chiller being constantly enabled. The upgrade to the Care home included the instillation of monitoring devices to enable predictive maintenance and alarm reporting, in case of a system failure. Additional features like noise reduction to the plant were also included.

What did we do?

The Engineers made sure to work around the Care homes requests and desires as their requirements are of upmost importance to us. To achieve the new control of the existing plant programmable logic controller (PLC) software was included. It was designed whilst keeping in mind the buildings controls infrastructure including things such as: AHUs, boilers, extract fans, chillers, heaters and immersion heaters. The control system that we designed used RDM’s PLC controllers, Intuitive TDB, as well as RDM’s control and monitoring system front-end DMTouch. All plant equipment is now controlled using Intuitive TDB controllers. Temperature sensors ensure that the heating doesn’t over or under perform depending on outside conditions. The chillers, previously always switched on, were set to only turn on at temperatures of 20°C and above, saving energy and helping to create a comfortable environment. In addition, time clocks were added to each circuit to switch noisy equipment such as extract fans off at night. This will reduce any potential noise disturbance throughout the night. If any part of the plant fails, the DMTouch’s alerts will enable a quick resolution of any issues. This will prevent the system from wasting energy in the future, especially as current situations show an unsettling rise in gas and electric prices.

The newly installed control system reduces the operating times of the boilers and chillers, saving gas and electricity, which in turn reduces the care home’s carbon footprint and utility costs just as they desired.

RDM provided reliable backup and extra knowledge to help resolve these issues and bring back the quality and comfortable feel to the home.