St Columba College - VIC
Catholic Education Victoria
Temperzone OPA ECO 72kW rooftop package unit
School Library Building at St Columba College, Melbourne
Temperzone's High Energy Efficiency and exceptional controllability are based on our use of Advanced Variable Technologies.
Building Energy Efficiency is a hot topic at the moment. If you ask an architect about energy efficiency, they will say it is mostly to do with design and construction.
A controls person will tell you that real energy efficiency requires a state-of-the-art BMS system. The air conditioning engineer will of course, tell you it’s all about the air conditioning design.
The St Columba School library project is a great example of how a holistic approach that integrates design, construction, BMS and air conditioning technology can produce truly exceptional energy efficiency results.
The Nicholson Library project at St Columba College* in suburban Melbourne was a refurbishment of the existing 2 storey building. The core components of the project were:
- Reduction of the permeability of the building so that loss of conditioned air was reduced by 75%.
- Addition of a second glazing layer to the existing window frames, so that all external windows were double glazed. There were also some minor additional insulation additions.
- Implementation of the DEOS OpenBalance BMS system for the air conditioning control.
- Replacement of the existing 96kW rooftop package air conditioning unit with a Temperzone OPA ECO 72kW rooftop package unit.
- The whole project was extensively monitored both before and after the refurbishment by Deakin University School of Architecture and Building**.
The monitoring of the building over the full summer of 2015-16 showed an improvement in comfort levels and that the combination of DEOS OpenBalance BMS and Temperzone OPA – ECO package unit were working so well that the Deakin University report suggest it may have been possible to use a package half the original size as the unit rarely engaged its second compressor. (The Temperzone OPA ECO 72kW unit has two 36kW compressors. One is a scroll compressor and the other is digital scroll giving it a seamless capacity range from about 15kW to 72kW).
The DEOS OpenBalance system and the way it utilises the capacity and airflow flexibility of the Temperzone OPA- ECO unit are an ideal Energy Efficiency combination.
The OpenBalance system from DEOS Australia*** has a number of unique features. Firstly it is designed to work with fully variable roof top package units. Secondly it operates the system with a very slight positive pressure in the air conditioned space. Thirdly it manages the airflow by ramping the Package unit fans up and down, without the use of dampers. Whilst this sounds very old school it takes a combination of the DEOS OpenBalance BMS electronics and the flexibility and controllability of the OPA-ECO unit to deliver the exceptional energy efficiency.
Ian Johnston from DEOS Australia said “The flexibility, controllability and sophistication of the Temperzone OPA- ECO range allows us to get maximum performance from the OpenBalance BMS system. This in turn allows us to deliver the energy efficiency that clients like St Columba College require.” He added “We are now exclusively specifying Temperzone OPA-ECO units for our OpenBalance BMS projects”.
The Temperzone OPA-ECO range of rooftop package units are standard, ex stock products that offer seamless variable capacity control as well as EC plug fans on both the condenser and evaporator. When you add an Electronic Expansion Valve and full BMS connectivity via the UC board OPA-ECO this is ideal when you are looking for efficiency and close control.
The OPA-ECO range and OpenBalnce BMS are an ideal combination for large open space projects where the outside building envelope can be addressed. Ideal applications includes art galleries, leisure centres, Libraries and indoor swimming pools.
* St Columba School is a private girls school run by Catholic Education Victoria in suburban Melbourne.
** Monitoring of the project was done by Deakin University School of Architecture and Building and two separate papers have been produced describing the monitoring and results.
*** DEOS Australia is a Melbourne based company that operates under the umbrella of DEOS AG in Germany. We are an innovative, technology company and our core competence lies in developing and producing innovative energy efficiency building technology. This allows DEOS Australia to develop and produce intelligent and comprehensive systems – Made in Germany – for building automation and market them worldwide.
Ian Johnston Sales manager
DEOS Australia