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Customer
Berezan Management
Location
Calgary, Alberta Canada
Application
HVAC System Commercial High-rise
Product
hydrovane HV11RS Regulated Speed Compressor
Customer Benefit
Vertical design and small footprint for ease of installation and maintenance
Energy efficient variable speed drive decreases lifetime operating cost of the compressed air system
Direct drive, slow speed operation increases reliability and decreases noise levels
Simple, durable construction reduces oil carry-over and oil leakage issues for a more environmentally friendly system
Jeff McCulloch P.E., Building Operator, Berezan Management (Alta) Ltd., with HV11RS installation.
Berezan Management, established in 1997, is a Canadianbased private development, construction and property management company with offices in Calgary, Edmonton and Langley. Berezan manages all of its revenue property including high-rise office buildings, retail outlets and high-end recreational venues.
With ever-rising energy costs, increasing operating efficiencies of HVAC systems is one area in which property management companies seek energy-saving solutions. Maintenance and replacement of these systems can also present challenges. While contractors locate mechanical rooms in the basements of single-story buildings, HVAC systems generally are installed on the top floors of commercial and residential high-rise buildings. Because HVAC systems take up valuable floor space, similar to elevator shafts, engineers try to minimize the area occupied by mechanical rooms while allowing for sufficient redundancy in the services provided. The challenges in this case are: decrease footprint of equipment, reduce noise levels, reduce energy consumption and eliminate oil leakage on the floor and overall oil carry-over issues.
Hydrovane's RS line of variable speed air compressors save energy by only producing the amount of air needed to meet the demand. In addition, the air is produced using less electrical power than compressors that are not controlled by variable speed drives. Hydrovane compressors are direct drive, slow speed and have very low noise levels. For instance, the HV11RS-which is the focus of this study-operates at a sound level of only 69 dB(A).
The vertical design and compact footprint facilitate installation in existing mechanical rooms that are often located on the top floors of high-rise buildings. The small size of the compressor also fits through a standard 36” door frame. For the Berezan Management HVAC application, the hydrovane RS variable speed air compressor is more economical to operate due to the reduced energy consumption. This machine also provides the reduced noise levels required by the customer and resolves the high oil carry-over and oil leakage issues of the reciprocating compressors that it replaced.
Hydrovane takes pride in the quality of its equipment as well as the technical expertise and service provided by its world-class distribution network. Northwest Equipment Ltd., established in 1979, has been a hydrovane distributor for many years. Located in Western Canada, its strength lies in the depth and expertise of its long-standing employees. The extensive industry involvement of Northwest Equipment's dedicated team provides over 120 years of experience in the air compression business. This depth of experience and knowledge enable the company to offer compressed air solutions and service for a wide array of applications.
As energy costs and environmental concerns have become more prominent, it has been easier to sell these property management companies on the concept of rotary vane technology and variable speed energy costs savings, Van der Meer points out. Some property management companies will spend thousands of dollars replacing light bulbs and entry light switches to use less energy. Do you know how many light bulbs it takes to consume the same amount of energy as a 15HP piston compressor running 24/7 for a year? You would have to exchange almost two hundred 60W incandescent light bulbs for comparable compact fluorescent lighting to achieve the annual energy savings realized by replacing a 15HP piston compressor with a 15HP variable speed hydrovane compressor.
Northwest recently installed two new HV11RS compressors, utilizing existing dryers and filtration. The company contracted a stair climber equipment company to move the compressors up the last two flights of stairs since the elevator system does not reach those levels of the building.
“Our solution resolves many environmental issues: oil carry-over issues, oil leakage on the floor, floor space (one HV11RS takes up less space than a duplex base mount reciprocating compressor), noise issues and energy expense. Hydrovane's 10 year Platinum Extended Warranty and Northwest's preventative maintenance agreement with customers provides reassurance that their purchase will be hassle-free for years to come and also relieves customers' maintenance workers from servicing these units.”
Hydrovane rotary vane products are Northwest's alternative to piston compressors when continuous duty and low noise levels are required.
One of those customers is Berezan Management (Alta) Ltd., located in Calgary. Jeff McCulloch P.E., Building Operator, had some history with hydrovane compressors.
“I had become aware of the hydrovane system five years before this project,” said McCulloch. “I was very satisfied with the product over the years so the decision to go with it again here was quite easy.”
The selling points for McCulloch were the product's small size and low noise levels.
“The units have been running for about ten months now, and on a scale of 1 to 10 we are running at a 9-10.”