Two high performance Carrier air-cooled chillers with a combined cooling capacity of 1.17MW have been installed at The Royal Exchange in the City of London as part of a major refurbishment of premium office space in the iconic building. Installed by contractor JSA Service, the pair of AquaForce® 30XAV-600 chillers equipped with Greenspeed® Intelligence inverter drives replaced the previous chillers made by another manufacturer which had proven to be unreliable. Carrier, a world leader in high-technology heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions, is a part of Carrier, a leading global provider of innovative heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies.
The Grade 1-Listed building, located opposite the Bank of England, has undergone a complete refurbishment of its upper storey high specification serviced office accommodation. A key element of the project was to replace and upgrade the building’s air conditioning to match the outstanding new environment, in order to deliver the highest indoor comfort for tenants.
Allan Wilkinson, managing director of JSA Service, said: “The client required a high efficiency solution that would deliver top quality comfort conditions and operate with low noise. Reliability and resilience were key. The Carrier 30XAV chillers provided an excellent solution, offering low noise, superior reliability and optimal efficiency, especially at part load.”
The 30XAV units are designed to meet all current and future requirements in terms of energy efficiency and operating sound levels. This is achieved through the combination of proven best-in-class technologies that include:
- High-efficiency variable-speed Carrier twin-screw compressors;
- Variable-speed condenser fans;
- Novation® high efficiency heat exchangers with micro-channel coil technology;
- Mechanically cleanable flooded evaporator;
- Carrier’s new Touch PilotTM control system;
As standard, the chiller can provide an evaporator leaving temperature down to 3.3 degrees Celsius with proven operation for outdoor air temperatures ranging from minus 20 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius.
Due to logistics challenges on site, JSA Service had to completely dismantle the chillers to enable individual components to fit through a small access hatch. The chillers were then reassembled in position, connected up and the system commissioned.
Chris Bates, director, JSA Service, worked with the technical services team to deliver the project. “It was the first complete chiller disassembly and reassembly we’ve undertaken, necessitated by access issues,” Bates said. “The fact that it is a Grade 1-Listed building also required great care in the planning and execution of the project. We worked closely with John Foster of Cooling Technology Limited, Carrier’s sales agent, who provided excellent technical support throughout the project.”
The project was completed and handed over to the client within four weeks, two weeks ahead of schedule. The building is now fully operational as one of the most desirable and iconic office locations in London, with a high quality air conditioned indoor environment to match.
Pipework connections linking the two Carrier AquaForce chillers to the Royal Exchange office’s air conditioning system.
