Johnson Controls Launches Central Plant Optimization For Maximum Efficiency In Chilled Water Plants

Holistic approach to designing, installing and operating central plants ensures reduced energy, operational costs

Milwaukee, WI - Johnson Controls, a global leader in delivering products, services and solutions that increase energy efficiency in buildings, announced a new offering to help reduce energy consumption in central chilled water plants in buildings by up to 60 percent. Integral to achieving these savings is new system-level automation software, Johnson Controls Central Plant Optimization10 (CPO 10) and Central Plant Optimization 30 (CPO 30), which enables persistent peak performance and energy savings in central plants in both new construction and existing buildings.

Depending on climate, region and equipment configurations, a central chilled water plant can consume more than 30 percent of the power required to run a building. To achieve peak efficiency performance, a facility's central plant equipment and independent components can now be designed and operated as a single integrated system with Johnson Controls Central Plant Optimization software.

"Building owners and operators have the biggest opportunity to realize savings where the facility consumes the most energy—the central chilled water plant," said Joseph Walicki, vice president and general manager, Systems, North America, Johnson Controls. "A holistic approach to plant design and operations is necessary to drive efficiencies that minimize operating costs, reduce environmental impact and lead to a better return on investment."

Traditionally, energy efficiency in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) industry has been driven by the capabilities of individual components. Central Plant Optimization offers a holistic system approach with the potential to achieve and sustain ongoing savings throughout the entire lifecycle of an HVAC system.

Both CPO 10 and CPO 30 feature innovative control technologies that are designed to provide system performance improvements based on real-time building loads. When incorporated with a modern building automation system and efficient HVAC equipment, CPO software solutions can help a chilled water plant system achieve maximum energy savings.

Central Plant Optimization 10 (CPO 10)
Johnson Controls CPO 10 maximizes a facility's HVAC system and equipment performance by selecting the most efficient combination of pumps, chillers and cooling towers needed to meet building cooling load. Ideal for new construction projects as well as upgrades to existing buildings, CPO 10 works with virtually all types of central plants and can achieve up to 15 percent in energy savings over a standard automation approach in an otherwise identical plant.

• Powered by the Johnson Controls Metasys building management system, CPO 10 leverages proven, tested and documented logic and standard programs to control the sequencing of pumps, isolation valves and chilled water plant equipment, while maintaining the timing delays for safe and stable operation.
• To monitor plant operation, the Metasys Ready Access Portal provides customized and easy-to-access plant operating information via standard browsers and Apple iPhone and iPod Touch platforms.
• Metasys Energy Essentials reporting enables visibility of energy use, including equipment runtime, starts and stops, energy consumption and energy cost details, weather details and daily load profiles, helping to monitor plant performance over time.

Central Plant Optimization 30 (CPO 30)
Johnson Controls Central Plant Optimization 30 (CPO 30) powered by Optimum HVAC incorporates a software application from Optimum Energy that continuously optimizes central chilled water plant operation to achieve peak energy efficiency and performance. Central to CPO 30 is patented relational control technology that makes it possible to operate variable speed central plants holistically based on the power relationships between each piece of equipment and real-time cooling load conditions. When combined with CPO 30's built-in measurement, verification and management services, CPO 30 is proven to provide stable, reliable and persistent energy reductions of 20 to 60 percent in existing plants when coupled with plant upgrades.

• The CPO 30 software application is platform neutral for seamless integration with virtually any building automation system (BAS), including Metasys, Johnson Controls building management system.
• Every 30 seconds, the software automatically gathers current operating and building load data from the BAS. The application then applies relational control algorithms to calculate optimal system operation, and directs control sequences back to the BAS for execution.
• Web-based measurement, verification and management services provide system operators the information they need to sustain energy reductions. Graphs and charts make it simple to track real-time energy use, manage system operations and find and correct system faults as they occur.

"Optimum Energy's solutions are ideally suited to maximizing the efficiency of high-performing plants such as those with York branded chillers and Metasys building management systems from Johnson Controls," said Matthew Frey, president and CEO, Optimum Energy. "We've focused our deep HVAC expertise and enterprise computing knowledge squarely on optimization, with the result that our software applications are delivering significant, predicted savings, project after project. By formalizing our relationship with Johnson Controls to offer CPO 30 powered by OptimumHVAC, customers will now have the confidence that their solution is leveraging the expertise and real-world experience of two industry leaders."

For more information, visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/CPO.

SOURCE: Johnson Controls