Case Study

Introduction

Gaining Real-Time Inputs from the Physical Environment

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the technology
of indoor and vehicular environmental comfort. HVAC systems are mostly
used in hypermarkets to provide shoppers comfort and acceptable indoor
air quality; but they also consume massive amounts of energy. In order
to optimize energy consumption, traditional HVAC systems collect energy
usage data at intervals. Although traditional systems are good at
retrieving energy consumption data, they lack rules-based logic
capabilities to interpret the data and determine further action.
Therefore, most HVAC systems rely on human operators to manually adjust
the system based on its current environmental temperature, as essential
equipment, such as chillers, pumps, and fans, is not connected to a
network. Adopting sensors to acquire real-time data is not always that
straightforward because of interoperability issues among the large
variety of protocols in a network, making it a very costly upgrade to
overcome this challenge. Another big hurdle is translating data into a
timely response through automatically adjusted settings to fully
optimize energy savings. A hypermarket required an Industrial Internet
of Things (IIoT) solution that connected chillers, pumps, fans, and
sensors to enable automated demand response control of the HVAC system,
based on the real-time temperatures in the hypermarket and business
hours, to decrease the activation time of chiller systems and help the
hypermarket save energy and reduce operating costs.

System Requirements

• A timely response to automatically control the HVAC system based on
  business hours and the current environmental conditions of the
  hypermarket
• Tracking energy usage anytime and anywhere to ensure continuous
  energy efficiency by acquiring and analyzing data from the HVAC system
  (e.g., water-cooled chiller temperature, power consumption, etc.)

Moxa Solution

Active Energy Efficiency with Minimum Programming Efforts

By deploying resistance temperature detector (RTD) sensors, power
meters, and Ethernet remote I/O in the physical environment, real-time
serial, digital, and analog data about the environmental temperature,
water-cooled chiller temperature, pump speed, and power consumption can
be acquired and transmitted to the database to determine further action.

To automatically enable the settings adjustment of the chiller, pump,
and fan, based on the real-time temperature in the hypermarket, the
commands to regulate the functioning of the smart HVAC can be set by
Click&Go Plus, a programming-free control logic that is included in
the Ethernet remote I/O (ioLogik Series). The DI channels monitor the
machine status of the chiller, pump, and fan. The DO channels control
the settings of the chiller, pump, and fan, based on the information
provided by the Ethernet remote I/O (ioLogik E1260), which takes
temperature readings around the hypermarket. Click&Go Plus also
benefits the hypermarket by allowing it to operate its HVAC system
according to its business hours. Another key feature of Moxa’s solution
is that the I/O and connected serial device’s data, e.g., power meters,
can be sent to the MySQL database, displaying the system and energy
usage status via the web server. By collecting field site OT data and
sending it through Moxa’s data acquisition suite (MX-AOPC Suite) to the
database reduces system integrators’ workload immensely. What’s more, it
allows the customer to connect its legacy HVAC OT systems to IIoT
networks.

The hypermarket’s management can log into a web console that allows
them to monitor the entire HVAC system and the amount of energy that has
been saved. As the HVAC system can now be remotely monitored, engineers
do not need to be dispatched for routine inspections. They are only
sent out when a problem arises that needs immediate attention. Both of
these features help the end user reduce the total cost of ownership
significantly.