ABB HVAC Update

HVAC Drives with BACnet as standard

ABB has become the first drives manufacturer to offer support for the BACnet communication protocol. This is now a standard feature of the company's HVAC drives.

BACnet has been developed specifically for building services applications and is used extensively in continental Europe as well as in the United States. It is increasingly being adopted by leading BMS manufacturers.

The protocol offers "plug and play" integration of devices in building services. This makes it similar to the Lonworks protocol already available, but unlike Lonworks, there is no licence fee payable by the individual user, reducing the cost for the system.

BACnet has been designed to provide all the services needed by a buliding automation system. Having the drive communication in native BACnet code means it can be integrated easily and seamlessly into the overall system. ABB's BACnet enabled drives can be directly connected to the BACnet system and take advantage of advanced features like auto-discovery, dynamic binding, time synchronisation and read/write variable requests.

BACnet is embedded with the standard RS485 interface of the ABB standard drive for HVAC. Other protocols supported by the drive are Modbus, FLN, N2 Metasys, Profibus-DP, Interbus, Lonworks, CANopen, DeviceNet, Modbus Plus, ControlNet and Ethernet.

ABB's HVAC drive for simple installation and use

ABB's variable speed drive has an intuitive interface and few optional extras. It has been designed specifically to run fans and centrifugal pumps in applications such as air handling units and chillers.

ABB's class of standard drives for HVAC is manufactured in IP 21 and IP 54, rated from 0.75 to 355kW, 200 and 400 V and is available in large volumes for off the shelf availability. The series is aimed at users purchasing drives through a local distributors for immediate installation.

The product has innovative user support features, making it "the easiest drive to install, commission and use" according to Nick Thorne, sales manager, HVAC, at ABB. Included is a start up assistant that guides users through all essential settings without the need to access complex parameter lists. The software is driven by macros defined by their application, such as "extract fan", "supply fan" or "cooling tower". Selecting a macro sets up the drive for the expected duty. The user can also access individual parameters if any need to be altered.

"End users as well as OEMs and system houses want a drive that is simply to set up" says Thorne. "They have to deal with equipment from many different manufacturers. As the programming is normally the difficult part, we have put a lot of effort in to improving the user interface"

ABB motors and drives save energy at Coventry Hospital

Matched pairs of ABB high efficiency motors and drives will reduce energy consumption at the new Coventry Hospital by over 1,400 MWh per year for the ventilation system in block A, when it comes fully in to service in 2006. Similar savings are expected for the planned blocks B and C.

Ranging in size from 0.55kW to 45 kW, the 230 drives adn motors packages are being supplied on a just in time basis, being produced and delivered to meet the installation time table of the suppliers of the ventilation system.

Using variable speed drives to control the flow of air and water in the HVAC system can save well over 50% of the energy, compared to using traditional control methods such as throttling valves and vanes. On a large site like Coventry Hospital, this can have a significant impact on running costs.

The new 1200 bed hospital will replace the existing Walsgrave Hospital plus the majority of Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital and is built on the Walsgrave Hospital site.

ABB launches dedicated HVAC customer portal

A dedicated web portal for users of variable speed drives in GVAC has been launched. The portal contains a wealth of information on issues such as EMC, harmonics and energy savings.

"This will help users to more simply access technical information about variable speed drives in HVAC" says Nick Thorne, sales manager, HVAC at ABB. "This market has specific requirements which are not met by the general information available on drives, usually aimed at the engineering sector. With this initiative, we aim to make drives more accessible to HVAC professionals"

"The HVAC web portal aims to be a focus for all the technical information HVAC users need," Thorne says. "of course, users will still have access to our in-house experts, but as a first port of call, the web site will provide a handy alternative".