Inspections of air-conditioning systems are now required by law — and could bring real benefits to users, as Hywel Davies and David Davies explain.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Europe has developed new software for the design and specification of VRF air-conditioning systems.

The installation of a Star Refrigeration Indigochiller using the Turbocor compressor will deliver energy-efficient air conditioning for the data centre in the global head office of GlaxoSmithKline at Brentford.

LG’s Art Cool range of air-conditioning units provide an aesthetic alternative to off-white boxes on the wall.

Faced with an unserviceable R22 air-cooled chiller at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, Comserve replaced it with a new Daikin unit. The work included the safe decommissioning of the old plant and installing and commissioning the new equipment, with its significantly improved efficiency and lower operating costs.

Tranter International has designed and delivered seven very large plate heat exchangers for a district-cooling project being carried out by Fortum in Stockholm. They have a total cooling effect of 84 MW and will help to remove excess heat from IT facilities in a number of commercial buildings and supply district cooling to residential properties in the city.

The refurbishment of a 5-storey office block in the Old Street area just to the north of the City of London to provide accommodation for charitable and voluntary organisations is air-conditioned by a Mitsubishi energy-recovery VRF systems. These offices will accommodate some 80 different organisations at 280 desks.

Energy-efficient comfort cooling for two buildings on the £47 million Nene Waterfront regeneration in Wisbech is provided by a combination of Passivent natural ventilation and Mitsubishi air-conditioning equipment.

Weatherite Buildings Services has installed a new air-conditioning system in the computer rooms of West Midlands Police Station in Bromford Lane, Birmingham, with minimum interruption to 24/7 operation.

John Staunton explores the potential of chilled beams and ceilings to reduce energy consumption.

Ability Projects is supplying nearly 300 4-pipe fan-coil units for the new Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport. They a mixture of Evolution horizontal Trojan and vertical Neptune units with cooling capacities from 0.7 to 6.5 kW and heating from 0.5 to 5.0 kW. Operating noise level is set at NR35.

Samsung has appointed three more distributors for its DVM Plus III range of air-conditioning systems and RAC solutions. They are Dysk Air Conditioning, Easy Air Conditioning and Gallant Air Conditioning. DVM Plus III is the latest variant of Samsung’s digital variable multi VRF system.

A new generation of the ClimaCheck performance analyser for air-conditioning and refrigeration systems is available through Business Edge.

Aged and irreparable air-conditioning units at the Drayton Manor theme park in the Midlands Have been replaced by EWS. The company is also supplying service and maintenance to the park, which is also home to Thomas Land (as in the tank engine).

Renovating its restaurants after a serious kitchen fire provided the opportunity for a Yorkshire hotel to upgrade its air-conditioning systems with Panasonic equipment. Inverter-controlled systems from the Flexi System and RAC ranges were installed in the Carlton Park Hotel in Rotherham.

The rate at which R22 refrigerant is being reclaimed is only about 10% of demand, according to the British Refrigeration. With the use of virgin R22 banned after the end of this year, BRA warns that most users will be left short of product, especially as much of the reclaim already in stock is spoken for by several large concerns.

A Megawatt of cooling can be provided by the VRF air-conditioning system that will serve a prestigious office development in Gallowgate, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The MHIE equipment was specified by consulting engineers Hoare Lea, which worked with distributor 3D Air to plan a system that would minimise loss of capacity due to long pipe runs.

Carrier’s Airostar 39SQ range of air-handling units is available in eight sizes and various configurations. Standardised components are used to achieve fast delivery times and cost efficiency.

Lindab has launched a campaign to raise awareness of air leakage from ductwork and its associated energy penalties. A certain amount of duct leakage has always been tolerated, and plant has been oversized to allow for these losses.

Not only will a major installation of Fujitsu air conditioning equipment at the headquarters of Pump House in Nottingham provide cooling and heating for the offices and boardroom, but each unit will be a showcase for a different condensate pump and other Pump House products.

LG has added a lower-output model to its range of ceiling cassettes. The 1.6 kW unit joins the existing range of 2.5 to 15 kW. All are available as single-split systems in inverter and non-inverter configuration and also as twin-triple and double-twin.

A novel approach to rejecting heat from three 1 MW chillers serving a prestigious apartment development in London is based on eight Flakt Wood air-handling units with adiabatic humidification.

Today’s fan-coil units are very different from those of just three years ago — with major advances in their potential for energy-efficient air-conditioning and controllability, as our industry survey shows. Make sure you don’t miss the huge impact that variable-speed motors can have on reduce carbon emissions!