In recognition of their fantastic feat in successfully delivering an extremely unique, innovative and ultra-efficient six-pipe HVAC hydronic system design at Salesforce Tower Dublin, European Industrial Chillers collected the prestigious Project Innovative Award at the 2022 IRI Institute of Refrigeration Ireland Awards.
Showcasing the excellence of companies operating within the critical refrigeration and air conditioning sector, the 2022 edition of the biennial IRI Institute of Refrigeration Ireland Awards was staged in the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel on Friday September 16th.
One of the major winners on the night was Dunboyne, County Meath headquartered European Industrial Chillers Ltd. (EICL), who took home the Project Innovation Award for delivering the new Aermec heating system at Salesforce Tower Dublin on behalf of Axiseng Consulting Engineers and Winthrop.
Breaking new ground, the brief at Salesforce Tower – the greenest Salesforce building in the world – was to provide an alternative NZEB solution that would satisfy the space heating and space cooling requirements without the use of fossil fuels.
One of the key challenge presented was that the main plant equipment needed to be located in a basement plant room, due to a change in design mid-construction, which eliminated the potential use of air-cooled water chillers or heat pumps.
EICL worked closely with consultant Axis Engineering to create a solution whereby they would supply multiple six-pipe (water/water/water) multifunctional heat pumps and multiple dry air coolers to reject or absorb heat, depending upon the mode of operation.
They also had to supply additional chillers as the cooling load was higher than the heating load, which is common these days due to heat loss in buildings being greatly improved (so the heat can’t get out and more cooling is required).
European Industrial Chillers founder and MD Peter McMahon was delighted to receive the coveted IRI Project Innovation Award for his company’s pioneering work: “This is a big accreditation from the RAC industry and validation of what we have done at the Salesforce Tower.
“As building regulations have changed, as an industry, we’ve had to evolve and understand how to work in a more efficient, climate-friendly way, developing products and designing systems that are more innovative and more eco-friendly. Our slogan at EICL is ‘we don’t sell boxes, we sell solutions’ and we live up to that ethos by working with customers to deliver innovative, efficient systems tailored to their specific needs.”
Established in 2004 and immediately accredited by Sustainable Energy Ireland as an energy service / supply company, EICL is a wholly Irish owned specialist supplier of air conditioning and process cooling equipment. As the exclusive distributor in Ireland for Aermec air conditioning and Hitema process chillers, they can provide a full service from design concept and load calculations through to supply, installation and aftersales service.
Boasting 30 years’ experience in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry, Peter is a qualified refrigeration craftsperson, refrigeration technician, building engineer and a council member of the Institute of Refrigeration Ireland. He is a guest lecturer for Level 8 students at Technical University Dublin and an Engineers Ireland CPD approved Registered Training Provider with 33 years’ industry experience and who currently delivers CPD presentations to consulting engineers on the latest HVAC technological innovations.
The latest of these is a three-part series titled ‘Designer Training Program – the evolution of hydronic system design’, which builds a hydronic system step by step with the use of schematics to satisfy space heating, space cooling and DHW.
It was by constantly retraining and re-educating himself that the founder of EICL became recognised as an expert in his field. “I basically started as a fridge man and after I started employing engineers I decided to go back to college and learn engineering myself,” he reflects. “When I was dealing with Aermec I found myself talking to people who were more qualified than me and that had to change. With building regulations changing, I had to learn as much as I could about new technology and new designs.”
“In addition, we decided to employ ‘Building Engineers’ as opposed to ‘sales people’ to assist Consultants, Contractors, Trade and End Users with the system design and equipment selection for their projects which can all vary greatly. This has worked greatly for us because as Engineers themselves, they understand how to assist our clients.
“In addition to growing our HVAC Solutions team with a great team of Engineers which is headed by our Technical Manager Patrice, we also promoted my son Sean McMahon to Design Solutions Supervisor as he has worked for a consultancy previously and typically knows what the clients’’ needs are.
“We also have a trained and highly skilled aftersales service department headed by Craig, who is our Service Manager since 2008, which is vital to ensure the equipment is installed, commissioned and maintained as per design.”
Open to manufacturers, contractors, consultants, distributors and installers, the IRI Project Innovation Award recognises companies or individuals who have contributed most to new technologies and ideas applied to the RAC and HP industry applications environment, focusing on the delivery of innovative projects / installations / systems / solutions.
When Salesforce looked to make their Dublin HQ the greenest building within their portfolio, this meant the building needed to become NZEB compliant for energy usage. As the building was already under construction (with gas boilers and water-cooled chillers previously specified), an innovative solution was required to move to an all-electric building without the need for additional external plant space.
The solution was to provide water cooled six-pipe multifunctional heat pumps to satisfy the heating and cooling demand in the building. These were coupled with dry air coolers at roof level to reject and absorb heat from ambient air depending on the heating and cooling requirement. This innovative solution allowed plant spaces to remain as per the original design and the construction programme did not need to be altered to suit the requested change by Salesforce.
Over €1m worth of Aermec HVAC Plant was supplied to the project and the six-pipe NXP multifunctional heat pump operates in three potential modes – heating only, cooling only and simultaneous heating and cooling.
“What you have is a combination of new design, innovative products and innovative methods of control,” says Peter, whose strong team of engineers have delivered solutions for some of the most iconic buildings in Ireland including Pfizer, the new Central Bank of Ireland. St Vincent’s Hospital, the Exo building and Miesien Plaza.
“Consultants want to decarbonise and they are trying to get ahead of the curve by looking at how systems are designed. As wholesale distributors, we can help them design their systems and concepts, while we will also support the contractor and end user with controls for these systems.”
Another notable award-winning project EICL was involved in was Hanging Gardens, with Don O’Malley, which won an ACEI award. This was the very first installation in Ireland of the NWX water cooled water chiller with an innovative intelligent water station, which facilitates connecting the system chilled water to the dry air cooler heat rejection circuit to provide free cooling in low ambient conditions.
Salesforce Tower Dublin is one of the first successfully-commissioned office blocks in Ireland to avoid the use of fossil fuels. Peter is confident this design concept (albeit mostly with air to water 4-pipe multifunctional heat pumps) will become commonplace in future projects, as we move inexorably towards zero carbon emissions, zero fossil fuel use and more environmentally-friendly and sustainable design solutions.
In addition, Peter has recently established a new division of EICL called ‘ClearEnergy’ dedicated to promoting Solar PhotoVoltaic Glazing, which is another great step in bringing buildings towards becoming Carbon Neutral. It’s basically glass that generates free renewable electricity from the sun. It is the only component in the fabric of a building that will pay for itself.
ClearEnergy launched this PV Glazing technology into Ireland at the ArchiExpo (November 2021) and won the award for ‘Best Exterior Product’ by the RIAI judging panel of experts.
Peter has been interviewed by many radio stations such as the Green Room https://clearenergy.ie/2022/08/04/the-green-room-interview/ about this technology as interest is extremely high. The interviewer said she “felt like she was talking to someone from the future”.
Peter also delivers an RIAI and Engineers Ireland CPD approved presentation on this revolutionary technology and is talking to both Architects and Building Engineering Consultancies about some projects which are progressing nicely.
European Industrial Chillers Ltd.,
Unit 74,
Dunboyne Business Park,
Dunboyne,
County Meath.
Tel: 01 8255155
Mobile: 086 2634103
Email: [email protected]
Web: eicl.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, March 2023, Vol 9 No 3
