Brisbane Australia site challenge to reach and maintain setpoint

The customer

CoolTimes

Site: Stuartholme School

The system: Daikin VRV Heat Pump

Stuartholme School is an all-girls private high school located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
The site consists mainly of Daikin VRV connected to various types of indoor units.

The challenge

The goal of HVAC remote monitoring is to detect problems as early as they appear, before they escalate to a major issue. Ultimately, HVAC remote monitoring helps HVAC service companies to identify issues and inefficiencies before they become major problems, allowing for proactive maintenance and minimizing downtime. All you need is someone trained and knowledgeable to figure out the nature of the issue, and define a course of action for solving it.

Brisbane Australia site challenge to reach and maintain setpoint

The solution

CoolAutomation’s smart HVAC Predictive Maintenance tool

By using the professional application and its advanced HVAC diagnostic tools section, we were quickly able to identify an extremely high current reading from the fan driver PCB. This was limiting the machine’s frequency, yet no fault or protection state was activated.

The traditional course of action

1

Schedule a site visit

2

Travel to site

3

Connect the service tool and wait on-site for several hours to gather data

4

Analyze the service data

5

Potentially have to share the data with a senior technician to analyze

6

Locate the fault

7

Order the required parts

8

Return to the site and replace parts

9

Connect the service tool and re-analyze the data to confirm correct operation

Total of 11 working hours

USING TRADITIONAL HVAC SERVICE VS REMOTE - COMPARISON TABLE

The traditional course of action	Remote HVAC Service
On-site long data recording with the essential need for the error to re-emerge (will not appear if both units are operating)	Offsite remote system test and fault finding
Multiple trips to the site are expected	Identify the fault
Analysis of the raw data gathered with minimal assistance from the tool, involving a Senior VRF expert on-site for a considerable amount of time	Less than 1 hour of on-site junior VRF service provider
On-site fix	Remote fix verification
On-site verification test	Remote fix verification

CoolAutomation solutions used

1

Remote diagnostic

The service data from the VRV outdoor unit belowclearly shows the fan speed at 0 and yet stilldrawing 128amps. The outdoor unit continuesto run at a reduced capacity with no protectionstate activated nor fault code present.

2

Searching for the error cause

The service data from the VRV outdoor unit belowclearly shows the fan speed at 0 and yet stilldrawing 128amps. The outdoor unit continuesto run at a reduced capacity with no protectionstate activated nor fault code present.

3

Using historic data

The service data from the VRV outdoor unit belowclearly shows the fan speed at 0 and yet stilldrawing 128amps. The outdoor unit continuesto run at a reduced capacity with no protectionstate activated nor fault code present.

The result is

Enhanced tenant comfort - before anyone even notices there is an issue

Significant energy saving

Save time for HVAC Technician

Benefits

Save on system energy consumption

Maintain comfort for pupils and staff - less system downtime

System longevity - identifying problematic faults quicker, ensuring no long-term damage to the system

Enhanced service - one service call vs. two traditionally

Reduced costs with no initial call-out fee

Reduced service technician working hours

Using CoolAutomation has saved the school countless hours of call outs and labor, minimizing time by utilizing their unique cloud-based solution. By diagnosing the Daikin VRV equipment remotely and efficiently, senior technicians ensure minimal equipment downtime. CoolTimes has allowed us to set schedules, restrict wall controller operation, set auto heat/cool logic, change over rules and monitor real-time energy consumption. Implementing these control strategies has already seen an energy and maintenance downturn in costs and presumably see equipment lifespan increased.

Alan Bedford, Facilities Manager