Energy Efficiency and Comfort in the New AB Medica SpA Location

Bassano del Grappa, Vicenza, Italy, October 15, 2014 --(PR.com)-- The work is almost finished on the new headquarters for AB Medica SpA, specialised in the production and marketing of medical technology, bio-materials, surgical devices and robotic surgery equipment.

The building, situated on the outskirts of Milano has been designed by Architect Giuseppe Tortato and plant designer Eng. Marazzi combining the functional and symbolic aspects expressed by the client, with the desire of innovation and requalification in a suburban context alongside the Milan-Varese highway.

Speaking about the new AB Medica location, Architect Tortato states, “My work has always been aimed at breaking with traditional conventions, proposing projects that restore the centrality of sensory experience, imagining a conscious man, eager to engage in real life experiences.”

The result is an iconic building, representing the value of excellence and the philosophic innovation of the group, but also strongly contemporary with great attention to the energy efficiency and to the psychological well being in the workplace.

The particular lot conformation and the constraints imposed by the highway have guided the design towards the triangular frame similar to a nautical hull that slides through artificial hills functioning as thermal and acoustic insulation.

The building has been given technologically advanced systems that exploit renewable energy associated with ground source water and air, representing the advantages of a Class A building.

Focus on the Air Conditioning
The energy analysis conducted on this building’s plant system has led to the design of a heating and cooling system with a hybrid heat pump: a multi-purpose water condensed heat pump, ERACS2-WQ 3202 S, that exploits ground source water and a multi-purpose air condensed heat pump, ERACS2-Q 1762 XL-CA-E, which exploits the thermal component of the air. Depending on the energy request by the building, the external air temperature and the resulting power plant efficiency, the control system activates one of the two heat pumps.

Both the multi-purpose units installed in the new AB Medica SpA headquarters belong to the INTEGRA range by Climaveneta. They represent the evolution of reversible chillers, which are able to produce cold and hot water simultaneously and have been specifically created for 4 pipe systems.

During the months of the year when the building is mainly requesting cold (summer, spring and autumn), the heat generated on the condenser is free, as well as when the building mainly requests hot air, the cold generated on the condenser is free (during winter). The main feature of the Climaveneta INTEGRA units is that during each period of the year they independently maximize energy cycle efficiency which generates hot and cold energy. In particular, units get higher efficiency in spring and autumn, when there are more possibilities to have simultaneous request of cooling and heating.

The plant has been completed with the installation of ClimaPRO, the new management and optimisation system by Climaveneta, designed to minimise energy consumption and to simplify the operation and maintenance of the central heating and cooling system. The supervision system manages and adjusts each component directly involved in the production and the distribution of the heating and the cooling energies, therefore involving chillers and heat pumps, pumping groups as well as the source-side devices like, for example, the cooling towers.

In addition, ClimaPRO measures in real-time all the operating variables from the field, for each individual device and each of the main system branches, by using serial communication lines as well as dedicated analogue signals. The acquired data is then compared with the design data of each single unit at many different working conditions, thus allowing the implementation of control strategies based on dynamic algorithms which take into account the real operating conditions.

To underline, ClimaPRO is a completely open system capable of integrating with other management systems to exchange all necessary information about controls, notifications and general data.

Eng. Marazzi, from Planning Srl, who oversaw the technical design of the building states: “The ClimaPRO system is the innovative heart of the heating and cooling system. The display and archiving of the controlled variables permits an effective and substantial energy management to be carried out. Furthermore, the guarantee of constant and continued performance verification to be maintained in the projected range and the immediate signal of any deviation allows the plant to be efficiently maintained without needing the presence of specialized personnel.”