Many enterprises and commercial buildings face the plight of central air conditioning, which can not be installed and used, and the high operating costs lead to idle equipment, affecting operational efficiency.
Scientific production and operation management of central air conditioning is essential, this paper will dismantle its core objectives, analyze the factors affecting, and give practical optimization ideas.
Core Objectives of Air Conditioning in Production and Operations Management
central air conditioning production and operation management is not a single equipment operation, but around the actual use, cost control, equipment life and health and safety of the integrated control, the four objectives are interrelated, indispensable, and ultimately to achieve the system’s high efficiency, economic and safe operation.
Comfort and Efficiency
To meet the actual use of demand is the primary goal of central air conditioning operation and management, the core is to balance the comfort of personnel and operational efficiency, the key is to accurately control the indoor “four degrees”.
EU norms clear office area winter 19-21 ℃, summer 25-27 ℃, humidity 40% -60%, Singapore HDB area will be dynamically adjusted according to the density of households airflow and fresh air volume, to achieve a win-win situation for comfort and energy saving;
U.S. EPA research shows that the “four degrees” deviates from the standard 1 ℃, the personnel efficiency decreased by 2% -3%, therefore, foreign Therefore, foreign office buildings are equipped with intelligent sensing equipment for real-time regulation and control.
Energy Saving
Energy saving is the core of the central air conditioning cost control, energy consumption costs account for the highest. International Energy Agency (IEA) data show that the global central air conditioning power consumption accounted for 20% -40% of the total power consumption of the building, Europe and the United States large commercial complexes accounted for 35% -50%.
Foreign countries have mature energy-saving path: Dubai to promote regional centralized cooling, plans to cover 40% of the cooling demand in 2030; Munich using geothermal assisted refrigeration, energy saving of 50% -70% compared with the traditional model.
Scientific Management
The initial investment in central air conditioning accounts for about 20% of the total investment in the building, and extending the life of the equipment is an important goal. American ASHRAE statistics, standardized operation and maintenance can extend equipment life 5-8 years, centrifugal chiller standardized operation and maintenance life of more than 25 years.
Foreign countries generally use “preventive maintenance + intelligent monitoring” mode, Germany Hesse project through real-time monitoring, regular maintenance to reduce the failure rate; Singapore Marina Bay project to recover waste heat for hot water, annual energy savings of more than 20% of the total operating costs, becoming the industry benchmark.
Guaranteeing Health and Safety
After the epidemic, the world has raised the health and safety standards of central air conditioning, which is directly related to people’s health and operation order. The U.S. CDC requires commercial buildings to have a fresh air volume of not less than 32m³ per person per hour, and hospitals need to use high-efficiency filtration systems and regular disinfection;
Japan has implemented a certification system for large-scale buildings to be fully cleaned and disinfected every half a year, and operation is prohibited if the standard is not met. Foreign practice has formed a consensus, regular cleaning, control of the proportion of fresh air return air, both to protect health, but also to enhance system efficiency, extend equipment life.
Key Factors Affecting the Achievement of Central Air Conditioning Operational Objectives
To achieve the four core objectives of central air conditioning production and operation management, we must first clarify the various types of factors affecting the landing of the objectives, these factors are divided into innate uncontrollable and controllable two categories, innate factors determine the system foundation, the innate factors is the core of the operation and management of the power point.
Innate Uncontrollable Factors
Innate factors mainly include the quality of engineering design, equipment manufacturing, installation and commissioning, these factors have been determined before the landing of the system, as the equipment “gene”, directly determines the innate operation of the central air-conditioning body.
Irrational engineering design is easy to cause problems in the later stage, cold, improper piping will lead to high energy consumption, uneven heating and cooling;
Equipment manufacturing quality is key in the core component materials and precision, poor quality units are easy to aging, the new national standard in 2025 will be a multi-connected IPLV, centrifugal chiller COP threshold were raised to 6.5 and 6.8, to build a solid bottom line of energy efficiency.
The quality of installation and commissioning is equally critical, the pipeline connection is not tight, the refrigerant charge is not appropriate, the installation of the external machine tilt, will allow the equipment to run a substantial increase in the load, directly shorten the service life of 3-5 years, so the choice of formal brands and professional installation team in the early stage is an important prerequisite to circumvent the inherent problems.
Acquired Controllable Factors
Acquired controllable factors covering the use of operation, maintenance, overhaul and technical reform, personnel quality, management system, operating environment and other aspects, although the formation of the later, but the effect of the system operation is more significant, but also the focus of the central air conditioning operation and management.
- Standardized use of the operation is the basis for starting equipment to follow the “first subsidiary after the host, the first manual after the automatic” principle, to avoid frequent starting and stopping, improper parameter settings brought about by the loss of equipment; perfect maintenance system can significantly reduce the failure rate, so that the system’s comprehensive energy consumption continues to decline.
- Overhaul and technological transformation is an important means to enhance system performance, the old fixed-frequency unit to replace the frequency unit, can directly enhance the energy efficiency; operation and maintenance personnel is the core, must hold a special operating license, after professional training and assessment on duty, professional personnel can do professional management.
- At the same time, to establish a sound job responsibilities, machine room management, emergency disposal and other systems and posted in the machine room, to maintain the temperature of the machine room is not more than 40 ℃, humidity is not more than 85%, and timely clean up the outdoor machine around the debris, these details of the control, can make the system is always in a good operating environment.
Advanced Technologies and Concepts for Optimizing Operation and Management
With the development of technology, the production and operation management of central air conditioning is also being upgraded, and the application of intelligent technologies, the concept of the whole life cycle, and strict compliance with health, safety, and industry standards have become the core grip for realizing the operational goals and improving the management level.
Intelligent Control Technology
central air conditioning operation and management intelligence is a global trend, China’s 2026 implementation of the relevant national standards and international standards, the United States ASHRAE 90.1-2022, the European Union ERP Directive have been clear intelligent requirements to promote the transformation of the global industry.
The core of intelligent management is “perception – prediction – decision-making – implementation” closed-loop control, Germany G.U.T. full temperature control system through the sensor to collect data, combined with AI algorithm regulation, accurate matching load and control of energy consumption.
Ice storage technology is a mainstream energy-saving means in foreign countries, with more than 60% of buildings in Europe and the United States applying it, and Japan and South Korea have also popularized it. After the promotion by the relevant electric power companies in the United States, the air-conditioning energy consumption has been reduced by more than 30% on average.
Full Life Cycle Operation and Maintenance
The concept of full life cycle operation and maintenance has been popularized in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, and the core is to maximize the value of the system, reduce costs and extend the life of the equipment through the whole process of control.
Design, selection, installation stage, European and American companies follow ASHRAE and other standards, equipment to meet the corresponding energy efficiency requirements, strict specifications for efficient operation to lay the foundation.
In the operation and maintenance stage, intelligent energy consumption monitoring is commonly used abroad, with Germany’s G.U.T. providing full-cycle operation and maintenance services, and the air conditioning energy consumption of the U.S. TIC Center dropping by 79.4% compared with the baseline value after application.
Health, Safety and Air Quality
Health and safety is the bottom line of operation, and the new air heat recovery technology can realize the win-win situation of energy saving and health, which is a commonly used professional technology in foreign countries.
The relevant standards of the United States and the European Union specify the requirements for fresh air volume and the number of air changes, and more than 80% of commercial buildings in Europe and the United States are equipped with fresh air heat recovery technology, which takes into account both energy saving and air quality.
The application of this technology in many European countries can reduce 25% -35% of the new air energy consumption, while foreign countries have strict cleaning specifications, the formation of a complete health and safety control closed loop.
Follow the Latest Industry Standards
Industry standards continue to upgrade, keeping up with the standards is the key to corporate compliance and green energy-saving operations. Foreign standards are upgrading simultaneously, the United States and the European Union have raised the threshold of energy efficiency of central air conditioners, and the core judgment index requirements of the relevant EU standards are higher than those of China.
U.S. LEED, EU BREEAM and other green certificates for central air conditioning requirements are higher, foreign companies strictly follow the standards, in line with the global green low-carbon trend.
Conclusion
Central air conditioning is an important infrastructure for production, operation and building management, scientific operation is the key to crack the “can’t afford to install and use”, mastering the four major objectives, clarifying the factors affecting, with the help of intelligence and the concept of the whole life cycle, can realize the system energy-saving and long-life operation, and reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of the enterprise.
