DCU M&T
Start Date: September 2010
Completion Date: December 2010
Value range: €100K- €200K
Consultant: White Young Green
M&T Platform: Stark
Description
Dublin City University is a cutting Edge University Campus on an 85 Acre campus in Whitehall Dublin 9. It was given university status in 1989 and since MC3Es inception in 1991 we have been the incumbent BMS Specialist – Our first office also being in Whitehall.
This Project was an SEAI Better Energy Grant Project. It involved the Supply and information of An Automated Monitoring and Targeting (M&T) system to montor 120 Meters of every type both existing and new.
MC3E successfully won a competitive tender process to provide this high spec demanding project in a live university environment.
Specific Challenges
- Extremely Challenging Program
- Installation of Gas & Heat Meters during peak heating season in a live University
- Installation Of Electrical Power Metering in a Live University
- Modifications to Fire Alarm in line with Gas Installation
- Correlation Of Meter Data from Different Generations of BMS Equipment and Software
Details
The project was an SEAI grant project as part of the Better Energy Scheme; thus the project program was extremely tight. There were 120 Meters in total to be monitored. Approximately 45 meters were new and had to be installed as part of these works.
As part of a “turnkey Solution” MC3E successfully fitted Gas, Electrical and Heat Meters into existing Pipework and Distribution boards serving administrative, science and residence buildings works. This included all necessary Mechanical, Electrical and Building works. Intensive co-ordination was need of all subcontractors and DCU personnel.
Where Gas Installations were affected MC3E upgraded the Gas detection installation and connected them to both the Site BMS and the Fire Alarm Systems.
Each existing meter had to be visited and assessed. Dealing with meters of every age and type and servicing, connecting and calibrating them to the BMS provided unique challenges each time.
Also as there were 2 generations of BMS Hardware and Software on the site MC3E needed to develop a bespoke solution for integrating the older generation BMS data with the Stark M&T system.
The M&T system facilitates close monitoring and thus control of the campus energy consumption and even at commissioning stage began to immediately highlight problems and allow immediate corrective action. It offers a range of daily, weekly, monthly and annual reports. Any meter or combinations of reports can be applied to any report by non technical staff – making the system very user friendly, intuitive and effective.
The system also allows benchmarking of meters against targets to identify immediately any noncompliance. Comparison reports also facilitate analysis of different campus areas. The system has the facility for multiple user access and allows automatic generation and emailing of reports on utility over usage.
It has a comprehensive internal diagnostic facility and will generate a report on loss of data from any channel.
DCU Staff got immediate use from the system by modifying plant control strategies and observing the results on the daily reports.
McCool Controls were proud to deliver a turnkey M&T software package for such a prestigious university in Dublin, indeed in Ireland.
