United States. Located at the north end of Providence College's illustrious campus in Rhode Island, Schneider Arena is a sports facility that is in near-constant use. The building meets the needs of the Division I hockey programs for men and women, as well as the men's lacrosse program. The club's hockey team and intramurals also use the ice rink, as do many of Rhode Island's youth and high school hockey teams.
Throughout its nearly 50-year history, the more than 3,000-seat stadium has undergone several renovations to ensure its facilities are state-of-the-art. One of the most recent upgrade projects aimed to improve the efficiency of the cooler system responsible for maintaining ice temperature. The scope of work involved a complete overhaul of the chiller plant. Belimo played a pivotal role in the project: it supplied ultrasonic flow meters and butterfly valves, allowing for better visibility and precise flow control.
Project description
Providence College's primary motivation for renovating the Schneider Arena chiller plant was to: 1) increase system efficiency and reduce cold water consumption and 2) improve the ability to control ice temperature.
To achieve these goals, staff at the university facilities worked in collaboration with Arden Engineering Constructors and Earthwise Energy Technologies to redesign the entire cold water system. In addition to many key components and equipment assets approaching the end of its useful life, the existing system was plagued by several problems, including excessive pumping and poor response time to ice temperature fluctuations.
The renovation consisted of replacing two 140-ton chillers and associated water and glycol pumps, along with all controls and valves. As part of the project, four pneumatic drive valves (two for condenser water and two for glycol) were fitted with new Belimo butterfly valves and associated flow meters.
"We have a long and successful history of using Belimo products across campus, including Energy Valves," said Steve Basile, engineering supervisor at Providence College. "The Energy Valves are all connected to the Belimo cloud and have dramatically improved the efficiency of our central cooling plant. We were 100% sure that the butterfly valves and flow meters would work to the same standard and we did not hesitate to specify them for the Schneider Arena project."
Solution and savings
Advanced butterfly valve assemblies facilitated simplified installation and commissioning. The patented brushless DIRECT current motor technology reduces power consumption by up to 80% compared to similar products on the market and ensures longevity and optimal system performance. Unique features such as NFC, software and supercapacitor technology available also allow the user's selection of the fault position (0-100%) and delay unnecessary actuator movements during brief blackout conditions, thus avoiding changes in the building automation and HVAC system. The patent-pending self-adjusting final stop algorithm also guarantees zero leakage at a 200 psi closure.
To streamline construction and installation, Arden Engineering used advanced scanning technologies and virtual design and construction (VDC) software to develop a complete 3D model of the new cooling plant room at Schneider Arena. Belimo provided REVIT files, which included all the physical characteristics and technical data relevant to butterfly valves and flow meters.
"Belimo's ability to provide 3D files of valves and flow meters for the virtual model was a key advantage," said Matt Basile, a mechanical engineer at Arden Engineering who worked on the project. "We were able to simply drag and drop the files into the software program. This eliminated the need to take physical measurements and really simplified the process of building the model."
With the new system, the outputs of four temperature sensors embedded in the ice are averaged. That data is then transmitted to the control system, which keeps the ice temperature within 1-2°F of its 20°F set point.
A large, read-only display displays all the data collected by the system. Alarms are integrated so staff can take quick and decisive action in case the ice temperature begins to drift out of its nominal range. This same information is also available to people in the control room on the central floor of the campus.
Overall, the installation of butterfly valves and Belimo flow meters, along with other system modifications, have generated measurable savings for Providence College. Currently, the new system is pumping about half of the gallons per minute (GPM) that were seen before the upgrade. Almost 10% of the total cost of the project was covered by a reimbursement provided by the utility provider (National Grid).
Customer satisfaction
"Belimo's track record of providing superior products and services has strengthened our professional relationship and made them a preferred provider to the university," added Steve Basile of Providence College.
"The upgrade at Schneider Arena is just one of many cases where they have contributed to a successful project by making sure all of our needs are met in a timely manner. We look forward to using Belimo's products in the future as we strive to continuously improve the efficiency of our facilities across campus."
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