Lampron - Schneider Electric

Historical commercial building The “Lampron” gets a
nearly invisible, high-impact makeover
Innovative technology solution drives value for owners and occupants alike
The “Lampron” building has had many names since
its construction in 1916: The “Balcer” building, the
“Municipal plant,” “The Factory.” Over the decades, it has
hosted a daily newspaper, Balcer Glove Manufacturing
Company, and the Lampron Shirt Limited. It combines
a unique mix of old and new building techniques,
including brick interiors and exteriors, as well as visible
wooden beams, pillars, and ceilings.
CSS-LAMPRON-SEPT-14
Recognized by the City of Trois-Rivieres as a
historical monument, it underwent a thorough
restoration project in 2005 in partnership with the
Commercial Heritage Properties Incentive Fund (CHPIF).
In 2010, new owners decided to convert it into an office
building, with plans for further renovation and upgrades.
Achieving energy efficency, flexibility, and
profitability while preserving historial integrity
The building owners wanted to prepare the Lampron
building to host several different businesses without
compromising its historical value. Occupants in
today’s competitive market are looking for flexibility
and control over floorplans, temperature, and lighting.
In order to atrract the best tennants, these features
had to be built into the retrofit project.
The owners were also
looking to increase
energy efficiency with
programmable control
and remote access
to lighting and HVAC
systems. And finally, they
needed to ensure that
the project was profitable,
with a good return on
investment (ROI).
Integrating old world charm, modern technology
Working with a historic property presents special
challenges. Preserving aestetics while using the right
technology to meet financal and efficiency goals
requried innovative, thoughtful planning.
The upgrade project needed to:
> Install as little wiring as possible to preserve the
unique features of the building.
> Provide a solution that offered wireless
communication at the control and networking
levels, and that could easily combine lighting and
HVAC applications.
> Use wireless and easy-to-move thermostats and
light switches, since new tenants might require
configuration changes.
A fully integrated solution with centralized
and local control
Solution Architecture
Third party
BACnet IP
system
1 Building management system level
All control points are converted to BACnet objects by
the Schneider Electric units and made accessible for
configuration and programming via the LAN.
In this case, the system integrator configured the
Schneider Electric units via the Schneider Electric web
BMS, (included free of charge with Schneider Electric
controllers) and used his usual third party BACnet IP
system for monitoring.
Schneider Electric
web BMS
1
LAN
Schneider Electric
SEC-TE - Terminal
Equipment Controller
Schneider Electric
MPM-GW
Wireless Manager
ZigBee
2
2
Networking & controller level
138 Schneider Electric SEC-TE controllers control an
equivalent number of fan coil units.
20 Schneider Electric MPM-GW managers each
control multiple EnOcean end-devices. The MPMGWs also serve as monitor/gateway nodes for the
SEC-TE controllers. Each MPM-GW thus networks
with a cluster of neighboring SEC-TE controllers,
bringing all points upstream via LAN connection.
EnOcean
All Schneider Electric units (SEC-TE and MPM-GW)
network wirelessly via ZigBee mesh.
Fan coil
No wiring was neceassy at this level except for
a single LAN connection per cluster of 5 to 10
controllers.
The Schneider Electric
SEC-TE controllers are
placed inside the fan
coil’s enclosure:
3 End-device level
Fan coils provide temperature control. Each unit is
controlled by a Schneider Electric SEC-TE controller.
The other end-devices are all EnOcean wireless,
batteryless devices.* They communicate wirelessly
with Schneider Electric MPM-GW managers.
Thermostats offer local temperature control and
increased comfort to occupants. The light switches
and relays control lighting.
A small number of light and occupancy sensors are
used in specific rooms.
No wiring was necessary at this level. The brick
walls and wooden ceilings of the building were left
intact.
*The light relays are connected directly to the ballasts
(for power), but communicate wirelessly. All other
EnOcean end-devices are energy harvesting.
Thermostat
Light
sensor
Light
switch
Light
relay
Occupancy
sensor
3
Solution Layout
Floor plan excerpt 3rd floor - 8,860 ft²
(5 floors total - 44,300 ft²)
Installation overview
Over 5 floors, 138 SEC-TE controllers and 20 MPM-GW managers control 138 fan coils and approximately 300
EnOcean end-devices (light switches, light relays, thermostats, occupancy sensors, and light sensors). Zone
control and networking is performed wirelessly. The only wired connection used is the LAN, to which all the MPMGW managers are connected.
LAN
EnOcean
ZigBee
LAN (IP/Ethernet)
ZigBee wireless mesh
LAN
ZigBee
EnOcean wireless (bidirectional)
EnOcean
Fan coil with
Schneider
Electric
SEC-TE
Thermostat
Light relay
Light switch
Results
Objective 1: preserve the heritage value of
the building
> The brick and wooden interiors are left unscathed;
the cachet and character of the building are
therefore maintained.
> No wiring is apparent thanks to the use of wireless
communication at the zone and networking levels.
> No repair work (opening, closing walls, painting)
was required after the installation.
Objective 2: a good return on investment
Objective 4: provide comfort for occupants
> Current and future tenants can now set their
ambient temperature and better control their
lighting.
> When changing from industrial to office use,
comfort is an important concern to attract and
retain tenants.
Objective 5: offer flexibility to relocate control
points according to the needs of new tenants
> All the EnOcean end-devices can be moved to
adapt to configuration changes.
> Wireless communication saves on labor and repair
> The MPM-GW managers can handle additional
costs, reducing the payback period of the project.
wireless points if there is a system expansion in
the future:
> The lower cost of ownership of the system
provides a better ROI than the wired alternative.
Objective 3: provide central control and energy
efficiency
> The Lampron building now has increased central
and remote control of HVAC and lighting.
> Tailor-made control scripts, schedules, trending,
and other features will generate important
energy savings.
“
For the Lampron building, it was important
to be able to install a control system without
damaging the building’s heritage value.
The wireless capabilities of Schneider
Electric allow us to control temperature
and lighting throughout the facility, without
compromising the architecture. We gain on
energy efficiency and comfort, while avoiding
the downsides and costs of wired systems.”
- Pierre Barakett,
Lampron Building Owner
> The building owners can add sub-meters to
monitor the energy consumption of
each tenant.
> Additional HVAC, lighting, or access
applications and end-devices can be added at
minimal cost.
> The ability to add points quickly and at a
low cost facilitates compliance to new
efficiency regulations.
“
At the start of our mandate for the Lampron
building, we quickly realized that a wired
control solution would incur cost overruns
and wouldn’t fully comply with the heritage
requirements of the project. The Schneider
Electric solution offered the required level
of wireless control, as well as the ability to
relocate sensing points according to the
needs of new occupants.”
- Ronald Gagnon,
Concept R, Engineering Firm &
Green Building Consultants
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