In recent years, technologies such as IoT, big data, analytics and artificial intelligence have revolutionised each and every industrial sector, as well as changing how companies provide services. The HVAC&R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration) business is no exception, and indeed these innovations are bringing new opportunities to make systems even more efficient and sustainable.

Wide-scale adoption of IoT in the HVAC&R market has enabled smart supervision of air conditioning, ventilation, refrigeration and even lighting systems in commercial and industrial buildings, bringing benefits such as remote management, performance analysis, and energy consumption monitoring. Further advances have come with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) on supervisory platforms: not only can data be acquired in real time, but the integration of ML algorithms that are trained on historical information processed over time ensures even more efficient asset management. 

In this scenario, the need arises to transform thermodynamic consulting – traditionally based on highly-specialised human skills – into a service of high strategic value as part of a digital, data-driven solution. 

In the HVAC&R business, thermodynamic consulting is aimed at proposing improvement actions that can optimise the performance of air conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration systems in large stores, offices and industrial plants; this can consolidate what is an increasingly digitalised consulting methodology, radically transforming this type of service both for those who offer it and those who use it.

An advanced solution for optimised management 

An advanced digital solution that includes this type of service implies significant advantages. For suppliers, the ability to automate all repeatable and time-consuming activities required for HVAC&R system performance analysis means specialist technicians can focus on activities with higher added value (fine-tuning). For customers (retailers), this solution allows a large number of sites to be managed, bringing quantifiable benefits in terms of efficiency, energy saving, and cost reduction. 

The solution is based on the use of an IOT platform that acquires all the data from the field, centralising the supervision of different sites both at a national and international level and guaranteeing access to and sharing of data to all the players involved in managing such sites (facility manager, energy manager, service manager…) 

The platform provides the following key functions: 

• alarm analysis for identifying inefficient configurations, recurring critical situations that may indicate structural problems, and temporary yet significant anomalies that require an immediate response;
• analysis of data acquired from the field (for example: temperatures, pressures, energy consumption and operating parameters), logged and processed using algorithms based on the know-how and thermodynamic experience of specialist technicians, for the purpose of evaluating the performance of each type of asset on each site;
• automatic generation of reports with suggested actions and settings to optimise the performance of HVAC&R systems;
• energy consumption forecasting for sites, taking into account historical energy consumption data and weather conditions (such as outside temperature and humidity) and seasonal trends.

Benefits of a data-driven approach

This type of evolution, which integrates thermodynamic consulting with a digital platform that acquires and processes data relating to alarms, regulation processes and energy consumption, has a number of concrete benefits: 

• effectiveness and scalability: automated analysis and reports reduces management times, allowing the service to be extended to a greater number of customers.
• energy saving and lower operating costs: the suggested optimisations help minimise alarm events and correct inefficiencies, ensuring energy savings and lower management costs. 
• longer useful life of assets: optimised operation reduces stress on unit components in the field, ensuring both greater asset efficiency and extending component life.
• less economic and environmental waste: optimising HVAC&R processes using the available resources ensures more sustainable management.

Conclusions

The digitalisation of thermodynamic consulting cannot replace the experience and skills of specialist technicians, rather it enhances them. Indeed, by automating the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of performance analysis, professionals can focus on strategic activities and decision making, improving service quality. 

In an industrial context that is increasingly oriented towards energy efficiency and sustainability, this evolution allows customers to align with the requirements of the EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) and the ESG (environmental, social and governance) objectives of the 2030 agenda, through advanced tools for centralised monitoring and control of sites, optimisation of HVAC&R system performance and site energy performance.