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September 2010
Top Story
Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat Wins Gold
On July 12th Cypress Envirosystems was announced as the Gold Medal winner in the annual Dealer Design Awards Program sponsored by ACHR News—the leading publication…More
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Airgas becomes a Cypress Envirosystems Partner
Genentech Wins Award Using Wireless Technology
Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat Wins Gold
New Product: The Deadband WPT
Kaiser Qualifies Older Building for Energy Incentives from Utility
Airgas becomes a Cypress Envirosystems Partner
Leading gas distributor increases value to their customers with the Gas Cylinder Management solution from Cypress Envirosystems
Airgas, the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases, has partnered with Cypress Envirosystems to market the Wireless Gauge Reader (WGR) and Wireless Transducer Reader (WTR) as a solution for gas management.
Airgas found that these products add significant value to their customers and benefit their own operations. For the customer, the information generated from these technologies lowers labor costs, reduces the risk of gas supply interruptions and assures full gas usage from each cylinder. For Airgas, the data enables them to be more responsive to their customers, better manage their supply chain and ensure just-in-time (JIT) service.
Frank Kandl, Airgas national team leader, noted “this innovative technology will provide our customers with a cost-effective monitoring solution which will improve uptime, detect leaks and other faults, and streamline supply management. The data gathered also enables Airgas to add value for their clients.”
This new patent pending WGR clamps directly onto existing regulator gauges in a few minutes without breaking any seals or disrupting production. The WGR reads the face of the gauge, translates the gauge’s reading into a digital readout and then wirelessly transmits the pressure readings to a centralized server. The visibility provided by the WGR reduces labor costs by approximately 80 percent by eliminating manual gauge reading. It also increases intelligence of the gas supply by enabling consumption trending and analysis, historical tracking, excursion alarming, and notification via email or text messages.
Since gas cylinders are managed by both pressure and weight data, the WTR is also deployed. Whereas the WGR extracts data from pressure gauges, the WTR extracts data from scales to monitor the tare weight of the gas. The data is then sent and managed on the same networks used by the data from the WGR.
The Airgas partnership has proved successful and will continue to build on itself as more Airgas customers benefit from the new functionality. “This wireless cylinder monitoring system has already been deployed at many customer sites and has a proven payback period of fewer than 18 months,” said Harry Sim, CEO of Cypress Envirosystems. “We are extremely happy to be working with a forward-looking industry leader like Airgas.” More
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Genentech Wins Award Using Wireless Technology
Genentech Wins Award Using Wireless Technology
As a world leader in biotechnology, Genentech is constantly looking for ways to streamline their manufacturing processes and protect their assets. They recently installed wireless monitoring technology from Cypress Envirosystems to both their steam lines and their refrigeration systems. This work resulted in Genentech securing the health of their systems, saving energy and winning the Progressive Manufacturing Award from Managing Automation magazine.
The steam lines were equipped with 56 non-invasive Wireless Steam Trap Monitors (WSTM). Over a period of five months, the WSTM detected leaks in 25 per cent of the traps before significant steam was lost or major damage could be done. The savings in the first year easily covered the cost of the steam traps.
Twenty laboratory freezers were fitted with the Wireless Freezer Monitors (WFM), which permitted Genentech to do predictive maintenance and greatly reduce the risk of losing important R&D samples. The system detected degradation in four of the freezers before they failed. They were repaired and no samples were lost, which paid for the project immediately. More
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Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat Wins Gold
Panel of HVAC contractors awards top honors to Cypress Envirosystems
On July 12th Cypress Envirosystems was announced as the Gold Medal winner in the annual Dealer Design Awards Program sponsored by ACHR News–the leading publication in the HVACR industry. In this competition, an independent panel of 30 HVACR contractors evaluated the newest product entries in 15 categories and identified the most innovative. This year’s contest totaled 114 products. Cypress Envirosystems’ Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat (WPT) won in the category of Commercial Controls.
ACHR News Publisher John Conrad said, “These awards give us a unique opportunity to recognize the outstanding research and development efforts that go into many of the products serving the HVACR industry and the awards issue gives our readers an opportunity to read about innovative installation and service solutions.”
The WPT was developed to enable older buildings equipped with pneumatic thermostats to be controlled by a building automation system (BAS). They retrofit non-invasively onto legacy pneumatic systems and communicate via BACnet with the BAS. This capability gives facility managers the ability to remotely program, monitor and control temperature, set points, night setback, and occupancy override. The WPT system also enables Auto-Demand Response strategies by communicating with the smart grid through OpenADR. More
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New Product: The Deadband WPT
Higher energy savings are achieved with deadband controls
To minimize energy usage, most colleges, universities, and public institutions have developed deadband set-point policies to reduce energy usage during occupied and unoccupied periods. The deadband thermostat saves additional energy because it does not call for heating or cooling between two set points, rather than continuously managing temperatures up or down to a single point. The set points are programmed into the BAS with one setting for day and a significantly larger deadband at night. For example, a facility could be programmed to 70 degrees for heating and 74 degrees for cooling during the day. At night, the range could be increased to 60 degrees for heating and 85 degrees for cooling.
Buildings with pneumatic thermostats inhibit the objectives of institutions that are trying to save energy through deadband set-point strategies. Pneumatic thermostats can only be set to one temperature and preclude the energy savings associated with adjustable deadband set points. With the cost and disruption of retrofitting to DDC, many universities have been stuck with their pneumatic thermostats and unable to enforce their desired energy policies.
Fortunately, Cypress Envirosystems has introduced a new Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat (WPT) with deadband capability. Just like the original WPT, the WPT-DB retrofits pneumatically controlled buildings non-invasively in about 20 minutes without disturbing tenants. The WPT-DB enables and automatically enforces the deadband set-point policy that is in place at your institution. Buildings can now realize energy savings of up to 60 percent by avoiding unwanted heating and cooling. More
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Kaiser Qualifies Older Building for Energy Incentives from Utility
A cost-effective retrofit solution enables modernization
Kaiser Permanente is the country’s largest not-for-profit healthcare organization. With the hundreds of facilities they have they are extremely interested in controlling energy cost. So, when their local utility, PG&E, offered them financial incentives for decreasing energy use during peak times through Auto-Demand Response, they were eager to accept.
They had only one problem–their facility was equipped with pneumatic thermostats that did not have the required capabilities for Auto-Demand Response. Furthermore, it was too expensive to upgrade with traditional technologies.
“The only option was to convert to direct digital control,” said Paul Becker, facilities manager for the building. “That would not only be extremely expensive, it would also be very disruptive for those working in the building.”
He went looking for solutions and found the Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat (WPT). After a successful trial installation of the WPT, they decided to retrofit all of the thermostats on that floor. They installed a total of 68 WPTs in just five days without disrupting their tenants.
“In just that short a period, we went from zero control of our heating and air conditioning, to total control,” said Becker. “It was amazing how easy it was to calibrate each WPT after installation. Now we control set points for all thermostats remotely and have programs in place to control them according to all sorts of variables. We now have a true wireless EMS system. We can go online and see every zone and control each one remotely. The WPT system also gives us very powerful diagnostic tools and troubleshooting tools.” More
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