APLS Smart Control (ASC)
The local smart control (ASC) and remote management solution together provide an integrated solution to be able to support the safe and optimal operation of the heat pump and different heat production systems.
Providing added reliability for the heating/cooling systems
Heat pumps are very reliable and it is advertised that the heat pump lasts over 10 years with no maintenance. It is true, because technology has proven itself. However, in a heat pump application, the heat pump itself is only one element. There are pumps, valves, and the intelligent controller. All of them represent the risk of failure one by one.
In the course of the design, a lot of risks can be mitigated, but not all. From the industrial users point of view the highest priority is that the necessary heat mass must be available all the time the load (building or technology) demands. An unmanaged system cannot fulfill this. Therefore industrial heat pump systems cannot be planned without a management module. It is not trivial to build heat pump systems which are capable of fulfilling changing requirements while optimizing the heat production and consumption process. The main objective of ASC is to solve the problem above.
The higher the energy needed and the more complex the system is, the more important it is to establish efficient management. A well designed management system is able to provide not only alarms in case of failures, but early warnings with which the outages can be avoided or reduced.
The communication between a central remote management center and the ASC is responsible for collecting, analyzing the available information from the ASCs and in case of extraordinary situations, informing the designated responsible person to trigger the action needed.
The solution aims to interconnect all possible heat sources while the local personnel has key importance in operating. All of the functions are at ease. Data can be skimmed through, analyzed deeply on a time scale or a skilled professional can dive into the parameters and settings live in the remote deployed locations.
Below illustration shows how data points can be observed, compared and contrasted:
Filling the gap between industrial grade heat pumps and heat utilization
Heat pumps in the industrial utilizations are built solely to be a heat source for the technology. Therefore the way the heat is carried to the place of usage is very diverse.
This is where the ASC can help in a cost efficient way. In case the user orders the ASC local control feature, the ASC contains a programmable logic controller (PLC) which runs a parameterizable software for controlling as well as the necessary amount of input/output interfaces for control. The preparation of the ASC configuration starts during the design phase of the heat pump system.
The other area ASC control function can support the efficiency, is the cascade controlling function.
In systems where more than one heat source is available, the produced amount of energy can be regulated by starting or stopping the heat sources. Heat source can be a heat pump or gas boiler or any other equipment which can be either regulated or toggled on or off. The heat source selection method is based on which heat source utilization is the most efficient at the given circumstances. The built in load balance algorithm makes sure that not only the utilization of the devices is done in an optimal way, the service hours need to be close to equal for each unit to reduce the risk of overloading.