PALATINE, IL — According to Square D/Schneider Electric, its PUMP-Pak® pump controls played a key role in a retrofit project that earned the American Center office tower in Southfield, MI, an Energy Star Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The equipment was part of a retrofit completed by Trane Commercial Systems, an OEM customer of Square D/Schneider Electric. Under the Performance Agreement for Comfort from Trane (PACT™) program, Trane completed $3.2 million in capital improvements that the company says will produce annual savings of $621,000 for the building's owners, cut their electric bill by one-third, and improve tenant comfort.

The project involved a major retrofit of the domestic water pumping system, replacement of electric boilers with gas-fired modular high-efficiency boilers, and installation of two new 640-ton CenTraVac™ chillers to provide more efficient cooling.

The retrofit of the domestic water pumping system included the installation of a Square D PUMP-Pak system incorporating ALTIVAR variable-speed AC drives to optimize the performance of the three motors used to power the building's water pumping system.

In addition, the drives were used in conjunction with the new air handling equipment installed by Trane. Use of the variable frequency drives is said to maximize energy efficiency by delivering the minimum power necessary to operate the water pumping and air handling systems. The Square D equipment is also integrated into the Tracer Summit™ building automation system.

“Even though the ALTIVAR drives and PUMP-Pak represent a small part of the overall cost of the American Center project, they were instrumental in helping achieve the energy savings required to win the Energy Star award,” said Dave Marshall, HVAC segment manager for Square D/Schneider Electric.

For more information, visit www.squared-hvac.com (website).

Publication date: 08/26/2002