Indoor swimming pools are energy-intensive buildings. Predictive, AI-based controls of the ventilation systems offer an excellent to way to save energy. Emden University of Applied Sciences and HANSA Klimasysteme collaborated on these controls using Siemens Industrial Edge devices and applications.
At the end of 2017, HANSA Klimasysteme GmbH partnered with the Emden University of Applied Sciences for a research project funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt). The project’s aim was to achieve the optimal conditions in an indoor swimming pool with respect to temperature and humidity while also being as energy-efficient as possible. The project team worked with a nearby indoor swimming pool and the new Siemens technology Industrial Edge.
Operators of indoor swimming pools should keep a close eye on their energy costs. At the same time, they also have to make sure that visitors have a pleasant experience. To this end, the temperatures have to be kept quite warm. At the same time, humidity has to be fairly low to prevent damage to the building. That’s no easy task considering that at 30°C, water evaporates at a rate of around 0.4 liters per hour per square foot of surface area.
HANSA Klimasysteme GmbH is a mid-sized company based in Saterland, Germany, with over 170 employees. Its main products are ventilation and air conditioning systems for data centers, industrial applications, and swimming pools. Its portfolio is divided into several product lines that target various industries and applications.
The Saterland recreational swim center, located just a few kilometers from HANSA Klimasysteme’s headquarters, was in the market for a new ventilation system when the research project began in 2017, and they contacted the company. The swimming pool was equipped with a new ventilation system and could be used as a research project. In return, the company was able to install additional sensors in the building and on the system and access the pool at any time for research purposes.
The cooperation of swimming pool, HANSA Klimasysteme and the research project of the Emden University of Applied Sciences, collected data from sensors for one year, such as temperature, humidity and energy consumption, as well as weather conditions or number of visitors. In parallel, a model based on a neural network was fed with these data. This AI-based model determines and optimizes its control parameters in a self-learning manner. It recognizes which measure is best suited to achieve the targeted conditions in the swimming pool hall with the highest possible energy efficiency.
It soon became apparent that the model-based control system needed a platform on which to run that could serve as an interface to the PLC and provide access to the necessary data. And so HANSA Klimasysteme began its search for a suitable IPC (industrial PC) – and soon found it in the industrial edge device SIMATIC IPC227E, which is part of the Siemens portfolio. It not only met the requisite security standards and general industry standards but also offered a high degree of connectivity, which meant it was easy to integrate into existing systems.
HANSA Klimasysteme originally came to us with a request for an IPC that could be used to establish a VPN connection. I soon realized that they would be handling huge volumes of data and advised them to go with an edge device.
SIMATIC IPC 227E is operated as an edge device in the open ecosystem Industrial Edge from Siemens. Thanks to the graphical user interface, which includes a set of predefined functions, the edge app Flow Creator makes it easier to create data processing and connectivity solution. In addition, the edge application LiveTwin is also used, which was just in the development stage at Siemens at the beginning of the project, so HANSA Klimasysteme ran it as a pilot. LiveTwin makes it possible to integrate simulation models on edge devices, for example, to enable predictive controls like those needed for the research project. "With the edge app, we've been able to translate the models we've created in Matlab Simulink into the language of the IPC”, says Christian Seltz.
Previously, the ventilation system’s controls merely responded to events as they occurred, such as increased visitor numbers or elevated humidity. Now it is now able to make predictive adjustments – that is, before events even take place. Over the last four months, these controls have enabled the swimming pool to reduce its energy consumption by around 20 percent. The next step is to implement this complete solution at additional indoor swimming pools. In fact, it has already been installed in four more pools and the results are currently being validated.
But the solution will not only be available for swimming pools in the future. The plan is to gradually apply the complete solution to the other product lines and to further develop it, for instance, for the pharmaceutical or food and beverage industries. The model would simply need to be adjusted in Matlab Simulink for the customers involved and the requirements on site, and loaded onto the edge device using SIMATIC LiveTwin. Many industry clients could have the same experience as the Saterland pool: They could achieve intelligent, energy efficient and thus resource-saving climate control on the basis of live data.
Of course, the potential for savings is very high at indoor swimming pools because their operation is so energy-intensive. But these principles can be applied in other sectors as well, to help achieve energy savings wherever our ventilation systems are in use.
Siemens' new edge computing platform consists of Edge devices, apps and connectivity in a centralized management infrastructure. The IPC runs the model-based control system and the Flow Creator edge application, ensuring smooth communication between the IPC, the PLC and the cloud.
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