HVAC Case Study
Palace Nova Cinemas

Project Requirements

The design brief set the following requirements:
• Comfortable temperature and individual temperature controls
• Provide outside air to AS1668.2
• Low capital cost and reduced running costs
• Meet EPA noise requirements
• Noise level and impact of services noise level on the adjacent apartment buildings

With these key factors in mind, the project design focused on the use of two Climate Wizard CW-H15 units to pre-cool outside air. The units were used in conjunction with split ducted units, BMS control and the use of theatre air to pre-cool the foyer area. As the cinema complex is adjacent to a residential apartment building, internal and external noise levels were critical to the project. The large cinemas required 42kW air conditioning units which were too large for the confined plant room and too noisy to use in a residential setting. By utilising Climate Wizard as a pre-cooler, the air conditioning unit could be reduced to 30kW which could meet the spatial and noise constraints. There were also limitations with the existing mechanical services switchboard that only provided 250 Amps, known to trip on peak demand days.

A new building management system (BMS) was installed. Located in the plantroom and connected to the cinema office computer where weekly programming can be done by the Cinema Manager. The BMS controls room temperature, CO2 levels in the cinemas, logs outside air temperatures and the air off temperatures for all air conditioning units and pre-coolers.

Solution

Redevelopment of Palace Nova’s two Adelaide cinemas, Prospect and Rundle Street, were only months apart. Both cinemas are very similar in floor area, number of theatres and number of patrons per month. The Prospect cinema incorporated air to air heat exchangers in lieu of a Climate Wizard for pre-treatment of outside air. At the conclusion of summer, the power bill between the two sites showed a significant difference. By installing Climate Wizard as a pre-cooling solution, the Rundle Street cinema is now reaping the rewards of substantial energy savings.

View Case Study