Windowmaster Provides First Breath Of Fresh Air For Irish Schools

Feb. 3, 2012 - PRLog -- WindowMaster (www.windowmaster.com) is for the first time supplying its automated window control system to schools in the Republic of Ireland. Two installations are being used as test projects for new systems on trial for Schools for the Future in Eire.

Both Scoil Naomh Eoin in Navan (www.scoilnaomheoin.com) and St Anne’s National School in Ardclough (www.stannesandclough.ie) will feature WindowMaster’s full NV Advance™ automated window control system. The NV Advance™ system will control the heating and ventilation in 16 classrooms and the PE hall at each school.

The project is being delivered by a design team led by architects from the Department of Education and Science (www.education.ie) and M&E design engineers BDP of Dublin (www.bpd.com). The main contractor is Glenman Corporation (www.glenman.ie), which has significant experience in delivering new schools projects across the country.

WindowMaster’s Ireland sales manager Peter Connolly said: “This is our first order for a natural ventilation system for schools in Ireland. The contract called for system design and delivery of the necessary components, also the required wiring diagrams and commissioning.

“WindowMaster is supplying and mounting all the actuators and installing a control interface to the heating system. We are also wiring the whole control system. This is almost a complete package that we are delivering for these projects.

“A natural ventilation system was selected for the schools because it is energy efficient. These two projects are significant for WindowMaster in Ireland because it means we will hopefully continue to supply the NV Advance™ control system to the other schools in the Schools for the Future programme as it is rolled out over the coming years.”

Energy efficiency and the ability to monitor energy usage were the key factors in selecting the natural ventilation system for the test phase of the programme. WindowMaster’s control system helped the designers to meet the requirement to control carbon emissions for these schools. In addition to the building management system it provides a method of monitoring energy usage.

The computer enables the school to check if windows are open or closed and to then control the heating system via the building management system in each zone as necessary to maintain optimal energy usage.

WindowMaster, Europe’s largest provider of natural comfort and smoke ventilation solutions, was chosen to provide the window automation system for Scoil Naomh Eoin and St Anne’s National School because of its ability to provide complete installations, in particular the central computer control system. In addition, each installation includes motors, window actuators, various sensors and a weather station.

The control system understands and knows how the wind speed and direction on all façades will influence the airflow through the windows on each level and location in the façade. WindowMaster determines the Cp values (pressure coefficients) individually for each window by calculating the relevant air pressures from different wind speeds and directions.

WindowMaster carries out computational fluid dynamic calculations for 16 wind directions for the specific building and its surroundings. Based on the calculations the Cp values are determined and programmed into the control system, which enables the precise control of the individual windows resulting in an optimal indoor climate. Each zone operates independently of the others according to the specific external conditions relevant to those windows and the internal environment.