Adelaide Airport Limited Project Model an Australian First

IMER's Centre for Energy Technology (CET) is working on three concurrent projects in partnership with the Adelaide Airport Limited (AAL). One of these projects, to develop a transient, thermodynamic model of Adelaide Airport Terminal 1 (T1), is an Australian first. It involves the development of a fully-validated model which accounts for T1's geometry, location, local weather, lighting systems, occupancy. The model also encompasses the Terminal's heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems (HVAC).

Once validated, this model will be the first in Australia to be successfully used for such a large and complex building. The novel model will be used to develop a cost-benefit analysis of potentially energy-saving options which may be applied to T1.

The AAL-CET partnership was established to develop clean energy solutions and reduce the carbon footprint of AAL while contributing towards the sustainability of the broader environment.

Another project in the partnership involves a feasibility study of employing indirect evaporative cooling (IEC) technology as a pre-cooling system at T1. IEC systems use evaporating water to lower warm air temperatures without humidifying the air. Detailed calculations based on T1's current operational conditions and local weather show employing IEC can reduce heating, ventilation and air-conditioning energy consumption by up to 20%. A lifecycle cost-benefit assessment is currently underway to justify an initial investment.

The third partnership project looks at the development of a smart mechanical plant control system. Typically these plants use a simple sensory feedback system or fixed operational schedules to control the building's HVAC. More complex, adaptive feedback or feed-forward control systems may optimise performance leading to more consistent internal building conditions and a reduction in energy consumption.