THE VIDEO
CGI'S
Active Chilled Beams (ACB) can provide ventilation, cooling and heating to an office space in place of a conventional fan coil unit (FCU) system. ACBs work by forcing tempered air through the beams, inducing re-circulated room air over coils within to condition the space. The beams are connected to the ventilation supply air ductwork from a central air handling unit to provide outside air to the occupants. Chilled water is passed through the beams to provide cooling. Heating can be provided by connecting coils to the LTHW system.
The perceived benefits of ACB’s are:
- excellent thermal comfort
- energy efficiency
- quiet operation
- low maintenance
- efficient use of space
An ACB system has the potential for considerable energy savings over a traditional Fan Coil Unit (FCU) solution as chilled water is circulated at higher temperatures, requiring less cooling energy. In addition, each fan coil unit contains multiple fans to force air over the cooling coils which are absent from an ACB installation. Reduction in energy costs of up to 30% could be expected compared to a traditional FCU system.
Maintenance costs are also much lower than a FCU system due to the absence of individual fan motors and filters in the beams.