08/29/2024
In August 2024, Johnson Controls hosted a showcase at its Johnson Controls Advanced Development and Engineering Center (JADEC) in New Freedom, PA, to share testing and engineering capabilities of its applied HVAC equipment for data centers and semiconductor manufacturers.
A YMC2 magnetic drive centrifugal chiller visible in the front lobby provides chilled water to the building. On the opposite side of campus, eight 500-ton, air-cooled chillers supply chilled water to the test building.
The $150 million, 357,000-square-foot Johnson Controls Advanced Development and Engineering Center (JADEC) opened in April 2018. Image courtesy of Johnson Controls.
Leading a tour of the facility were Katie McGinty, Vice President and Chief Sustainability and External Relations Officer; Lei Schlitz, President, Global Products; Todd Grabowski, President, Global Data Center Solutions and Ian Casper, Vice President, Global Products Engineering.
According to McGinty, data centers account for 4% of electricity use in the United States, which is expected to double in the next decade. HVAC accounts for 40% of data centers’ electricity demand. McGinty cited four pillars key to Johnson Controls’ “continue inventing the future” plan. First is manufacturing purpose-built chillers, because chip manufacturers and data centers have different HVAC requirements than people need for their comfort. Second is creating digital controls, because Johnson Controls is not only building the hardware, but the software that goes along with it. Third is developing the magnetic bearing technology employed in its refrigerant compressors, which eliminate oil circuits and reduce machines’ physical footprints – plus, “it’s really quiet,” McGinty whispered. Last is advancing heat pump technology and its ability to reduce carbon emissions.
Grabowski began the JADEC tour by showing how the facility simulaties the outcomes customers want to see from their applied HVAC equipment in the environments they will be operating in. On average, the JADEC lab collects over 1,000 data runs monthly throughout its seven acres. The first stop was its air handler unit testing bay, followed by the reverb acoustic testing room.
After that, Grabowski presented a next generation data center purpose-built, YORK air-cooled, magnetic bearing, R-1234ze centrifugal chiller. The unit had been tested and commissioned on site and will find a home at a hyperscale data center. Equipped with a steel shell copper coil evaporator and over a dozen aluminum microchannel condensers, the chiller and its refrigerant compressor are designed for optimal sound output, energy efficiency and uptime for critical environments, according to Grabowski.
Johnson Controls continually challenges its engineers and data center customers to achieve stable operation at warmer chilled water temperatures for greater system efficiency in water-saving, air-cooled configurations, McGinty noted.
Mechanical Engineer Makayla Ianuzzi was nearby with a display showing the inner workings of the chiller’s YZ 330-horsepower (hp), oil-free, magnetic bearing refrigerant compressor. An orbit plot analyzer showed the position of the rotor inside its magnetic coils. Ianuzzi struck the rotor with a rubber mallet to demonstrate its automatic rotor realignment, visualized on the orbit plot analyzer. The visualizer had to be slowed for the eye to see how fast the rotor realigns. “The levitating rotor can adjust its position 20,000 times per second. JCI owns its bearing design and manufacturing capabilities. Two existing refrigerant compressor lines have 10 years of field experience,” Ianuzzi said.
Makayla Ianuzzi, Mechanical Engineer, with the YORK YZ 330-hp, oil-free, magnetic bearing refrigerant compressor display in front of the data center purpose-built, YORK air-cooled, magnetic bearing centrifugal chiller.
The environmental test chambers showed how the facility simulates extreme operating conditions. First, a YVAM air-cooled centrifugal chiller was tested in ambient environments well over 110°F (43°C). Next door, another YVAM was tested in 20°F (-7°C) ambient conditions. “Our solutions are resilient, and designed for the hottest possible days we will see in 100 years,” McGinty said.
Ian Casper alongside a YVAM air-cooled centrifugal chiller during a 20°F (-7°C) operational test.
Rajesh Dixit, Director of Global Product Management, displayed a high-lift, high-temperature heat pump chiller with ice making capability, designed to work in tandem with dry coolers. McGinty cited a relevant installation achieving water savings of 59 million gallons-per-year at a northeastern Ivy League school. Then, Greg Shirk, Product Manager, and Tim Svirbly, Product Engineer, displayed a YKCP water-cooled, R-1234ze centrifugal chiller with an R8 refrigerant compressor – the company's largest gear driven centrifugal refrigerant compressor – with tonnage ranges up to 2,000-3,000 tons.
Greg Shirk and Tim Svirbly with a YKCP water-cooled centrifugal chiller.
In the motor test bay, 1,000- and 3,000-hp motors and refrigerant compressors were underdoing aerodynamics and interstage economization testing and refrigerant testing. The tour concluded with the hemi-anechoic sound room, which rests on a 50-foot-deep bed of concrete, and closing remarks from Lei Schlitz, President, Global Products.
“We pride ourselves on our 140-year history of innovation and we work closely with our customers to understand their current and future requirements,” Schlitz said. “Our engineering and product teams incorporate that feedback not only into how we design our products but how we test them. By collaboratively aligning our focus, innovation and expertise with our customers we are able to create unique sustainable solutions for commercial buildings, especially in the rapidly growing data center sector, which will help the current and future built environment achieve net-zero goals.”
About Johnson Controls
Building on a proud history of nearly 140 years of innovation, Johnson Controls deliver the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through OpenBlue, its comprehensive digital offering. Today, with a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the world`s largest portfolio of building technology and software as well as service solutions from some of the most trusted names in the industry. For more information, visit https://www.johnsoncontrols.com.
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