CommScope (Arris)

Horsham, PA

Exterior view of building at CommScope campus, Horsham, PA

Overview

Beginning in 2011, GBA analyzed possible energy upgrades, focused on HVAC systems, for a four-building corporate campus totaling 390,000 square feet. The facility is devoted to technology development. The upgrade strategy ultimately consisted of custom air-cooled DX rooftop units, plus supplemental dry coolers to serve lab space.

Awards

ASHRAE Illinois Chapter, Excellence in Engineering Award, 2015

HVAC Analysis, Renovation Design, and Retro-Commissioning

The buildings at this site were originally constructed as office space, but over time, about 40% of the property was migrated to research, straining cooling capacity. GBA developed multiple energy-saving HVAC options, including air-cooled, evaporative-cooled, and water-cooled strategies. Ultimately, custom air-cooled DX units were selected.

  • The custom air-cooled rooftop units displayed the best combination of front-end and life cycle costs for the client. Supply and relief fan arrays with VFDs were incorporated in the design, as well as variable-speed compressors, variable-speed condenser fans, and high-efficiency filters.
  • All RTUs feature direct digital controls tied into the campus’ existing building automation system.
  • Dry coolers were proposed and installed to better address current and future loads for the research spaces.
  • Two buildings were upgraded between 2012 and 2104; upgrades are ongoing at other buildings. Replacements were done in phases so only half of each building was affected at any given time. In general, units were replaced over weekends.
  • Post-installation, Building 2 used 17% less electricity than the 2011 benchmark. Similar measurements at Building 3 indicated a 16% savings vs. the baseline measurements.
  • A subsequent retro-commissioning effort allowed the client to further improve energy efficiency at the site.

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