Schneider Electric introduces Uniflair’s precision air conditioning for telecommunication

Global specialist in energy management, Schneider Electric, has announced the local availability of the Unitel technical cooling systems by Uniflair S.p.A., designed specifically for telecommunication applications.

Uniflair S.p.A, a manufacturer of in-room precision cooling systems and modular access floors primarily for data centres and telecommunications applications, was acquired by the global leader in critical power and cooling services, Schneider Electric, in 2011.

Modern telephone technology uses equipment that is usually housed in shelters or in small to medium sized rooms. These sites form effective technological rooms, with common needs from which a series of particular requirements arise. To satisfy these needs, Uniflair has designed and manufactured various product families that are designed to ensure operation accuracy, continuous service, flexibility and low running costs

Says Erman Marini, managing director at Uniflair South Africa: “Telephone systems are required to operate around the clock every day of the year and are mainly situated at unmanned sites. For this reason, highly reliable cooling equipment with reduced running costs is needed. The features offered by the company’s products include, intelligent free-cooling, continuous operation during emergencies, stand-by control and connection to supervision systems; making them ideal for the telecommunication environment.”

He explains that Uniflair’s microprocessor control continuously monitors the room temperature and the outside environmental conditions: if these conditions allow the dissipation of the thermal load, free cooling is then activated. Unlike traditional systems, the free-cooling start-up temperature varies as the thermal load in the conditioned room varies.

“Telephone shelters are constructed to guarantee continuous operation even during power failures. The free-cooling damper, microprocessor control and evaporator fan can also be powered by the UPS in the shelter. During power failures the outside air through the free-cooling damper cools the room. Without air conditioning, the temperature in the racks rises from 45 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius in less than 15 minutes,” says Marini.

Up to 10 units can be installed in each shelter, which are linked to each other through the local LAN network, offering the following benefits:

•         Equal wear to the units, which are rotated on a timed basis;
•         The stand-by unit turns on if there is an alarm in the working unit;
•         The stand-by unit turns on if there is an exceptional thermal load; and
•         Control of the combined operating phases with excellent energy savings.

All the Uniflair units can be connected to a RS485 serial line by using an additional card, ensuring complete monitoring of the system, allowing control through the Uniflair Netvisor supervision system or connection to a centralised supervision system.

Furthermore, all the units are fitted with digital alarm outputs (between three and six depending on the model), which makes it easier to control the status of the conditioning unit and the connection to the external control PLC.

Uniflair offer the following units:

Monoblock conditioning units for installation on the outside wall of the air-conditioned room.

Monoblock units for internal installations.

Air-cooled direct-expansion units designed for indoor installation next to the outside wall.

Unisplit conditioning units are formed of two separate sections: the evaporation section, which is installed inside the conditioned room and the condensation section, which is installed on the outside.

Internal unit designed for rooms with high ceilings with specific medium/low heat loads.

The XDF00341-0481-0501 models are individual direct expansion air-cooled units designed for internal installation with discharge underneath the floor.

The XMF0551 model is an individual direct expansion air-cooled unit designed for internal installation with upflow discharge.