California Smart Grid Center Completes Successful Demonstration Test of Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat Retrofit Solution From ...
June 03 2010 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Cypress Envirosystems, a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor
Corp. (Nasdaq:CY), announced today that the California Smart Grid
Center (CSGC), has successfully completed the demonstration testing
of Cypress Envirosystems’ Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat (WPT)
solution. The CSGC is funded by the California Energy Commission
and is the unbiased proving ground for Smart Grid technologies in
California.
The test confirmed the WPT’s significant reduction in cost, time
and disruption to retrofit legacy buildings and thereby enable them
for Smart Grid Auto-Demand Response connectivity. The
patent-pending hybrid pneumatic and digital technology employed by
the WPT opens up the potential for millions of legacy buildings to
participate in peak load reduction and energy efficiency strategies
that were previously impractical due to long investment payback and
disruption to building occupants.
Approximately 6,000 sq-ft of office space at Sacramento State
University was selected for the demonstration test. Prior to the
retrofit, the offices used non-communicating pneumatic thermostats
for control of heating and cooling. These legacy thermostats were
not capable of remote temperature setpoint control and could not
interface with the Smart Grid for Auto-Demand Response.
Retrofitting them to modern communicating digital thermostats using
conventional technology would have been extremely costly, with a
payback period of five years or longer. It would also require
opening up walls and ceilings, with significant disruption to
building occupants.
For the demonstration test, the CSGC used the innovative
Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat system, which costs approximately 80%
less than conventional technology. The installation at Sacramento
State University was completed in about two hours during working
hours, with virtually no disruption to occupants. If conventional
technology were used, it would have taken several days and required
clean-up of asbestos and other hazardous materials exposed during
the work.
Once installed, the thermostats enabled remote control and
monitoring of zone setpoint, temperature, and branch pressure
(heating or cooling demand) via an operator station. The system can
also interface with existing automation systems using BACnet, and
has a built-in interface compliant with the OpenADR protocol
developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory, which allows communication with utilities for
Auto-Demand Response. This interface allows buildings to
automatically curtail electricity use during periods of high demand
(by increasing the setpoint temperature for thermostats, for
example).
“For the Smart Grid to reach its full potential, we will need
smart buildings to talk to it. Developing low cost and
non-disruptive ways to make existing buildings ‘smart’ is a very
important problem to address,” said Emir Jose Macari, Dean of the
College of Engineering and founding Director of the California
Smart Grid Center at Sacramento State. “The Cypress Envirosystems’
WPT system was installed in record time and has performed
flawlessly for the three months of the demonstration test. I am
impressed with the system’s performance but above all because of
the non-invasive nature of the devices and the installation.”
Similar large-scale retrofits using the WPT, involving over
one-million sq-ft, have confirmed each WPT can shed up to 1kW of
peak load, and reduce 15-30% of HVAC energy use. The low installed
cost enables very attractive payback periods of 18 months or less.
To further reduce the upfront cost, the WPT also qualifies for
utility incentives in many states, including PG&E, Southern
California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric in
California.
“Most commercial buildings built before 1995 use pneumatic
control systems. This equates to about 70% of the existing
commercial building space, or over 60 billion sq-ft, which cannot
be easily connected to the Smart Grid. We designed the WPT
specifically to address this problem and also to deliver energy
savings,” said Harry Sim, CEO of Cypress Envirosystems. “The
validation and endorsement from the California Smart Grid Center is
a major milestone for the WPT, and will significantly enhance our
ability to bid and win Smart Grid projects, especially involving
stimulus funding participants. We sincerely thank the CSGC for the
valuable service they provide to the community.”
About the Cypress Envirosystems Wireless Pneumatic
Thermostat
Cypress Envirosystems’ patent pending WPT solution retrofits
existing pneumatic thermostats to deliver direct digital control
(DDC) functionality in minutes. Compared with the cost to implement
conventional DDC retrofit, the WPT costs 80% less, pays back in 18
months or shorter, and can be installed in under 20 minutes with
minimal disruption of occupants. It enables remote temperature
sensing and control of setpoints, programmable zone control and
night setback, automatic self-calibration, BACnet integration with
existing automation systems, and communication with utility Demand
Response programs. Sensor data gathered by the WPT is used for
retro and ongoing commissioning to save energy and reduce
maintenance costs. The WPT was first introduced in 2008, and is now
used in over 100 sites across North America including Fortune 500
office buildings, hospitals, universities, K-12 schools, and
government buildings. Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara County
Government, Western Michigan University, and the LA Chamber of
Commerce are among the many customers.
About Cypress Envirosystems, Inc.
Cypress Envirosystems is a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor
(NASDAQ: CY). Its mission is to save energy and improve
productivity in older plants and buildings, using state-of-the-art
non-invasive and wireless technologies to minimize disruption and
cost, delivering payback of 18 months or less. Visit Cypress
Envirosystems at www.CypressEnvirosystems.com.
About Cypress
Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable
solutions that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and
exceptional system value. Cypress offerings include the flagship
PSoC® programmable system-on-chip families and derivatives such as
PowerPSoC® solutions for high-voltage and LED lighting
applications, CapSense® touch sensing and TrueTouch™ solutions for
touchscreens. Cypress is the world leader in USB controllers,
including the high-performance West Bridge® solution that enhances
connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress is
also a leader in high-performance memories and programmable timing
devices. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer, mobile
handsets, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial
and military. Cypress trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market
under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online at
www.cypress.com.
Cypress, the Cypress logo, Cypress Systems, the Cypress Systems
logo, PSoC, West Bridge and EZ-USB are registered trademarks and
CyFi is a trademark of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. All other
trademarks are property of their owners.
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