Cooling controls overview

Comfort Cooling

Protecting your valuables

Some items can be very sensitive to the amount of moisture in the air and can be adversely affected by this.

magna carta document You may not have the magna carta in your home but many other valuables need protecting just as much. Paintings, works of art, even vintage cars all will suffer if the level of moisture in the air is not accurately controlled.

Full Air Conditioning needs an Air Handling Unit which is capable of controlling humidity (humidifying the air by adding water or steam, dehumidifying by cooling and reheating the air).

With its experience with the National Trust, smartkontrols can provide the control solution to protect your investments.

Nowadays whether you are in an office, in a department store or traveling in your car, you have the benefit of air conditioning or comfort cooling to ensure that the temperature is kept at a comfortable level.

Now this technology is increasingly available for home owners who are having Comfort Cooling systems for their properties. These systems, from manufacturers such as Daikin, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Toshiba, etc, consist of indoor units(which absorb the heat) connected to outdoor units (which reject the heat to atmosphere). Sometimes the systems are capable of running in reverse as Heat Pumps, which also allow the house to be heated. All of these systems come complete with their own built-in controls, and their own user interface.

However, these types of system are often fitted in conjunction with separate heating systems (e.g. underfloor heating). By using the smartkontrols system you will ensure the heating system does not “fight” with the cooling system.

The smartkontrols approach works by controlling both systems from a single sensor, and single user interface. The user sets the temperature (and times) that he wants to use, and the smartkontrols system decides whether heating, cooling or no action is required.

By linking the cooling system with the other systems we are controlling in the house, we can provide a simple user interface and the manufacturers wall pendant can be mounted out of sight but available for maintenance.

Fan Coil / Chilled Water systems

Some larger properties use chilled water systems, with a chiller producing the chilled water being pumped to fan coil units in each room. Some fan coil units are capable of heating and cooling and the smartkontrols solution is similar to that for the split systems above.

Underfloor cooling

In some cases cooling is provided by passing chilled water through pipes that are embedded in the floor. This type of system can then pass hot water through the floor to provide heating of the property.

This type of cooling provides a completely hidden solution with only the temperature sensor visible in the room.

airminder ventilation unit

Ventilation Systems

All houses need ventilation, while traditionally this is done by passive trickle vents above windows, often some form of mechanical ventilation may be needed. Simple bathroom extracts can be driven from the lighting circuit, but these simple throw away the warm air. Now there are Heat Recovery Ventilation Units which extract the heat from the extract air and use this to warm the incoming fresh air saving energy.

Simpler units can be set to run continuously, but more comprehensive products have trickle/boost modes, bypass dampers for summer use (to allow free cooling of the house) and auxiliary heating/cooling coils which can be linked in to your smartkontrols system.

stack effect air flow

Natural or Passive Ventilation schemes

Some houses employ Natural Ventilation techniques, using the buoyancy of warm air to create the “stack effect”, enhancing ventilation through a wind tower. Such schemes employ automatic opening windows or vents at low and high level, which must be inhibited during high winds, etc. Typically, our solution features: