Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

In 2015, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), a division of FCA Group, constructed their Jeep plant in Goiana, in the State of Pernambuco in Brazil. Their goal was to create the most technologically-advanced and sustainable automobile plant in the world. This manufacturing plant is the center of a highly-integrated complex that also consists of an R&D center, training center, proving ground, and on-site supplier park.

To achieve the goal of being one of the most energy efficient plants in the world, FCA had originally turned to CCN Automaçåo — a local Automated Logic dealer and a recognized leader in implementing advanced building automation solutions — to carry out the project aimed at delivering the highest energy efficiency for FCA’s chilled water plant. They achieved this by installing Automated Logic’s WebCTRL® building automation system and MEx chiller plant controllers to efficiently manage the nine large centrifugal chillers (with 18,000 tons of total cooling capacity), that serve the complex.

Recently, FCA determined that further energy savings were needed and once again, turned to CCN Automaçåo to successfully achieve this objective. FCA needed to reduce the total plant’s kW/Ton index (a measurement of the amount of electricity needed to produce one ton of cooling capacity), which is compared globally with other peers within the FCA Group. And, CCN Automaçåo was asked to deploy the solution without disrupting the plant’s 24 hours/day production schedule.

To further reduce the plant’s nominal consumption of electricity, the CCN Automaçåo application engineering team installed Automated Logic’s Chilled Water System Optimizer (CWSO). This native BACnet® control solution provides supervisory level control over the chilled water production of the chiller plant, managing the plant chilled water supply temperature and the condenser water supply temperature to provide optimal energy usage while maintaining occupant comfort throughout the manufacturing plant.

In addition, CCN Automaçåo installed integration modules (LGR1000s), to communicate with third party plant components such as kW energy meters and VFDs, maximizing the performance of the CWSO’s control algorithms and creating a finely tuned, cohesive system.

The solution was implemented in phases, including physical installation, commissioning, adjustments, and start-up monitoring, where chiller plant performance was carefully monitored - with and without the optimization system - to verify an energy savings of 10.6% with CWSO in place.