CO₂ Heat Pump to Provide Heating, AC and Server Cooling for German Municipal Office

German manufacturer Engie Refrigeration is installing a CO₂ (R744) heat pump this month at the County District Office in Ludwigsburg, Germany, to provide heating and cooling for the building and cooling for its in-house server room.

The thermeco₂ heat pump, type HHR 130, has a heating capacity of 100kW (28.4TR). It will provide base-load refrigeration all year for the server room, and space cooling in the summer for the administrative building, according to Engie’s website.

Thanks to its heat recovery function, the thermeco₂ unit will also provide space heating in winter, hot water, and heating for “conditioning the recirculated air in the server rooms,” said Engie. Additional chillers and boilers will be used for peak loads in very hot, or cold, weather.

This high level of sustainability means the solution qualifies to be subsidized by the German state. Ludwigsburg expects to save 38.4 metric tons of CO₂e emissions per year, when compared to the previous refrigeration system.

The Ludwigsburg District Office’s goal is to operate in “climate-neutral fashion” from 2025, according to Engie’s website. To achieve this goal, the office will also be equipped with a photovoltaic system to generate electricity, and a combined heat and power system.

The district office in Ludwigsburg provides a number of digital services for citizens, and therefore has an in-house data center to support its expansive IT infrastructure. In 2019, the Ludwigsburg Country leadership realized that its existing refrigeration system was no longer sufficient.

“The existing R22 refrigeration system was outdated and needed to be fully modernized, said Frank Glaser, Key Account Manager for heating applications with Engie. “As the Ludwigsburg District Office attaches great importance to a sustainable refrigeration solution, it chose the thermeco₂ high-temperature heat pump from Engie Refrigeration,” Glaser added.

Meeting heating requirement

On Ludwigsburg’s reasoning for choosing the thermeco2 solution, Glaser said “The District Office requires heat uncoupling in a challenging temperature range: high outlet temperatures of up to 90°C (194°F), and a low inlet temperature of 38°C (100.4°F).”

“Our thermeco₂ high-temperature heat pump unfolds its full potential under these conditions, while alternative solutions could only achieve this with a great deal of technical and primary energy expenditure,” said Glaser.

The Ludwigsburg heat pump is an updated version of Engie’s original thermeco₂, including new features like a filter dryer.

“The filter dryer will become the standard; it keeps the refrigerant circuit clean and dry and thus counteracts the decay of the chiller oil, corrosion and further contamination,” Glaser explained, adding that this would “allow us to keep the performance of the system at a constant high level.”

The updated version of the thermeco2 also has a smaller footprint than the original. It weighs 10% less, due to a redesign with a smaller switch cabinet, and soldered connections instead of flange connections.

The updated thermeco₂ series will offer an expanded choice in controls. The design of the flow monitor for cold and warm water is similar to that of the company’s QUANTUM chiller, and it uses “Cool Care 3.0 DSL Gateway” as a remote maintenance tool, giving Engie engineers remote access to the heat pump touch panel.