Prior to the installation of new Air2O air handling units (AHUs) into an indoor agriculture facility in Canada, controls and automation contractor Stratus Designs, Ltd., sought a unique partnership that would enable them to tightly integrate Air2O’s state-of-the-art units and the client’s building management system into a single control system.

The project consisted of 2 Dry Units, 6 Grow Units and 2 General Facility Units which:

• Combined over 230 Tons of Refrigeration capacity & almost 70,000 CFM total airflow capacity

• Passive Wrap-Around Heat Pipe results in approximately 15% energy savings, without adding any additional complexity to system operation or Controls programming

• Three-stage filtration (MERV8, MERV13 & HEPA) as well as UV in the airstream (at the cooling coil)

Challenge

Industrial manufacturing facilities typically install separate AHU and BMS controls. However, large-scale indoor cannabis cultivation and processing facilities require exceptionally fine-grained control of AHUs to ensure the environment is continually maintained for optimal growing and processing conditions, each of which can vary significantly—and minutely—throughout the cycle. Stratus Designs Ltd., the controls and automation contractor for the facility’s BMS, wanted controls for the two tightly integrated, as they would also be monitoring and operating the facility after start-up. They sought to collaborate with Air2O in a unique way to ensure the client’s precise environmental specifications could be efficiently and precisely maintained at all times.

Approach

Air2O AHUs are engineered with extensive controls packages with versatile programming options to help facility operators maintain tight trending of set points and are customizable to allow for the integration of other controls systems. Stratus wanted to take that integration a step further to give them an unprecedented level of control—one that could only be achieved by incorporating the AHUs and the BMS into a single control system.

Solution

Air2O invited Stratus technicians to install their Reliable Controls™ system onsite at Air2O’s manufacturing plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Sensors and wiring were brought to a terminal strip within the unit by the Air2O factory team for Stratus to then install the AHU controls. Stratus worked closely with Air2O staff to complete the installation and start up the AHUs as part of the Factory Acceptance Testing procedure before the units were shipped to the Canadian facility.