LG’s Design Tool Meets Your En378 Calculation

LG Electronics Air Conditioning and Energy Solutions Division’s CAD simulation tool for direct expansion systems newly integrated function to calculate EN378 conformity comes to the aide of HVAC designers. The application, called LatsCAD acts as an AUTOCAD ‘add-on’ for 2D design of Direct Expansion Systems saving up to 60% of design time. This application has been specifically developed to cater for consulting engineering companies in the field of HVAC that want to increase the effectiveness and accuracy of direct expansion systems in their projects and, now, it raises design simplicity to another level.
Required conformity
European Standard EN 378 limits the gas concentration (kg/m³) for buildings that receive people (for work, health, school, hospitality…). The regulation became effective from 01 Oct 2000 – and is directly applicable in law in all EC countries. It states that all precautionary measures practicable shall be taken to prevent and minimise leakages of refrigerants from refrigeration and air-conditioning systems.
After a detailed conception of an air conditioning project for a building is completed, the designer’s job is not yet done – further calculations need to be conducted in order to establish conformity to several European laws. One of which being the conformity calculation for EN378 attained with the following formula:
Where the “Amount” is defined as the entire quantity of refrigerant in the system in kilograms and the “Volume” represents the volume of the smallest room through which refrigerant passes + the fresh air flow rate on 10 minutes duration given in cubic meters.
Designing air conditioning projects for buildings is generally an assiduous job, adding calculations for checking compliance with regulations makes it even more complicated and it is due to these considerations that LG has invested to ease designer’s tasks.
LATSCAD calculates and checks compliance for EN378
The more complicated the project, the harder it gets to wrap-it-up. Imagining a multi-storey building, after calculating loads / selecting air conditioning solution / designing systems, still conducting EN378 calculation for each system is needed. LATSCAD has recently integrated a function that calculates and checks compliance for EN378 automatically at system check simulation.
With this function, designing time has significantly been reduced – for example the above case study, a hotel building of 7 floors with a 875 m² and 8 variable refrigerant systems has been designed in 6 hours, out of which 36 seconds represented the simulation time. After simulation, a designer easily observes which system is not EN378 conform by the red signalled numbers and unchecked mark.
The provided comfort by confidence
LG Electronics Air Conditioning and Energy Solutions Division is driven to provide a total package to its partners, amongst which designers represent a key entity. For designers, LG’s commitment is extended into providing EN378 conformity simulations dedicated to its systems regardless of application. Considering LATSCAD’s evolution, in only 2 years designing LG air conditioning systems has become easier and more accurate than ever securing: precise system design, AUTOCAD view, summarizing excel report and conformity simulations.
*This article has been specially quoted from a published article written by Monica Marza, senior engineer sales at LG Electonics.