4 minute read
Controls to the Rescue
NALMCO Members’ Collaboration Transforms RUSH University Academic Center
By Parker Allen
Photos courtesy of Lisa Orloff, Imperial Lighting
BACKGROUND AND PROJECT INITIATION
In late 2021, RUSH University in Chicago, Illinois, connected with Energy Conservation & Supply (ECS) to work on lighting upgrades for the entire medical center campus, beginning with the Armour Academic Center. The decision-makers at RUSH were pleased to find out that ECS had a longstanding relationship with NALMCO member Imperial Lighting, and they tabbed the two companies to begin the lighting upgrade of the academic center.
Imperial arrived on site in December of 2022 and began retrofitting the several thousand existing fluorescent fixtures – mainly 1x4, 2x2, and 2x4s – with the latest LED technology. The fluorescent tubes throughout the building’s many offices and classrooms were replaced with lumen-selectable LEDVANCE retrofit kits.
Several months into the project, RUSH came to Imperial with a problem – the light was too bright. Even after adjusting the LED kits down to their lowest output, the new light was still uncomfortable and glaring.
With a sizeable portion of the new lighting already installed, Imperial faced a dilemma. They turned to fellow NALMCO member Avi-on, a leader in controls solutions. Avi-on promised that their Bluetooth Mesh controls could solve the brightness problem while delivering several additional benefits. “Long story short, Avi-on was a perfect fit for the project,” noted Todd Mendelsohn, Director at Imperial Lighting and their lead on the project.
Imperial installed Avi-on’s in-fixture controls with occupancy sensors as well as dimming wall stations in each room, allowing occupants to further dim the fixtures beyond the high-end trim that was implemented.
The utilization of Bluetooth Mesh removes the need for any centralized hub or gateway – the fixtures can communicate with one another and be controlled via the wall stations or the Avi-on mobile app.
As the project wrapped up in the spring of this year, the installation and commissioning team sat down with RUSH’s facility management and trained them on the fundamentals of the control system.
REBATES AND INCENTIVES
ECS had already identified a significant rebate, based on wattage reduced, though Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd).
The addition of controls sweetened the deal, qualifying the project for a substantial additional rebate based on wattage controlled. This translated to a $200K incentive, which, when combined with on-bill financing, meant that RUSH didn’t have to pay anything out of pocket to finance the project.
IMPLEMENTATION AND CHALLENGES
The project was not without its challenges. Being an old building with thick concrete floors and walls, there were several dead zones that prevented proper communication between the fixtures. Imperial installed repeaters to extend the range of the fixtures and help relay the Bluetooth signal through these dead zones.
Furthermore, the initial audit didn’t detect some old low voltage switches and wiring issues on several of the floors. Avi-on’s control system provides energy monitoring, which helped troubleshoot this issue by providing data on fixture power usage. When a technician reported that the lighting wasn’t operating properly on these floors, Avi-on’s team was able to deduce that old wiring was at fault, and the install team could correct the issue. Problem solved.
But, by far the biggest obstacle was the necessity to add controls after the fact. Anyone who has installed lighting will tell you that adding controls after the fixtures are already in the ceiling is less than ideal. Despite the out-of-order timeline of the project, once the controls solution was identified, the remaining lights and all controls were installed and commissioned within a matter of months.
CONCLUSION
The lighting upgrade at RUSH University’s Armour Academic Center showcases the effectiveness of collaboration between NALMCO members to utilize their expertise to bring a successful lighting upgrade to fruition. Avi-on’s Bluetooth Mesh network system, added to LEDVANCE’s LED retrofit kits and installed and commissioned by Imperial Lighting, provided reliable and comfortable lighting to RUSH’s students and staff and ensured long-term energy savings and system reliability.
This project has been submitted to the Department of Energy’s Integrated Lighting Campaign, with winners to be recognized at the IES Annual Conference in August. Avi-on’s involvement in four out of fourteen recognized projects in 2023 highlights their leadership in advanced lighting controls, and they hope to continue that trend of recognition in 2024.
With the successful upgrade of the Armour Academic Center, all without paying out of pocket, RUSH has found trusted partners to work with as they continue to upgrade the lighting across campus.
