Mech & Elec System

The complexity of its electro-mechanical system required advanced technology to create sufficient energy for the whole building.

The project establishes two energy centers, the high and the low energy center. the former employs a conventional centrifugal unit system while the latter is in the form of multi-cold source. It includes cooling-heating-power system, conventional electric refrigeration system, ground-source heat pump system, and ice storage system.

The electro-mechanical system of this tower is particularly complicated due to its mega height and unique architectural structure. The design of the electro-mechanical system applies advanced technology to sustainably generate energy because it strives for a Three-star award and a LEED Gold Award. The emphasized commercial use of the building space puts forward higher requirements on the electro-mechanical system.

The brief introduction includes:

1.The design and the manufacturing of ultra-silent: air handling units

In order to meet the required building’s energy efficiency quota, many interventions occurred. For instance, the Shanghai Tower maximizes utilization ratios of architectural space and indoor story heights, and all air VAV conditioning systems. Since the indoor noise is required to be less than 45 decibels, noise elimination equipment is installed in the machine room and air blasé ducts, by and large, the aforementioned measures still fail to meet the requirements of noise elimination. Thus, in the stage of equipment tendering, a highly rigorous test requirement for the noise of floor air handling unites and air conditioning facilities are put into the design process. Also, engineer instated a more severe manufacturing requirement on the boundary dimensions of air conditioning units in order to meet the needs of air conditioning room spaces.

In the stage of design bidding, designer evaluated noise levels of the units by testing the prototype’s noise spectrum eight times according to the noise evaluation standard Nc40 values. In the end, the noise of the ultra-silent air handing units adopted by this tower has been reduced so substantially that they produce no more than 15 db (A).

2.Ice storage systems

The design of building’s air conditioning system adopts an ice storage system. This achieves a supply of air at low temperature, saving investment and water consumption. With the features of an emergency cold source and a high reliability of air conditioning, the set-up time of cooling is short, requiring only 15-20 minutes to reach the required temperature. Typical systems usually take an hour. The system selects three dual-operating chiller units. The refrigerating capacity of the air conditioner is 1,800 RT with a total ice storage capacity of 26,400 Rth. By adopting an indirect ice-melting steel disc tube component that melts ice internally there is increased energy saving and ease of control. The most efficient operating conditions are created by efficiently pumping ethylene-glycol through an elaborate air conditioning system. Parts of this system include single ice-maker chiller units alongside an ice-melting device. Also, included is an ice-storage system teamed with a dual operating conditioning unit. The system in its entirety is primarily operated with Low Ebb electricity without opening peak electricity.

This system paired with dual operating conditioner units results in less frequent switching on and off ensuring that the previous day of ice could then be melted for the following day of cooling. The CPMS system will then inform the system when operated under a high loading rate, again, improving efficiency.

The CPMS system will allow an ice storage to operate rather independently. The CPMS will continue to updating itself with the latest parameters. It will then continuously collect, illustrate, store, and analyze the date on a regular basis. In turn, the system will always be running at peak efficiency.

Fig 2. Hot air supply from cooling system (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd)

Fig 1. Cool air supply from cooling system (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd)

Fig 3. Air-conditioning wing in cooling system (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd)

Fig 4. Floor heating in cooling system (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd)

Fig 5. Partical BIM 3D model for cooling system (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd)

Fig 6. Working time arrangement of Ice storage system (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd

3.CPMS-Energies Management System

As a super-tall landmark building, the Shanghai Tower will have a large volume and even larger energy consumption. The situation of energy-saving and cost-reduction is grim. Therefore, reducing the amount of energy consumption in use of this building is an important challenge that people facing with.

The project uses a central energy management control system (CPMS) to monitor the air conditioning load and forecast management demand. This system optimizes each subsystems' operation to achieve heightened energy-saving and cost-reduction.

High-central areas employ conventional centrifugal refrigeration unit systems and the low-central areas employ a multi-cold source. It includes an ice storage-system, a ground-source heat pump system, a secondary pumping system, a free cold-source system, a cooling-heating-power supply system, and a boiler.

Cold and heat source equipment consist of lithium-bromide absorption heating units
A conventional centrifugal refrigeration unit
A dual operating conditioning centrifugal unit
Screwing ground source heat pump units
Gas generating sets with internal combustion
Gas steam boilers

Operating strategies of the CPMS, includes the below aspects:

Optimizing the composition of the combined cooling, heating, and power systems with combined operational system
Refrigeration system consisting of steam boilers with combined operational strategy
Ice storage systems and the optimally combined operational strategy
The composition of the heat-pump system and combined operational strategy
The cooling tower adopts centralized controls of an operational strategy of heat waste and water cooling system that meet the requirements of different equipment, allowing for free cooling in the off-season

All energy systems and units mentioned above monitor and control the systems energy consumption. In short, the CPMS system aims to centralize management and control energy consumption for this tower. Control targets of the CPMS system include providing each part of building with required cold energy, realizing the optimum combination of units and systems, and providing the optimal strategy to reduce operational costs. The basis of the final control indexed are the outdoor conditions, the basis of the control will also control various load demands, equipment operation efficiency, different time frames, and energy prices. The CPMS will always strive for the optimal energy input and output.

4.Cooling-heating-power supply systems

In line with the requirements of attaining both a Three-star award and a LEED Gold award, the design of this mega building utilizes a cooling-heating-power supply system made of two sets of 1.1 MW gas internal combustion generating sets in addition to 2 sets of 1000KW lithium-bromide heating unit. Further there are 2 sets of 1300KW grade plate type thermal water heat exchangers, automatic controls and a corresponding auxiliary system. The average annual load rate of the system powered on is 95% of the average energy efficiency of about 80% (the generating efficiency is about 40% and the waste heat utilization is about 45.8%). The system runs from 6:00 to 22:00, 16 hours per day, for 335 days of the year. Average annual output of the system is about 10.72 million KWh, with an average annual cooling capacity of about 8.93 million KWh. The average annual amount of heating is about 3.28 million KW saving, 1.098 tons of standard coal per year and roughly 6,277 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Electrically heated and chilled water con-generation, also known as natural gas distributed energy, is developing rapidly in the world. The distributed energy resource of natural gas is still in its infantile stage in China. The quantity for the site is limited. To keep the combined cooling and heating power equipment effectively operating is much more limiting and is the main difficulty of the system integration. The international supplier of CCHP equipment generators only provide single machine unit. System integration is not available. Other equipment, such as lithium bromide sets and heat exchangers are procured domestically. Therefore, the system integration and control of the complete system is reliant upon the independent research and development of the equipment suppliers or system integrators. The abilities of system integration are mainly reflected in its design, installation, operation, and management. The main difficulty of the system is the load forecasting demand, fuel consumption, electricity, heating and cooling supply equilibrium, application, succession, and stability. These all become the three key factors affecting the project success or not. Further, the economic efficiency, energy efficiency, and the energy environmental efficiency is also directly related the project’s success.

Another requirement for a combined cooling and heating power system in the project is the damping and noise reduction. Now, the noise of the machine room that is set by system equipment reaches to less that 78 db (A) while the noise of outside the room and control room reaches to less than 60 db (A). The noise levels now meet and exceed the technical specifications of the owner.

Combined cooling, heating, and power system, such as the energy-use sub-system of the lower energy center in the project, are relatively independent operations. As the same time it needs to keep in touch with the energy center CPMS system and communication, supplying heating and cooling according to the CPMS system’s instructions. The combined cooling and heating system and the Shanghai Tower’s power system adopts an EMC contract energy management mode.

5.Sewage treatment reuse systems

In order to meet the requirements of the Assessment Standard for Green Building, the non-traditional water resource utilization ratio of functional areas should not be less than 25% for the Shanghai Tower. Non-traditional water resource utilization ratios of business offices should not be less than 40%. Therefore, the design scheme of the Shanghai Tower makes full use of all kinds high-quality miscellaneous drainages that capture rainwater into a “grey water” system, a system that captures rainwater to be used only for activities where the water does not come into contact with the human body. Examples of grey water usage would be construction water consumption, basement garage washing after processing, irrigation, toilet flushing, etc.

The sewage reuse system establishes three sets of waster and raw water treatment. Respectively, 1 set is in the L66 layer and 2 sets are in the B5 layer. The raw water treatment system of the L66 layers. The raw water treatment system of the B5 layer is responsible for the collecting and processing of recycled and raw water from L65-B5 layers. The former deposed water is mainly used for toilet flushing water. The water of the water treatment system is used for flushing, and will also be used for ground washing, car washing. The number 2 water treatment system will be used for supplementing the waterscape, irrigation, etc.

Technologies of the sewage treatment include a domestic sewage dissipation pool, a grille well, a regulating reservoir and activated sludge processed. The materials is PVDF with a 0.4um pore size and an outer diameter of 2.8 mm.

The rainwater reuse system establishes four sets of rainwater treatment systems. Respectively, 1 set is in the L66 layer and 3 sets are in the B5 layer. The rainwater treatment system of the L66 layer is responsible for the collecting and processing of rainwater and raw water of L66-L121 layer. The rainwater treatment system of the B5 layer is responsible for the collecting and processing of rainwater of the L65-B3 layers. The former deposed water will be mainly used for toilet flushing, while the later is used for flushing. It will also be used for ground washing, car washing, etc.

The rainwater treatment process will collect rainwater through: a dissipation pool, regulating reservoirs, disc-filter disinfection, and a sewage treatment tank that is pressurized to users. The disc-filter filtration accuracy is 5 5um and is cleaned through an endogenous backwash that takes two hours.

Fig 7. Cooling-heating-power supply systems (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd

Fig 8. Rainwater collection systems (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd

Fig 11. Kitchen wastewater discharge systems (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd

Fig 9. Life sewage treatment systems (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd

Fig 10. Life wastewater discharge systems (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd

6.Special lighting designs

Turn to the functional lighting design, the Shanghai Tower is equipped with floodlighting situated within the V-groove, district atrium hanging gardens and tower crowns to fully embody the architectural form and characteristic.

As a new landmark, Shanghai tower is located in the core area of Lujiazui together with the Jin Mao tower and the global trade center as the core regional architecture. Shanghai Tower will display the beauty of Shanghai and solidify the city’s future development. Also, lighting designer selectively set up a reserve lighting system and framework for lights shows on the ground.

7.Special construction schemes and technologies

Features of the equipment, bulk material, vertical hoisting, and equipment installation of construction in Shanghai Tower includes:

Large quantities of equipment and bulk materials were hoisted

4,000 tons of story materials, 2,000 tons of the basement materials, 3,500 tons of story equipment, 2,500 thousand tons of basement equipment totaling 12,000 tons of construction workloads were hoisted.

Large-scale equipment hoists with wide region distribution

Hoisting and transportation of equipment focused on the first to fifth ground floor, the ninth equipment floor areas, and the sixth floor to crown tower. Every 15th layer has two devices. 82 layers of the Shanghai Tower have six sets of 20 tons refrigerators that are lifted into each floor, each with a hoisting height of more than 450 meters. The tower crown equipment hoists each boast a height of more than 600 maters. The height of hoisting construction is affected by weather factors, which dramatically increase the difficulty and risk. The equipment distribution is wide while the protection of the workload remains a great factor even after the completion of the equipment installation. The construction scheme of the hoisting platform is adopted by the construction unit to effectively and smoothly lift electro-mechanical devices to each area.

Installation of prefabricated large-scale air ducts

Air ducts of the project are all commercially produced buy in-situ assembly. This accelerated the progress of construction, reducing construction interference of the limited operation site and consequently decrease noise pollution.

Installation of light croup hanger

According to comprehensive drawings of the pipeline, on-site piping would use a large amount of light group hangers, all continuously commercially supplied as each unit was finished. This reduced the on-site hanger welding workloads, effectively improving the installation environment, and reducing the total weight of the steel.

Equipment information

The mechanical and electrical systems of the Shanghai Tower project are categorically large, creating unique challenges. With the sheer quantities of equipment being handled, using two-dimensional coding to input information before the delivery of equipment became invaluable. Equipment base on two-dimensional code made for convenient hoisting transportation, partitioning, and hierarchical classification installation. At the same time, BIM facilitated the efficient future property operation and management in conjunction with all electrical and mechanized units.

8.Electrical comprehensive supervisory systems

The power supply system of the Shanghai Tower includes a 110KV/10KV substation, an emergency generator room, a combined cooling heating and power generator room, a 10KV/0.4KV substation, and a wind turbine, the power supply system uses the mode variation-diving to reduce the occupied area of cables and a heavy cables draw pit decreasing the total area.

The power supply system of the building is characterized by heavy loads and various vertical partitions of different functions. The relay protection device distributes multiple partitions daily during the operation management. This puts further requirements on the controlling strategy of the power system, the relay protection device, and the daily operation management of multi-power distribution partitions. Having designed the electrical comprehensive supervision system of the building. It includes, but is not limited to, the local control and regional management for transformer substation, the centralized management for total variation, the relay protection for the high voltage electric power automation system, remote controlling, and running the monitoring for the whole power quantity. This is also operated on an automated low voltage electrical power system providing decision support for the ATS emergency generated control system, the reserving interface for wind power generation, the combined cooling and heating power, and flooding-lighting.

Table 1. Overview of the power supply system

Fig 12. Green Power systems in whole building (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd

Fig 13. Gas generator set working diagram (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd

9.Elevator system

Shanghai Tower Elevator System Drawings And Illustrations by Gensler below:

Fig 13. wind power generator working diagram (Shanghai installation engineering Co., Ltd

Fig 14. Elevator arrangement plan in six zones of the Shanghai Tower (Source:Gensler Design)

Fig 15. Outside air source choice for elevator system (Source: Gensler Design)

Fig 16. Vertical arragement among the elevator lobby, garden space, and standard amenities (Source: Gensler Design)

Fig 17. Integrated elevator system with layout plan in different zones (Source: Gensler Design)

10. Elevator design - the fastest elevators in the world

In one of the most unexpected examples of life imitating art, the developers behind China’s Shanghai Tower have possibly sought inspiration from Willy Wonka and his Great Glass Elevator, preparing to install the world’s fastest elevators, capable of travelling at a stomach-dropping 18 metres per second.

It’s not a true Wonkavator, because it can’t go sideways, slantways, longways, backways, squareways, front ways and any other ways that you can think of. But at 18 metres per second, these express elevators will make short work of the Tower’s 632-metre height. Wearing a red top hat and a purple velvet suit whilst riding in them is entirely optional.

Fig 18. Accessibility on integrated elevator system to different functional zones (Source: Gensler Design)

Fig 19. Elevator in Shanghai Tower (Engineering, engineering and technology magazine, 2014)