Holiday Inn Express and Suites Queenstown

The Challenge

The client’s specification called for a VRF heating and cooling system for the hotel. The outdoor plant locations meant that long pipe runs were required. Furthermore, the majority of the suites were only around 24m². As such, the small occupied areas where people would be sleeping meant compliance with AS/NZS 5149.(1-4): 2016 around refrigerant concentration was going to be a key factor of the design.

The Solution

With the limited footprint of each lodging and long pipe runs, a traditional VRF system with refrigerant containing parts located in the rooms would exceed the refrigerant charge limit as dictated by AS/NZS 5149.(1-4): 2016. This meant that costly monitors would have been required in each area to alert occupants to any refrigerant leak while also raising an alarm to the hotel employees.

Hybrid VRF – the ideal solution for energy-efficient, safe heating and cooling for hotels

Mitsubishi Electric’s Hybrid VRF Technology was a natural choice. This removed the refrigeration-containing parts from the occupied spaces by transferring heating or cooling to each indoor unit via water while still retaining all the other benefits of the VRF technology.

The cost of a refrigerant monitoring system was well over the additional cost of changing from traditional VRF to Hybrid VRF. This not only offered cost-saving advantages to the building’s construction but also removed the need for expensive ongoing calibration of the sensors and an action plan if a leak was detected.

The hybrid technology also reduced the amount of costly refrigerant while providing additional benefits of a water-based design such as higher sensible cooling and no refrigerant noise at the indoor units.

Zubadan Technology guarantees low-temperature performance with heat recovery

Mitsubishi Electric’s Zubadan Heat Pump outdoor units were used in conjunction with a refrigerant coil mounted in the kitchen air handler unit to provide tempering of the make-up air. This solution can pre-heat or pre-cool the air prior to entering the facility to maintain a year-round comfortable and safe temperature. The unique Mitsubishi Electric Zubadan Compressor in the outdoor unit ensures that full heating capacity can be provided even on the coldest winters day.