Munters has received an order valued at hundreds of thousands of Euro for their revolutionary new product called the HCUi from the Texas Instruments Corporation (TI). The TI order is the first of its kind for a large industrial facility. The total order is for eight pieces of equipment each handling 46,000 m3hr. The final destination of the equipment is the Clark Freeport Zone, Philippines. When completed this will be the largest TI semiconductor facility outside of the US. This project was truly global involving Munters and TI’s people in the US and Singapore , along with the TI personnel in the Philippines, plus the large global contractor M+W Zander.
Munters HCU products are desiccant systems that use refrigeration waste heat for reactivation resulting in a significant reduction in energy consumption when compared to conventional air conditioning. HCU products have been used successfully in commercial markets such as schools and supermarkets to lower the humidity of make up air.
The ‘i’ in HCUi stands for its industrial application product. Typically the HCUi will be used in industrial applications where customers are introducing a large quantity of outside air. They differ from Munters commercial HCU product in that they control both humidity and temperature at precise levels. “This order is a real game changer for the HVAC industry globally!” says Scott Haynes, VP sales and marketing, Munters DHi Americas.
This project helps Munters to lead the way in sustainability programs in the HVAC industry by providing green technology for manufacturing facilities worldwide. Texas Instruments is applying Munters HCUi technology to further progress against their goals for accumulating Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System points on their journey to achieve LEED Gold point status at their TI Clark facility.
John Miller, corporate engineering manager for Texas Instruments adds, “This project provided us with a unique opportunity to take something that is a known process and apply it to a different industry on a larger scale then has been done before. We believe the project will be beneficial both in the short term and long term in the semiconductor industry and can be applied worldwide.” Miller went on to describe his views on the projects significance in promoting green concepts in industry as follows: “At Texas Instruments we are making efforts to reduce waste of resources. What we have found is that when we do things that are beneficial to the planet they are generally beneficial to our plants as well. In general it costs very little in capital up front to take the greener initiative. Our Vice President of facilities pointed out in a recent meeting that we need to take the 50 year view regarding energy and sustainability. Do not cut costs at every turn by doing this just to save initial cost. It’s more important to get the money back over time. Green causes focus on the long term and questions the way we traditionally look at costs placing more emphasis on operating and maintenance costs not just the cost of construction.”
In closing John Miller stated: “When you take the long term view you really need to be more visionary. Larger businesses have this ability but need to know they will get the savings.”
Click here to see the Texas Instrument case study