Peru. The Grupo Todoclima, together with the Trane brand, was responsible for the design and integration of the air conditioning system in the electrical rooms of the copper mining project in Quellaveco, the fifth largest copper deposit in the world.
This is a far-reaching project because, as reported by the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) the "Quellaveco mining project is the largest mining investment in Peru", as well as one of the five largest copper deposits in the world, "whose contributions will optimize the national economy, in addition to the economic and social impact that Moquegua will have in the coming years".
Additionally, the Minem approved, last Sunday, September 25, through Directorial Resolution No. 0891-2022-MINEM/DGM, the start-up of the commercial operation, which will have a useful life of 30 years and will generate an approximate of 2,500 jobs, which are added to the 15,000 people who already benefited from work during the construction phase.
Start of the project
According to Todoclima, in this project there were 3 big players, the customer, the manufacturer and the HVAC specialists. He also said that it all began when Schneider Electric was interested in buying special air conditioning equipment in the Trane brand, for its project of special systems in the area of the electric room of the mine.
Then, for the sale to be a reality, Trane needed experts to provide the complete service that the company was demanding, a role in which Todoclima was awarded to perform the corresponding calculations and design, due to its work experience and recognition.
"Our initial scope with Trane was to do the HVAC design so they can select commercially available equipment, and we did. We worked hand in hand with the manufacturer and the client, the entire engineering area of the project, until it was approved by all parties involved."
Subsequently, once the client had the equipment and the design of air conditioning, the installation tender followed, stage of the development of the project where once again Todoclima was in charge, being responsible for the execution of the air conditioning project of the special systems previously designed.
Commissioning
The project, which consisted of the intervention of 2 electrical rooms, aimed to keep these spaces operating, within strict parameters requested by the manufacturer.
The first thing that was carried out, according to Todoclima, was a module where the entire installation of the project was done, which went through several tests, which once they achieved the validation of correct operation, proceeded to the commissioning.
In such a way that the challenge was precisely the creation of a specific design so that, once approved, the module can be disassembled by blocks, to be transported by land to the mine and installed definitively there.
It is important to highlight the innovation of the technology that has been used in this project. "When creating the design we took into account the environment where they were going to be installed, which is quite aggressive, unlike the equipment, which is delicate. As well as the altitude, approximately 4 000 meters above sea level.
Technology used in Quellaveco
Todoclima explained, in an official publication of its website, that they used BIM (Building Information Modeling) modeling technology, which creates and manages the data of a building project or infrastructure from the beginning of the design process, in order to optimize the management and documentation of the project.
In this way they avoided the loss of resources and managed to more accurately manage the time in the construction of the structure, as well as avoid unnecessary costs in future remodeling.
In general, in the intervention of the two electrical rooms, there were three levels, the first two are constitute the space of room 1 and room 2, respectively, while in the third, which serves as a ceiling, all the equipment was located.
In total, 6 air handling units (UMA), with direct expansion, were installed. The equipment has the necessary ductwork and the control is carried out through temperature and humidity sensors. A relevant detail is that of the installed UMAs, five operate normally while the rest acts as redundancy (back-up).
Now, the distribution of air to each room is through ductwork and, because the rooms require maintaining a pressurization of 30 pascals, there are pressurizers (collector type) that work with the fresh air injection system. In addition, this pipeline has a fire damper in the sectorized areas, barometric damper for pressure control within rooms and motorized damper monitored by the centralized system, to carry out the back up.
Finally, Todoclima commented: "as always, each new project is a challenge that we are more than happy to accept and this case was no exception. Regardless of the complexity, we will always provide the highest quality from start to finish and accompany our customers, throughout the process, creating an optimal environment for both and great ties, in order to continue working together in the future."
