Johnson Controls India (JCI), in collaboration with their UK operations, has been the implementation and maintenance partner for the entire HVAC system for INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier. After a decade in the making, PM Narendra Modi recently commissioned INS Vikrant into the Indian Navy, the largest indigenously developed Aircraft Carrier in India’s maritime history, making it a landmark moment in the nation’s quest to realize self-reliance in every realm.
Manufacturing Today spoke with Commander Satish Kumar Menon, Director, Navy Systems, India, Johnson Controls to more about the complexities & challenges in building defence infrastructure at such a huge scale.
- Johnson Controls India (JCI), in collaboration with their UK operations, has been the implementation and maintenance partner for the entire HVAC system for INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier. Please take us through this project.
JCI, UK received the HVAC order in a competitive bid involving only foreign vendors in Jan 2010, as Indian Navy wanted only vendors with previous background of designing HVAC, installation, setting to work and Commissioning for large ships.
The HVAC system of Aircraft Carrier consists of following subsystems which had to be designed independently as per the Heat loads and GA of ship shared by M/s Cochin Shipyard Ltd.
Machinery Ventilation System
This was designed by Indian Navy and Shipyard and the equipment list for procurement were handed over to JCI, UK for supply. The installations of the system were undertaken by Shipyard. The setting to work and commissioning of the system was in M/s Johnson Controls scope.
HVAC Comfort Cooling
The comfort cooling system was designed by Johnson Controls to cater for all air conditioning spaces on board the Aircraft carrier (Approx 1300 Compartments)
Mechanical Ventilation System
The mechanical ventilation system was designed by Johnson Controls and covered approximately 800 Compartments on board.
Aircraft Cooling System
The Aircraft cooling equipment and system was designed to ensure the Aircrafts operating get cooling on board before starting up or during maintenance period.
Smoke Extraction System
The Smoke extraction system is unique to the Aircraft carriers, and these were designed to ensure smoke removal from any part of the ship post a fire incident as per naval standards.
Chilled Water system
The chilled water system is one of the crucial systems which gets the chilled water from Chiller plants to all the Air Handling units installed on board at 6-7 Deg C. This was designed as per Naval/ Def Standards.
Control Systems
The control systems integrates all HVAC equipment and Dampers into one Zonal Panel in each Fire Zone.
It can be seen from above that the HVAC designing is a complex and intriguing process for Aircraft Carrier as there are many independent systems to be integrated and heat load calculations done before the design can be complete. The most important features to be kept in mind is the sizes of the equipment and ducting selected due to space constraints on board Warships.
HVAC design and duct fabrications are totally dependent on the Heat loads calculations/ Flow rates/Velocity arrived at during the preliminary design stage as per requirements provided by Indian Navy and Shipyard. However, since the concept of telescopic design of the Aircraft carrier was evolving there were numerous changes to Heat loads with new equipment and new electronics systems being inducted on board. These changes meant a temporary setback to HVAC design, addition of equipment and changes to Chilled water system preliminary designs. Hence the HVAC became one of the most complex systems on board the Aircraft Carrier with more changes happening enroute the construction phase of the ship. The Johnson Controls project team were under constant pressure to redesign the system, undertake re-routing of ducts, changes to duct sizes, rework on the already installed ducts and complete installation inspections by Shipyard/Indian Navy. This was the most critical time for the entire HVAC team as changes meant going back by 8-10 months. This temporary setback had to be quickly analyzed and the project management schedule reworked to avoid additional costs & expenditures. The design work kept evolving over the period from 2010 to 2018, as many heat load changes were introduced by Indian Navy due to incoming Electronics and Weapon systems. It was indeed a challenge, as these changes made as late as 2017-18, had to be incorporated in design and ducting installations to ensure optimum delivery of the HVAC system.
The JCI team systematically worked with the Shipyard & Indian Navy to finalize the change orders for additional HVAC equipment, ducts, accessories, addl. CW pipes and fittings in a phased manner. Though these took time, our project teams were busy with installations and covering up maximum areas of the ship where the design changes were unaffected. The management team from UK & India worked in tandem over these 4-5 years to finalize the various design changes, change orders and work out the new normal strategy for HVAC ducts fabrication & Installation.
Equipment Installation
The Equipment supply like Air Filtrations units, Air Handling units, Ventilation Fans and other fittings like Gas Tight Dampers, Watertight valves etc. were delivered post undergoing Factory acceptance tests in Europe in phases from 2014 onwards and up to Dec 2020 and the Indian Johnson Controls team at Kochi were busy installing this equipment on board as per the approved space allocations on board the ship. As the equipment list was large, the Project team had to ensure timely installations of these on board as the ducting fabrication and installations would only commence after this activity.
Ducting Fabrication & Installations
The Ducting fabrication of approximately 320 Tons of Ducting for on board installations commence in end of 2015 with available SLD revisions and 2D drawings submitted/ approved by Shipyard/Indian Navy. The ducts were all fabricated at M/s Rolastar, Bangalore and Hyderabad (Johnson Controls company) as per the approved 2D drawings of ducting layout on board. Since large volumes of ducts were to be fabricated the identification of each duct was critical for installation on board. The Indian Project team devised a unique coding system for each individual ducts on 2D drawings and gave it a color code as per the Fire Zones involved. This innovative initiative helped in scanning the ducts delivered at Shipyard thereby easing the process of installations on board. The ducting installations on board continued for next 6 years with approximately 6-7 Tons of ducting being installed on board every month. The rework and changes were additional burden due to frequent changes in Design heat loads.
Chilled Water Pipes installation
With numerous changes to equipment fit (25% additional) and the heat load changes, the design of the Chilled water system was one of the last tasks to commence by JC, UK. This meant that the JC, India team had to face numerous challenges to find the space for routing of the pipes and installing them optimally to get chilled water to all equipment as per design calculations. The CW design was finalized by mid of 2017 and our teams fabricated inhouse the pipe spools as per 2D drawings for installations on board. The CW pipes increased from the earlier envisaged qty of 6000 mts to 11000 mts which posed a greater challenge for space and installations on board. With ever increasing pressures from Shipyard and Indian Navy to complete the system by 2019 for Ships Propulsion machinery system trials, our teams worked round the clock in 3 shifts to ensure availability of Airconditioning system for Harbor trials of propulsion machinery and Generators. The teams worked Fire Zones wise for installation of CW pipes and proving the system as per Indian Navy & Shipyard requirements which meant that FZ wise trials of the CW system could be undertaken on completion of installation on board. The ducting teams also combined with CW teams as per project plan to ensure FZ wise completion of ducts Installation for undertaking trials of the systems as planned.
Completion of HVAC System & Trials
The HVAC systems along with all subsystems were completed in phases from 2019 to 2021 as per the project plan and Shipyard’s requirement taking into considerations the sea trials of the ship which commenced in Aug 2021. During the sea trials the HVAC equipment and system trials were undertaken as per the Naval protocols agreed during design stages. During first sea sortie approximately 50% of the system trials were completed and in second and third sea trials the remaining system trials were completed. The habitability trials of approximately 2000 odd compartments were undertaken during these sea trials to prove the efficacy of the entire HVAC system. During sea trials the Citadel trials were also completed as per Naval standards.
- What are JCI’s strengths and capabilities in HVAC for marine and Navy Vessels? Tell us about Johnson Controls’ deep expertise, capabilities and leadership in this domain.
The strengths of Johnson Controls have been as follows:
HVAC Design capability.
The deep knowledge of HVAC design for large ships has been our forte. The Design Engineers from Johnson Controls UK and India worked tirelessly to build an efficient HVAC system for the aircraft Carrier despite the challenges of heat load changes from 2015 to 2019. The telescopic designing of Indian Navy added extra challenges which were effectively tackled with utmost care to ensure minimal changes to the approved design and ducting on board. The teams constantly interacted with Shipyard and Indian Naval Design teams and ensured timely completion.
Control System Designing.
The design of Control systems has also been our strengths as the control engineers from Johnson Controls Denmark and India worked together to install a robust system using PLC and HMI systems for controlling & monitoring of the entire HVAC system on board Aircraft carrier. The design of Zonal control panels was critical as this was the heart of the control systems which controlled every HVAC equipment and Dampers from each Fire Zone. The Zonal Panels also had built in systems to transfer as required data to the ship’s Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS) which was the central control for all machineries installed on board the ship.
Chilled Water System design
The other strength of Johnson controls was the capability and knowhow of designing the Chilled water system especially for the large ships built by European Navy. The Chilled water system design was critical to ensure every HVAC equipment board received the desired quantity of water and the temperatures to ensure effective cooling of the accommodation and electrical/electronics compartments. The design was again undertaken jointly by Johnson Controls UK and Indian teams.
Robust Vendor Base and Supply Chain.
The excellent vendor base and supply chain management at UK and India was essential to order shock tested equipment suitable of performing under adverse sea conditions. The Supply Chain team at Johnson controls ensured timely manufacture and delivery of HVAC equipment and Ventilation fans required for Aircraft Carrier. The Indian Supply chain ensured timely procurement and delivery of all Ducts and accessories required for assembly of the ducting system on board.
Project Management.
Johnson Controls being the leaders in HVAC and Chiller manufacturing had excellent project team members capable of planning and executing large and complex systems for building Efficiency, industries, and Naval Ships. The project plan for Aircraft Carrier was not only complex but had too many variables which needed to be controlled for timely execution of the project. Many of the project engineers were trained on Project Management of large projects and control the unknown especially for Naval Ships where the design was evolving continuously during the ship’s construction stages.
Highly Efficient Project managers & engineers.
The Project Manager & his team of engineers were the ultimate strength of Johnson Controls who were not only experienced in Naval ship’s but had good knowledge of reading and understanding the 2D drawings for installation of Ducts and accessories on board. The Project teams were also capable of setting to work of equipment and commissioning of the system. This really helped in timely completion of installations & commissioning despite many challenges faced during the installation stages.
- Impact JCI has driven for its Navy customer base both from technology advancements and sustainable environment standpoints.
Johnson Controls have invested in R&D and are continuously working towards sustainable solutions in the field of HVAC, Fire solutions and Chillers. The latest developments in these areas have been implemented for Indian Navy and other areas of business. Some of the latest inductions into Indian Naval Ships are as follows:-
Magnetic bearing Chillers
No oil pollution, Lower noise, No periodic maintenance, and Sustainable solutions. These Magnetic bearings are now being installed on board ship’s to effectively reduce ship borne noise which is critical for ships at sea. The new technology is pollution free as there is no oil used and can run efficiently up to 1 Lakh hours as compared to other compressors which require maintenance in 10K hours. The magnetic bearing chillers are highly efficient and energy saving which helps ships at sea.
Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) for Air handling units, Vent fans etc
Energy saving and compatible to operate at all weather conditions. These AHUs are the new trend in Indian Naval ships, as it not only saves energy but are super quiet in operation. The maintenance and Mean time between failures (MTBF) are noticeable in installations done so far.
Standardization of AHU and Heat Exchangers
Not have more than 6-7 Sizes so that dimensions are known to shipyards for earmarking of space on board. This is an initiative taken by Indian Navy and Johnson controls have developed vendors to adhere to the overall dimensions of AHUs for easy installations on board Naval ships.
Waste Heat recovery
Energy saving options for ships.
Smart Design of spaces
To reduce weight of Ducting on board smart design of spaces is being undertaken at design stages. These will help optimize the ducting on board Naval ships and reduce weight considerably.
Use of Digital technology – “Open Blue”.
This will provide complete control and Maximize operator efficiency, enhance comfort, safety, and Productivity.
Zero Carbon emission by 2030 from Refrigerants.
Johnson Controls is continuously developing new refrigerants that can reduce the carbon emissions from refrigerants used on chillers and provision plants. It is aimed to reach Zero carbon emissions from HVAC & Chillers by 2030 by replacing refrigerants.
Smart Solutions for Fire suppression and monitoring.
With M/s Tyco on board with Johnson Controls the latest technology on Fire suppression and monitoring is being introduced into Defense sector and Naval Ships. The Magazine firefighting systems and Foam fire fighting systems for engine rooms and machinery spaces will gain considerably with these solutions.
- Johnson Controls’ outlook with respect to the Indian defence sector and similar collaborations
Johnson Controls is working round the clock to achieve greater percentage on “Make in India” initiative for defense sectors and ships under construction. For building of Chillers, we are using up to 95% material from manufacturers in India and hope to increase this to 100% in the years to come. On HVAC systems, we are developing our industries to develop AHUs of very high standards, which are capable of withstanding shock requirements of Naval/ Def standards. We are also looking at the development of industries to meet the high-quality standards on Gas Tight dampers, watertight valves, Fire Dampers and other accessories like diffusers, VCD, VAV etc required for ducting system.
In the years to come Johnson Controls wants to reach 90-95 self-sufficiency in “Atmanirbhar Bharat” for design, development, manufacturing and installations of all HVAC systems and Chillers. The journey to self sufficiency has begun under the able leadership of Indian management.
- Do tell us about the innovative solutions from JCI.
– Johnson Controls is surely bringing in innovative solutions into HVAC and Chillers not only for Defense sector but also for the industries and infrastructure projects in anvil. Some of the innovative solutions are:-
Open Blue for building efficiency to ensure energy conservation and bring sustainable solutions under one umbrella
Smart Designing of HVAC system to increase efficiency and conserve energy
The introduction of VFD (Variable frequency Drives) and VAV (Volume control valves) for HVAC solutions to provide greater comfort and energy saving options.
Introduction of Heat recovery systems to conserve energy and have sustainable energy availability.
Introduction of UV Lamps in Air Handling units in Ships and Buildings to fight against the Viruses like SAR, Swine Flue, Common Influenza etc.
Introduction of intelligent Building products, technologies, software’s and provide integrated solutions for HVAC , Fire and other solutions using AI technology. , software, and services.
- The industry is moving towards digital transformation. Tell us about JCI’s digital journey.
For nearly 140 years, we’ve made buildings better and now we’re transforming them again with our award-winning digital technologies and services. We’re using artificial intelligence and data driven solutions to give you deeper insight into your building’s health, sustainability and performance. It’s changing the way we design, operate and maintain indoor environments and driving to a new era of autonomous buildings. The advent of digital transformation is revolutionizing the way we use data to create, design, and manage buildings. “More and more, building systems are data-enabled and connected to the web. At Johnson Controls, we are partnering with customers to build smart buildings enabled by artificial intelligence and IoT (Internet of Things). OpenBlue helps enterprises put their building data to work, helping facilities managers discover insights, find efficiencies, and create other sources of value, chief among them sustainability.
Johnson Controls is at the forefront of smart facilities with solutions that span enterprise and offer a wealth of potential benefits. These next-generation smart buildings have unique characteristics that unlock new possibilities for how building occupants—employees and visitors, doctors and patients, or teams and fans—interact with their environment. In partnership with our customers, we are creating the self-conscious, self-healing, and occupant-driven building.