A biomedical research organization designed to provide state-of-the-art laboratory space, equipment, technical support, and collaboration between scientists, Stowers Institute for Medical Research is a 600,000 square-foot facility adjacent to the University of Missouri-Kansas City main campus. The lab spaces within the facility are essential to unraveling the underlying biological processes to find innovative approaches to diagnose, treat and prevent diseases.
In 2017, the institute identified the need to upgrade the existing pneumatic/obsolete Phoenix air valve controls to digital controls with electronic actuation in their laboratories. When the facility reached out to Jorban-Riscoe for assistance with the retrofit project, we called upon Antec Controls to provide a solution to give visibility to valve status through the BAS that allows the fans to be turned down to provide energy savings. The Antec retrofit included new native BACnet MS/TP controllers, actuators, fume hood monitors, duct temperature sensors and room thermostats. Working with our installation and electrical contractors, AccuTec and ECA, up to four laboratories were retrofitted every weekend. Due to the flexibility of the retrofit solution, existing valves never needed to be removed from the ductwork. The solution minimized downtime and had the new system visible on the BAS within 36 hours of the initial outage. As reported by the facility owner, the new, upgraded system has paid for itself in 18 months due to reduced energy costs. Currently, 80% of the labs in the facility have been upgraded with the new Antec Controls system with the remaining labs to be upgraded in the near future.