ABG Frankfurt Holding built six new apartment buildings to the Passive House standard in the prime location of Riedberg in Frankfurt. The housing and real estate for this project lives up to its motto “Housing for All” in a special way since half of the rental apartments consists of socially subsidised housing and it is thus also affordable for interested parties with smaller budgets. Nevertheless, sacrifices were not made when it comes to the building technology: The building project once again proves that maximum energy efficiency and modern architecture are not mutually exclusive. With the new KWL MultiZoneBox, the ventilation manufacturer Helios Ventilatoren solved the task of efficiently and comfortably ventilating the many different usage units. It ensures the regulation of air volumes and also serves as a silencer and distribution box for supply and extract air. A total of 128 apartments were equipped with the MultiZoneBox – the planning and installation costs could be kept to a minimum.

Individual and flexible central building ventilation

The conventional system for air distribution in multi-story buildings has been tried and tested for decades: Volume flow control, sound insulation and air distribution are required in each usage unit for both supply and extract air. However, a new technology was used in the six building complexes on Riedberg: The Helios KWL MultiZoneBox includes all these features in just one casing. This noticeably reduces planning and installation costs depending on the project and size.

In combination with a central building ventilation unit with heat recovery, it silently ensures demand-oriented supply and extract ventilation in all residential and commercial units. It does not matter whether the ventilation system is installed in the basement, on the roof, indoors or outdoors. In addition to high energy efficiency, the project also focussed on the comfort of the residents: Each party has a different user behaviour with individual requirements. For this reason, each apartment has its own control element with which the desired air volumes can be set. An optionally available control system with touch display enables further settings, e.g. individual weekly programmes. The advanced fan-optimiser technology provides additional comfort. The central ventilation unit performance is continuously adapted to the changing conditions at each box. Exactly the amount of air that is actually needed is provided. This also reduces energy consumption without any loss of comfort.

System functionality

Thanks to the low overall height of 200 or 250 mm, the MultiZoneBox not only allows horizontal installation in suspended ceilings, but optionally also vertically in partition walls. External wall openings for intake and exhaust air are not required in the apartments. On the one hand, this reduces the ventilation unit installation cost and, on the other hand, there is no need for the costly penetration of insulated external walls. Each individual box is supplied with sufficient fresh air and the stale air is extracted via the central pipeline. The range of application for the KWL MultiZoneBox is defined from 40 to 220 m3/h. The MultiZoneBox is controlled via a discreet ECO control unit or via a high-quality touch panel.

Commissioning can take place in just a few minutes due to the integrated control and configuration software. It can be prepared in advance on the basis of the planning and subsequently transferred to the MultiZoneBox on site via USB. Integration into the building management system is easily possible. Optionally equipped with a humidity or mixed gas sensor, the system ensures the best indoor air quality without user action, optimally covers further comfort requirements and makes the KWL® MultiZoneBox an ideal solution for multi-storey buildings. In addition to its use in residential units, the MultiZoneBox is also ideally suitable for use in shops, offices, meeting rooms or doctors' surgeries.

Maintenance made easy

Consumable and wear parts were dispensed with completely in the design of the MultiZoneBox. There are no components in the usage units that would be relevant for possible maintenance work. Thus, ABG can plan and carry out the system maintenance completely independently of the users. Nevertheless, the integrated inspection opening on the MultiZoneBox ensures system accessibility, as required.

Images: Helios Ventilatoren