Needs-based room climate using Airconomy in the glazed transfer corridor at Cologne/Bonn Airport
(August 26, 2022) The connecting building on the Cologne/Bonn Airport site, which was newly built in 2019, enables passengers to move between Terminals 1 and 2 when changing between two flights without having to go through security again. Since the transfer aisle heats up quickly due to the fully glazed facade and there are intermittent large numbers of passengers during boarding, the room climate had to be controlled as needed. The solution: In eleven sensor-controlled zones, the Airconomy system from Schütz automatically ensures a permanent supply of fresh air and an ideal room climate.
fully glazed facade of the transfer aisle (photo © Aquatherm)
Cologne/Bonn Airport invested around 10 million euros in the connecting structure. The 184 m long and 4.5 m wide transfer aisle is equipped with two boarding zones, one at the beginning and one in the middle of the aisle. From there, passengers can board their aircraft directly. The connecting building was planned by K6Architekten and the engineering office Etgenium. The new building should be architecturally based on the previous airport development. The large glass areas of the transfer aisle give passengers a view of the airport runway.
Photo © Cologne/Bonn Airport
The structural specifications and the intermittently high number of passengers in the transfer aisle presented the operator with two challenges:
- On the one hand, the fully glazed facade heats up quickly,
- on the other hand, the number of people in the boarding zones varies, depending on the time and flight offer.
Therefore, needs-based control of the room climate and the fresh air supply was necessary. Cologne/Bonn Airport finally opted for the Airconomy system from Schütz. This complete system combines hot water underfloor heating with controlled ventilation with heat recovery and an integrated cooling function. “Due to the optimal interaction of the heating and ventilation function in the system, Airconomy saves time and money in contrast to the combination of individual solutions,” explains Qamil Hasaj, project manager at a contactor – see also the article “Airconomy crosses surface heating/cooling with home ventilation” from 14.7. 2015:
In Cologne, the complete system for heating, ventilation and cooling was installed on an area of approx. 800 m². The entire technology disappears in the floor structure – so a traffic load of 5.0 kn/m² had to be taken into account in the planning. The centerpiece is the Airconomy system module, a double-layer, antistatic panel made of plastic film, which is used as hollow formwork with additional thermal insulation on the unfinished floor:
- Cams on the system element fix the heating pipes of the hot water underfloor heating on the top.
- Underneath, in the second layer, there is a 2 cm larger one for air circulation, the cavity is connected to a ventilation device with heat recovery via a floor duct system.
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Photos © Schütz GmbH & Co. KGaA |
When flowing through the hollow floor, the supply air can be heated or cooled by the underfloor heating, depending on the load. The fresh air enters the transfer aisle via outlet modules in front of the window surfaces. Filters ensure that pollen and dust do not penetrate the building.
The two boarding zones place particularly high demands on the optimal indoor climate. The CO₂ concentration and the heat emission are correspondingly high,” says planner Thomas Runkel from the engineering office Etgenium. An increased number of Airconomy system modules was therefore installed in the boarding zones. But how does the need-based control of the individual, differently frequented sections of the transfer aisle work? Specialist planner Mr. Runkel divided the connecting building into eleven zones: “Each zone is controlled by a CO₂ and temperature sensor. Sensors decide how much fresh air is supplied.” Connected to a circulating pump, the zones heat and cool as required. The temperature can be adjusted to the number of people at short notice:
At hot temperatures, Airconomy runs chilled water through the tube registers in the floor. According to the principle of silent passive cooling, the heat is dissipated through the floor. However, a cooling load of 95 kW was not sufficient for this construction project. “The transfer aisle has many windows, which means that it heats up quickly when the outside temperature is warm and the sun is intense. In addition, there is no shading,” explains Mr. Runkel. The optimal solution was a combination of Airconomy with a ceiling surface cooling system, Aquatherm’s Black system. This was installed in the perforated metal cassette ceiling and connected to an existing district cooling network. The energy-efficient Black System uses radiation to emit the temperature of the water flowing through black registers made of corrosion-resistant polypropylene. Drafts or dust turbulence are excluded by this process – see the article “Aquatherm has added high-performance modules to its Black System” from August 9th, 2019.
Specialist planner Mr. Runkel draws an overall positive conclusion: “Cologne/Bonn Airport is very satisfied with Airconomy. The system has been in operation since the summer of 2019, i.e. before the corona pandemic, and took part in the summer flight schedule there. With peak temperatures of 34°C, the temperature inside the transfer aisle was pleasant thanks to the integrated cooling system.”
Further information about Airconomy or the Black system can be sent by
E-mail to Schütz or per
Email Aquatherm be requested.