Hotel Atocha
The ‘Only You Atocha’ features an original interior design, created by Lázaro Rosa Violán, creating a modern and comfortable space for travellers and locals, in the Atocha Square, Madrid. To provide air-conditioning to this iconic hotel, Panasonic has installed 7-unit ECO-G systems and a wall-mounted PACi Standard and Elite Inverter+ Kit in the basement. This project was recently awarded Best Innovative GHP Technology Project in the Panasonic PRO AWARDS.
Madrid’s new hotel ‘Only You Atocha’, recently opened by the Palladium group, is benefitting from Panasonic's efficient solutions for its air conditioning. The hotel has 206 rooms and a team of more than 60 people, and the system installed comprises seven Panasonic ECO-G U-30GE2E5 systems and a Kit KIT-60PKY1E5A for the basement.
The interior of the ‘Only You Atocha’, located in front of the Atocha station in Paseo Infanta Isabel, is an installation by Lázaro Rosa Violán of a modest aesthetic mix, featuring cultural influences from around the world but creating the perfect balance between form and function. This unique hotel’s iconic style has been created by the interior designer by strategically placed scenarios featuring furniture from different eras and styles throughout.
As well as being a stylish setting, the hotel’s ambience is so comfortable thanks to the Panasonic air conditioning system. So much so, that this beautiful project has resulted in Lázaro Rosa Violán winning a Panasonic PRO Award for Best Panasonic Innovative GHP Technology Project.
The ‘Only You Hotel Atocha’ has 206 rooms distributed over seven floors: 114 Deluxe, 78 Premium, 12 junior suites and 2 suites, as well as a terrace completely designed and equipped to surprise and relax.
Additionally, the hotel has several inspiring spaces such as the ‘Mama Framboise bakery’, a bakery in the purest New York style along with the restaurant ‘Trotamundos’, offering fusion cuisine in a cosmopolitan decor that follows the influence of the Big Apple. And finally, ‘You Universe’ located on the seventh floor of the hotel has a large terrace and panoramic views of the city where guests can have a drink and enjoy the DJ’s live music sessions.
A project adapted to the needs and layout of a building that also sought to achieve maximum energy efficiency
This building with 13 floors (4 basements, ground floor, 1st to 7th floors and roof terrace) required a power solution of 838kW in cooling and 698kW in heating set by the engineer’s calculations. These values correspond to the hotel’s demand peaks, which can occur on certain summer and winter days respectively. For intermediate periods (such as March-May and September-November), demand was anticipated to be perhaps 70% lower than the summer and winter maximums.
The engineer responsible for the project, the engineering department of El Corte Inglés, opted for a base solution of seven Panasonic GHP units, fed by natural gas with each connected to a hydrokit for production of hot and cold water at temperatures of 7°C / 12°C and 48°C / 43°C respectively, since the air conditioning is performed by indoor fan coil type units.
The demand for cooling by the GHP units is 469kW and heating of 560kW. The remaining power to cover the total demand of the building is realised with a traditional system of chiller and boiler respectively.
The production of hot and cold water for cooling and heating is turned into separate heat and cold collectors, completing the installation to four pipes with their corresponding hydraulic system, pumping groups, valves and fan coil elements.
The building control system determines whether heating / cooling must be covered by the gas, chiller or boiler heat pumps. The above is dependent on a series of external conditions so that the performance of the installation is optimised, controlling the cascade entry of the gas heat pump units, thus ensuring maximum energy efficiency for the hotel. In spring and autumn, half of the units will easily work in cold mode (with the subsequent use of a large amount of residual heat), while the other units work in heat mode.
Waste heat utilisation for free ACS generation
Thanks to the Panasonic GHP equipment, the recovery of residual energy from the exhaust gases and the cooling of the engine to preheat the ACS deposits of the hotel are used. Peak energy recovery occurs when all gas heat pumps work at 100% demand in cold mode. The energy recovered at that moment reaches 30kw per unit, delivering hot water to temperatures between 70ºC and 75ºC.
Panasonic’s extremely efficient system is capable of delivering very good results for ‘Only You Atocha’ hotel. It has been estimated that the residual energy of the equipment can recover up to 82% of the energy needed to meet the hotel's demand for ACS. In principle, water is preheated with residual energy.
