Dubai, UAE, 9 May 2018: Seeley International has installed 50,000 Breezair air conditioners in the tent city of Mina Valley, Saudi Arabia. Xavier Delaigue, EMEA Sales Director, Seeley International Europe, Middle East and Africa, outlined the unique challenges the company faced on the road to completing this project.

Delaigue pointed to the high ambient conditions of the country as one of the main challenges, adding that energy was also a concern. “You can imagine the energy requirements for such a city,” he said. “It is a must to think of energy-saving, not only to avoid extra power plant infrastructure investments but to reduce the carbon impact.” The high-efficiency motors made a case for the Breezeair coolers, he said, which offered reduced consumption. The fans, he added, were also designed to optimise airflow, avoid airstream disturbance and reduce the sound level, noting that the blades were inspired from latest technology in aeronautics. This, he said, culminated in 35% energy saving and increased cooling performance by approximately 35%.

Reliability, Delaigue said, is also essential. While the company’s partner, Alsaeed, provides full service during the Hajj, he said, the company has a stock of spare parts on site, in case of any problem. Touching on the production and installation scale, Delaigue stressed that not many manufacturers are able to “swallow” an additional production of tens of thousands of units on top of usual production. “At Seeley,” he said, “we have the skills and the flexibility for such an exercise. Not only in production but at every step of the chain, from supplies to delivery.” The global portfolio, he added, allowed the company to address this problem in a timely manner. Lastly, Delaigue said, with regard to supervision and maintenance, it is vital that in the event issues emerge, the coolers must be operating again in less than 30 minutes.

Prior to the final order, Delaigue said, tests were done all year round with installation of data loggers on site, to compare all competitors’ performances in the same conditions. He said, “A first a live test was made during one pilgrimage, with few coolers, as continuation of all initial tests. After this pre-selection, on the next pilgrimage, a new live test was made but this time on hundred units. The reason for this large-scale test was to make sure that our performance and reliability are stable.” Otherwise, he said, it would be easy for a manufacturer to supply a “super prototype” and get good test results. The last test, he added, was to check reliability of standard serial production, stressing that the company doesn’t compromise on quality and reliability, while providing value for money

Speaking on the company’s in-house design and production facility and scale of manufacturing, Delaigue said this served as a competitive advantage. “When officials from the Public Investment Fund and Hajj Ministry saw our facilities,” he said, “they were confident the project would be perfectly handled on time, with no compromise on quality and they were also reassured about business longevity.” He also commended Alsaeed for facilitating local logistics, installation and operations supervision.

Hannah Jo Uy is Features Writer at Climate Control Middle East magazine. She may be contacted at hannah@cpi-industry.com