Bird’s eye-view of Terminal 2 complex, Mumbai airport

Project Challenges at T2 –
Mumbai International Airport Part 2 of 2

By Ketan Soni
General Manager – Construction
Blue Star Ltd., Vadodara

Commissioning Activities executing a project at this scale called for resource management
The design, execution, testing and commissioning of the air of more than 15.50 lakh man-hours across various trades.
conditioning system – the largest mega HVAC system in India’s Testing, Commissioning and Balancing the HVAC system to
history – at Mumbai airport Terminal 2 building, and its integration ensure optimum performance of the equipment and the overall
with other services, was a huge challenge. The responsibility for system was equalling challenging, requiring the deployment of
adequate qualified and skilled commissioning manpower, fully
equipped with the required set of tools and instruments. The
Project Manager was required to estimate the man hours for each
trade involved in the testing and commissioning activities.
The system was required to be validated for the design
performance of equipment and the entire air conditioning load.

About the Author

Ketan Soni graduated in mechanical engineering from L. D. College of
Engineering, Ahmedabad in 1983, and has more than 30 years of experience
in the field of HVAC project management at Blue Star, including engineering,
project planning, testing and commissioning, sales and marketing and overseas
assignments. He is a BEE qualified energy auditor and an active life member
and past president of ISHRAE Vadodara Chapter. He has presented papers at
CII, National Productivity Council and IGBC platforms, and delivered lectures
in various engineering and architectural institutes. He has written several
Figure 1: NEBB certificate of the firm carrying out TAB at Terminal 2 articles for magazines.

64    Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Journal d May - June 2014

64
Project Challenges at T2 – Mumbai International Airport

After the installation of all the equipment with the necessary Table 2: Groups of engineers for equipment under commissioning
controls, electrical, BMS and other integrated services as per Commissioning Status in Groups
the approved GFC, the Installation Protocol was required to Commissioning Status
be documented and duly certified by the approval authorities.

Installed Qty.

Commissioning
commissioning
Scope Qty.
Group No.

Mech Precom-
Electrical Pre-
Around 4050 protocols were to be certified for the installation

Performance
missioning
Type
work carried out as per drawings.
For such mega HVAC projects, it is mandatory to carry out
the testing, adjusting and balancing of the system (TAB) by a
National Environmental Balancing Bureau (NEBB) certified firm.
Group 1 9 9 9 9 9 9
Established in 1971, NEBB is the premier international association
AHU Group 2 45 45 45 45 45 45
of certified firms that perform Building Systems Commissioning,
Group 3 10 10 10 10 10 10
Testing, Adjusting, and Balancing of HVAC systems. When applied
Group 1 37 37 37 37 37 29
by an NEBB certified firm, the NEBB Procedural Standards provide
consistently high levels of commissioning results based on FCU Non TC Group 2 32 32 29 29 29 28
rigorous requirements. There are more than 650 NEBB certified Group 3 6 6 7 7 7 7
firms worldwide, and over 1800 NEBB certified professionals and Group 1 26 26 25 25 25 21
technicians. They are recognized by the industry and building FCU-TC AC Group 2 32 32 30 30 30 28
Group 3 6 6 7 7 7 6
Table 1: Summary of equipment for installation, testing and commissioning
Group 1 63 63 61 61 61 41
BMS Commissioning Done

CAHU Group 2 23 23 22 22 22 16
Inspection Completed

Commissioning Done
commissioning Done

commissioning Done

Performance Testing
Power Available

Mechanical Pre-
Electrical Pre-

Group 3 4 4 4 4 4 2
Installed
Scope
Sr.No

Done

Description Group 1 15 15 16 16 16 15
Inline Centrifugal
Group 2 16 16 14 14 14 14
Exhaust Fan
Group 3 6 6 10 10 10 10
Utility Building Group 1 16 15 16 16 16 16
Inline Centrifugal
Chilled  Water Group 2 13 13 13 13 13 13
1 7 7 7 7 7 7 0 7 7 Toilet Exhaust
Primary Pumps Group 3 7 6 7 7 7 7
Chilled  Water Group 1 6 6 4 4 4 4
2 7 7 7 7 7 7 0 7 7
Secondary Pumps Inline Supply Fan Group 2 8 7 7 7 7 7
3 Condenser Pumps 7 7 7 7 7 7 0 7 7
Group 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Cooling Tower 6 6 6 6 6 6 0 6 0
Group 1 8 8 8 8 8 8
Pressurisation Unit
5 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 Axial Fan BHS Group 2 26 26 26 26 26 26
and Air Separator
6 FCU 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 7 Group 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Axial Fans 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 Group 1 6 6 5 5 5 5
Chemical Dosing Axial Fan Exhaust Group 2 8 8 8 8 7 7
8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
System Group 3 1 1 1 1 1 1
Total (A) 65 65 65 65 65 65 37 65 53 Group 1 4 3 3 3 3 3
T2 Building Axial Fan Kitchen
Group 2 2 2 3 3 3 3
Supply/Exhaust
1 FCU 208 208 208 208 208 198 197 198 176 Group 3 2 0 1 1 1 1
2 CAHU 90 90 90 83 90 90 89 90 62 Group 1 19 19 19 19 19 15
3 AHU 64 64 64 64 64 64 64 64 64 Axial Fan Lift Well Group 2 13 13 13 13 13 9
4 HRU 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 3
Group 3 9 9 9 9 9 4
5 OHU 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3
Group 1 3 3 5 5 5 5
6 FAU 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Axial Fan Supply Group 2 4 4 4 4 4 4
7 IDU & ODU 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 5
Group 3 1 1 1 1 1 1
8 CRAC Units 6 6 6 6 6 6 0 6 0
Group 1 15 15 15 15 15 12
9 Split Units 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 2 2 Axial Fan Staircase
Group 2 10 10 10 10 10 10
Inline Centrifugal Pressurisation
10 89 89 89 89 89 89 87 89 88 Group 3 6 6 6 6 6 6
Fans (Cabinet Fan)
11 Axial Fans 174 174 174 174 174 174 172 173 151 Group 1 17 17 17 17 17 17
Axial Fan Smoke
Total (B) 657 657 657 650 657 647 633 646 557 Group 2 14 14 14 14 14 14
Exahust
Total (A + B ) 722 722 722 715 722 712 670 711 610 Group 3 6 6 6 6 6 0

Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Journal d May - June 2014    65

65
 Project Challenges at T2 – Mumbai International Airport
continued from page 66
It is mandatory for an NEBB certified firm to have all tools and 6 Vane anemometer 1 Lutron
testing instruments calibrated and registered with NEBB during 7 Manometer 1 TSI
the testing. Testing professionals will find the list of instruments in 8 Static tube 2 TSI
Table 4, used for this mega HVAC project, useful. 9 Pitot tube 2 TSI
Table 4: Testing and commissioning tool kits for T2 VI Inline Fans
S. No. Name of the tool Qty Preferred make 1 Belt tension meter 1 Fenner
I Floor Mounted AHU 2 Tachometer 1 Standard
1 Belt tension meter 1 Fenner 3 Megger 1 Motwani
2 Tachometer 1 Standard 4 Clamp-on meter 1 Fluke
3 Megger 1 Motwani
5 Vibration meter 1 SPM
4 Clamp-on meter 1 Fluke
6 dB meter 1 Testo
5 Vibration meter 1 SPM
7 Vane anemometer 1 Lutron
6 dB meter 1 Testo
8 Manometer 1 TSI
7 Air matrix 1 TSI
9 Static tube 2 TSI
8 Vane anemometer 1 Lutron
10 Pitot tube 1 TSI
9 Manometer 1 TSI
VII Pumps
9 Static tube 2 TSI
1 Tachometer 1 Standard
10 CO2 meter 1 Testo
2 Megger 1 Motwani
11 Sling psychrometer 1 JRM
3 Clamp-on meter 1 Fluke
12 Thermometer 1 Fluke/ Testo
4 Vibration meter 1 SPM
II Ceiling Suspended AHU 5 dB meter 1 Testo
1 Megger 1 Motwani 6 Pressure gauge 2 Standard
2 Clamp-on meter 1 Fluke VIII Cooling Tower
3 dB meter 1 Testo 1 Megger 1 Motwani
4 Vane anemometer 1 Lutron 2 Clamp-on meter 1 Fluke
5 Manometer 1 TSI 3 Vibration meter 1 SPM
6 Static tube 2 TSI 4 Vane anemometer 1 Lutron
7 Sling psychrometer 1 JRM 5 Sling psychrometer 1 JRM
8 Thermometer 1 Fluke/ Testo 6 Thermometer 1 Fluke/ Testo
III FCU IX Water Balancing
1 Clamp-on meter 1 Fluke 1 Ultrasonic flow meter 1 Panametrics
2 dB meter 1 Testo 2 Pressure gauge 2 Standard
3 Vane anemometer 1 Lutron X Air Balancing
4 Manometer 1 TSI 1 Air volume hood 1 TSI
5 Static tube 2 TSI 2 Manometer with pitot tube 1 TSI
6 Sling psychrometer 1 JRM 3 Vane anemometer 1 Lutron
7 Thermometer 1 Fluke/ Testo 4 Foldable ladder 1 Standard
IV Dual Coil DX Unit 5 Hand tools 1 Standard
1 Megger 1 Motwani 6 Beam torch 1 Standard
2 Clamp-on meter 1 Fluke 7 Thermometer 1 Fluke/ Testo
3 dB meter 1 Testo
Table 5 lists the total number of tool kits deployed at the
4 Vane anemometer 1 Lutron
project site.
5 Manometer 1 TSI
Table 5: Tool kits deployed at project site
6 Static tube 2 TSI
7 Sling psychrometer 1 JRM S. No. Tool kit Qty

8 Thermometer 1 Fluke/ Testo 1 Centralised tool kit for TAB water 1

9 Refrigerant gauge manifold 1 Rothenberger
2 Centralised tool kit for TAB air 1
V Axial Fans
1 Tachometer 1 Standard 3 Centralised tool kit electrical 1
2 Megger 1 Motwani 4 Electrician’s tool kit 3
3 Clamp-on meter 1 Fluke
4 Vibration meter 1 SPM 5 Individual team tool kit TAB air side 5

5 dB meter 1 Testo 6 Plant room commissioning tool kit 1

continued on page 70
68    Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Journal d May - June 2014

68
 Project Challenges at T2 – Mumbai International Airport
continued from page 68
Figure 3 through 16 show some of the equipment and instruments used for testing, adjusting and balancing the various systems in
the project.

Figure 3: Pitot tube Figure 4: Manometer Figure 5: Clamp-on meter Figure 6: Anemometer

Figure7: Tachometer Figure 8: Air volume hood Figure 9: Ultrasonic water flow meter Figure 10: Thermocouple thermometer

Figure 11: Thermal imager Figure 12: Vibrameter Figure 13: CO2 sensor

Figure 14: Alignment of a 25000cfm fan with motor Figure 15: Air velocity measurement on a cooling Figure 16: Measurement of electrical parameters on
inside a floor mounted double skin AHU, housing coil with an air matrix station comprising 16 pitot HVAC rotary equipment MCC
two such fans tube manometers in a 50000cfm floor mounted AHU
continued on page 72
70    Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Journal d May - June 2014

70
 Project Challenges at T2 – Mumbai International Airport
continued from page 70
Table 6: A sample tracking summary sheet for equipment

Conclusion
During the tenure of testing and commissioning of such operation in future. In addition, such systems need a well planned
projects, it is important to involve the operation and maintenance and exhaustive routine maintenance schedule for interruption
team to get them trained and take over the system for smooth free operation. v

72    Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Journal d May - June 2014

72