CIBSE AWARD WINNER | TANGO PUMP LIFETIME AWARD Armstrong left its mark on the judges with its commitment to the reduction of carbon emissions over the life-cycle of its Tango Parallel pumping solution, the independently verified performance of which also impressed. Left: Armstrongs Building Performance Awardwinning Tango Parallel pumping solution The 2020 shortlist will be announced in November www.cibse.org/bpa A commitment to reduce life-cycle carbon emissions, and robust evidence of performance, made Armstrong Fluid Technology the worthy winner of the 2019 CIBSE Energy Efficient Product or Innovation of the Year. Its Tango Parallel pumping solution enables 100% standby pump installations to be replaced with parallel pumping in a number of applications, so a separate back-up pump is not required. As well as saving on duplicate kit, the pump has been redesigned to reduce the amount of material in the casing. The judges also praised an initiative to retrieve and reuse components when replacing Armstrong pumps. We were really impressed with the commitments made to reduce carbon emissions in manufacturing locations, said the judges. Using the proceeds of recycling aged pumps via Armstrongs environmental sustainability initiative, Planet Proposition, for charitable causes also impressed us greatly. Judges at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards are always looking for evidence of manufacturer claims and they were pleased to find independent verification of Armstrongs performance claims for the Tango Parallel pumping solution in a project for the National Grid. The evidential basis of the energy savings made was very clear, they said. The practice of specifying full duty/ standby pump installations has become standard in the industry. On a day-to-day basis, one pump (sized for full duty) is operational, while another of the same size is out of action, simply there to accommodate 100% redundancy in the event of routine maintenance or pump failure. While this approach is necessary for high-reliability installations, such as hospitals and data centres, there are far more sustainable, efficient and cost-effective ways of safeguarding pump operation in mediumand low-risk applications. Armstrong Tango features two pump heads in a common casing with builtin parallel, sensorless pump control, integrated as standard. The pump heads can run simultaneously or individually, to provide the required flow in the most efficient combination. An insertable blanking plate enables maintenance to be carried out effectively on one of the pumps while the other remains in operation. This offers an alternative to a 100% standby approach by making it possible to specify two smaller pump heads, each sized for as little as 50% of the design flow. This reduces first-installed and life-cycle costs, frees up space in the plantroom or energy centre, and reduces the embodied carbon for the installation. As the Tango range has been developed using Armstrongs Design Envelope approach, energy efficient performance is achievable across a wider operating range than standard pump models. The performance envelopes of Armstrong Design Envelope models are mapped to enable the most efficient pumps to be selected for 50% of the design flow rate, where variable flow systems operate most often. This ensures a buildings hydronic pumping system consumes as little energy www.cibsejournal.com October 2019 61 CIBSE Oct19 pp61-63 Armstrong pump.indd 61 20/09/2019 18:18